Vedas (वेदाः)

The Vedas (Samskrit: वेद véda, "knowledge") are a large body of sacred ancient texts which have originated in भारतवर्ष || Bharatavarsha or the Indian subcontinent. The Hindus have received the Vedas through revelation. Vedas are considered to be Apauruṣeya, or entirely superhuman, without any author.

Composed in Vedic samskrit, these texts constitute the oldest layer of samskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of the world. The great Vedic commentator, of the thirteenth century, Sayana has given a definition of the Veda-

"इष्टप्राप्ति - अनिष्टपरिहर्योर - अलौकिकम् - उपयम् यो ग्रन्थो वेदयति स वेदः ||"

"ishtaprapti-anishtapariharyor-alaukikam-upayam yo grantho vedayati  sa vedah ||"

Meaning : The  scripture,  which  describes  the  divine  method  for obtaining what is desirable and for giving up what is undesirable, is called Veda. This definition presents the purpose of the Veda. According to another definition, as per the sage अपस्तम्ब || Apastamba 

"मन्त्र - ब्रह्मन्योर् - वेदनामधेयम् ||"

"mantra-brahmanyor-vedanamadheyam ||"

Meaning : 'The Veda is the name given to the Mantras and the Brahmanas’.This definition describes the form of the 'Veda' because it could be divided mainly into these two great divisions--the Mantras and the Brahmanas. Accordingly, मन्त्र || Mantra part is the main part of the Veda and whatever is not Mantra is ब्राह्मण || Brahmana. Here it is interesting to know that many  ancient  definitions  of  Veda,  showing  its  significance,  form  or contents are given in ancient Indian texts. Generally speaking the word वेद || Veda signifies highest, sacred, eternal  and  divine  knowledge  as  well  as  the  texts embodying  that knowledge.

परिचय || Introduction

सनातन धर्म || Sanatana Dharma, the lifestyle of Hindu people living in the Indian subcontinent, advocates that the Vedas are अपौरुषेय ॥ apauruṣeya ("not of a man" and "impersonal, authorless"). However, classical samskrit works which are different from the Vedic texts such as the महाकाव्य || mahakavyas and गद्य काव्य || gadya kavyas by different poets are available in great volumes. These texts are essentially different from the Vedas where the usage of Samskrit language is also different from the Vedic period. Vedic Samskrit is more ancient than classical Samskrit. Long before Panini systematized classical Samskrit grammar, निरुक्तम् || Niruktam was used to interpret Vedic Samskrit words.

Vedas are also called श्रुति || Shrutis ("what is heard") distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called स्मृति || Smṛti (what is remembered). The Vedas are revelations of ancient sages after intense meditation, passed on to thousands of future generations by शब्द ॥ shabd (sound) or transmitted verbally, thus carefully preserved since ancient times. Texts have been written and preserved in later ages.

In the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were skillfully created by ऋषि || Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot. The Vedas (sruti) are different from other Vedic era texts such as श्रौत सूत्र || Shrauta Sutras and ग्र्यह सूत्र || Gryha Sutras, which are smriti texts.

Vedic samskrit language being ancient is difficult to understand without the knowledge of Vedaangas, especially निरुक्तम् || Nirukta of Maharshi Yaska and the grammar of Panini and Patanjali. Maharshi Yaska's Nirukta is special in that it is not only a dictionary of Vedic words but also an explanatory text for different Vedic terms.

With the availability of modern technological advancements, vast data on various topics is created, in different parts of the world, dispersed all over the globe. Thus, people generated a large number of genuine as well as falsely interpreted data about the Vedas of Bharatavarsha.

Ownership of the Vedas

The ownership of our knowledge systems are mainly in the hands of foreigners (through Indology) or Indians trained by Westerners who write our इतिहास || Itihasa (history) from the colonial standpoint, which is to maintain Western hegemony in academia and promote Western Universalism. This strategy of conquest has been in operation since the Edinburgh enlightenment (1750, as cited by Dharampal 2000) which compelled the East India Company to change its barbaric methodologies of conquest used in Europe, the Africas & Americas (Todorov 1974) to a more subtle & devious method to conquer India. The result was a complete infiltration of western false interpretation of Vedas in our knowledge networks through gross error.

Vedic scholarship in India, in the true sense of the term, appears to have ceased with the great work of Maharishi Yaska, albeit with a few exceptions like Swami Dayanand, Shri Aurobindo and Shri Tulsi Ram. Swami Dayananda asserts that the commentaries of modern writers like Sayana, Skanda, Vejikaa, Mahidhara and Western Indologists are gross misinterpretations. Many great Indian scholars endeavor to bring back the great Vedic tradition by translations conducted with Bharatiya perspective. Many drawbacks can be pointed out as to the lack of visibility of Indian Scholars well versed in Vedas.

1. Many vedic scholars are aged seniors who chose to live in distant remote areas, silently practicing their knowledge. Unable to imbibe different modern ways of life their existence has become obscure.
2. Mental and physical connect with the modern systems is lacking owing to simple lifestyle and lack of funds to these scholars.
3. Indian Urban society discusses or views the modern so called "Indology", with the western indoctrination, refusing to accept the fundamental theories of the Vedic scholars.
4. English language given it's present day glory and spread, is grossly insufficient to explain the numerous nuances of the divine language samskrit.
5. Extensiveness of the Vedas and sufficiency of a lifetime to study and interpret them in modern sense requires expertise in both the subject and language which is difficult to achieve in a life time.
6. Invasion of Bharatavarsha by various foreigners have brought about adjustments and alterations in the धार्मिक || dharmic lifestyle as survival tactics against the foreign rulers, which brought about a loss of the fundamental principles advocated by the scriptures.
7. Modernization or replacement of ancient tools of work with modern instrumentation has led to loss of knowledge of such ancient systems which promote dharmic lifestyle inconveniencing the scholars and forcing many of them to adapt to such new lifestyles.
8. Present day adaptation of western ways of life has replaced the ancient lifestyle leading to a cultural loss of vedic rituals and traditions, whereby the younger generations are unwilling to study or practice the older traditions. This led to formation of only a few scholars in the later generations.

The Dharmic (Indian) Worldview

A clash between the ideologies of modernity and the philosophy of civilization of cultures could have dangerous repercussions and this has been a frequently recurring thought in contemporary discourse. To understand the implications of these notions it becomes essential to emphasize that religion and dharma are not synonymous and hence cannot be talked of in the same breath.

The Vedas are the source of all Dharmas (in moral, social, religious, judicial, and spiritual sense) that have been in practice since times immemorial and hence is called Sanaatana Dharma or eternal dharma.

Dharma is a samskrit expression of the widest import. There is no corresponding word for Dharma in any other language in this world as it is a unique and ancient concept promulgated by rishis since times immemorial. It would be futile to attempt to give any definition of the word. It can only be explained and has a wide variety of meanings. For instance, the word "Dharma" is used to mean न्याय || Nyaya (Justice), what is right in a given circumstance, moral values of life, pious obligations of individuals, righteous conduct in every sphere of activity, being helpful to the the needy, giving charity to individuals in need or for a public cause, natural qualities or properties of characteristics of a living being or things, duty and law as also constitutional law. Dharma is regarded as the greatest and most valuable contribution to humanity by Bharatavarsha.

Contemporary knowledge and academia is not able to help us ascertain the right direction in life,. To understand Bharatiyata as experienced by our ancient Rishis and lead a Dharmic life requires revisiting our civilisational heritage through the wisdom bank of the Vedas. Compiling relevant literature that is timely, supportive and relevant to the original वेदविद्या || VedaVidya may be seen as regressive by self-styled modernists and liberals, but this should not deter us as it is an indication of the power of the annihilating forces. Predictions of the future being bleak and bringing destruction are made regularly, yet the same destructive systems are seen as wisdom? Notably, "If the future is seen as destructive, how come revisiting time-tested successful systems is seen as unproductive?" The compilation of our Dharmic texts also becomes essential as the self-appointed ‘knowledge leaders’ will need some definitive yardstick to judge both the progressive and the destructive. Without such a yardstick, knowledge creation remains the outcome of a whimsical mind, or propaganda for political/territorial gains or media-generated fodder for control of the world’s resources by a few rich corporations, leading to eventual destruction.

सम्वाद || Discussion

Western Indology

The study of samskrit 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 samskrit 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. Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899.

Voltaire regarded Vedas to be exceptional, he remarked that:

""The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East.""

Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007.

Indologists Hegemony

The true Dharmic point of view that made us the richest civilization not only economically but culturally has remained unknown, a fact that can be attributed to the Indologist hegemony over global discourse. Until now the Vedas were read and understood in India and the West as interpreted by Sayana and his ‘collective authorship’ or Occidental linguists and missionaries of the East India Company (EIC). Notably, these great scholars' work was used not to defile the Indian narrative but through translations, create their knowledge systems (as in grammar, education systems, science, technology).

Interestingly, Sayana’s and others' commentary of the Vedas and not of ancient authentic vedic scholars like Maharishi Yaska or the more recent Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo or Shri Tulsi Ram’s works are used as primary sources by the Indologist or their trained or sponsored Indian scholars. Their work has been commented upon by Shri Aurobindo (page 3, the Secret of the Veda, 1998), thus

"Indian scholar Sayana and we have in our own day the interpretation constructed after an immense labour of comparison and conjecture by modern European scholarship. Both of them present one characteristic in common, the extraordinary incoherence and poverty of sense which their results stamp upon the ancient hymns. When we come to read the hymns as a whole we seem to be in the presence of men who, unlike the early writers of other races, were incapable of coherent and natural expression or of connected thought. "

The EIC through Indology, a medium used to serve the colonial agenda, translated our works not only to digest our knowledge systems but to create a narrative that show the colonized as ‘uncivilized’ and the white man’s on a mission to save the ‘pagan’. For example, Sayana was deemed a scholar and his works are very popular and freely available on the Internet. Significantly his commentary on the Rigveda was edited by Max Mueller, though under his name is done by ‘collective authorship’ , by Sayana, his brother, students and Max Mueller himself. Max Mueller, the self-styled Indologist, an employee of the colonial East India Company who bore the expenses for published the first volume (1849).

The euphoria over the digital revolution and the perceived increase in ‘knowledge' is a chimera, as the increase in information has also seen a parallel decline in knowledge-gathering. Consequently, opinions and beliefs not backed by evidence from primary sources is seen as intellectual rigor. In this alarming situation, it becomes necessary to reclaim our values based on the eternal culture of sanatana dharma that stands as a guidepost for the people of Bharat. At the same time, this endeavor helps support the movement for reclaiming our position of विश्वगुरु || Vishwaguru that guides the world towards renewal and progress.

References

1. Acharya Dharma Deva Vidya Martanda. (2002). The Rigveda, with Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati's commentary, English translation, Vol I. New Delhi:Sarvadeshi Arya Pratinidhi Sabha.
2. Narayanacharya, K. S. (2011). Veda Sanskritiya Parichaya. Hubli:​Sahitya Prakashana​.
3. Kumar, S. (1996). The Vishuddha Manusmriti. Delhi:Arsh Sahitya Prachar Trust.