There
are in all four Vedas -
- Rigveda
The oldest of all vedas. The hymns of Rigveda are amongst the
oldest writings known to the mankind. They are short and are addressed
to the great powers of Nature, to Indra the God
of firmament, to Fire, to Moon
& to Sun.
Total number of hymns in Rigveda are 1020. Their composition
was doubtless the work of many men and of long periods of
time. They bear evident marks of having been handed down by
traditions and although they were arranged and collected in
their present forms about ten centuries before the Christian
era, a long time must have passed before they were brought
together by the sage , who from his performace of this work is
called Vyasa the arranger.The hymns of Rigveda contain very
little poetry of an agreeable or elevated order. The chief
desires expressed are for riches , victory and various
temporal blessings. Moral sentiments rarely occur ; the hymns
addressed to Varuna contain the most.
- Yajurveda
The history of Yajurveda differs from other vedas as it is
marked by a dissension between its own schools far more
important than the differences which separeted the schools of
each other in veda. In Yajurveda there are two aspects The
Black Yajurveda and the White Yajurveda. The contents of both
the divisions of Yajurveda are similar in many respects.
The vajasaneyi- samnhita or the samnhita of White Yajurveda
exists in the recension of the Madhyandina and Kanva School.
The principal Brahamana of the Black Yajurveda is the
Taittiriya Brahamana with the commentary of Sayana.
- Sama Veda
Saman is the name of the third Veda which in the Bhagwat
gita is called the best of three. It appears to be little more
than a recast of the rich , consisting chiefly of the same
hymns broken up and arranged so as to be chanted during the
various expiatory ceremonies. Thus while the Rich is said to
be in regular metre to be recited aloud; and the Yajush
consists chiefly consists of prose to be unaudibly
muttered.
- Atharvaveda
The name of the fourth veda created from the Northern
mouth of Brahma. It was arranged by Vyasa . The illustrious
sage Sumanta taught this veda to his pupil Kabandha , who made
it two fold. The principal subject of difference in the
Sanmhitas of the Atharva Veda are five kalapas or ceremonials.
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