The Four Vedas (चतुर्वेदाः)

The word Veda (Samskrit : वेदः) means "to know" implying that the subject of the Vedas is Knowledge. Here knowledge does not mean facts about the external world like physics or chemistry. It means the knowledge of the eternal, sacred, spiritual wisdom, about the nature of man himself. It is the knowledge of the changeless and supreme reality behind the ever changing objective world of men and matter.

परिचय || Introduction

Vedas are texts containing knowledge of आत्मा || Atma, पुरुष || Purusha and the परमात्मा || Paramatma, have no authorship, no time frame within which they had been authored. They are called अपौरुषेय ॥ Apaurusheya meaning that they are not authored by any Purusha or human mind. They were revealed to the ऋषी || Rishis (Seers) - the द्रष्टा || Drashtas, men of wisdom, during the depths of their meditation.

Their utterances were called ‘Mantras’ which were not the result of any intuition but were the result of Divine Vision which is called मन्त्र दृष्टि || Mantra Drishti. Their inner and outer meanings were really known only to those to whom they were revealed. Hence none can challenge them on grounds of reason or logic. There is no final authority beyond the Vedas; in today’s management jargon the buck stops at the table of the Vedas.

महर्षिवेदव्यासेन संहितीकरण || Codification by Maharshi Vedavyasa

It is believed that the potency of the Vedas started decaying with the departure of Bhagavan Sri Krishna from this world. Even this was considered to be a Divine Plan for the Kali Yuga as per which only a part of the glory and effulgence of the Vedas is to be left over from total extinction. This divine arrangement could be put through the agency of वेदव्यासः ॥ Vedavyasa, the son of Sage Parashara. He was known as Dwaipayana as he was born in an island (Dweepa). He was considered as a manifestation of Bhagawan Sri Krishna himself for fulfilling a specific purpose in this world and hence he was known as Krishna Dwaipayana. He was also known as Badarayana.

The word व्यास || Vyasa means an essay or composition. It also means dealing with a matter subject wise and classifying it suitably. As Krishna Dwaipayana did all these tasks for the proper study and understanding of the Vedas he became famous as Maharshi Veda Vyasa. His contribution to the codification of the Vedas is so great that he is more widely known as Veda Vyasa than by any other name. Maharshi Veda Vyasa collected all the mantras in existence during his period, edited, codified and organized them into four groups which he taught to his four chief disciples as given below

Name Of The Veda	Taught To Rushi
ऋग् || Rig	Paila
यजुस् || Yajus	Vaishampayana
साम || Sama	Jaimini
अथर्वण || Atharvan	Sumantu

चातुर्होत्र || Four Chief Priests of Yagna

The Vedas were mainly utilized in the performance of Yajnas (sacrifices) which were the most common form of early Vedic religion. Such uses of the Veda led to its division based upon the convenience of the chief priests conducting the yajnas.

होत्र || Hotra : The chief priest whose function was to chant the Rigveda mantras and invoke the deities to the yajna.

अध्वर्यु || Adhvaryu : The chief executor of the Yajurveda part used to perform the yajna kriyas (sacrificial rites) and was in charge of the physical details of the yajna. He also takes care of the construction of the yajnavedi and preparation of the ahutis.

उद्गात्रि || Udgatri : The chief singer who sings the collection of all the Samaveda mantras or musical chants.

ब्रह्म || Brahma : The chief overseer who would recite the mantras of Atharvaveda and was considered as the supervisor over the whole process of yajna.

वेदवर्गीकरण || Classification of Vedas

There are four Vedas as compiled by the Great Rushi Veda Vyasa said to be for the ease of understanding them:

1. ऋग्वेदम् || The Rigveda
2. यजुर्वेदम् || The Yajurveda
3. सामवेदम् || The Samaveda
4. अथर्वणवेदम् || The Atharvaveda.

Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called त्रयी विद्या || trayī vidyā, that is, "the triple science" of reciting hymns (Rigveda), performing sacrifices (Yajurveda), and chanting songs (Samaveda). The Rigveda is the oldest work, which according to the Western Indologist Witzel, is probably from the period of 1900 to 1100 BC. However, till date no authentic dating method has been able to date literary works accurately. Only one version of the Rigveda is known to have survived into the modern era. Several different versions of the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda are known, and many different versions of the Yajur Veda have been found in different parts of South Asia.

वेदविभागम् || Sub Classification of Vedas

Each Veda has been sub-classified into four major text types –

1. संहिता || Samhitas (mantras)
2. अरण्यक || Aranyakas (method of conducting rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices)
3. ब्राह्मण || Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices)
4. उपनिषद् || Upanishads (discussion about meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).

Some scholars add a fifth category namely the उपासना || Upasanas (worship).

The various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as आस्तिक || āstika (orthodox). Other traditions, such as Lokayata, Charvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities are referred to as नास्तिक || nāstika ("heterodox" or "non-orthodox") schools. Despite their differences, just like the texts of the श्रमण || śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts.

While composition of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceased with the end of the Vedic period, additional Upanishads were composed after the end of the Vedic period.

The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads, among other things, interpret and discuss the Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman). The subjects of soul, परब्रह्म || parabrahma and the Ultimate purpose of life being moksha or liberation are extensively discussed in the end part of Vedas hence they are called Vedanta.

Vedanta includes philosophical discussions collectively put together in the Upanishads and is one of the major trends of Hinduism. In other parts, they show evolution of ideas, such as from actual sacrifice to symbolic sacrifice, and of spirituality in the Upanishads.

Adi Shankara classified each Veda into कर्मकाण्ड || karma-kanda (action/ritual-related sections) and ज्ञानकाण्ड || jnana-kanda (knowledge/spirituality-related sections).

Dating सनातन धर्म || Sanatana Dharma

Vedas will have historical implications when the rishis are assumed to be the authors of these vedas. So the primary question of whether these rishis are मन्त्रकर्तारः authors of mantras or मन्त्रद्रष्टारः drastas to whom the Vedas were revealed to needs to be understood clearly. Only when historicity needs to be verified does dating of vedas becomes important.

The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts known to mankind. Although many Western scholars have given their opinions about the age of Vedas, it is generally accepted that Vedas are the oldest known texts available as is Sanatana Dharma. The Vedic period was blooming with the composition of the mantra texts, with discussions and debates on the Samhitas and Brahmanas, with the exposition of Dharmic principles by Suta and Sounaka rishis, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over भारतखण्ड || Bharatakhanda which was as far as Afghanistan or खण्डहार || Khandahar on the west and Indonesia in the South East. It flourished well and was given the grammatical structure by Panini, in the 2nd Century B.C.

The modern researchers are still struggling to fix the exact period of the Vedas and there is no final conclusion as yet. Their conclusions differ as widely as 25000 years B.C. to 1000 years B.C. However, the general consensus among most of the Indian scholars is to consider the Mohenjadaro-Harappa culture i.e. about 3000 B.C. to be the later phase of Vedic culture. Thus as a common understanding among various scholars about the date of the Rig-Veda, considered as the earliest in human history, is around 10,000 B.C.

However, with the advent of Islam and Christianity in the West and Buddhism and Jainism, with various shakhas at war with each other, various philosophies with different ideologies have impacted the Indian theosophical concepts, with many views questioning the veracity of Vedas in the present age.

The largely publicized myths about Vedas, by Western Indologists such as Witzel, Jack Goody, Renou, Bloomfield, Kenneth Zysk, Axel Michaels, Max Muller and the many others, have been around, for the past three hundred years when Indian subcontinent was colonized and plundered by the Western civilizations. Many of these myths are being questioned and are diligently being proved false by the present generations of Vedic scholars lately.

 पञ्चमवेदः || Panchamaveda 

Though the general agreement about the number of vedas is four, there are instances in literature about Panchamaveda.

भारतः पञ्चमो वेदः || bhārataḥ pañcamo vedaḥ ||

As given in Mahabharata itself, it states that Mahabharata which covers numerous topics related to human relationships is considered as the "Fifth Veda".

पुराणं पञ्चमो वेद इति ब्रह्मानुशासनम् || (Skan. Pura. 5.3.1.18)

purāṇaṃ pañcamo veda iti brahmānuśāsanam || (Skan. Pura. 5.3.1.18)

Puranas are also considered as Panchamaveda according to the Skandapurana.