Vedic Period

VEDIC PERIOD Vedic Period ◦Aryans are said to be propounders of vedic civilization ◦They spoke a language called arya ◦Which was similar to later days sanskrit , hence they are called aryans ◦Central asian theory of max muller is the widely acceopted theory of the origin of aryans EUROPE – SIR W JONES Views on CENTRAL ASIA – MAX MULLER original home ARCTIC REGION – BAL of aryans GANGADARA TILAK TIBET REGION – SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI ◦ The source of knowledge about the aryans is the vedic literature ,of which vedas are the most important ◦ Vedas means knowledge ◦ The vedas are not an individual religious work ◦ The vedic literature had grown in the course of many centuries and was handened down from generation to generation by word of mouth ◦ Hence they are called shruti ◦ The vedas are also called apaurusheya which means man did not compose them, and nitya which means they were existing in all eternity Vedic literature ◦ Vedic literature consists of four classes of literary creations , vedas , bhramanas , aranyakas , and upanishads ◦ The vedas are collection of hymns , prayers , charms , litanies , and sacrificial formulae ◦ They are four in number : 1. Rig veda - It is the earliest form of Veda 2. Yajur veda - It is also called the book of prayers 3. Sama veda -Earliest reference of singing 4. Atharvana veda - The book of magic and charms Rig veda ◦ It was compiled around 1500 –1000 BC ◦ Meaning of RIG to praise ◦ Collection of hymns in praise of gods ◦ It has been divided in to 10 volumes called mandals ◦ Mandal II to VII are oldest books . They are also called family books , because they are attributed to the family of rishis ◦ Mandal VIII to IX belong to middle time ◦ Mandal I and X are last to be compiled ◦ Mandal III contains gayatri mantra which was compiled to praise the sun god savitri Mandal X contains ahymn called purusha sukta in which origin of varna system is discussed Those rishis who are expert in rigveda are known as hotra or hotris The rig veda has many things in common with avesta , which is the oldest text of iranian language ◦ There is a verse in Nadistuti sukta of Rigveda , hymn of praise of rivers which mentions the following 10 rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Marudvrdha , Vitasta , Arjikiya , Susoma. The Shutudri was Sutlej, Parushni was Ravi, Asikni was Chenab and Vitasta was Jhelum. There are 1549 verses (except 75 verses, all have been taken from Rigveda) There are two Upanishads embedded in Samaveda – Chandogya Upanishad and Kena Upanishad The Samaveda is considered as the root of the Indian classical music and dance It is considered as the storehouse of the melodious chants SAMAVEDA Though it has lesser verses than Rigveda, however, its texts are larger There are three recensions of the text of the Samaveda – Kauthuma, Raṇayaniya and Jaimaniya Samaveda is categorised into two parts – Part-I includes melodies called Gana & Part-II includes three verses book called Archika. Samaveda Samhita is not meant to be read as a text, it is like a musical score sheet that must be heard Yajurveda It has two types – Krishna (Black/Dark) & Shukla (White/Bright) Krishna Yajurveda has a un-arranged, unclear, motley collection of verses Shukla Yajurveda has arranged and clear verses Krishna Yajurveda has two recensions, while Shukla Yajurveda has four The oldest layer of Yajurveda has 1875 verses mostly taken up from Rigveda The middle layer of the veda has Satapatha Brahmana which is a commentary of Shukla Yajurveda The youngest layer of Yajurveda consists of various Upanishads – Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad Vajasaneyi Samhita is the Samhita in the Shukla Yajurveda There are four surviving recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda – Taittiriya saṃhita, Maitrayani saṃhita, Kaṭha saṃhita and Kapisthala saṃhita Atharvaveda The daily procedures of life are very well enumerated in this Veda It has 730 hymns/suktas, 600 mantras and 20 books Paippalada and the Saunakiya are two recensions of Atharvaveda Called a Veda of magical formulas, it includes three primary Upanishads – Mundaka Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad The 20 books are arranged by the length of hymns they contain Unlike Samaveda where hymns are borrowed from Rigveda, hymns of Atharvaveda are unique except a few This Veda contains hymns many of which were charms and magic spells which are meant to be pronounced by the person who seeks some benefit, or more often by a sorcerer who would say it on his or her behalf The brahmanas ◦ Those are prose texts which contain details about the meanings of vedic hymns, their applications , stories of their origins , etc ◦ The aitareya or kaushitaki brahmanas are assigned to the rigveda ◦ Tandya and jaiminya brahmanas to samaveda , taiitereya and shatapata brahmanas to he yajur veda and gopath brahmanas to the atharvana veda ◦ Tandya brahmana is the oldest of all brahmanas ◦ Satapatha brahmana is the most voluminous among all brahmanas The aryanakas ◦ These are the concluding portion of brahmanas ◦ These were caled aryankas because the mystical and philosophical character of their content required that they should be studied in the solitude of aranya (forest ) ◦ They initiated a change over from materialistic region to spritual region , thus they formed a trdition that culminates in the upanishads ◦ Aranyakas are like bridge between vedas cum brahmanas and upanishads The Upanishads ◦ These are the last phase of Vedic literature. ◦ Upanishads deal with metaphysics i.e. philosophy. ◦ These are also called Vedanta because these were the last books to be compiled in the series of Vedic literature. ◦ These contains ubject matter about soul,brahman,rebirth,theroy of karma,etc. ◦ Upanishads emphasized the path of knowledge. ◦ The literal meaning of Upanishads is 'to sit near the feet of' ◦ The most important Upanishads are Chhandogya Upanishad and Brahadaranyaka Upanishad. ◦ The important Upanishads are Katha Upanishad, Isha Upanishad, Prasna Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishasd, etc. ◦ The conversation of Yama and Nachiketa is the subject matter or Katha Upanishad. ◦ The word satyameva jayate in the national emblem is taken from mundaka Upanishad. .

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