View source for Vedas

{{Short description|Oldest scriptures of Hinduism}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Veda|Vedic}}
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{{Infobox religious text
| religion = [[Historical Vedic religion]]<br>[[Hinduism]]
| image    = 1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample i, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), Adhyaya 1, lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9, Sanskrit, Devanagari.jpg
| alt      = Four Vedas
| language = [[Vedic Sanskrit]]
| caption  = Rigveda manuscript page, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9 (Sanskrit, Devanagari script)
| period   = [[Vedic period]]
:{{circa|1500}}–1200 BCE ([[Rigveda]]),<ref name="Flood 2003 69" />{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}}
:{{circa|1200}}–900 BCE ([[Yajurveda]], [[Samaveda]], [[Atharvaveda]])<ref name="Flood 2003 69"/>{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}}
| verses   = 20,379 mantras<ref>{{cite web |title=Construction of the Vedas |website=VedicGranth.Org |url=https://sites.google.com/a/vedicgranth.org/www/what_are_vedic_granth/the-four-veda/interpretation-and-more/construction-of-the-vedas?mobile=true |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-date=17 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717035126/https://sites.google.com/a/vedicgranth.org/www/what_are_vedic_granth/the-four-veda/interpretation-and-more/construction-of-the-vedas?mobile=true |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| wikisource = The Vedas
|background=#FFC569}}
{{Hindu scriptures}}
[[FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''[[Atharvaveda]]''.]]

The '''Vedas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|eɪ|d|ə|z}}<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/veda "Veda"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|iː|d|ə|z}};<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''  Online (accessed 8 April 2023)</ref> {{Langx|sa|वेदः|lit=knowledge|translit=Vēdaḥ}}), sometimes collectively called '''the Veda''', are a large body of [[religious texts]] originating in [[ancient India]]. Composed in [[Vedic Sanskrit]], the texts constitute the oldest layer of [[Sanskrit literature]] and the oldest [[Hindu texts|scriptures]] of [[Hinduism]].<ref>see e.g. {{Harvnb|Radhakrishnan|Moore|1957|p=3}}; {{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|p=68}}; {{Harvnb|MacDonell|2004|pp=29–39}}.</ref><ref>''Sanskrit literature'' (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-08-09</ref><ref>Sanujit Ghose (2011). "[http://www.worldhistory.org/article/230/ Religious Developments in Ancient India]" in ''World History Encyclopedia''.</ref>

There are four Vedas: the [[Rigveda]], the [[Yajurveda]], the [[Samaveda]] and the [[Atharvaveda]].<ref name=gflood/><ref>Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana, (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II.1.b.) Strassburg 1899; Gonda, J. ''A history of Indian literature'': I.1 Vedic literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas); I.2 The Ritual Sutras. Wiesbaden 1975, 1977</ref> Each Veda has four subdivisions – the [[Samhita]]s ([[mantra]]s and [[benediction]]s), the [[Brahmana]]s (commentaries on and explanation of rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices – [[Yajña]]s), the [[Aranyaka]]s (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), and the [[Upanishads]] (texts discussing [[meditation]], philosophy and spiritual knowledge).<ref name=gflood>Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-43878-0}}, pp. 35–39</ref><ref name="A Bhattacharya 2006 pp. 8–14">A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', {{ISBN|978-0-595-38455-6}}, pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-533261-2}}, p. 285</ref><ref name="Jan Gonda 1975">Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}</ref> Some scholars add a fifth category – the [[Upasana|Upāsanā]]s (worship).{{sfn|Bhattacharya|2006|pp=8–14}}{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|pp=351–357}} The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox ''śramana'' traditions.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=82}} The Samhitas and Brahmanas describe daily rituals and are generally meant for the [[Brahmacharya]] and [[Gṛhastha|Gr̥hastha]] stages of the [[Chaturashrama]] system, while the Aranyakas and [[Upanishads]] are meant for the [[Vānaprastha]] and [[Sannyasa]] stages, respectively.

Vedas are ''{{IAST|[[śruti]]}}'' ("what is heard"),{{sfn|Apte|1965|p=887}} distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called ''{{IAST|[[smṛti|smr̥ti]]}}'' ("what is remembered"). Hindus consider the Vedas to be ''[[apauruṣeya]]'', which means "not of a man, superhuman"{{sfn|Apte|1965|loc="apauruSeya"}} and "impersonal, authorless",{{sfn|Sharma|2011|pp=196–197}}{{sfn|Westerhoff|2009|p=290}}{{sfn|Todd|2013|p=128}} revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient [[sages]] after intense meditation.{{sfn|Pollock|2011|pp=41–58}}{{sfn|Scharfe|2002|pp=13–14}}

The Vedas have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE with the help of elaborate [[Vedic chant|mnemonic techniques]].{{sfn|Wood|2007}}{{sfn|Hexam|2011|p=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Dwyer|2013}} The mantras—the oldest part of the Vedas—are recited in the modern age for their [[phonology]] rather than their [[semantics]], and are regarded as "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}} By reciting them the [[cosmos]] is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base."{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}}

The various [[Indian philosophies]] and [[Hindu sects]] have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy that acknowledge the importance or primal authority of the Vedas comprise [[Hindu philosophy]] specifically and are together classified as the six "orthodox" ([[āstika]]) schools.{{refn|group=note|name="Freschi_2012"}} However, [[śramaṇa]] traditions, such as [[Charvaka]], [[Ajivika]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Jainism]], which did not regard the Vedas as authoritative, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" ([[nāstika]]) schools.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=82}}<ref name="EB_astika">[http://www.britannica.com/topic/astika "astika"] and [http://www.britannica.com/topic/nastika "nastika"]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]'', 20 April 2016.</ref>

==Etymology and usage==
The [[Sanskrit]] word ''{{IAST|véda}}'' "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root ''vid-'' "to know". This is reconstructed as being derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root {{lang|ine-x-proto|weyd-}}, meaning "see" or "know".{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1899|loc=[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1000/mw__1048.html p. 1015]}}{{sfn|Apte|1965|p=856}}

The noun is from Proto-Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|weydos}}, cognate to [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|(ϝ)εἶδος}} "aspect", "form" . This is not to be confused with the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense ''{{IAST|véda}}'', cognate to Greek {{lang|grc|(ϝ)οἶδα}} (''(w)oida'') "I know". Root cognates are Greek [[idea|ἰδέα]], English ''[[wit]]'', [[Latin]] ''videō'' "I see", [[Russian language|Russian]] ве́дать (''védat''') "to know", etc.<ref>see e.g. Pokorny's 1959 ''[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]'' s.v. {{lang|ine-x-proto|u̯(e)id-}}²; Rix' ''[[Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben]]'', {{lang|ine-x-proto|u̯ei̯d-}}.</ref>

The Sanskrit term ''{{IAST|veda}}'' as a common noun means "knowledge".{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1899|loc=[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1000/mw__1048.html p. 1015]}} The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the ''[[Rigveda]]'', means "obtaining or finding wealth, property",{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1899|loc=[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1000/mw__1050.html p. 1017 (2nd Column)]}} while in some others it means "a bunch of grass together" as in a broom or for [[Homa (ritual)|ritual fire]].{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1899|loc=[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/1000/mw__1050.html p. 1017 (3rd Column)]}}

==Vedic texts==
[[File:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Rigveda'' manuscript in [[Devanagari]]]]

===Vedic Sanskrit corpus===
The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:
# Texts composed in [[Vedic Sanskrit]] during the [[Vedic period]] ([[Iron Age India]]).
# Any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas".<ref>according to [[ISKCON]], [http://hinduism.iskcon.com/tradition/1105.htm Hindu Sacred Texts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326083505/http://hinduism.iskcon.com/tradition/1105.htm |date=26 March 2009 }}, "Hindus themselves often use the term to describe anything connected to the Vedas and their corollaries (e.g. Vedic culture)."</ref>

The corpus of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] texts includes:
* The [[Samhitas]] (Sanskrit ''{{IAST|saṃhitā}}'', "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("[[mantra]]s"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the [[Rigveda|Rig Veda]], [[Yajurveda|Yajur Veda]], [[Samaveda|Sama Veda]] and [[Atharvaveda|Atharva Veda]], most of which are available in several [[recension]]s (''{{IAST|śākhā}}''). In some contexts, the term ''Veda'' is used to refer only to these Samhitas, the collection of mantras. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, which were composed between {{circa|1500}}–1200 BCE (Rig Veda book 2–9),{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} and 1200–900 BCE for the other ''Samhitas''. The Samhitas contain invocations to deities like [[Indra]] and [[Agni]], "to secure their benediction for success in battles or for welfare of the clan."{{sfn|Prasad|2020|p=150}} The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in [[Maurice Bloomfield|Bloomfield]]'s ''Vedic Concordance'' (1907) consists of some 89,000 [[pada (Hindu mythology)|padas]] ([[metrical feet]]), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.<ref>37,575 are Rigvedic. Of the remaining, 34,857 appear in the other three Samhitas, and 16,405 are known only from Brahmanas, Upanishads or Sutras</ref>
* The [[Brahmana]]s are prose texts that comment on and explain the solemn rituals as well as expound on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions.{{sfn|Klostermaier|1994|pp=67–69}}<ref name="ebri"/> The oldest dated to about 900 BCE, while the youngest Brahmanas (such as the [[Shatapatha Brahmana]]), were complete by about 700 BCE.<ref name=mw>[[Michael Witzel]], "Tracing the Vedic dialects" in ''Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes'' ed. Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97–265.</ref><ref name=bcp>Biswas et al (1989), Cosmic Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-34354-1}}, pp. 42–43</ref> The Brahmanas may either form separate texts or can be partly integrated into the text of the Samhitas. They may also include the Aranyakas and Upanishads.
* The [[Aranyaka]]s, "wilderness texts" or "forest treaties", were composed by people who meditated in the woods as recluses and are the third part of the Vedas. The texts contain discussions and interpretations of ceremonies, from ritualistic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view.<ref name="jago"/> It is frequently read in secondary literature.
* Older [[Principal Upanishads]] ([[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad|{{IAST|Bṛhadāraṇyaka}}]], [[Chandogya Upanishad|{{IAST|Chāndogya}}]], [[Katha Upanishad|{{IAST|Kaṭha}}]], [[Kena Upanishad|{{IAST|Kena}}]], [[Aitareya Upanishad|{{IAST|Aitareya}}]], and others),<ref name="Flood 2003 69">{{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|p=69}}.</ref><ref name="Michaels 2004 51">{{Harvnb|Michaels|2004|p=51}}.</ref> composed between 800 BCE and the end of the Vedic period.<ref name="Mahony1998p271">{{cite book|author=William K. Mahony|title=The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1KR_kE5ZYoC |year=1998|publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-3579-3 |page=271}}</ref> The [[Upanishads]] are largely philosophical works, some in dialogue form. They are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions.<ref name=wendydoniger/><ref>Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al.), State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1080-6}}, p. 39; Quote: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self.";<br />Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-1-59257-846-7}}, pp. 208–210</ref> Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads are still influential in Hinduism.<ref name=wendydoniger>Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|978-0-226-61847-0}}, pp. 2–3; Quote: "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus."</ref><ref>[[Patrick Olivelle]] (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-535242-9}}, p. 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".</ref>
* The texts considered "Vedic" in the sense of "corollaries of the Vedas" are less clearly defined, and may include numerous post-Vedic texts such as the later [[Upanishads]] and the [[Sutra literature]], such as [[Shrauta Sutras]] and [[Kalpa (Vedanga)#Gryhasutras|Gryha Sutras]], which are smriti texts. Together, the Vedas and these Sutras form part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.<ref name="Flood 2003 69"/>{{refn|group=note|For a table of all Vedic texts see {{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|pp=100–101}}.}}{{refn|group=note|The Vedic Sanskrit corpus is incorporated in ''[[A Vedic Word Concordance]]'' (''{{IAST|Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa}}'') prepared from 1930 under Vishva Bandhu, and published in five volumes in 1935–1965. Its scope extends to about 400 texts, including the entire Vedic Sanskrit corpus besides some "sub-Vedic" texts. Volume I: Samhitas, Volume II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas, Volume III: Upanishads, Volume IV: Vedangas. A revised edition, extending to about 1800 pages, was published in 1973–1976.}}

While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceased with the end of the Vedic period, additional Upanishads were composed after the end of the Vedic period.{{sfn|Witzel|2003|pp=100–101}} The [[Brahmana]]s, [[Aranyaka]]s, and [[Upanishads]], among other things, interpret and discuss the [[Samhitas]] in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute ([[Brahman]]), and the soul or the self ([[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]]), introducing [[Vedanta]] philosophy, one of the major trends of later [[Hinduism]]. In other parts, they show evolution of ideas, such as from actual sacrifice to symbolic sacrifice, and of spirituality in the Upanishads. This has inspired later Hindu scholars such as [[Adi Shankara]] to classify each Veda into ''karma-kanda'' (कर्म खण्ड, action/sacrificial ritual-related sections, the ''Samhitas'' and ''Brahmanas''); and ''jnana-kanda'' (ज्ञान खण्ड, knowledge/spirituality-related sections, mainly the ''Upanishads'').{{sfn|Bartley|2001|p=490}}{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=30}}{{sfn|Nakamura|1983|p=409}}{{sfn|Bhattacharya|2006|p=9}}{{sfn|Knapp|2005|pp=10–11}}{{refn|group=note|name="Roer"|Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction}} to ''Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad'' at pp. 1–5: "The Vedas are divided in two parts, the first is the karma-kanda, the ceremonial part, also (called) purva-kanda, and treats on ceremonies; the second part is the jnana kanda, the part which contains knowledge, also named uttara-kanda or posterior part, and unfolds the knowledge of Brahma or the universal soul."}}

=== Śruti and smṛti ===
Vedas are ''{{IAST|[[śruti]]}}'' ("what is heard"),{{sfn|Apte|1965|p=887}} distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called ''{{IAST|[[smṛti]]}}'' ("what is remembered"). This indigenous system of categorisation was adopted by [[Max Müller]] and, while it is subject to some debate, it is still widely used. As [[Axel Michaels]] explains:
{{blockquote|These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only ''one'' collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads [...] are sometimes not to be distinguished from {{IAST|Āraṇyakas}} [...]; {{IAST|Brāhmaṇas}} contain older strata of language attributed to the {{IAST|Saṃhitās}}; there are various dialects and locally prominent traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by Max Müller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic literature."<ref name="Michaels 2004 51"/>}}

Among the widely known śrutis include the Vedas and their embedded texts – the [[Samhita]]s, the [[Upanishad]]s, the [[Brahmana]]s and the [[Aranyaka]]s. The well-known smṛtis include [[Bhagavad Gita]], [[Bhagavata Purana]] and the epics [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharata]], amongst others.

===Authorship===
Hindus consider the Vedas to be ''[[apauruṣeyā]]'', which means "not of a man, superhuman"{{sfn|Apte|1965|loc="apauruSeya"}} and "impersonal, authorless".{{sfn|Sharma|2011|pp=196–197}}{{sfn|Westerhoff|2009|p=290}}{{sfn|Todd|2013|p=128}} The Vedas, for orthodox Hindu theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient [[sages]] after intense meditation, and texts that have been more carefully preserved since ancient times.{{sfn|Pollock|2011|pp=41–58}}{{sfn|Scharfe|2002|pp=13–14}} In the Hindu Epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'', the creation of Vedas is credited to [[Brahma]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8XO3Im3OMi8C&dq=brahma+created+vedas&pg=PA86 Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata] Bruce M. Sullivan, Motilal Banarsidass, pp. 85–86</ref> The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were skillfully created by ''[[Rishi]]s'' (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.{{sfn|Scharfe|2002|pp=13–14}}{{refn|group=note|"As a skilled craftsman makes a car, a singer I, Mighty One! this hymn for thee have fashioned. If thou, O Agni, God, accept it gladly, may we obtain thereby the heavenly Waters". – ''Rigveda 5.2.11'', Translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_5/Hymn_2|title=The Rig Veda|website=Wikisource}}</ref>}}

The oldest part of the Rig Veda ''Samhita'' was orally composed in north-western India ([[Punjab, India|Punjab]]) between {{circa}} 1500 and 1200&nbsp;BCE,{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} while book 10 of the Rig Veda, and the other Samhitas were composed between 1200 and 900 BCE more eastward, between the [[Yamuna]] and the [[Ganges]] rivers, the heartland of [[Aryavarta]] and the [[Kuru kingdom]] ({{circa|1200|900 BCE}}).{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995|p=4}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}}{{sfn|Witzel|2008|p=68}}{{sfn|Frazier|2011|p=344}} The "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the [[shakha|redaction]] of the Samhitas, date to {{circa|1000}}–500 BCE.

According to tradition, ''[[Vyasa]]'' is the compiler of the Vedas, who arranged the four kinds of ''mantras'' into four ''Samhitas''.{{sfn|Holdrege|2012|pp=249, 250}}{{sfn|Dalal|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UCEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 16]}}

==Chronology, transmission, and interpretation==
{{See also|Vedic period}}

===Chronology===
The Vedas are among the [[Ancient literature|oldest sacred texts]].{{sfn|Dutt|2006|p=36}} The bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region (Punjab) of the [[Indian subcontinent]], most likely between {{circa}} 1500 and 1200&nbsp;BCE,{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995|p=4}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} although a wider approximation of {{circa}} 1700–1100&nbsp;BCE has also been given.{{sfn|Oberlies|1998|p=158}}{{sfn|Kumar|2014|p=179}}{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} The other three Samhitas are considered to date from the time of the [[Kuru kingdom]], approximately {{circa}} 1200–900 BCE.<ref name="Flood 2003 69" /> The "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the [[shakha|redaction]] of the Samhitas, date to {{circa|1000}}–500 BCE, resulting in a [[Vedic period]], spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the [[Bronze Age India|Late Bronze Age]] and the [[Iron Age India|Iron Age]].{{refn|group=note|[[Gavin Flood]] sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was compiled from as early as 1500 BCE over a period of several centuries.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}}}} The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various [[shakha]]s all over Northern India which annotated the mantra [[samhitas]] with [[Brahmana]] discussions of their meaning, and reaches its end in the age of [[Buddha]] and [[Pāṇini|Panini]] and the rise of the [[Mahajanapadas]] (archaeologically, [[Northern Black Polished Ware]]). [[Michael Witzel]] gives a time span of {{circa|1500}} to {{circa|500}}–400 BCE. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern [[Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni|Mitanni material]] of the 14th century BCE, the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period. He gives 150 BCE ([[Patañjali]]) as a [[terminus ante quem]] for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BCE (the early [[Iron Age India|Iron Age]]) as [[terminus post quem]] for the Atharvaveda.{{sfn|Witzel|2003|p=68}}

===Transmission===
The Vedas were orally transmitted since their composition in the [[Vedic period]] for several millennia.{{sfn|Wood|2007}}<ref name="Witzel2003"/>{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|p=344}} The authoritative transmission{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=345}} of the Vedas is by an [[oral tradition]] in a ''[[sampradaya]]'' from father to son or from teacher (''guru'') to student (''shishya''),{{sfn|Wood|2007}}{{sfn|Hexam|2011|p=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|p=344}}{{sfn|Broo|2016|p=92}}{{sfn|Pruthi|2004|p=286}} believed to be initiated by the Vedic ''[[rishis]]'' who heard the [[Nāda yoga|primordial sounds]].{{sfn|Holdrege|2012|p=165}} Only this tradition, embodied by a living teacher, can teach the correct pronunciation of the sounds and explain hidden meanings, in a way the "dead and entombed manuscript" cannot do.{{sfn|Broo|2016|p=92}}{{refn|group=note|{{harvnb|Broo|2016|p=92}} quotes Harold G. Coward and K. Kunjunni Raja.}} As Leela Prasad states, "According to [[Adi Shankara|Shankara]], the "correct tradition" (''sampradaya'') has as much authority as the written Shastra", explaining that the tradition "bears the authority to clarify and provide direction in the application of knowledge".{{sfn|Prasad|2007|p=125}}

The emphasis in this transmission{{refn|group=note|Of the complete Veda, by ''pāțha-śālā'' (priestly schools), as distinguished from the transmission in the ''pūjā'', the daily services.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=344–345}}}} is on the "proper articulation and pronunciation of the Vedic sounds", as prescribed in the [[Shiksha]],{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=345}} the [[Vedanga]] (Vedic study) of sound as uttered in a Vedic recitation,{{sfn|Banerji|1989|pp=323–324}}{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=477–495}} mastering the texts "literally forward and backward in fully acoustic fashion".{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=345}} Houben and Rath note that the Vedic textual tradition cannot simply be characterised as oral, "since it also depends significantly on a memory culture".{{sfn|Rath|2012|p=22}} The Vedas were preserved with precision with the help of elaborate [[Vedic chant|mnemonic techniques]],{{sfn|Wood|2007}}{{sfn|Hexam|2011|p=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Dwyer|2013}} such as memorising the texts in eleven different modes of recitation (''[[patha]]s''),{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=345}} using the alphabet as a [[Art of memory|mnemotechnical device]],{{sfn|Griffiths|1999|p=122}}{{sfn|Rath|2012|p=19}}<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=note|Several authors refer to the Chinese Buddhist Monk I-Tsing, who visited India in the 7th century to retrieve Buddhist texts and gave examples of mnemonic techniques used in India:{{sfn|Griffiths|1999|p=122}} "In India there are two traditional ways in which one can attain great intellectual power. Firstly by repeatedly committing to memory the intellect is developed; secondly the alphabet fixes (to) one's ideas. By this way, after a practice of ten days or a month, a student feels his thoughts rise like a fountain, and can commit to memory whatever he has heard once."{{sfn|Rath|2012|p=19}}{{sfn|Griffiths|1999|p=122}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> "matching physical movements (such as nodding the head) with particular sounds and chanting in a group"{{sfn|Doniger|2010|p=106}} and visualising sounds by using ''[[mudra]]s'' (hand signs).{{Sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=479}} This provided an additional visual confirmation, and also an alternate means to check the reading integrity by the audience, in addition to the audible means.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=479}} Houben and Rath note that a strong "memory culture" existed in ancient India when texts were transmitted orally, before the advent of writing in the early first millennium CE.{{sfn|Rath|2012|p=19}} According to [[Frits Staal|Staal]], criticising the [[Jack Goody|Goody]]-Watt hypothesis "according to which literacy is more reliable than orality",{{sfn|Schiffman|2012|p=171}} this tradition of oral transmission "is closely related to Indian forms of science" and "by far the more remarkable" than the relatively recent tradition of written transmission.<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=note|name="Staal_discoveries"|Staal: [this tradition of oral transmission is] "by far the more remarkable [than the relatively recent tradition of written transmission], not merely because it is characteristically Indian and unlike anything we find elsewhere, but also because it has led to scientific discoveries that are of enduring interest and from which the contemporary West still has much to learn." {{harvtxt|Schiffman|2012|p=171}}, quoting {{harvtxt|Staal|1986|p=27}}<br />Staal argued that the ancient Indian grammarians, especially [[Pāṇini]], had completely mastered methods of linguistic theory not rediscovered again until the 1950s and the applications of modern mathematical logic to linguistics by [[Noam Chomsky]]. (Chomsky himself has said that the first [[generative grammar]] in the modern sense was Panini's grammar).<ref name=front>[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1825/18250150.htm An event in Kolkata] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510134321/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1825/18250150.htm |date=May 10, 2012 }}, [[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]</ref> These early Indian methods allowed the construction of discrete, potentially infinite generative systems. Remarkably, these early linguistic systems were codified orally, though writing was then used to develop them in some way. The formal basis for Panini's methods involved the use of "auxiliary" markers, rediscovered in the 1930s by the logician [[Emil Post]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Kadvany, John|title=Positional Value and Linguistic Recursion|journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy|year=2007|pages=487–520|volume=35|issue=5–6|doi=10.1007/s10781-007-9025-5|citeseerx=10.1.1.565.2083|s2cid=52885600}}</ref>}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** -->

While according to Mookerji, [[Nirukta|understanding the meaning]] (''vedarthajnana''{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|p=328}} or ''[[artha]]-[[Buddhi|bodha]]''{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=35}}{{refn|group=note|name="artha"}}) of the words of the Vedas was part of the [[Sanskrit and Vedic learning|Vedic learning]],{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=35}} Holdrege and other Indologists{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=346}} have noted that in the transmission of the ''Samhitas'', the emphasis is on the phonology of the sounds (''[[śabda]]'') and not on the meaning (''[[artha]]'') of the mantras.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=346}}{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}}{{sfn|Broo|2016|p=92}} Already at the end of the Vedic period their original meaning had become obscure for "ordinary people",{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}}{{refn|group=note|name="Kautas"|{{harvnb|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}}: "Kautas, a teacher mentioned in the ''[[Nirukta]]'' by ''[[Yāska]]'' (ca. 500 BCE), a work devoted to an etymology of Vedic words that were no longer understood by ordinary people, held that the word of the Veda was no longer perceived as meaningful "normal" speech but as a fixed sequence of sounds, whose meaning was obscure beyond recovery."<br /><br />The tenth through twelfth volumes of the first Prapathaka of the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] (800-600 BCE) describe a legend about priests and it criticizes how they go about reciting verses and singing hymns without any idea what they mean or the divine principle they signify.<ref name=pauldeussen112>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1468-4}}, pages 80-84</ref>}} and ''[[nirukta]]s'', etymological compendia, were developed to preserve and clarify the original meaning of many Sanskrit words.{{sfn|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}}{{sfn|Jackson|2016|p="Sayana, Vidyaranya’s brother"}} According to Staal, as referenced by Holdrege, though the mantras may have a discursive meaning, when the mantras are recited in the Vedic rituals "they are disengaged from their original context and are employed in ways that have little or nothing to do with their meaning".{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=346}}{{refn|group=note|According to Holdrege, ''srotriyas'' (a  group of male Brahmin reciters who are masters of ''sruti''{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=345}}) "frequently do not understand what they recite" when reciting the ''Samhitas'', merely preserving the sound of the text.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=346}}}} The words of the mantras are "themselves sacred",{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|pp=346–347}} and "do not constitute [[Speech act|linguistic utterances]]".{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}} Instead, as Klostermaier notes, in their application in Vedic rituals they become [[Magic (supernatural)|magical]] sounds, "means to an end".{{refn|group=note|Klostermaier: "''Brahman'', derived from the root ''bŗh'' <nowiki>=</nowiki> to grow, to become great, was originally identical with the Vedic word, that makes people prosper: words were the pricipan means to approach the gods who dwelled in a different sphere. It was not a big step from this notion of "reified [[speech-act]]" to that "of the speech-act being looked at implicitly and explicitly as a means to an end." {{harvnb|Klostermaier|2007|p=55}} quotes {{harvnb|Deshpande|1990|p=4}}.}} Holdrege notes that there are scarce commentaries on the meaning of the mantras, in contrast to the number of commentaries on the Brahmanas and Upanishads, but states that the lack of emphasis on the "discursive meaning does not necessarily imply that they are meaningless".{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|pp=346,347}} In the Brahmanical perspective, the sounds have their own meaning, mantras are considered as "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}} By reciting them the cosmos is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base. As long as the purity of the sounds is preserved, the recitation of the ''mantras'' will be efficacious, irrespective of whether their discursive meaning is understood by human beings."{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=347}}{{refn|group=note|name="Coward2008_mimamsa"|{{harvnb|Coward|2008|p=114}}: "For the [[Mimamsa]] the ultimate reality is nothing other than the eternal words of the Vedas. They did not accept the existence of a single supreme creator god, who might have composed the Veda. According to the Mimamsa, gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the mantras that speak their names. The power of the gods, then, is nothing other than the power of the mantras that name them."}} Frazier further notes that "later Vedic texts sought deeper understanding of the reasons the rituals worked", which indicates that the Brahmin communities considered study to be a "process of understanding".{{sfn|Frazier|2011|p=34}}

A literary tradition is traceable in post-Vedic times, after the rise of [[Buddhism]] in the [[Maurya period]],{{refn|group=note|The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with the first Pali Canon written many centuries after the death of the Buddha.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Donald S. Lopez Jr. |year=1995|title= Authority and Orality in the Mahāyāna|journal= Numen|volume= 42 |number= 1 |pages= 21–47 |jstor= 3270278|doi=10.1163/1568527952598800 |hdl=2027.42/43799 |url= https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43799/1/11076_1995_Article_1568527952598800.pdf|hdl-access= free }}</ref>}} perhaps earliest in the [[Kanvas|Kanva]] recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st century BCE; however oral tradition of transmission remained active.<ref name="Witzel2003">{{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|p=69}}; For oral composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being written down, see: {{Harvnb|Avari|2007|p=76}}.</ref> [[Jack Goody]] has argued for an earlier literary tradition, concluding that the Vedas bear hallmarks of a literate culture along with oral transmission,{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=192}}{{sfn|Goody|1987}} but Goody's views have been strongly criticised by Falk, Lopez Jr,. and Staal, though they have also found some support.{{sfn|Lopez|2016|pp=35–36}}{{sfn|Olson|Cole|2013|p=15}}

The Vedas were written down only after 500 BCE,{{sfn|Wood|2007}}<ref name="Witzel2003"/><ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Avari|2007|pp=69–70, 76}}</ref> but only the orally transmitted texts are regarded as authoritative, given the emphasis on the exact pronunciation of the sounds.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=345}} Witzel suggests that attempts to write down the Vedic texts towards the end of 1st millennium BCE were unsuccessful, resulting in ''smriti'' rules explicitly forbidding the writing down of the Vedas.<ref name="Witzel2003"/> Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years.<ref>{{Citation | last = Brodd | first = Jeffrey | title = World Religions | publisher = Saint Mary's Press | year = 2003 | location = Winona, MN | isbn = 978-0-88489-725-5 }}</ref> The [[Sampurnanand Sanskrit University]] has a Rigveda manuscript from the 14th century;<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jamison|first1=Stephanie W.|last2=Brereton|first2=Joel P.|title=The Rigveda – The Earliest Religious Poetry of India, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972078-1|page=18}}</ref> however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in [[Nepal]] that are dated from the 11th century onwards.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cultural Heritage of Nepal|url=http://www.uni-hamburg.de/ngmcp/about_ngmpp_e.html|website=Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project|publisher=[[University of Hamburg]]|access-date=4 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140918022828/http://www.uni-hamburg.de/ngmcp/about_ngmpp_e.html|archive-date=18 September 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Vedic learning===
{{Main|Sanskrit and Vedic learning|Svādhyāya}}

The Vedas, Vedic rituals and its ancillary sciences called the [[Vedanga]]s, were part of the curriculum at ancient universities such as at [[Taxila]], [[Nalanda]] and [[Vikramashila]].{{sfn|Buswell|Lopez|2013}}{{sfn|Frazier|2011|page=[https://archive.org/details/continuumcompani00fraz/page/n48 34]}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Walton|first1=Linda|title="Educational institutions" in The Cambridge World History Vol. 5 |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-19074-9|page=122}}</ref><ref>Sukumar Dutt (1988) [1962]. ''Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture.'' George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. {{ISBN|81-208-0498-8}}. pp. 332–333</ref> According to Deshpande, "the tradition of the [[Sanskrit grammarians]] also contributed significantly to the preservation and interpretation of Vedic texts."{{sfn|Deshpande|1990|p=33}} [[Yāska]] (4th c. BCE{{sfn|Misra|2000|p=49}}) wrote the ''[[Nirukta]]'', which reflects the concerns about the loss of meaning of the mantras,{{refn|group=note|name="Kautas"}} while [[Pāṇini]]s (4th c. BCE) ''[[Aṣṭādhyāyī]]'' is the most important surviving text of the Vyākaraṇa traditions. [[Mimamsa]] scholar [[Sayana]]s (14th c. CE) major ''Vedartha Prakasha''{{refn|group=note|Literally, "the meaning of the Vedas made manifest."}} is a rare{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=354}} commentary on the Vedas, which is also referred to by contemporary scholars.{{sfn|Jackson|2016|loc=ch.3}}

Yaska and Sayana, reflecting an ancient understanding, state that the Veda can be interpreted in three ways, giving "the truth about [[Rigvedic deities|gods]], ''[[Dharma#History|dharma]]'' and [[parabrahman]]."{{sfn|Coward|Raja|Potter|1990|p=106}}{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=34}}{{refn|group=note|Sayana repeats Yaska; see [[Nirukta#Ancient|interpretation of the Vedas]].}} The ''pūrva-kāņda'' (or ''karma-kanda''), the part of the Veda dealing with ritual, gives knowledge of ''dharma'', "which brings us satisfaction." The ''uttara-kanda'' (or ''[[Upanishads|jnana-kanda]]''),{{refn|group=note|The ''Upanishads''.{{sfn|Nakamura|1983|p=409}}}} the part of the Veda dealing with the knowledge of the absolute, gives knowledge of ''Parabrahma'', "which fulfills all of our desires."{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=30}} According to Holdrege, for the exponents of ''karma-kandha'' the Veda is to be "inscribed in the minds and hearts of men" by memorisation and recitation, while for the exponents of the ''jnana-kanda'' and meditation the Vedas express a transcendental reality which can be approached with mystical means.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|pp=355, 356–357}}

Holdrege notes that in Vedic learning "priority has been given to recitation over interpretation" of the Samhitas.{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=354}} Galewicz states that Sayana, a [[Mimamsa]] scholar,{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|p=40}}{{sfn|Galewicz|2011|p=338}}{{sfn|Collins|2009|loc="237 Sayana"}} "thinks of the Veda as something to be trained and mastered to be put into practical ritual use", noticing that "it is not the meaning of the mantras that is most essential [...] but rather the perfect mastering of their sound form."{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|p=41}} According to Galewicz, Sayana saw the purpose (''artha'') of the Veda as the "''[[artha]]'' of carrying out sacrifice", giving precedence to the ''Yajurveda''.{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|p=40}} For Sayana, whether the mantras had meaning depended on the context of their practical usage.{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|p=41}} This conception of the Veda, as a repertoire to be mastered and performed, takes precedence over the internal meaning or "autonomous message of the hymns."{{sfn|Galewicz|2004|pp=41–42}} Most [[Śrauta rituals]] are not performed in the modern era, and those that are, are rare.{{sfn|Michaels|2016|pp=237–238}}

[[Radha Kumud Mukherjee|Mukherjee]] notes that the Rigveda, and Sayana's commentary, contain passages criticising as fruitless mere recitation of the ''Ŗik'' (words) without understanding their inner meaning or essence, the knowledge of ''dharma'' and ''Parabrahman''.{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|pp=29–31}} Mukherjee concludes that in the Rigvedic education of the mantras "the contemplation and comprehension of [[Nirukta|their meaning]] was considered as more important and vital to education than their mere mechanical repetition and correct pronunciation."{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|pp=29, 34}} Mookei refers to Sayana as stating that "the mastery of texts, ''akshara-praptī'', is followed by ''[[artha]]-[[Buddhi|bodha]]'', perception of their meaning."{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=35}}{{refn|group=note|name="artha"|''Artha'' may also mean "goal, purpose or essence," depending on the context.<ref>See:
<br />{{*}} [http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=artha&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 Sanskrit English Dictionary] University of Kloen, Germany (2009)
<br />{{*}} Karl Potter (1998), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, {{ISBN|81-208-0310-8}}, Motilal Banarsidass, pp 610 (note 17)</ref>}} Mukherjee explains that the Vedic knowledge was first perceived by the ''rishis'' and ''munis''. Only the perfect language of the Vedas, as in contrast to ordinary speech, can reveal these truths, which were preserved by committing them to memory.{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|pp=34–35}} According to Mukherjee, while these truths are imparted to the student by the memorised texts,{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|pp=35–36}} "the realization of [[rta|Truth]]" and the knowledge of ''[[paramatman]]'' as revealed to the ''rishis'' is the real aim of Vedic learning, and not the mere recitation of texts.{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=36}} The supreme knowledge of the Absolute, ''[[para Brahman]]-[[Jnana yoga|jnana]]'', the knowledge of ''[[rta]]'' and ''[[satya]]'', can be obtained by taking vows of silence and obedience{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=196}} sense-restraint, ''[[Dhyana in Hinduism|dhyana]]'', the practice of ''[[Tapas (Indian religions)|tapas]]'' (austerities),{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=34}} and discussing the [[Vedanta]].{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=196}}{{refn|group=note|Mookerji also refers to the Uśanā smriti (81-2), which "states that mastery of mere text of Veda is to be followed up by its meaning" by discussing the Vedanta.{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=196}} where-after they were able to engage in doscourses on the Vedas.{{sfn|Mookerji|2011|p=29}}{{sfn|Frazier|2011|p=34}}}}

==Vedic schools or recensions==
{{Vedas and Shakhas}}
{{Main article|Shakha}}
The four Vedas were transmitted in various [[Shakha|{{IAST|śākhā}}]]s (branches, schools).<ref name="Flood 1996 39">{{Harvnb|Flood|1996|p=39}}.</ref><ref name=witzelthreefour/> Each school likely represented an ancient community of a particular area, or kingdom.<ref name=witzelthreefour/> Each school followed its own canon. Multiple recensions (revisions) are known for each of the Vedas.<ref name="Flood 1996 39"/> Thus, states Witzel as well as Renou, in the 2nd millennium BCE, there was likely no canon of one broadly accepted Vedic texts, no Vedic “Scripture”, but only a canon of various texts accepted by each school. Some of these texts have survived, most lost or yet to be found. Rigveda that survives in modern times, for example, is in only one extremely well preserved school of Śåkalya, from a region called [[Videha]], in modern north [[Bihar]], south of [[Nepal]].<ref name=jamisonwitzelvedic>Jamison and Witzel (1992), [http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf Vedic Hinduism], Harvard University, p. 6</ref> The Vedic canon in its entirety consists of texts from all the various Vedic schools taken together.<ref name=witzelthreefour/>

There were Vedic schools that believed in [[polytheism]] in which numerous gods had different natural functions, [[henotheistic]] beliefs where only one god was worshipped but others were thought to exist, [[monotheistic]] beliefs in a single god, [[agnosticism]], and [[monistic]] beliefs where "there is an absolute reality that goes beyond the gods and that includes or transcends everything that exists."<ref name=":102">{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Jay |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eastern Philosophy |publisher=[[Alpha Books]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780028638201 |location=Indianapolis |pages=46 |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Indra]], [[Agni]], and [[Yama]] were popular subjects of worship by polytheist schools.<ref name=":102" />

Each of the four Vedas were shared by the numerous schools, but revised, interpolated and adapted locally, in and after the Vedic period, giving rise to various recensions of the text. Some texts were revised into the modern era, raising significant debate on parts of the text which are believed to have been corrupted at a later date.<ref>J. Muir (1872), {{Google books|HRYAAAAAYAAJ|Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their religion and institutions, Vol. 1}}, 2nd Edition, p. 12</ref><ref>Albert Friedrich Weber, {{Google books|Bi8JAAAAQAAJ|Indische Studien, herausg. von}}, Vol. 10, pp. 1–9 with footnotes (in German); For a translation, {{Google books|HRYAAAAAYAAJ|Original Sanskrit Texts}}, p. 14</ref> The Vedas each have an Index or ''[[Anukramani]]'', the principal work of this kind being the general Index or ''{{IAST|Sarvānukramaṇī}}''.<ref>For an example, see [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/3178027 Sarvānukramaṇī Vivaraṇa] Univ of Pennsylvania rare texts collection</ref><ref>R̥gveda-sarvānukramaṇī Śaunakakr̥tāʼnuvākānukramaṇī ca, Maharṣi-Kātyayāna-viracitā, {{oclc|11549595}}</ref>

Prodigious energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.<ref name=":1">{{Harvnb|Staal|1986}}</ref> For example, memorisation of the sacred ''Vedas'' included up to eleven [[Vedic chant|forms of recitation]] of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the ''{{IAST|jaṭā-pāṭha}}'' (literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated in the original order.<ref name=filliozat-p139>{{Harvnb|Filliozat|2004|p=139}}</ref> That these methods have been effective, is attested to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the ''[[Rigveda]]'', as [[redacted]] into a single text during the ''Brahmana'' period, without any variant readings within that school.<ref name=filliozat-p139/>

The Vedas were orally transmitted by memorisation, and were written down only after 500 BCE,{{sfn|Wood|2007}}<ref name="Witzel2003"/><ref name=":0"/> All printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century CE.<ref>{{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|p=69}}, "... almost all printed editions depend on the late manuscripts that are hardly older than 500 years"</ref>

==Four Vedas==
{{Pie chart
 | caption='''The Vedas'''<br>''Share by size''
 | other =
 | label1 = Rig
 | value1 = 51.78 | color1 = #F60
 | label2 = Yajur
 | value2 = 9.69 | color2 = #A30
 | label3 = Sama
 | value3 = 9.20 | color3 = #09F
 | label4 = Atharva
 | value4 = 29.33 | color4 = #B80
}}

The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (''{{IAST|turīya}}'') viz.,<ref>{{Harvnb|Radhakrishnan|Moore|1957|p=3}}; {{Harvnb|Witzel|2003|p=68}}</ref>
# [[Rigveda]] (RV)
# [[Yajurveda]] (YV, with the main division [[Taittiriya Shakha|TS]] vs. [[Shakha|VS]])
# [[Samaveda]] (SV)
# [[Atharvaveda]] (AV)

Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called "''{{IAST|trayī vidyā}}''"; that is, "the triple science" of reciting hymns (Rigveda), performing sacrifices (Yajurveda), and chanting songs (Samaveda).<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=257–348}}</ref>{{sfn|MacDonell|2004|pp=29–39}} The Rig Veda most likely was composed between {{circa}} 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE.{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} Witzel notes that it is the Vedic period itself, where incipient lists divide the Vedic texts into three (trayī) or four branches: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva.<ref name=witzelthreefour/>

Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the [[Samhita]]s (mantras and benedictions), the [[Aranyakas]] (text on rituals, ceremonies such as newborn baby's rites of passage, coming of age, marriages, retirement and cremation, sacrifices and symbolic sacrifices), the [[Brahmanas]] (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the [[Upanishads]] (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).<ref name="gflood"/><ref name="A Bhattacharya 2006 pp. 8–14"/><ref name="Jan Gonda 1975"/> The [[Upasana]]s (short ritual worship-related sections) are considered by some scholars{{sfn|Bhattacharya|2006|pp=8–14}}{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|pp=351–357}} as the fifth part. [[Michael Witzel|Witzel]] notes that the rituals, rites and ceremonies described in these ancient texts reconstruct to a large degree the Indo-European marriage rituals observed in a region spanning the Indian subcontinent, Persia and the European area, and some greater details are found in the Vedic era texts such as the Grhya Sūtras.<ref>Jamison and Witzel (1992), [http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf Vedic Hinduism], Harvard University, p. 21</ref>

Only one version of the Rigveda is known to have survived into the modern era.<ref name=jamisonwitzelvedic/> Several different versions of the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda are known, and many different versions of the Yajurveda have been found in different parts of South Asia.<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|p=286}}</ref>

The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox ś''ramana''-traditions.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=82}}

===Rigveda===
{{Main article|Rigveda}}
{{Quote box |width=26em | bgcolor=#FFE0BB |align=right |salign = right
|quote=[[Nasadiya Sukta]] (Hymn of non-Eternity):

Who really knows?<br />
Who can here proclaim it?<br />
Whence, whence this creation sprang?<br />
Gods came later, after the creation of this universe.

Who then knows whence it has arisen?<br />
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;<br />
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,<br />
He only knows, or perhaps He does not know.
|source =—[[Rig Veda]] 10.129.6–7<ref name=nasadiyasukta>
Original Sanskrit: [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१२९ Rigveda 10.129] Wikisource;
<br />{{*}}Translation 1: {{cite book|author=Max Müller|title=A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature|date=1859|publisher=Williams and Norgate, London|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofancient00mluoft#page/564/mode/2up|pages=559–565|author-link=Max Müller}}
<br />{{*}}Translation 2: {{cite book|author=Kenneth Kramer|title=World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions|date=1986|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-2781-8|page=21}}
<br />{{*}}Translation 3: {{cite book|author=David Christian|title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History|url=https://archive.org/details/mapstimeintroduc00chri_515|url-access=limited|date=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-95067-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mapstimeintroduc00chri_515/page/n45 17]–18}}</ref>}}
The [[Rigveda|Rigveda Samhita]] is the oldest extant [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic]] text.<ref>see e.g. {{Harvnb|Avari|2007|p=77}}.</ref> It is a collection of 1,028 [[Vedic Sanskrit]] [[hymn]]s and 10,600 verses in all, organised into ten books (Sanskrit: ''mandalas'').<ref>For 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses and division into ten mandalas, see: {{Harvnb|Avari|2007|p=77}}.</ref> The hymns are dedicated to [[Rigvedic deities]].<ref>For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, Soma, Surya, etc. see: {{Harvnb|Avari|2007|p=77}}.</ref>

The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of several centuries between {{circa}} 1500 and 1200&nbsp;BCE,{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} (the early [[Vedic period]]) in the [[Punjab]] ([[Sapta Sindhu]]) region of the northwest [[Indian subcontinent]]. According to Michael Witzel, the initial codification of the ''Rigveda'' took place at the end of the Rigvedic period at {{Circa|1200 BCE}}, in the early [[Kuru kingdom]].{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=261}}

The Rigveda is structured based on clear principles. The Veda begins with a small book addressed to Agni, Indra, [[Soma (deity)|Soma]] and other gods, all arranged according to decreasing total number of hymns in each deity collection; for each deity series, the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, but the number of hymns per book increases. Finally, the meter too is systematically arranged from jagati and tristubh to anustubh and gayatri as the text progresses.<ref name=witzelthreefour>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]", Harvard University, in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=261–264}}</ref>

The rituals became increasingly complex over time, and the king's association with them strengthened both the position of the Brahmans and the kings.{{sfn|Prasad|2020|pp=150–151}} The [[Rajasuya]] rituals, performed with the coronation of a king, "set in motion [...] cyclical regenerations of the universe."{{sfn|Prasad|2020|p=151}} In terms of substance, the nature of hymns shift from praise of deities in early books to [[Nasadiya Sukta]] with questions such as, "what is the origin of the universe?, do even gods know the answer?",<ref name=nasadiyasukta/> the virtue of [[Dāna]] (charity) in society,<ref>Original text translated in English: [[s:The Rig Veda/Mandala 10/Hymn 117|The Rig Veda]], Mandala 10, Hymn 117, Ralph T.H. Griffith (Translator);<br />C Chatterjee (1995), [https://archive.today/20150415005506/http://jhv.sagepub.com/content/1/1/3.short Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview], Journal of Human Values, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 3–12</ref> and other metaphysical issues in its hymns.{{refn|group=note|For example,<br />''Hymn 1.164.34'', "What is the ultimate limit of the earth?", "What is the center of the universe?", "What is the semen of the cosmic horse?", "What is the ultimate source of human speech?"<br />''Hymn 1.164.34'', "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"<br />''Hymn 1.164.5'', "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods live?"<br />''Hymn 1.164.6'', "What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?";<br />''Hymn 1.164.20'' (a hymn that is widely cited in the Upanishads as the parable of the Body and the Soul): "Two birds with fair wings, inseparable companions; Have found refuge in the same sheltering tree. One incessantly eats from the fig tree; the other, not eating, just looks on.";<br />Sources: (a) Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, {{ISBN|978-0-595-26925-9}}, pp. 64–69;<br />[[Jan Gonda]], A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Volume 1, Part 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}, pp. 134–135;<br />[[s:The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 164|Rigveda Book 1, Hymn 164]] Wikisource}}

There are similarities between the mythology, rituals and linguistics in Rigveda and those found in ancient central Asia, Iranian and Hindukush (Afghanistan) regions.<ref>Michael Witzel, [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~rnoyer/courses/51/Witzel2002.pdf The Rigvedic religious system and its central Asian and Hindukush antecedents], in The Vedas – Texts, Language and Ritual, Editors: Griffiths and Houben (2004), Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-90-6980-149-0}}, pp. 581–627</ref>

===Yajurveda===
{{Main article|Yajurveda}}
The [[Yajurveda|Yajurveda Samhita]] consists of prose mantras.{{sfn|Witzel|2003|pp=76–77}} It is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the [[yajna]] fire.{{sfn|Witzel|2003|pp=76–77}} The core text of the Yajurveda falls within the classical Mantra period of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] at the end of the 2nd millennium BCE – younger than the [[Rigveda]], and roughly contemporary with the ''[[Atharvaveda]]'', the Rigvedic [[Khilani]], and the [[Samaveda|{{IAST|Sāmaveda}}]].<ref>[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools], Michael Witzel, Harvard University</ref> Witzel dates the Yajurveda [[Music of India#History|hymns]] to the early Indian [[Iron Age India|Iron Age]], after c. 1200 and before 800 BCE<ref>[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ewitzel/EJVS-7-3.pdf Autochthonous Aryans?] Michael Witzel, Harvard University</ref> corresponding to the early [[Kuru kingdom]].<ref>[http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf Early Sanskritization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220153727/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf |date=20 February 2012 }}, Michael Witzel, Harvard University</ref>

[[File:Taittiriya Samhita Vedas, Devanagari script, Sanskrit pliv.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A page from the ''Taittiriya Samhita'', a layer of text within the ''Yajurveda'']]
The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda Samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in [[Rigveda]].<ref>Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, {{ISBN|978-0-595-26925-9}}, pp. 273–274</ref> Unlike the Samaveda which is almost entirely based on Rigveda mantras and structured as songs, the Yajurveda Samhitas are in prose, and they are different from earlier Vedic texts linguistically.<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=270–271}}</ref> The Yajurveda has been the primary source of information about sacrifices during Vedic times and associated rituals.<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=272–274}}</ref>

There are two major groups of texts in this Veda: the "Black" (''Krishna'') and the "White" (''Shukla''). The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" (well arranged) Yajurveda.<ref name=pauldeussen217>[[Paul Deussen]], Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1468-4}}, pp. 217–219</ref> The White Yajurveda separates the Samhita from its Brahmana (the [[Shatapatha Brahmana]]), the Black Yajurveda intersperses the Samhita with Brahmana commentary. Of the Black Yajurveda, texts from four major schools have survived (Maitrayani, Katha, Kapisthala-Katha, Taittiriya), while of the White Yajurveda, two (Kanva and Madhyandina).{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=52 Table 3}}<ref name=prabhakar>CL Prabhakar (1972), The Recensions of the Sukla Yajurveda, Archiv Orientální, Volume 40, Issue 1, pp. 347–353</ref> The youngest layer of Yajurveda text is not related to rituals nor sacrifice, it includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of [[Hindu philosophy]].<ref name="The Philosophy of the Upanishads">[[Paul Deussen]], [https://archive.org/stream/philosophyofupan00deus#page/22/mode/2up The Philosophy of the Upanishads], Motilal Banarsidass (2011 Edition), {{ISBN|978-81-208-1620-6}}, p. 23</ref><ref name="Patrick Olivelle 1998 pp. 1–17">Patrick Olivelle (1998), Upaniṣhads, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-282292-6}}, pp. 1–17</ref>

===Samaveda===
{{Main article|Samaveda}}
The [[Samaveda|Samaveda Samhita]]<ref>From {{IAST|sāman}}, the term for a melody applied to a metrical hymn or a song of praise, {{Harvnb|Apte|1965|p=981}}.</ref> consists of 1549 stanzas, taken almost entirely (except for 75 mantras) from the Rigveda.<ref name="Michaels 2004 51"/><ref name=witzelsamaveda>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=269–270}}</ref> While its earliest parts are believed to date from as early as the Rigvedic period, the existing compilation dates from the post-Rigvedic Mantra period of [[Vedic Sanskrit]], between {{circa|1200}} and 1000 BCE or "slightly later", roughly contemporary with the [[Atharvaveda]] and the [[Yajurveda]].<ref name=witzelsamaveda/>

The Samaveda Samhita has two major parts. The first part includes four melody collections (gāna, गान) and the second part three verse “books” (ārcika, आर्चिक).<ref name=witzelsamaveda/> A melody in the song books corresponds to a verse in the ''arcika'' books. Just as in the Rigveda, the early sections of Samaveda typically begin with hymns to Agni and Indra but shift to the abstract. Their meters shift also in a descending order. The songs in the later sections of the Samaveda have the least deviation from the hymns derived from the Rigveda.<ref name=witzelsamaveda/>

In the Samaveda, some of the Rigvedic verses are repeated.<ref>M Bloomfield, {{Google books|DigYAAAAYAAJ|Rig-veda Repetitions|page=402}}, pp. 402–464</ref> Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith.<ref>For 1875 total verses, see the numbering given in Ralph T. H. Griffith.  Griffith's introduction mentions the recension history for his text.  Repetitions may be found by consulting the cross-index in Griffith pp. 491–499.</ref> Two major recensions have survived, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya. Its purpose was liturgical, and they were the repertoire of the [[udgatr|''{{IAST|udgātṛ}}'']] or "singer" priests.{{sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|p=381}}

===Atharvaveda===
{{Main article|Atharvaveda}}
The [[Atharvaveda|Artharvaveda Samhita]] is the text belonging to the [[Atharvan]] and [[Angiras (sage)|Angirasa]] poets. It has about 760 hymns, and about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rigveda.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=56}} Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=56}} Two different versions of the text – the {{IAST|Paippalāda}} and the {{IAST|Śaunakīya}} – have survived into the modern times.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=56}}<ref name=fritsstaal136>Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0-14-309986-4}}, pp. 136–137</ref> The Atharvaveda was not considered as a Veda in the Vedic era, and was accepted as a Veda in late 1st millennium BCE.<ref>[[Frits Staal]] (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0-14-309986-4}}, p. 135</ref><ref>Alex Wayman (1997), Untying the Knots in Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1321-2}}, pp. 52–53</ref> It was compiled last,<ref name=zaehnerlastav>"The latest of the four Vedas, the Atharva-Veda, is, as we have seen, largely composed of magical texts and charms, but here and there we find cosmological hymns which anticipate the Upanishads, – hymns to Skambha, the 'Support', who is seen as the first principle which is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, to Prāna, the 'Breath of Life', to Vāc, the 'Word', and so on." {{Harvnb|Zaehner|1966|p=vii}}.</ref> probably around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rigveda,{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}} or earlier.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=56}}

The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of magical formulas",<ref name=lauriepatton38>Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-21527-7}}, p. 38</ref> an epithet declared to be incorrect by other scholars.<ref name=jangonda277>[[Jan Gonda]] (1975), Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, Vol 1, Fasc. 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}, pp. 277–280, Quote: "It would be incorrect to describe the Atharvaveda Samhita as a collection of magical formulas".</ref> The [[Samhita]] layer of the text likely represents a developing 2nd millennium BCE tradition of [[magico-religious]] rites to address superstitious anxiety, spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by demons, and herbs- and nature-derived potions as medicine.<ref>Kenneth Zysk (2012), Understanding Mantras (Editor: Harvey Alper), Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0746-4}}, pp. 123–129</ref><ref>On magic spells and charms, such as those to gain better health: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/av064.htm Atharva Veda 2.32 Bhaishagykni, Charm to secure perfect health] Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; see also chapters 3.11, 3.31, 4.10, 5.30, 19.26;<br /> On finding a good husband: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/av102.htm Atharva Veda 4.2.36 Strijaratani] Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; Atharvaveda dedicates over 30 chapters to love relationships, sexuality and for conceiving a child, see e.g. chapters 1.14, 2.30, 3.25, 6.60, 6.78, 6.82, 6.130–6.132; On peaceful social and family relationships: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/av153.htm Atharva Veda 6.3.30] Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press;</ref> The text, states Kenneth Zysk, is one of oldest surviving record of the evolutionary practices in religious medicine and reveals the "earliest forms of folk healing of Indo-European antiquity".<ref>Kenneth Zysk (1993), Religious Medicine: The History and Evolution of Indian Medicine, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-1-56000-076-1}}, pp. x–xii</ref> Many books of the Atharvaveda Samhita are dedicated to rituals without magic, such as to philosophical speculations and to [[theosophy]].<ref name=jangonda277/>

The Atharvaveda has been a primary source for information about Vedic culture, the customs and beliefs, the aspirations and frustrations of everyday Vedic life, as well as those associated with kings and governance. The text also includes hymns dealing with the two major rituals of passage – [[marriage]] and [[cremation]]. The Atharvaveda also dedicates significant portion of the text asking the meaning of a ritual.<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu]" in {{Harvnb|Witzel|1997|pp=275–276}}</ref>

===Embedded Vedic texts===
 {{multiple image
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 | width = 275
 | footer = Manuscripts of the Vedas are in the Sanskrit language, but in many regional scripts in addition to the [[Devanagari]]. Top: [[Grantha script]] (Tamil Nadu), Below: [[Malayalam script]] (Kerala).
 | image1 = Vedas palm leaf manuscript, Tamil Grantha Script, Sanskrit, Tamil Nadu.jpg
 | image2 = 16th century Vedas palm leaf manuscript, Malayalam Script, Sanskrit, Kerala.jpg
 }}

====Brahmanas====
{{Further|Brahmana}}
The Brahmanas are commentaries, explanation of proper methods and meaning of Vedic Samhita rituals in the four Vedas.{{sfn|Klostermaier|1994|pp=67–69}} They also incorporate myths, legends and in some cases philosophy.{{sfn|Klostermaier|1994|pp=67–69}}<ref name=ebri>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77126/Brahmana Brahmana] Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)</ref> Each regional Vedic ''[[shakha]]'' (school) has its own operating manual-like Brahmana text, most of which have been lost.<ref name=winter>Moriz Winternitz (2010), A History of Indian Literature, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0264-3}}, pp. 175–176</ref> A total of 19 Brahmana texts have survived into modern times: two associated with the [[Rigveda]], six with the [[Yajurveda]], ten with the [[Samaveda]] and one with the [[Atharvaveda]]. The oldest dated to about 900 BCE, while the youngest Brahmanas (such as the [[Shatapatha Brahmana]]), were complete by about 700 BCE.<ref name=mw/><ref name=bcp/> According to [[Jan Gonda]], the final codification of the Brahmanas took place in pre-Buddhist times (ca. 600 BCE).{{sfn|Klostermaier|1994|p=67}}

The substance of the Brahmana text varies with each Veda. For example, the first chapter of the Chandogya Brahmana, one of the oldest Brahmanas, includes eight ritual ''suktas'' (hymns) for the ceremony of marriage and rituals at the birth of a child.<ref name=maxmullercb/><ref name=pauldeussencb>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1468-4}}, p. 63</ref> The first hymn is a recitation that accompanies offering a [[Yajna]] oblation to ''Agni'' (fire) on the occasion of a marriage, and the hymn prays for prosperity of the couple getting married.<ref name=maxmullercb>Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n93/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad], The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, p. lxxxvii with footnote 2</ref><ref>{{Google books|sqqgAAAAMAAJ|The Development of the Female Mind in India|page=27}}, The Calcutta Review, Volume 60, p. 27</ref> The second hymn wishes for their long life, kind relatives, and a numerous progeny.<ref name=maxmullercb/> The third hymn is a mutual marriage pledge, between the bride and groom, by which the two bind themselves to each other. The sixth through last hymns of the first chapter in Chandogya Brahmana are ritual celebrations on the birth of a child and wishes for health, wealth, and prosperity with a profusion of cows and [[Artha]].<ref name=maxmullercb/> However, these verses are incomplete expositions, and their complete context emerges only with the Samhita layer of text.<ref>Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}, pp. 319–322, 368–383 with footnotes</ref>

====Aranyakas and Upanishads====
{{Further|Vedanta|Upanishads|Aranyaka}}
The Aranyakas layer of the Vedas include rituals, discussion of symbolic meta-rituals, as well as philosophical speculations.{{sfn|Holdrege|1995|pp=351–357}}<ref name=jago>[[Jan Gonda]] (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}, pp. 424–426</ref>

Aranyakas, however, neither are homogeneous in content nor in structure.<ref name=jago/> They are a medley of instructions and ideas, and some include chapters of Upanishads within them. Two theories have been proposed on the origin of the word Aranyakas. One theory holds that these texts were meant to be studied in a forest, while the other holds that the name came from these being the manuals of allegorical interpretation of sacrifices, for those in [[Vanaprastha]] (retired, forest-dwelling) stage of their life, according to the historic age-based [[Āśrama (stage)|Ashrama]] system of human life.<ref>AB Keith (2007), The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0644-3}}, pp. 489–490</ref>

The Upanishads reflect the last composed layer of texts in the Vedas. They are commonly referred to as ''[[Vedānta]]'', variously interpreted to mean either the "last chapters, parts of the Vedas" or "the object, the highest purpose of the Veda".<ref>Max Müller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads01ml#page/n93/mode/2up The Upanishads], Part 1, Oxford University Press, p. lxxxvi footnote 1</ref> The central concern of the Upanishads are the connections "between parts of the human organism and cosmic realities".{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=liii}} The Upanishads intend to create a hierarchy of connected and dependent realities, evoking a sense of unity of "the separate elements of the world and of human experience [compressing] them into a single form."{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=lv}} The concepts of [[Brahman]], the Ultimate Reality from which everything arises, and [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]], the essence of the individual, are central ideas in the Upanishads,{{sfn|Mahadevan|1952|p=59}}<ref name=ptraju>PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-88706-139-4}}, pp. 35–36</ref> and knowing the correspondence between Ātman and Brahman as "the fundamental principle which shapes the world" permits the creation of an integrative vision of the whole.{{sfn|Olivelle|1998|p=lv}}<ref name=ptraju/> The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions,<ref name=wendydoniger/><ref>Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al), State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1080-6}}, p. 39; Quote: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self.";<br />Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-1-59257-846-7}}, pp. 208–210</ref> and of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads have influenced the diverse traditions of Hinduism.<ref name="wendydoniger"/><ref>Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-535242-9}}, p. 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".</ref>

''Aranyakas'' are sometimes identified as ''karma-kanda'' (ritualistic section), while the ''Upanishads'' are identified as ''jnana-kanda'' (spirituality section).{{sfn|Holdrege|1996|p=30}}{{sfn|Nakamura|1983|p=409}}{{sfn|Bhattacharya|2006|p=9}}{{refn|group=note|name="Roer"}} In an alternate classification, the early part of Vedas are called [[Samhita]]s and the commentary are called the [[Brahmana]]s which together are identified as the ceremonial ''karma-kanda'', while ''Aranyakas'' and ''Upanishads'' are referred to as the ''jnana-kanda''.{{sfn|Knapp|2005|pp=10–11}}

==Post-Vedic literature==

===Vedanga===
{{Main article|Vedanga}}
The Vedangas developed towards the end of the Vedic period, around or after the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. These auxiliary fields of Vedic studies emerged because the language of the Vedas,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/sound-and-meaning-of-veda-23245229|title=Sound and meaning of Veda|date=11 September 2022 }}</ref> composed centuries earlier, became too archaic to the people of that time.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1999|p=xxiii}} The Vedangas were sciences that focused on helping understand and interpret the Vedas that had been composed many centuries earlier.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1999|p=xxiii}}

The six subjects of Vedanga are phonetics ([[Shiksha|{{IAST|Śikṣā}}]]), poetic meter ([[Sanskrit prosody|{{IAST|Chandas}}]]), grammar ([[Vyakarana|{{IAST|Vyākaraṇa}}]]), etymology and linguistics ([[Nirukta]]), rituals and rites of passage ([[Kalpa (Vedanga)|{{IAST|Kalpa}}]]), time keeping and astronomy ([[Jyotisha|{{IAST|Jyotiṣa}}]]).<ref name=jameslochtefeldvedanga>James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|0-8239-2287-1}}, pp. 744–745</ref>{{Sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=391–394 with footnotes, 416–419}}{{Sfn|Coward|Raja|Potter|1990|pp=105–110}}

Vedangas developed as ancillary studies for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar, linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various schools of [[Hindu philosophy]].<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Hinduism |volume= 13 | pages = 501&ndash;513; see page 505 |last1= Eggeling |first1= Hans Julius }}</ref>{{Sfn|Wilke|Moebus|2011|pp=472–532}}{{Sfn|Coward|Raja|Potter|1990|p=18}} The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.{{Sfn|Olivelle|1999|p=xxiii}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Rajendra Prasad |title=A Historical-developmental Study of Classical Indian Philosophy of Morals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1gtxVmUr1ygC |year=2009|publisher=Concept |isbn=978-81-8069-595-7 |page=147 }}</ref>

===Parisista===
{{Main article|Pariśiṣṭa}}
''{{IAST|Pariśiṣṭa}}'' "supplement, appendix" is the term applied to various ancillary works of Vedic literature, dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of the texts logically and chronologically prior to them: the [[Samhita]]s, [[Brahmana]]s, [[Aranyaka]]s and [[Kalpa (Vedanga)|Sutras]]. Naturally classified with the Veda to which each pertains, Parisista works exist for each of the four Vedas. However, only the literature associated with the [[Atharvaveda]] is extensive.
* The ''{{IAST|Āśvalāyana Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa}}'' is a very late text associated with the [[Rigveda]] canon.
* The ''{{IAST|Gobhila Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa}}'' is a short metrical text of two chapters, with 113 and 95 verses respectively.
* The ''{{IAST|Kātiya Pariśiṣṭas}}'', ascribed to [[Katyayana|{{IAST|Kātyāyana}}]], consist of 18 works enumerated self-referentially in the fifth of the series (the [[Shakha|{{IAST|Caraṇavyūha}}]]) and the ''{{IAST|Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa}}''.
* The ''{{IAST|Kṛṣṇa}} [[Yajurveda]]'' has 3 parisistas the {{IAST|Āpastamba Hautra Pariśiṣṭa}}, which is also found as the second praśna of the {{IAST|Satyasāḍha Śrauta Sūtra}}, the ''{{IAST|Vārāha Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa}}''.
* For the Atharvaveda, there are 79 works, collected as 72 distinctly named parisistas.<ref>BR Modak, The Ancillary Literature of the Atharva-Veda, New Delhi, Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, 1993, {{ISBN|81-215-0607-7}}</ref>

===Upaveda<!--'Upaveda' redirects here-->===
The term '''Upaveda'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works.{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1899|p=[http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0200/mw__0240.html 207]}}{{sfn|Apte|1965|p=293}} Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The [[Charanavyuha]] mentions four Upavedas:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803114818711|title=Upaveda |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 December 2014}}</ref>
* [[Archery]] ({{IAST|[[Dhanurveda]]}}), associated with the Yajurveda.
* Architecture ({{IAST|[[Sthapatyaveda]]}}), associated with the Rigveda.
* Music and [[Indian classical dance|sacred dance]] ({{IAST|[[Gāndharvaveda]]}}), associated with the Samaveda.
* Medicine ([[Ayurveda|{{IAST|Āyurveda}}]]), associated with the Atharvaveda.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Narayanaswamy |first1=V. |title=Origin and Development of Ayurveda: A Brief History |journal=Ancient Science of Life |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–7 |date=1981|pmc=3336651 |pmid=22556454 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Frawley|first1=David|last2=Ranade|first2=Subhash|title=Ayurveda, Nature's Medicine|date=2001|publisher=Lotus Press|page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTIVnugZofsC|access-date=6 January 2015|isbn=978-0-914955-95-5}}</ref>

==="Fifth" and other Vedas===
Some post-Vedic texts, including the [[Mahabharata]], the [[Natyasastra]]<ref>Paul Kuritz (1988), The Making of Theatre History, Prentice Hall, {{ISBN|978-0-13-547861-5}}, p. 68</ref> and certain [[Puranas]], refer to themselves as the "[[fifth Veda]]".{{sfn|Sullivan|1994|p=385}} The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] in hymn 7.1.2.<ref>Sanskrit original: [http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/छान्दोग्योपनिषद्_४ Chandogya Upanishad], Wikisource;<br />{{*}}English translation: [https://archive.org/stream/Shankara.Bhashya-Chandogya.Upanishad-Ganganath.Jha.1942.English#page/n383/mode/2up Chandogya Upanishad 7.1.2], G Jha (Translator), Oriental Book Agency, p. 368</ref>

{{Blockquote|
Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art. Thus, from all the Vedas, [[Brahma]] framed the Nātya Veda. From the Rig Veda he drew forth the words, from the Sama Veda the melody, from the Yajur Veda gesture, and from the Atharva Veda the sentiment.
|First chapter of ''Nātyaśāstra''|Abhinaya Darpana<ref>{{Cite web|title=Natyashastra|publisher = Sanskrit Documents| url=http://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/natya01.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Mirror of Gesture|author=Coormaraswamy and Duggirala|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1917|pages=2–4|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924012568535#page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref>}}

"[[Divya Prabandha]]", for example Tiruvaymoli, is a term for canonical [[Tamil language|Tamil]] texts considered as vernacular Veda by some South Indian Hindus.<ref name="John Carman 1989 pp. 259–261"/><ref name="Vasudha Narayanan 1994 pp. 43, 117">Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87249-965-2}}, pp. 43, 117–119</ref>

Other texts such as the [[Bhagavad Gita]] or the [[Vedanta Sutras]] are considered ''shruti'' or "Vedic" by some [[Hindu denominations]] but not universally within Hinduism. The [[Bhakti movement]], and [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]] in particular extended the term ''Veda'' to include the [[Sanskrit Epics]] and Vaishnavite devotional texts such as the [[Pancharatra]].<ref>{{Citation
| first = Satsvarupa
| last = Goswami
| author-link = Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
| title =Readings in Vedic Literature: The Tradition Speaks for Itself
|   publisher =Assoc Publishing Group
| year = 1976
| page = 240
| isbn = 978-0-912776-88-0
| location = S.l.}}</ref>

===Puranas===
{{main article|Puranas}}
The ''Puranas'' is a vast genre of encyclopedic Indian literature about a wide range of topics particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.<ref name=oliverleaman437>Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-17281-3}}, pp. 437–439</ref> Several of these texts are named after major [[Hindu]] deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi.<ref name=ludorocher>Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-02522-5}}, pp. 1–5, 12–21</ref><ref name="Nair 2008 266">{{cite book|last=Nair|first=Shantha N.|title=Echoes of Ancient Indian Wisdom: The Universal Hindu Vision and Its Edifice|year=2008|publisher=Hindology Books|isbn=978-81-223-1020-7|page=266|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekehXVP3W8wC&pg=PA266}}</ref> There are 18 ''Maha Puranas'' (Great Puranas) and 18 ''Upa Puranas'' (Minor Puranas), with over 400,000 verses.<ref name=oliverleaman437/>

The Puranas have been influential in the [[Hindu]] culture.<ref>Ludo Rocher (1986), The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-02522-5}}, pp. 12–13, 134–156, 203–210</ref><ref name=gregbailey442>Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-17281-3}}, pp. 442–443</ref> They are considered ''Vaidika'' (congruent with Vedic literature).<ref>Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-20778-3}}, p. xxxix</ref> The [[Bhagavata Purana]] has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of [[Nonduality (spirituality)|non-dualistic]] tenor.<ref name=richardthompson>{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Richard L.|title=The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana 'Mysteries of the Sacred Universe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TZmDSr-1msC&pg=PA10|year=2007|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=978-81-208-1919-1|page=10}}</ref><ref>Dominic Goodall (1996), Hindu Scriptures, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-20778-3}}, p. xli</ref> The Puranic literature wove with the [[Bhakti movement]] in India, and both [[Dvaita]] and [[Advaita]] scholars have commented on the underlying Vedanta themes in the ''Maha Puranas''.<ref>BN Krishnamurti Sharma (2008), A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and Its Literature, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-1575-9}}, pp. 128–131</ref>

==Vedas in Sangam literature==

Vedas finds its earliest literary mention in the Sangam literature dated to the 5th century BCE. The Vedas were read by almost every caste in ancient [[Tamil Nadu]]. An Indian [[historian]], [[archaeologist]] and [[epigraphist]] named [[R. Nagaswamy|Ramachandran Nagaswamy]] mentions that Tamil Nadu was a land of Vedas and a place where everyone knew the Vedas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/Vedic-route-to-the-past/article14397101.ece|title=Vedic route to the past|date=18 October 2016|website=[[The Hindu]] |first=Pradeep |last= Chakravarty}}</ref> The Vedas are also considered as a text filled with deep meaning which can be understood only by scholars.<ref name=kz49>{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC&pg=PA48 |year=1974| publisher =Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01582-0|page=49}}</ref> The [[Purananuru]] mentions that the ancestors of Velir kings where born from the [[Yajna]] of a Northern sage<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com/ettuthokai-purananuru-201-400/|title=Ettuthokai – Puranānūru 201-400|date=14 December 2014}}</ref> and the [[Paṭṭiṉappālai]] mentions that the four Vedas were chanted by the priests of [[Tamilakam|Ancient Tamilakam]],{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|p=41}} this shows chanting of Vedas and growing sacred fires are part of the Tamil culture. Vedas are called ''Maṛai'' or ''Vaymoli'' in parts of South India. Marai literally means "hidden, a secret, mystery". [[Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai]] mentions a ''yupa'' post (a form of Vedic altar) in the [[Brahmin]] village.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=98–99}} Vedas are recited by these Brahmins, and even their parrots are mentioned in the poem as those who sing the Vedic hymns. People in these Vedic villages did not eat meat, nor raise fowls. They ate rice, salad leaves boiled in ghee, pickles and vegetables.{{sfn|JV Chelliah|1946|pp=98–100}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/pattupattutentamilidyllschelliahj.v._108_Q|first=Zahira|last=Badami|title=Pattupattu Ten Tamil Idylls Chelliah J. V.|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> Apart from the Sanskrit Vedas there are other texts like [[Naalayira Divya Prabandham]] and [[Tevaram]] called as Tamil Veda and Dravida Veda.<ref>Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87249-965-2}}, p. 194</ref><ref name="John Carman 1989 pp. 259–261">John Carman (1989), The Tamil Veda: Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli, University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|978-0-226-09305-5}}, pp. 259–261</ref>

==Authority of the Vedas==
The various [[Hindu sects]] and [[Indian philosophies]] have taken differing positions on the authority of the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which acknowledge the authority of the Vedas are classified as "orthodox" ([[āstika]]).{{refn|group=note|Elisa Freschi (2012): "The Vedas are not [[deontic]] authorities in absolute sense and may be disobeyed, but are recognized as a deontological [[epistemic]] authority by a Hindu orthodox school."{{sfn|Freschi|2012|p=62}} This differentiation between epistemic and deontic authority is true for all Indian religions.}} Other [[śramaṇa]] traditions, such as [[Charvaka]], [[Ajivika]], [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]], which do not regard the Vedas as authorities, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" ([[nāstika]]) schools.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=82}}<ref name="EB_astika"/>

Certain traditions which are often seen as being part of Hinduism also rejected the Vedas. For example, authors of the tantric [[Vaishnava Sahajiya]] tradition, like Siddha Mukundadeva, rejected the Vedas' authority.<ref>Young, Mary (2014). ''The Baul Tradition: Sahaj Vision East and West,'' pp. 27-36. SCB Distributors.</ref> Likewise, some tantric Shaiva Agamas reject the Vedas. The ''Anandabhairava Tantra'' for example, states that "the wise man should not elect as his authority the word of the Vedas, which is full of impurity, produces but scanty and transitory fruits and is limited."<ref>Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. (1988). ''The Canon of the Saivagama and the Kubjika: Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition,'' p. 9. SUNY Press.</ref>

Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself [or herself] a Hindu",{{sfn|Lipner|2012|p=16}}{{refn|group=note|Lipner quotes Brockington (1981), ''The sacred tread'', p.5.}} and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text."<ref>Axel Michaels (2004), Hinduism: ''Past and Present'', Princeton University Press, p.18; see also Julius Lipner (2012), ''Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices'', Routledge, p.77; and Brian K. Smith (2008), ''Hinduism'', p.101, in Jacob Neusner (ed.), Sacred Texts and Authority, Wipf and Stock Publishers.</ref> Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states Lipner.{{sfn|Lipner|2012|pp=15–17}}

While Hindu reform movement such as [[Arya Samaj]] and [[Brahmo Samaj]] accept the authority of Vedas,<ref>{{cite book|title=Travellers in Faith: Studies of the Tablīghī Jamāʻat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal|author=Muhammad Khalid Masud|page=50|publisher=BRILL|year=2000|isbn=978-90-04-11622-1}}</ref> [[Neo-Vedanta|Hindu modernists]] like [[Debendranath Tagore]] and [[Keshub Chandra Sen]];{{sfn|Rambachan|1994|p=272}} and social reformers like [[B. R. Ambedkar]] reject its authority.{{sfn|Nagappa|2011|p=283 ("It is said that the Varna system [...] Sanatan Hindu")}}

==Western Indology==
{{further|Sanskrit studies}}
The study of Sanskrit in the West began in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] drew attention to Vedic texts, specifically the Upanishads. The importance of Vedic Sanskrit for [[Indo-European studies]] was also recognised in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the ''[[Sacred Books of the East]]'' series edited by [[Max Müller|Müller]] between 1879 and 1910.<ref>Müller, Friedrich Max (author) & Stone, Jon R. (author, editor) (2002). ''The essential Max Müller: on language, mythology, and religion''. Illustrated edition. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|978-0-312-29309-3}}. Source: [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q96EsUCVlLsC&q=Max+M%C3%BCller] (accessed: Friday May 7, 2010), p. 44</ref> [[Ralph T. H. Griffith]] also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899.

Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World]] [[Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific|Register]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hinduism.about.com/od/scripturesepics/a/rigveda.htm|title=Rig Veda in UNESCO Memory of the World Register|access-date=30 September 2011|archive-date=27 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927045638/http://hinduism.about.com/od/scripturesepics/a/rigveda.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism|Books|History
}}
* [[Hindu philosophy]]
* [[Historical Vedic religion]]
* [[Pyramid Texts]]
* [[Shakha]]
* [[Vedic chant]]
* [[Brahminism]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|refs=
{{refn|group=note|name="dating"|It is certain that the hymns of the Rig Veda post-date [[Proto-Indo-Iranian|Indo-Iranian]] separation of ca. 2000 BCE and probably that of the relevant Mitanni documents of {{circa}} 1400 BCE. The oldest available text is estimated to be from 1200 BCE. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium:
* [[Max Müller]]: "the hymns of the Rig-Veda are said to date from 1500 B.C."{{sfn|Müller|1892}}
* The [[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|EIEC]] (s.v. [[Indo-Iranian languages]], p. 306) gives 1500–1000 BCE.
* Flood and Witzel both mention {{circa}} 1500–1200 BCE.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=37}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995|p=4}}
* Anthony mentions {{circa}} 1500–1300 BCE.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}}
* Thomas Oberlies (''Die Religion des Rgveda'', 1998, p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets a wide range of 1700–1100 BCE.{{sfn|Oberlies|1998|p=158}} {{harvnb|Oberlies|1998|p=155}} gives an estimate of 1100 BCE for the youngest hymns in book 10.{{sfn|Oberlies|1998|p=155}} 
* {{harvnb|Witzel|1995|p=4}} mentions {{circa}} 1500–1200 BCE. According to {{harvnb|Witzel|1997|p=263}}, the whole Rig Vedic period may have lasted from {{circa|1900 BCE|1200 BCE}}: "the bulk of the RV represents only 5 or 6 generations of kings (and of the contemporary poets)24 of the Pūru and Bharata tribes. It contains little else before and after this “snapshot” view of contemporary Rgvedic history, as reported by these contemporary “tape recordings.” On the other hand, the whole Rgvedic period may have lasted even up to 700 years, from the infiltration of the Indo-Aryans into the subcontinent, c. 1900 B.C. (at the utmost, the time of collapse of the Indus civilization), up to c. 1200 B.C., the time of the introduction of iron which is first mentioned in the clearly post-vedic hymns of the Atharvaveda."}}

{{refn|group=note|name="Freschi_2012"|Elisa Freschi (2012): "The Vedas are not [[deontic]] authorities in absolute sense and may be disobeyed, but are recognized as a deontological [[epistemic]] authority by a Hindu orthodox school." {{harvnb|Freschi|2012|p=62.}} This differentiation between epistemic and deontic authority is true for all Indian religions.}}
}}

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{{refend}}

==Further reading==
;Overviews
* {{citation|first=J.|last=Gonda|title=Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas|publisher=A History of Indian literature|volume=1|others=Veda and Upanishads|location=Wiesnaden: Harrassowitz|year=1975|isbn=978-3-447-01603-2|author-link=Jan Gonda}}.
* {{citation|first=J.A.|last=Santucci|title=An Outline of Vedic Literature|journal=Scholars Press for the American Academy of Religion|year=1976}}.
* {{citation|first=S.|last=Shrava|title=A Comprehensive History of Vedic Literature – Brahmana and Aranyaka Works|publisher=Pranava Prakashan|year=1977}}.
*{{citation|url=https://archive.org/stream/vedicconcordance00bloouoft#page/n7/mode/2up|title=A Vedic Concordance|location=[[Harvard University]]|publisher=Maurice Bloomfield|others=(an alphabetic index to every line, every stanza of the Vedas published before 1906)|year=1906 }}.
*{{citation|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm#vedas|title=The Vedas at sacred-texts.com|publisher=Sacred Texts}}.

;Concordances
* {{citation|first=M.|last=Bloomfield|title=A Vedic Concordance|year=1907}}.
* {{citation|first1=Vishva|last1=Bandhu|first2=Bhim|last2=Dev|editor-first=S.|editor-last=Bhaskaran Nair|title=Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa: A Vedic Word-Concordance|publisher=Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute|location=Hoshiarpur|year=1963}}.
*{{citation|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/VedicConcordance/ReadmeEng.html|title=An Enlarged Electronic Version of Bloomfield's A Vedic Concordance|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}.

;Conference proceedings
* {{citation |last1=Griffiths |first1=Arlo |editor-last=Houben |editor-first=Jan E.M. |title=The Vedas: Texts, Language and Ritual: Proceedings of the Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002 |publisher=Groningen Oriental Studies 20 |location=Groningen : Forsten |year=2004 |isbn=90-6980-149-3}}.
*{{citation|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Veda.in.Nepal.pdf|title=On the History and the Present State of Vedic Tradition in Nepal|last=Michael|first=Witzel}}.

;Journals
* {{Citation|last=Arnold|first=Edward Vernon|date=1897|title=Sketch of the Historical Grammar of the Rig and Atharva Vedas|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/592303|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=18|pages=203–353|doi=10.2307/592303|jstor=592303|issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Vedas}}
{{Wiktionary|Veda|Vedic}}
{{Wikiquote}}
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* {{citation|url=http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil.htm#Veda|title=GRETIL etexts|website=Goettingen}}.

{{Hindudharma}}
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[[Category:Vedas| ]]
[[Category:Hindu texts]]
[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]