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Atharvaveda
The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (, , from ''wikt:अथर्वन्, अथर्वन्'', "priest" and ''wikt:वेद, वेद'', "knowledge") or is the "knowledge storehouse of ''wikt:अथर्वन्, atharvans'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), "Veda and Upanishad," in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, , page 38 The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.Laurie Patton (1994), ''Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation,'' State University of New York Press, , page 57 The language of the Atharvaveda is different from Rigvedic Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European archaisms. It is a collection of 730 Music of India#History, hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books.Maurice Bloomfield''The Atharvaveda'' Harvard University Press, pages 1-2 About a sixth of the Atharvaveda texts adapt verses from the Rigveda, and exce ...
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Veda
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), 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. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Brahmanas (commentaries on and explanation of rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices – Yajñas), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pp. 35–39A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduc ...
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Brahmana
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedas, Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rigveda, Rig, Samaveda, Sama, Yajurveda, Yajur, and Atharvaveda, Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within each Veda, which explain and instruct on the performance of Yajna, Vedic rituals (in which the related Samhitas are recited). In addition to explaining the symbolism and meaning of the Samhitas, Brahmana literature also expounds scientific knowledge of the Vedic period, Vedic Period, including observational astronomy and, particularly in relation to altar construction, geometry. Divergent in nature, some Brahmanas also contain mystical and philosophical material that constitutes Aranyakas and Upanishads. Each Veda has one or more of its own Brahmanas, and each Brahmana is generally associated with a particular Shakha or Vedic school. Less ...
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Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Shakala Shakha, Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Most scholars believe that the sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted with precision since the 2nd millennium BCE, through Indian mathematics#Styles of memorisation, methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, though the dates are not confirmed and remain contentious till concrete evidence surfaces. Philolog ...
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Angiras
Angiras ( (stem), , , nominative singular , , , rendered Angirā in Hindi) was a Vedic rishi (sage) of Hinduism. He is described in the ''Rigveda'' as a teacher of divine knowledge, a mediator between men and gods, as well as stated in other hymns to be the first of Agni-devas (fire gods). In some texts, he is considered to be one of the seven great sages or ''Saptarishis'', but in others he is mentioned but not counted in the list of seven great sages. In some manuscripts of ''Atharvaveda'', the text is attributed to "Atharvangirasah", which is a compound of sage Atharvan and Angira. The student family of Angira are called "Angira", and they are credited to be the authors of some hymns in the first, second, fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth books of the ''Rigveda''. By the time of the composition of the Rigveda, the Angirases were an old Rishi clan, and were stated to have participated in several events. Texts Many hymns of the ''Rigveda'' credit the Angirases as their autho ...
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Rigvedic
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from ऋच्, "praise" and वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Most scholars believe that the sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted with precision since the 2nd millennium BCE, through methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, though the dates are not confirmed and remain contentious till concrete evidence surfaces. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the ''Rigveda'' Samhita was composed in the ...
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Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit, also simply referred as the Vedic language, is the most ancient known precursor to Sanskrit, a language in the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid-2nd millennium BCE, 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It is oral tradition, orally preserved, predating the advent of writing by several centuries. Extensive ancient literature in the Vedic Sanskrit language has survived into the modern era, and this has been a major source of information for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Indo-Iranian language, Proto-Indo-Iranian history. History Prehistoric derivation The separation of Proto-Indo-Iranian language into Proto-Iranian and Proto-Indo-Aryan language, Proto-Indo-Aryan is estimated, on linguistic grounds, to have occurred around or before 1800 BCE. The date of composition of t ...
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Vedic Period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred. The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrated into ...
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Yajurveda
The ''Yajurveda'' (, , from यजुस्, "worship", and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism'' (Editor: Gavin Flood), Blackwell, , pages 76–77 An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, 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. Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurveda's composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda. The Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the "black" or "dark" (''Krishna'') Yajurveda and the "white" or "bright" (''Shukla'') Yajurveda. The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" which implies ...
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Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad (, ) is the shortest of all the Upanishads, and is assigned to Atharvaveda. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktikā canon of 108 Upanishads. It is in prose, consisting of twelve short verses, and is associated with a Rig Vedic school of scholars. It discusses the syllable Aum; adds turiya to the three states of consciousness; and asserts that ''Aum'' is ''Brahman'' – which is the Whole – and that ''Brahman'' is this self ('' ātman'').Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 605-637 The Mandukya Upanishad is recommended in the Muktikā Upanishad, in a dialogue between two of the most important characters of the Ramayana, Rama and Hanuman, as the one Upanishad that alone is sufficient for knowledge to gain moksha, and as sixth in its list of ten principal Upanishads.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 556-557 The text is also notable for inspiring Gaudapada's M ...
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Samaveda
The ''Samaveda'' (, , from '' सामन्'', "song" and ''वेद'', "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and is one of the sacred scriptures in Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses. All but 75 verses have been taken from the Rigveda. Three recensions of the ''Samaveda'' have survived, and variant manuscripts of the Veda have been found in various parts of India. While its earliest parts are believed to date from as early as the Rigvedic period, the existing samhita text dates from the post-Rigvedic Mantra period of Vedic Sanskrit, between c. 1200 and 1000 BCE or "slightly rather later," roughly contemporary with the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda. Along with the Samhita layer of text, the ''Samaveda'' includes Brahmana texts, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations (Upanishads). These layers of the compilation date from the post-Rigvedic Man ...
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Mundaka Upanishad
The Mundaka Upanishad (, ) is an ancient Sanskrit Vedic text, embedded inside Atharva Veda. It is a Mukhya (primary) Upanishad, and is listed as number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads of Hinduism. It is among the most widely translated Upanishads. It is presented as a dialogue between sage Saunaka and sage Angiras. It is a poetic verse style Upanishad, with 64 verses, written in the form of mantras. However, these mantras are not used in rituals, rather they are used for teaching and meditation on spiritual knowledge.Max Muller (1962), The Upanishads - Part II, Dover Publications, , pages xxvi–xxvii. The ''Mundaka Upanishad'' contains three ''Mundakams'' (parts), each with two ''khandas'' (''sections''). The first Mundakam, states Roer, defines the science of "Higher Knowledge" and "Lower Knowledge", and then asserts that acts of oblations and pious gifts are foolish, and do nothing to reduce unhappiness in current life or next, rather it is knowledge that frees. ...
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