Ramakrishna Mission Shivanahalli

A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE VEDAS

This brief article brings out the salient aspects of all Vedas.

This book has been authored by Swami Harshananda. Pub. by Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore.

A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE VEDAS

INTRODUCTION
The word 'Veda', derived from the root vid (to know ), indicates a vast body of sacred and esoteric knowledge concerning the eternal spiritual values revealed to the great ones called rsis (men of wisdom, sages )in the depths of their meditation . The Hindu religious tradition has accorded the Vedas the highest place in its canonical literature .As such, they are revered as the basic scriptures of Hinduism.
It is extremely difficult to fix up the date of the Vedas. The dates assigned by the various scholars vary as widely as 25,000 B.C to 1000 B.C. However the general consensus among most of the Indian scholars is to consider the Harappa- mohenjodaro culture (c.4000. B.C) to be a later phase of the vedic culture. This places the date of the Rg-veda, the earliest of the Vedas, around 10000 B.C.
For centuries the Vedas have been handed down to the posterity by oral tradition. Hence the name Sruti, 'what is heard'. And, they have been mainly utilized in the performance of yajnas and yagas (sacrifices), which were the most common form of early vedic religion. Such utilization of the Vedas in the sacrificial processes naturally led to its division based up on the convenience of the chief priests conducting the sacrifices.

A compilation of all the hymns used by the Hota-priest to invite the various deities to the sacrifice became the Rg-veda .All the liturgical parts of the Vedas, useful to the Adhvaryu priest , the chief executer of the sacrificial rites, brought together,formed the yajurur Veda , collection of all the musical chants, especially those associated with the some group of sacrifices , and to be sung by the udgatr-priest, the singer, was named as Sama Veda, the rest , a sort of miscellaneous appendix and addenda, became the Atharva- veda and was assigned to the Brahma-priest, considered as the supervisor over the whole sacrificial process.
As per annals of the Hindu orthodoxy ,the great sage Krsna dvaipayana vyasa is said to have effected this division by collecting all the Mantras extant during his time ,and editing them into four groups:Rk,Yajus, Saman and Atharvan. He taught them to his four chief disciples: Paila (Rg-veda), Vaisampayana (Yajur-veda), Jaimini (Samaveda) and Sumantu (Atharva-veda). This is how these four Vedas took shape.
The Vedas are divided in another way too: Mantra and Brahmana. Samhita is the name given to the collection of the Mantras. The Brahmana includes in itself two more sections, the Aranyaka and the Upanisad. If the Mantras comprise the hymns, the Brahmanas contain liturgies in prose. The Aranyakas teach about meditations based on symbolical interpretations of the liturgical rites. The Upanisad may roughly be classified as philosophical treatises dealing with the ultimate problems of life.
Conventionally speaking, it is the Samthita that is indicated by the word Veda. For instance, Rg-veda means only the Rk-samhita or the Rg-veda-samhita. The Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanisads of the Rg-veda have different and independent names and are considered more like its appendages.
These Samhitas, in course of time, branched off, leading to the formation of sakhas or recensions. The origin of these sakhas probably lies in the fact that each of the principal sages like Paila or Vaisam payana had several disciples. These disciples or their successors might have done some editing and readjustment of the Vedic Mantras to suit the needs of-the rites which they had to perform and upon which local culture too might have exerted its influence.
A brief account of the contents of the four Vedas may now be attempted here.

RGVEDA-SAMHITA

Of all the four Vedic Samhitas, the Rgveda-Samhita is the oldest and has a prominent place in the Vedic literature. It is a collection of Suktas or hymns revealed to various Rsis or sages at different periods of time. Consequently we can notice a variety of styles of language, grammar, ideas as also historical and cultural factors.
Though it is said to have had 21 Sakhas, only five are known to be extant: Sakala, Baskala, Asvalayana, Sankhayana and Mandukeya. Except for the order of arrangement of the suktas there do not seem to be any substantial variations among them.
Since ancient days, two methods of dividing this Veda are in vogue. In the first, it is divided into eight Astakas. Each Astaka is again subdivided into Vargas, containing Mantras. This mode of division has been done obviously with a view to facilitating memorization, since the number of Vargas in each Astaka and the Mantras in each Varga are more or less the same. A total of 10,552 Mantras are spread over 2,024 Vargas, included in the 64 Adhyayas of the 8 Astakas.
In the second method, the whole Samhita has been divided into ten Mandalas. The Mandalas are subdivided into Anuvakas, the Anuvakas into Suktas and the Suktas into Mantras. The number of Anuvakas is 85, that of the Suktas 1,028, the total number of Mantras being, of course, the same.
The latter method seems to he the more ancient one and has universal approval among the modern Vedic scholars.
There seems to he some method and order in the arrangement of the Suktas into the ten Mandalas. The six Mandalas (two to seven) contain Suktas revealed to the Rsis of the same generic group (vamsa). For instance, if the seers of the Suktas in the second Mandala belong to the lineage of Grtsamada, those in the third belong to the descendants of Visvamitra and so on.
The first and the eighth Mandalas contain respectively the Suktas of Satarcins and Pragathas. The Suktas of the ninth Mandala are all in praise of a single deity - Soma Pavamana - and are classified according to their metres. The last, the 10th Mandala, is a miscellany of Suktas inclined more towards metaphysical subjects.
The topics dealt with in the Rgvedasamhita fall roughly into three groups. The first group deals with the deities like Agni, Indra, Varuna, and others. The second group is concerned with philosophical speculations like the origin of the universe and the real nature of human beings. The third group deals with several secular subjects like marriage, wars of kings, eulogy of generosity and so on. The Vedic deities are usually enumerated as 33 - 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas, Indra and Prajapati. These deities are assigned to the three regions of the earth (prthvi), heavens (dyaus) and the intermediary space (antariksa). Though they appear like personifications of forces of nature, they are all actually facets of Brahman , the Supreme Truth. The Mantra in which the well-known statement, ekam sat, viprah bahudha vadanti ['Truth is one; sages call It by various names.'] (1.164.46) occurs, is proof enough of this fact.' However, it may be noted that Indra, Agni, Varuna and Mitra have been given the pride of place in the hymns.
Coming to the philosophical speculations of this Veda, we find that it is the origin and repository of almost all the later ideas of Vedanta including jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion), though some of them are in a seed form. This forces us to concede that it is not a book of laudatory hymns only as some try to make it out.
As already pointed out above, it teaches eka-devata-vada or monotheism and not polytheism, as is often mistakenly assumed. However, advocacy of sagunopasana [worship of God with form and qualities] is predominant. God creates this world out of Himself (10.81.2-4) and rules over it (10.82. 1; 6.19. 10; 6.45.20). He is omnipresent (1. 13. 10), omniscient (6.7.6; 8.25.9) and omnipotent (6.30. 1; 2.29. 3; 3.59.1). He is ever perfect (6. 24. 7; 6.11. 4). But He is infinitely compassionate (2.34.5) and easily approachable by the devotees (8.32. 15). He is our dearest friend (10.80. 2) and grants us immortality (6.45.6; 5.47.7). As regards the actual process of creation, we find two streams of thought, creation and evolution, both of which have been found in the later Vedantic literature.
Though the existence of the soul as an external entity is accepted and amrtatva or immortality is prayed for, the life here and now is not relegated to the background. Life here and life hereafter have been nicely harmonized.
From the group of Suktas dealing with the secular side of life, we can get an inkling into the nature of the society of those times. Social life was permeated by spiritual consciousness. But people strongly believed in samanvaya or harmonizing the life of this world with the one in the next. Satya (truth) and dharma (righteousness) are extolled and amrtatva (immortality) as the goal of life accepted. Varna system had already taken roots. Monogamy, polygamy and svayamvara system [that of a bride choosing her husband] - all existed side by side. Agriculture and animal husbandry were the chief means of livelihood. Equitable distribution of wealth was advocated. Civilization was well-developed and fine arts encouraged. Priests and kings were powerful. System of sacrifices had evolved to a high degree of perfection.
Hindu tradition strongly advocates a knowledge of the Rsi, the Devata and the Chandas of any Mantra before using it in the religious rites. Then only will it be effective. Rsi is the sage to whom the Mantra was revealed; Devata is the deity to whom the Mantra is addressed; and Chandas is the metre in which it is composed. According to one calculation the number of Rsis exceeds 800 whereas the number of Chandas is 19 including the minor variations.
The Brahmanas, Aranyakas and the Upanisads of this Veda are: 1.Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas;
2.Aitareya and Sankhayana Aranyakas; and,
3.Aitareya and Kausitaki Upanisads.

to be concluded in next edition.....

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