| Yajurveda | |
|---|---|
 A page from the Vajasneyi samhita found in the Shukla Yajurveda (Sanskrit, Devanagari script). This version of the manuscript opens with salutations to Ganesha and Sadashiva (Shaivism). | |
| Information | |
| Religion | Historical Vedic religion Hinduism |
| Language | Vedic Sanskrit |
| Period | Vedic period (c. 1200–800 BCE)[1] |
| Chapters | 40 adhyayas |
| Verses | 1,975 mantras[2] |
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The Yajurveda (Sanskrit: यजुर्वेद, IAST: yajurveda, from यजुस्, "worship",[3] and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.[4] 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.[4] 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 the "well arranged, clear" Yajurveda.[5] The black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into modern times.[6]
The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.[7][8] The middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection.[9] The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy. These include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad.[10][11]
Two of the oldest surviving manuscript copies of the Shukla Yajurveda sections have been discovered in Nepal and Western Tibet, and these are dated to the 12th-century CE.[12]
- ^ Witzel 2001, pp. 5–6.
- ^ "Construction of the Vedas". VedicGranth.Org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ Jean Holm; John Bowker (1994). Worship. A&C Black. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-567-26232-5.
- ^ a b Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism (Editor: Gavin Flood), Blackwell, ISBN 0-631215352, pages 76–77
- ^ Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 217–219
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
prabhakarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, pages 273–274
- ^ Edmund Gosse, Short histories of the literatures of the world, p. 181, at Google Books, New York: Appleton, page 181
- ^ Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, pages 149–153, Quote: "The Satapatha is one of the largest Brahmanas..."
- ^ Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Motilal Banarsidass (2011 Edition), ISBN 978-8120816206, page 23
- ^ Patrick Olivelle (1998), Upaniṣhads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-282292-6, pages 1–17
- ^ Michael Witzel; Qinyuan Wu (2019). The Two Oldest Veda Manuscripts: Facsimile Edition of Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 1–20 (Saṃhitā- and Padapāṭha) from Nepal and Western Tibet (c. 1150 CE). Harvard University Press (Harvard Oriental Series 92). pp. 1–8. ISBN 9780674988262.