The Vedas — Origin and Brief Description of 4 Vedas
ऋत्विजम्। होतारम्। रत्नऽधातमम् ॥
The Vedas are the sacred literature of ancient India, which are also the oldest and foundational scriptures of the Hindus. Vedas are the original and oldest scriptures of Sanatan Varnashram Dharma in Indian culture.
The word ‘Veda’ is derived from the Sanskrit root Veda. The literal meaning of Veda is ‘Knowledge’.
Subjects of the Vedas depend on their interpretation — Agni, Yagya, Surya, Indra (in the sense of soul and energy), Soma, Brahma, mind-soul, world-origin, qualities of substances, dharma, marriage Topics like meditation, yoga, prana come up again and again in it. Deity, material, purpose, method, etc. are appropriate in Yagya.
The Chaturvedi are as follows -
1. Rigveda — The oldest and first Veda in which the number of Mantras is 10462, the number of Mandalas is 10 and the number of Suktas is 1028. It is also believed that the number of letters of all the mantras in this Veda is 432000. Its main subject is knowledge. Various deities are described and God’s praise etc.
2. Yajurveda — It contains 1975 prose mantras for the process of Karya (action) and Yagya (sacrifice). Yajurveda describes the method of sacrifice.
3. Samveda — The main subject of this Veda is worship. 1875 musical mantras to sing the brave in music.
4. Atharvveda — It has 5977 poetic mantras for virtue, religion, health, and sacrifice.
ORIGIN OF VEDAS
The Vedas are considered Apaurusheya (i.e. created by God). The creator Brahma is believed to have received this knowledge from Viratpurush or from Karanbrahma through Shruti parampara. It is also believed that God first created four Maharishis whose names were Agni, Vayu, Aditya, and Angira; Gave the knowledge of Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda to the souls respectively, those sages then gave this knowledge to Brahma. They are also called Shruti which means ‘heard knowledge’. Other Arya texts are called Smriti, i.e. texts based on Vedangut wisdom or memory of Vedagya humans. Many texts like Brahman-Granth, Aranyaka, and Upanishad were composed to explain Veda’s mantras. The language used in these is called Vedic Sanskrit which is somewhat different from secular Sanskrit. Historically, the Vedas have been considered a good reference source for ancient India and the Indo-Aryan race. Their literary importance remains even with respect to the ancient form of the Sanskrit language.
BRIEF ABOUT VEDAS
(1.) Rigveda
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥
Rigveda is the earliest source of Sanatana Dharma. It has 10 Mandalas and 1028 Suktas and at present, there are 10,462 mantras, the deities are praised in the mantras. It contains mantras for invoking the deities in Yagya. This is the first Veda. Historians consider the Rigveda to be one of the earliest available works of the Indo-European language family. This is one of the first texts in the world whose recognition in some form remains in society to date. This is the main book of Sanatan Dharma. The sage who read the works of Rigveda is called Hotra.
1. Many hymns in Rigveda contain hymns in praise of various Vedic deities. Although there are other types of suttas in Rigveda, hymns in praise of the deities predominate.
2. There are 33 gods and goddesses mentioned in Rigveda. Rigveda described God as Surya, Usha, and Adit. In this, Agni has been called Ashirsha, Apad, Ghritmukh, Ghrit page, Ghrit-lom, Archilom, and Vabhralom. In this, Indra is considered to be the universal and most powerful deity. Rigveda has 250 hymns in the praise of Indra. One mandala of the Rigveda contains verses in praise of only one deity, the Soma deity.
3. In this Veda there is mention of polytheism, monotheism, and monotheism.
4. Nirguna Brahma is described in the Nasadiya Sukta of Rigveda.
5. In this Veda, the word ‘Sapta Sindhavah’ has been used everywhere for the residence of Aryans.
6. In this the names of some non-Aryans such as Pisakas, Simiyas, etc. have been mentioned. In this, non-Aryans have been called ‘Avrat’ (non-observant of vows), ‘Mridhvaach’ (indistinct speech), and ‘Anas’ (flat-nosed).
7. Rigveda mentioned About 25 rivers, in which the most important river is Indus. The most sacred river Saraswati has been considered and Saraswati has also been mentioned many times. In this, Ganga has been used once and Yamuna has been used thrice.
8. In Rigveda, the position of the king was hereditary. The names Suta, Rathkar, and Karmar have been mentioned in the Rigveda, who used to be present at the time of the coronation. Their number was 12 including the king.
9. In Rigveda, the word ‘Vaya’ is used in the sense of a weaver, and the word ‘Tatar’ is used in the sense of a loom.
10. The sentence “Asato Ma Sadgamaya” is taken from Rigveda. The “Gayatri Mantra” addressed to Surya (Savitri) is mentioned in the Rigveda. The word ‘Chanya’ has been used for a cow in this Veda.
(2.) Yajurveda
ऊँ आकृष्णेन रजसा वर्तमानो निवेशयन्नमृतं मर्त्यण्च ।हिरण्य़येन सविता रथेन देवो याति भुवनानि पश्यन ।।
Yajurveda is an important Shruti scripture of Sanatan Dharma and one of the four Vedas. It contains prose and verse mantras for the actual process of Yagya. Yajurveda is one of the four holiest major texts of Hinduism and the second Veda after the Rigveda — it accommodates 663 hymns of the Rigveda. Yet it is considered distinct from the Rigveda because the Yajurveda is primarily a prose text. Prose mantras that are said in Yagya are called “Yajus”. The poetic mantras of Yajurveda are taken from Rigveda or Atharvaveda. There are very few independent poetic mantras in these. There are two branches in Yajurveda: Krishna Yajurveda prevalent in South India and Shukla Yajurveda branch prevalent in North India. The Rigveda was composed in the Sapta-Sindhu region and the Yajurveda was composed in the Kurukshetra region. According to the opinion of some people, its creation period was 1400 to 1000 BC.
In the name of Yajush, the name of Veda is made from the treaty of the words Yajush + Veda (=Yajurveda). Yaj means dedication. Havan of substances (such as fuel, ghee, etc.), Karma (service, tarpan), Shraddha, Yoga, Indriya Nigraha, etc. have been called Yajna i.e. the act of dedication.
In this Veda, there are mostly rules and regulations of Yagyas and Havans, so this book is ritualistic. The codes of the Yajurveda were almost the last composed codes, written in the second millennium BCE to the early centuries of the first millennium CE. The Yajurveda Samhita contains a collection of mantras for performing Yagya for the rituals of the Vedic period religion. In these, there is a description of many yagyas of rituals:
1. अग्निहोत्र
2. अश्वमेध
3. वाजपेय
4. सोमयज्ञ
5. राजसूय
6. अग्निचयन
Yajurveda is such a division of Vedas, which has made its place in public life in some form or the other even today. Most of the mantras of rituals and sacrificial rituals are from Yajurveda.
(3.) Samveda
Samaveda is music-oriented. Sama-gana was performed by the ancient Aryans. The Samaveda is the smallest of the four Vedas in terms of size and all but 99 of its 1875 mantras are from the Rigveda. 17 mantras of samveda are found in Atharvaveda and Yajurveda. Still, its reputation is the highest, one of the reasons for which is called Vedanam Samavedosmi by Krishna in the Gita. Samaveda though small in a way is the essence of all Vedas and selected parts of all Vedas have been included in it. Out of 1875 mantras in the Samveda Samhita, 1504 mantras are from Rigveda only. Samveda Samhita has two parts, Archika and Gana. The details found in the Puranas give information about the existence of one thousand branches of the Samaveda. At present, 13 branches are known by looking at Prapanch Hridaya, Divyavadana, Charanvyuh, and Jaimini Grihasutra. Out of these thirteen branches of three Acharyas are found- (1) Kauthumiya, (2) Ranayaniya, and (3) Jaiminiya. The pundits who study this are called Panchvish or Udgata.
Such mantras are found in the Samveda, which prove that the Vedic sages had knowledge of such scientific truths, the knowledge of which has been received by modern scientists after thousands of years. For example- Indra has kept the earth rotating. The sun’s rays merge in the circle of the moon and illuminate it. The meaning of Sama mantra number 27 is — This fire is the follower of all living beings from heaven to earth. It is capable of giving shape and movement to the water.
Following are some important facts about Samveda-
1. Samaveda means that book whose mantras can be sung and which are musical.
2. These mantras are sung at the time of Yagya, rituals, and Havan. In this, there is a compilation of useful mantras of Udgatrivarga of Yagyanushthan.
3. It is named Samaveda because it contains only certain mantras of the singing method.
4. Most of its mantras are available in Rigveda, some mantras are also independent. There are originally 99 mantras in the Samaveda and the rest are taken from the Rigveda.
5. The exponents of the Vedas, the singers who were called Samag (singers of Sama). He has mentioned the use of only three voices in Vedagan which are called Udatta, Anudatta, and Svarit.
6. Samagan was practical music. Its details are not available.
In the Vedic period, there is mention of a variety of musical instruments, of which
(a) Kannada Veena, Karkare, and Veena among string instruments,
(b) Dundubhi, Aadambara, under Ghan Vadya Yantra
© Under Vanaspati and Sushir Yantra: Turbha, Nadi and
(d) Bankura instruments etc. are particularly noteworthy.
Music notes
The Naradiya Shiksha Granth describes the singing method of Samaveda, which is known as Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni-Sa in the order of notes in modern Hindustani and Carnatic music.
hexadecimal
Rishabh — Ray
Gandhara — Ga
Medium — M
Pancham — P
dhaivat — dha
Nishad — Ni
(4.) Atharvaveda
Atharvaveda is the fourth Veda of the most sacred Vedas of Hinduism, the code of the Atharvaveda i.e. Mantra part. This Veda is also called Brahmaveda. In this, along with the praise of the gods, there are also mantras of medicine, science, and philosophy. It has been said about the Atharvaveda Samhita that the king in whose kingdom a scholar who knows the Atharvaveda is engaged in the task of establishing peace, that nation continues to progress without disturbance:
यस्य राज्ञो जनपदे अथर्वा शान्तिपारगः।
निवसत्यपि तद्राराष्ट्रं वर्धतेनिरुपद्रवम्।। (Atharva 0–1/32/3).
Geography, astronomy, botany, innumerable herbs, Ayurveda, diagnosis and treatment of serious to serious diseases, fundamental principles of economics, secret elements of politics, the glory of national land and national language, surgery, treatment of diseases caused by worms Atharvaveda has representations of hundreds of philanthropic subjects, methods to remove death, salvation, fertility-science, etc. From the point of view of Ayurveda, the importance of Atharvaveda is highly commendable. In the Atharvaveda, both peace-affirming and ritualistic rituals are described.
According to the Charanvyuh book, there are nine branches of the Atharvasamhita —
1 . पैपल, 2. दान्त, 3. प्रदान्त, 4. स्नात, 5. सौल, 6. ब्रह्मदाबल, 7. शौनक, 8. देवदर्शत और 9. चरणविद्या
Currently only two branch information is available-
⟨1⟩ Whose first mantra is शन्नो देवीरभिष्टय आपो भवन्तु…etc.
⟨2⟩ This त्रिशप्ता परियन्ति विश्वारुपाणि विभ्रत…etc.is the first mantra branch of Shaunaka Samhita, in which only Seshaunaka Samhita is available. According to Vedic scholars only 759 Suktas are found. Generally there are 6,000 mantras in the Atharvaveda.
The main facts about Atharvaveda-
1. Based on the language and form of the Atharvaveda, it is believed that this Veda was composed later.
2. Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda all four have great importance from the point of view of Vedic religion.
3. Belief in Ayurveda was started from Atharvaveda. Many types of medical methods are described in the Atharvaveda.
4. The Atharvaveda gives a good description of the duties of husband and wife and the rules and regulations of marriage within the Grihastha Ashram.
5. Atharvaveda has many mantras related to the worship of Brahma.
Conclusion
India has had a tradition of studying and interpreting the Vedas since ancient times. According to the Vedic Sanatan Varnashram (Hindu) religion, sages and philosophers from Brahma to Ved Vyas and Jaimini in the Vedic period have considered these words as evidence and have also created their books on the basis of them. Parashar, Katyayan, Yajnavalkya, Vyas, Panini, etc. are called Vedavetta of ancient times.
There has been a tradition of interpreting the Vedas after they came to the knowledge of the four sages. Therefore, as a result, the form of only one Veda has also been considered as four in the form of Mantra, Brahmin, Aranyaka, and Upanishad. History (Mahabharata), Purana, etc. great books were composed in the form of lectures of Vedas. In ancient times and in the medieval period, debates took place because of this interpretation and interpretation.
Main topics — related to words like Dev, Agni, Rudra, Vishnu, Marut, Saraswati, etc. According to Vedvetta Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati, knowledge, action, worship and science are the subjects of the Vedas. Jiva, Ishwar, and Prakriti, the knowledge of the nature of these three eternal entities are available only from the Vedas.
FAQs About THE VEDAS and their factual answers
Let’s now list some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) concerning the 4 Vedas experts’ responses to them before we end up the post.
What is meant by the word VEDA?
The word ‘Veda’ is derived from the Sanskrit root Veda. The literal meaning of Veda is ‘Knowledge’.
What is the purpose of Vedas?
Subjects of the Vedas depend on their interpretation — Agni, Yagya, Surya, Indra (in the sense of soul and energy), Soma, Brahma, mind-soul, world-origin, qualities of substances, dharma, marriage Topics like meditation, yoga, prana come up again and again in it. Deity, material, purpose, method, etc. are appropriate in Yagya.
What do the 4 Vedas contain?
Rigveda’s main subject is knowledge. Various deities are described and God’s praise etc. Yajurveda describes the method of sacrifice.
The main subject of Samveda is worship.
Atharvaveda has mantras for virtue, religion, health, and sacrifice.
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