The History of Vedic India

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1.Under the designation of the Veda-knowledge par excellence, that is sacred knowledge-are comprehended all the texts representing the religion which the Aryans brought with them into India and developed during many centuries on Indian soil. More exactly the term refers to a series of texts, of very various content and form, the common feature of which is that they are believed to derive from a "hearing" (sruti), that is, a revelation : they are held to have emanated from Brahman, to have been "breathed" by God in the form of "words", while their human authors, the Rishis or inspired sages, did no more than receive them by a direct "vision".

These texts include the Samhita or "collections", generally in verse, which contain, more especially hymns, prayers and ritual formulae; the Brahmana or "Brahmanic explanations", theological commentaries on the Samhitas, in prose; the Aranyaka, "forest texts", and Upanishad (see 78 on the meaning of this word), commentaries adjoined to the Brahmanas but of a more esoteric character.

Finally the Veda is concluded by the Vedanga, "(auxiliary) limbs of the Veda", subsidiary works of exegesis, explanation, which are not part of the Veda in the narrow sense : they are no longer sruti but smriti, "(tradition entrusted to) memory".

2.The Veda is spoken of in the plural; more precisely there are four Vedas, when reference is made to the four distinct types of Samhita ( 1 ) the verses (rik) recited in the course of the sacrifices and collected in the Riksamhita or Rigveda; ( 2 ) the sacrificial formulae ( yajus), collected, with or without commentary, in the Yajuhsamhita or Yajurveda (3 the melodies (saman), of which the textis given in the Samasamhita or Samaveda; ( 4.) finally the magical formulae (atharvan) which largely make up the Atharvasamhita or Atharvaveda. When we speak of the "three Vedas" we exclude the Atharva, which was collected at a later date, but expression, - or more commonly the related expression- trayi (vidya), "triple (science)" , refers also to the three forms distinguish the Samhitas, or rather the prayers (mantra) of which they are composed, namely, rik, yajus and saman.

3. It is this imposing volume of texts which forms the Foundation of Vedism, the most ancient form of Brahmanism, the point of departure of all the doctrines of classical India.

All this literature or at least the greater part of it (though this has been doubted) was composed and preserved orally. This scarcely imaginable feat is explained by the immense effort of memory which men trained in this discipline from generations to generation were able to make. These text were passed on from age to age, trans-mitted in general with meticulous care. Only at a com-paratively recent date have they been committed to writing (Al Biruni, in the eleventh century, mentions a Veda recently put in written from in Kashmir by Vasukra). The most ancient manuscripts have no greater value than the evidence of the men which until only the other day still carried in their memory more or less extensive parts of the Veda.

**Contents and Sample Pages**