Part of a series on
Hindu scriptures
Vedas
Rigveda · Samaveda Yajurveda · Atharvaveda Divisions Samhita · Brahmana Aranyaka · Upanishads
Vedangas
Shiksha · Chandas Vyakarana · Nirukta Kalpa · Jyotisha
Upanishads
Rig vedic Aitareya Yajur vedic Brihadaranyaka · Isha Taittiriya · Katha Shvetashvatara Sama vedic Chandogya · Kena Atharva vedic Mundaka · Mandukya Prashna
Puranas
Brahma puranas Brahma · Brahmānda Brahmavaivarta Markandeya · Bhavishya Vaishnava puranas Vishnu · Bhagavata Naradeya · Garuda · Padma · Agni Shaiva puranas Shiva · Linga Skanda · Vayu
Itihasa
Ramayana Mahabharata (Bhagavad Gita)
Other scriptures
Manu Smriti Artha Shastra · Agama Tantra · Sūtra · Stotra Dharmashastra Divya Prabandha Tevaram Ramcharitmanas Yoga Vasistha
Scripture classification
Śruti · Smriti
Timeline
Hindu texts
v t e

The Vedas (Sanskrit वेदाः véda, "knowledge") are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.^[1][2] The Vedas are apauruṣeya ("not of human agency").^[3][4][5] They are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard"),^[6][7] distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered").

The Vedic texts or śruti are organized around four canonical collections of metrical material known as Saṃhitās, of which the first three are related to the performance of yajna (sacrifice) in historical Vedic religion:

1. The Rigveda, containing hymns to be recited by the hotṛ;
2. The Yajurveda, containing formulas to be recited by the adhvaryu or officiating priest;
3. The Samaveda, containing formulas to be sung by the udgātṛ.
4. The fourth is the Atharvaveda, a collection of spells and incantations, apotropaic charms and speculative hymns.^[8]

The individual verses contained in these compilations are known as mantras. Some selected Vedic mantras are still recited at prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions in contemporary Hinduism.

The various Indian philosophies and sects have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika). Other traditions, notably Buddhism and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities are referred to by traditional Hindu texts as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" (nāstika) schools.^[9][10] In addition to Buddhism and Jainism, Sikhism^[11][12] and Brahmoism,^[13] many non-Brahmin Hindus in South India ^[14] do not accept the authority of the Vedas. Certain South Indian Brahmin communities such as Iyengars consider the Tamil Divya Prabandham or writing of the Alvar saints as equivalent to the Vedas.^[15]

Etymology and usage[link]

The Sanskrit word véda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". This is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning "see" or "know".^[16]

As a noun, the word appears only in a single instance in the Rigveda, in RV 8.19.5, translated by Griffith as "ritual lore":

yáḥ samídhā yá âhutī / yó védena dadâśa márto agnáye / yó námasā svadhvaráḥ

"The mortal who hath ministered to Agni with oblation, fuel, ritual lore, and reverence, skilled in sacrifice."^[17]

The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek (ϝ)εἶδος "aspect", "form" . Not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek (ϝ)οἶδα (w)oida "I know". Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc., Latin videō "I see", etc.^[18]

In English, the term Veda is often used loosely to refer to the Samhitas (collection of mantras, or chants) of the four canonical Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda).

The Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means "knowledge", but can also be used to refer to fields of study unrelated to liturgy or ritual, e.g. in agada-veda "medical science", sasya-veda "science of agriculture" or sarpa-veda "science of snakes" (already found in the early Upanishads); durveda means "with evil knowledge, ignorant".^[19]

Chronology[link]

The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas date to roughly 1500–1000 BCE, and the "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BCE, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.^[20] The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over Northern India which annotated the mantra samhitas with Brahmana discussions of their meaning, and reaches its end in the age of Buddha and Panini and the rise of the Mahajanapadas (archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 BCE to c. 500-400 BCE. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th c. BCE the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period. He gives 150 BCE (Patañjali) as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BCE (the early Iron Age) as terminus post quem for the Atharvaveda.^[21]

Transmission of texts in the Vedic period was by oral tradition alone, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques. A literary tradition set in only in post-Vedic times, after the rise of Buddhism in the Maurya period, perhaps earliest in the Kanva recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st century BCE; however oral tradition predominated until c. 1000 CE.^[22]

Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years.^[23] The Benares Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript of the mid-14th century; however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in Nepal belonging to the Vajasaneyi tradition that are dated from the 11th century onwards.

Categories of Vedic texts[link]

The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:

1. Texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the Vedic period (Iron Age India)
2. Any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas"^[24]

Vedic Sanskrit corpus[link]

The corpus of Vedic Sanskrit texts includes:

• The Samhita (Sanskrit saṃhitā, "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("mantras"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions (śākhā). In some contexts, the term Veda is used to refer to these Samhitas. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, apart from the Rigvedic hymns, which were probably essentially complete by 1200 BC, dating to ca. the 12th to 10th centuries BC. The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's Vedic Concordance (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metric feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.^[25]
• The Brahmanas are prose texts that discuss, in technical fashion, the solemn sacrificial rituals as well as comment on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions. The Brahmanas may either form separate texts or can be partly integrated into the text of the Samhitas. They may also include the Aranyakas and Upanishads.
• The Aranyakas, "wilderness texts" or "forest treaties", were composed by people who meditated in the woods as recluses and are the third part of the Vedas. The texts contain discussions and interpretations of dangerous rituals (to be studied outside the settlement) and various sorts of additional materials. It is frequently read in secondary literature.
• Some of the older Mukhya Upanishads (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chandogya, Kaṭha).^[26][27]
• Certain Sūtra literature, i.e. the Shrautasutras and the Grhyasutras.

The Shrauta Sutras, regarded as belonging to the smriti, are late Vedic in language and content, thus forming part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.^[27][28] The composition of the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras (ca. 6th century BC) marks the end of the Vedic period, and at the same time the beginning of the flourishing of the "circum-Vedic" scholarship of Vedanga, introducing the early flowering of classical Sanskrit literature in the Mauryan and Gupta periods.

While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceases with the end of the Vedic period, there is a large number of Upanishads composed after the end of the Vedic period. While most of the ten Mukhya Upanishads can be considered to date to the Vedic or Mahajanapada period, most of the 108 Upanishads of the full Muktika canon date to the Common Era.

The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads often interpret the polytheistic and ritualistic Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, one of the major trends of later Hinduism.

The Vedic Sanskrit corpus is the scope of A Vedic Word Concordance (Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa) prepared from 1930 under Vishva Bandhu, and published in five volumes in 1935-1965. Its scope extends to about 400 texts, including the entire Vedic Sanskrit corpus besides some "sub-Vedic" texts.

Volume I: Samhitas

Volume II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas

Volume III: Upanishads

Volume IV: Vedangas

A revised edition, extending to about 1800 pages, was published in 1973-1976.

Shruti literature[link]

The texts considered "Vedic" in the sense of "corollaries of the Vedas" is less clearly defined, and may include numerous post-Vedic texts such as Upanishads or Sutra literature. These texts are by many Hindu sects considered to be shruti (Sanskrit: śruti; "the heard"), divinely revealed like the Vedas themselves. Texts not considered to be shruti are known as smriti (Sanskrit: smṛti; "the remembered"), of human origin. This indigenous system of categorization was adopted by Max Müller and, while it is subject to some debate, it is still widely used. As Axel Michaels explains:

These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only one collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads ... are sometimes not to be distinguished from Āraṇyakas...; Brāhmaṇas contain older strata of language attributed to the Saṃhitās; there are various dialects and locally prominent traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by Max Müller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic literature."^[26]

The Upanishads are largely philosophical works in dialog form. They discuss questions of nature philosophy and the fate of the soul, and contain some mystic and spiritual interpretations of the Vedas. For long, they have been regarded as their putative end and essence, and are thus known as Vedānta ("the end of the Vedas"). Taken together, they are the basis of the Vedanta school.

Vedic schools or recensions[link]

Study of the extensive body of Vedic texts has been organized into a number of different schools or branches (Sanskrit śākhā, literally "branch" or "limb") each of which specialized in learning certain texts.^[29] Multiple recensions are known for each of the Vedas, and each Vedic text may have a number of schools associated with it. Elaborate methods for preserving the text were based on memorizing by heart instead of writing. Specific techniques for parsing and reciting the texts were used to assist in the memorization process. (See also: Vedic chant)

Prodigous energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.^[30] For example, memorization of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the jaṭā-pāṭha (literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated again in the original order.^[31]

That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Ṛigveda, as redacted into a single text during the Brahmana period, without any variant readings.^[31]

The four Vedas[link]

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century

Part of a series on Hindu scriptures
Vedas and their Shakhas
Rig Veda[32] Shakala Bhashkala
Sama Veda[32] Ranayana Shatyamukhya Vyasa Bhaguri Olundi Goulgulvi Bhanumanoupamayava Karati Mashaka Argya Varshgagavya Kuthuma Shakugitre Jaiminiya
Krishna Yajurveda[32][33] Taittiriya Samhita Maitrayani Samhita Karaka Katha Samhita Kapisthala Kahta Samhita Kathaka
Shukla Yajurveda[33] Kanava Madhyandin
Atharvaveda[33] Shaunaka Paippalada Stauda Mauda Jajala Jalada Kuntap Brahmavada Devadarsa Caranavaidya
Hinduism portal
v t e

The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (turīya) viz.,^[34]

1. Rigveda (RV)
2. Yajurveda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS)
3. Sama-Veda (SV)
4. Atharva-Veda (AV)

Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called "trayī vidyā", that is, "the triple sacred science" of reciting hymns (RV), performing sacrifices (YV), and chanting (SV).^[35][36] This triplicity is so introduced in the Brahmanas (ShB, ABr and others), but the Rigveda is the older work of the three from which the other two borrow, next to their own independent Yajus, sorcery and speculative mantras.

Thus, the Mantras are properly of three forms: 1. Ric, which are verses of praise in metre, and intended for loud recitation; 2. Yajus, which are in prose, and intended for recitation in lower voice at sacrifices; 3. Sāman, which are in metre, and intended for singing at the Soma ceremonies.

The Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda are independent collections of mantras and hymns intended as manuals for the Adhvaryu, Udgatr and Brahman priests respectively.

The Atharvaveda is the fourth Veda. Its status has occasionally been ambiguous, probably due to its use in sorcery and healing. However, it contains very old materials in early Vedic language. Manusmrti, which often speaks of the three Vedas, calling them trayam-brahma-sanātanam, "the triple eternal Veda". The Atharvaveda like the Rigveda, is a collection of original incantations, and other materials borrowing relatively little from the Rigveda. It has no direct relation to the solemn Śrauta sacrifices, except for the fact that the mostly silent Brahmán priest observes the procedures and uses Atharvaveda mantras to 'heal' it when mistakes have been made. Its recitation also produces long life, cures diseases, or effects the ruin of enemies.

Each of the four Vedas consists of the metrical Mantra or Samhita and the prose Brahmana part, giving discussions and directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used and explanations of the legends connected with the Mantras and rituals. Both these portions are termed shruti (which tradition says to have been heard but not composed or written down by men). Each of the four Vedas seems to have passed to numerous Shakhas or schools, giving rise to various recensions of the text. They each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvānukramaṇī.

Rigveda[link]

The Rigveda Samhita is the oldest extant Indic text.^[37] It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas).^[38] The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.^[39]

The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of several centuries, commonly dated to the period of roughly the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent.^[40]

There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rigveda and the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the Andronovo culture; the earliest horse-drawn chariots were found at Andronovo sites in the Sintashta-Petrovka cultural area near the Ural Mountains and date to ca. 2000 BCE.^[41]

Rig Veda manuscripts have been selected for inscription in UNESCO's "Memory of the World" Register 2007.^[42]

Yajurveda[link]

The Yajurveda Samhita consists of archaic prose mantras and also in part of verses borrowed and adapted from the Rigveda. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice but, unlike the Samaveda, it was compiled to apply to all sacrificial rites, not merely the Somayajna. There are two major groups of recensions of this Veda, known as the "Black" (Krishna) and "White" (Shukla) Yajurveda (Krishna and Shukla Yajurveda respectively). While White Yajurveda separates the Samhita from its Brahmana (the Shatapatha Brahmana), the e Black Yajurveda intersperses the Samhita with Brahmana commentary. Of the Black Yajurveda four major recensions survive (Maitrayani, Katha, Kapisthala-Katha, Taittiriya).

Samaveda[link]

The Samaveda Samhita (from sāman, the term for a melody applied to metrical hymn or song of praise^[43]) consists of 1549 stanzas, taken almost entirely (except for 78 stanzas) from the Rigveda.^[26] Like the Rigvedic stanzas in the Yajurveda, the Samans have been changed and adapted for use in singing. Some of the Rigvedic verses are repeated more than once. Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith.^[44] Two major recensions remain today, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya. Its purpose was liturgical, as the repertoire of the udgātṛ or "singer" priests who took part in the sacrifice.

Atharvaveda[link]

The Artharvaveda Samhita is the text 'belonging to the Atharvan and Angirasa poets. It has 760 hymns, and about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rigveda.^[45] Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.^[45] It was compiled around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rigveda,^[46] and some parts of the Atharva-Veda are older than the Rig-Veda^[45] though not in linguistic form.

The Atharvaveda is preserved in two recensions, the Paippalāda and Śaunaka.^[45] According to Apte it had nine schools (shakhas).^[47] The Paippalada text, which exists in a Kashmir and an Orissa version, is longer than the Saunaka one; it is only partially printed in its two versions and remains largely untranslated.

Unlike the other three Vedas, the Atharvanaveda has less connection with sacrifice.^[48][49] Its first part consists chiefly of spells and incantations, concerned with protection against demons and disaster, spells for the healing of diseases, for long life and for various desires or aims in life.^[45][50]

The second part of the text contains speculative and philosophical hymns.^[51]

The Atharvaveda is a comparatively late extension of the "Three Vedas" connected to priestly sacrifice to a canon of "Four Vedas". This may be connected to an extension of the sacrificial rite from involving three types of priest to the inclusion of the Brahman overseeing the ritual.^[52]

The Atharvaveda is concerned with the material world or world of man and in this respect differs from the other three vedas. Atharvaveda also sanctions the use of force, in particular circumstances and similarly this point is a departure from the three other vedas.

Brahmanas[link]

The mystical notions surrounding the concept of the one "Veda" that would flower in Vedantic philosophy have their roots already in Brahmana literature, for example in the Shatapatha Brahmana. The Vedas are identified with Brahman, the universal principle (ŚBM 10.1.1.8, 10.2.4.6). Vāc "speech" is called the "mother of the Vedas" (ŚBM 6.5.3.4, 10.5.5.1). The knowledge of the Vedas is endless, compared to them, human knowledge is like mere handfuls of dirt (TB 3.10.11.3-5). The universe itself was originally encapsulated in the three Vedas (ŚBM 10.4.2.22 has Prajapati reflecting that "truly, all beings are in the triple Veda").

Vedanta[link]

Veda Vyasa attributed to have compiled the Vedas

While contemporary traditions continued to maintain Vedic ritualism (Śrauta, Mimamsa), Vedanta renounced all ritualism and radically re-interpreted the notion of "Veda" in purely philosophical terms. The association of the three Vedas with the bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ mantra is found in the Aitareya Aranyaka: "Bhūḥ is the Rigveda, bhuvaḥ is the Yajurveda, svaḥ is the Samaveda" (1.3.2). The Upanishads reduce the "essence of the Vedas" further, to the syllable Aum (ॐ). Thus, the Katha Upanishad has:

"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of continence, I will tell you briefly it is Aum" (1.2.15)

In post-Vedic literature[link]

Vedanga[link]

Six technical subjects related to the Vedas are traditionally known as vedāṅga "limbs of the Veda". V. S. Apte defines this group of works as:

"N. of a certain class of works regarded as auxiliary to the Vedas and designed to aid in the correct pronunciation and interpretation of the text and the right employment of the Mantras in ceremonials."^[53]

These subjects are treated in Sūtra literature dating from the end of the Vedic period to Mauryan times, seeing the transition from late Vedic Sanskrit to Classical Sanskrit.

The six subjects of Vedanga are:

• Phonetics (Śikṣā)
• Ritual (Kalpa)
• Grammar (Vyākaraṇa)
• Etymology (Nirukta)
• Meter (Chandas)
• Astronomy (Jyotiṣa)

Parisista[link]

Pariśiṣṭa "supplement, appendix" is the term applied to various ancillary works of Vedic literature, dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of the texts logically and chronologically prior to them: the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Sutras. Naturally classified with the Veda to which each pertains, Parisista works exist for each of the four Vedas. However, only the literature associated with the Atharvaveda is extensive.

• The Āśvalāyana Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a very late text associated with the Rigveda canon.
• The Gobhila Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a short metrical text of two chapters, with 113 and 95 verses respectively.
• The Kātiya Pariśiṣṭas, ascribed to Kātyāyana, consist of 18 works enumerated self-referentially in the fifth of the series (the Caraṇavyūha)and the Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa.
• The Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda has 3 parisistas The Āpastamba Hautra Pariśiṣṭa, which is also found as the second praśna of the Satyasāḍha Śrauta Sūtra', the Vārāha Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa
• For the Atharvaveda, there are 79 works, collected as 72 distinctly named parisistas.^[54]

Puranas[link]

A traditional view given in the Vishnu Purana (likely dating to the Gupta period^[55]) attributes the current arrangement of four Vedas to the mythical sage Vedavyasa.^[56] Puranic tradition also postulates a single original Veda that, in varying accounts, was divided into three or four parts. According to the Vishnu Purana (3.2.18, 3.3.4 etc.) the original Veda was divided into four parts, and further fragmented into numerous shakhas, by Lord Vishnu in the form of Vyasa, in the Dvapara Yuga; the Vayu Purana (section 60) recounts a similar division by Vyasa, at the urging of Brahma. The Bhagavata Purana (12.6.37) traces the origin of the primeval Veda to the syllable aum, and says that it was divided into four at the start of Dvapara Yuga, because men had declined in age, virtue and understanding. In a differing account Bhagavata Purana (9.14.43) attributes the division of the primeval veda (aum) into three parts to the monarch Pururavas at the beginning of Treta Yuga. The Mahabharata (santiparva 13,088) also mentions the division of the Veda into three in Treta Yuga.^[57]

Upaveda[link]

The term upaveda ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works.^[58][59] Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:

• Medicine (Āyurveda), associated with the Rigveda
• Archery (Dhanurveda), associated with the Yajurveda
• Music and sacred dance (Gāndharvaveda), associated with the Samaveda
• Military science (Shastrashastra), associated with the Atharvaveda

But Sushruta and Bhavaprakasha mention Ayurveda as an upaveda of the Atharvaveda. Sthapatyaveda (architecture), Shilpa Shastras (arts and crafts) are mentioned as fourth upaveda according to later sources.

Buddhist and Jain views[link]

Buddhism and Jainism do not reject the Vedas, but merely their absolute authority.^{[citation needed]}

Buddhism[link]

In the Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka of the Mahavagga (I.245)^[60] section the Buddha declared that the Veda in its true form was declared to the Vedic rishis "Atthako, Vâmako, Vâmadevo, Vessâmitto, Yamataggi, Angiraso, Bhâradvâjo, Vâsettho, Kassapo, and Bhagu"^[61] but that it was altered by a few Brahmins who introduced animal sacrifices. The Vinaya Pitaka's section Anguttara Nikaya: Panchaka Nipata says that it was on this alteration of the true Veda that the Buddha refused to pay respect to the Vedas of his time.^[62]

Also in the "Brahmana Dhammika Sutta" (II,7)^[63] of the Suttanipata section of Vinaya Pitaka^[64] there is a story of when the Buddha was in Jetavana village and there were a group of elderly Brahmin ascetics who sat down next to the Buddha and asked him, "Do the present Brahmans follow the same rules, practise the same rites, as those in the more ancient times?" The Buddha replied, "No." The elderly Brahmins asked the Buddha that if it were not inconvenient for him, that he would tell them of the Brahmana Dharma of the previous generation. The Buddha replied: "There were formerly rishis, men who had subdued all passion by the keeping of the sila precepts and the leading of a pure life...Their riches and possessions consisted in the study of the Veda and their treasure was a life free from all evil...The Brahmans, for a time, continued to do right and received in alms rice, seats, clothes, and oil, though they did not ask for them. The animals that were given they did not kill; but they procured useful medicaments from the cows, regarding the as friends and relatives, whose products give strength, beauty and health." So in this passage also the Buddha describes when the Brahmins were studying the Veda but the animal sacrifice customs had not yet began.

The Buddha was declared to have been born as a Brahmin who was a knower of the Vedas and its philosophies in a number of his previous lives according to Buddhist scriptures. Other Buddhas too were said to have been born as Brahmins that were trained in the Vedas.

The Mahasupina Jataka^[65] and Lohakumbhi Jataka^[66] declares that Brahmin Sariputra in a previous life was a Brahmin that prevented animal sacrifice by declaring that animal sacrifice was actually against the Vedas.

Jainism[link]

A Jain sage intereprets the Vedic sacrifices as metaphorical:

"Body is the altar, mind is the fire blazing with the ghee of knowledge and burning the sacrificial sticks of impurities produced from the tree of karma;..."^[67]

Further, Jain Sage Jinabhadra in his Visesavasyakabhasya cites a numeber of passages from the Vedic Upanishads.^[68]

Jain are in conformity with the Vedas in reference to both the Vedas' and Jainism' acceptance of the 22 Tirthankaras:

Of Rishabha (1st Tirthankara Rishabha) is written:

"But Risabha went on, unperturbed by anything till he became sin-free like a conch that takes no black dot, without obstruction ... which is the epithet of the First World-teacher, may become the destroyer of enemies" (Rig Veda X.166)

Of Aristanemi (Tirthankara Neminatha) is written:

"So asmakam Aristanemi svaha Arhan vibharsi sayakani dhanvarhanistam yajatam visvarupam arhannidam dayase" (Astak 2, Varga 7, Rig Veda)

"Fifth" and other Vedas[link]

Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra and certain Puranas, refer to themselves as the "fifth Veda".^[69] The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad. "Dravida Veda" is a term for canonical Tamil Bhakti texts.^{[citation needed]}

Other texts such as the Bhagavad Gita or the Vedanta Sutras are considered shruti or "Vedic" by some Hindu denominations but not universally within Hinduism. The Bhakti movement, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism in particular extended the term veda to include the Sanskrit Epics and Vaishnavite devotional texts such as the Pancaratra.^[70]

Western Indology[link]

The study of Sanskrit in the West began in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, Arthur Schopenhauer drew attention to Vedic texts, specifically the Upanishads. The importance of Vedic Sanskrit for Indo-European studies was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the Sacred Books of the East series edited by Müller between 1879 and 1910.^[71] Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899.

See also[link]

• Hindu Philosophy
• Historical Vedic religion
• Pandit
• Shakha
• Vedic chant

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965), The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (4th revised & enlarged ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0567-4 .
• Avari, Burjor (2007), India: The Ancient Past, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-35616-9 
• Flood, Gavin (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-43878-0 
• Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Malden, MA: Blackwell, ISBN 1-4051-3251-5 
• Holdrege, Barbara A. (1995), Veda and Torah, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-7914-1639-9 
• MacDonell, Arthur Anthony (2004), A History of Sanskrit Literature, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4179-0619-7 
• Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism: Past and Present, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-08953-1 
• Monier-Williams, Monier, ed. (2006), Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, Nataraj Books, ISBN 1-881338-58-4 .
• Muir, John (1861), Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India, Williams and Norgate, http://books.google.com/?id=_VCXTBk-PtoC 
• Müller, Max (1891), Chips from a German Workshop, New York: C. Scribner's sons, http://books.google.com/?id=J8Zo_rtoWAEC .
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli; Moore, Charles A., eds. (1957), A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy (12th Princeton Paperback ed.), Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01958-4 .
• Smith, Brian K., Canonical Authority and Social Classification: Veda and "Varṇa" in Ancient Indian Texts-, History of Religions, The University of Chicago Press (1992), 103-125.
• Sullivan, B. M. (Summer 1994), "The Religious Authority of the Mahabharata: Vyasa and Brahma in the Hindu Scriptural Tradition", Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62 (1): 377–401, DOI:10.1093/jaarel/LXII.2.377. 
• Witzel, Michael (ed.) (1997), Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora vol. 2, Cambridge: Harvard University Press 
• Zaehner, R. C. (1966), Hindu Scriptures, London: Everyman's Library 

Literature[link]

Overviews

• J. Gonda, Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, A History of Indian literature. Vol. 1, Veda and Upanishads (1975), ISBN 978-3-447-01603-2.
• J. A. Santucci, An Outline of Vedic Literature (1976).
• S. Shrava, A Comprehensive History of Vedic Literature — Brahmana and Aranyaka Works, Pranava Prakashan (1977).

Concordances

• M. Bloomfield, A Vedic Concordance (1907)
• Vishva Bandhu, Bhim Dev, S. Bhaskaran Nair (eds.), Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa: A Vedic Word-Concordance, Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur, 1963–1965, revised edition 1973-1976.

Conference proceedings

• Griffiths, Arlo and Houben, Jan E. M. (eds.), The Vedas : texts, language & ritual: proceedings of the Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002, Groningen Oriental Studies 20, Groningen : Forsten, (2004), ISBN 90-6980-149-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vedas

Look up Vedic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up Veda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• GRETIL etexts
• The Vedas at sacred-texts.com
• Vedas: Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva
• Vedas and Upanishads Complete set

v t e Hindu deities and texts Gods Deva Ganesha Brahma Vishnu Shiva Rama Krishna Murugan Hanuman Indra Surya more Goddesses Adi parashakti Devi Saraswati Lakshmi Sati Parvati Durga Shakti Kali Sita Radha Mahavidya Navadurga Matrikas more Texts Vedas Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita more Hinduism Hindu mythology

Philip S. Goldberg
United States Ambassador to Bolivia
In office 13 October 2006 – 10 September 2008
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	David N. Greenlee
Succeeded by	Krishna R. Urs (Chargé d’Affaires a.i.)
Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 February 2010
Preceded by	Randall M. Fort
Personal details
Born	(1956-08-01) August 1, 1956 (age 55) Boston, Massachusetts

Philip S. Goldberg (born August 1, 1956)^[1] is a United States diplomat who was Ambassador to Bolivia and was expelled by the Bolivian government in 2008, the eighth chief of mission in US diplomatic history to be declared persona non grata.^[2] He was nominated on October 23, 2009 to the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and confirmed by the Senate on February 9, 2010.^[3]

Early life and education[link]

Goldberg is a native of Boston, Massachusetts,^[4] with two sisters, Donna and Lisa.^[5] In her adulthood, Lisa Goldberg would become President of the Charles H. Revson Foundation in 2003 and wife of New York University's president, John Sexton, before dying in 2007 of a brain aneurysm.^[5][6] Goldberg is a graduate of The Rivers School and Boston University.^[4] Before joining the Foreign Service, Goldberg, who speaks fluent Spanish, worked as a liaison officer between the City of New York City and the United Nations and consular community.^[4]

Department of State appointments[link]

Goldberg is a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service.^[4] Goldberg has served overseas as a consular and political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, and political-economic officer in Pretoria, South Africa.^[4] From 1994 to 1996 Goldberg served as the State Department's Desk Officer for Bosnia and a Special Assistant to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.^[4] As Special Assistant to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Goldberg was a member of the American negotiating team in the lead-up to the Dayton Peace Conference and Chief of Staff for the American Delegation at Dayton.^[4] From 1996 to 1999 Goldberg served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State.^[4] From 1998 to 2000 Goldberg served as Executive Assistant (1998–2000) to the Deputy Secretary of State.^[4] In 2001 Goldberg served as a senior member of the State Department team handling the transition from the Clinton to Bush Administrations.^[4] From January 2001 to June 2001 Goldberg served as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.^[4] From 2001 to 2004 Goldberg served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile.^[4]

Chief of Mission to Kosovo[link]

From 2004 to 2006 Goldberg served as Chief of Mission in Pristina, Kosovo.^[4] When Kosovo's 120-seat parliament voted 72-3 to elect Ramush Haradinaj to head the new government, Goldberg emphasized the importance of the government's success.^[7] Haradinaj's election had been considered controversial because Haradinaj had recently been questioned about war crimes and there were indications that a UN war-crimes tribunal might be preparing to indict him.^[7] Haradinaj was subsequently charged with war crimes during the Kosovo War by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague but was acquitted of all charges on April 3, 2008.^[8]

In April, 2005 Richard Holbrooke wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that Goldberg had warned that the situation in Kosovo was volatile and that Secretary of State Rice had sent Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns to Europe to advise our allies of the instability and the likelihood of increased violence in Kosovo unless steps were taken to speedily resolve Kosovo's final status.^[9] On February 1, 2006 Goldberg talked to Radio Free Europe about his work as Chief of Mission and whether the question of Kosovo's status could be resolved within the year.^[10] Goldberg said the process was "well under way".^[10]

Ambassador to Bolivia[link]

Bolivian President Evo Morales

President George W. Bush officially nominated Philip S. Goldberg as Ambassador to Bolivia and his nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 2006.^[4] Goldberg presented his credentials to Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma on October 13, 2006.^[11]

Bolivia accuses United States of funding opposition[link]

In August 2007, the United States was accused by Government Minister Juan Ramon Quintana of funding opposition to Bolivian President Evo Morales by providing opposition leaders and critical think-tanks with millions of dollars.^[12] According to Quintana, the US Government Aid agency, USAID, had implied by reference in documents in Bolivia's possession that funding was to help restore democracy to Bolivia.^[12] Morales indirectly threatened retaliation against the ambassador for interference with Bolivia's government.^[12] Tom Casey, a spokesman for the State Department, denied these allegations.^[12]

Goldberg prohibited from entering Presidential Palace[link]

In September 2007, Bolivian President Morales complained that members of his delegation to the United Nations had found it difficult to acquire visas to enter the United States, suggesting that the UN headquarters should be moved.^[13] He also complained of long delays in the airport.^[13]

In October, 2007 Bolivian newspaper La Razón reported that after Morales' remarks about the United Nations, Morales prohibited Goldberg from entering the Presidential Palace after Goldberg remarked that he wouldn't be surprised if Morales also requested the move of Disney World.^[14] Morales said that Goldberg had been making fun of Morales and of the Bolivian people and demanded an apology.^[14] Goldberg reportedly sent a written apology,^[15] indicating that his statement regarding Disney World had been a joke made to relax tension between Bolivia and the United States.^[14]

Peace Corps "spying" incident in Bolivia[link]

In February 2008, ABC News reported that thirty Peace Corps volunteers had been asked "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia by US Embassy Security Officer Vincent Cooper.^[16] Peace Corps Deputy Director for Bolivia Doreen Salazar was present at the meeting and asserts that not only did she protest to the embassy later, but that on the spot Peace Corps staff made clear that these instructions were not mandatory.^[16] She also indicated that she had never heard such instructions made before and that the embassy agreed it was inappropriate.^[16] In their statement, the U.S. Embassy in La Paz acknowledged that the volunteers had received "incorrect information", indicating that "As soon as this was brought to our attention, appropriate measures were taken to assure that these errors would not be repeated."^{[17][dead link]} They indicated that the briefing had been intended for embassy staff.^[18]

Peace Corps issued a press release reiterating in no uncertain terms that the corps is not involved in any intelligence gathering.^[19]

In February 2008 it was also alleged by a visiting American Fulbright scholar that US Embassy Security Officer Vincent Cooper, in a routine safety briefing, asked the student to report the names and locations of "any Venezuelans or Cubans in the field—doctors, field workers, etc."^[20] The student alleged this incident took place in November, 2007, four months after the initial complaint by the Peace Corps was lodged with the Embassy.^[20] This student's reports were the initial trigger for Cooper's recall to the United States "to be questioned."^{[16][verification needed]}

On February 12, 2008, CNN reported that Bolivian President Evo Morales had declared Cooper "undesirable".^[18] According to CNN, Ambassador Goldberg indicated that the embassy had never "asked anyone to spy."^[18]