Introduction
Hinduism is a unique and inimitable monotheistic religion in its structure, essence, nature, and content, in which God embodies not one but many images. It is one of the oldest and most widespread religions globally; its origins date back to the time of the Proto-Indian civilization (Barman, 2020). Despite this fact, it still preserves the regulations and foundations of life established since ancient times, stretching into modernity the traditions of culture that originated at the dawn of history (Barman, 2020). For example, followers of religion continue to actively follow the scriptures, a collection of eternal and impersonal truths (mimansa). Thus, the Vedas is one of Hinduism’s most essential and significant texts.
The Vedas Are the Most Famous Scriptures
Main Attribute
One should mention that the Vedas are one of the primary sources of knowledge about the picture of reality, being, and divine principles. The beginning of the formation of the Vedas refers to the period when the ancient Aryans had not yet migrated to India (Syed, 2022). As a rule, they are understood as revelation, sacred canons, and the original paradigmatic sacred texts (Das, 2020). It is believed that they have no author and were “clearly heard” by the holy sages of the distant past. Indeed, without their reverence, it is impossible to identify the essence of the Hindu worldview.
Four Vedas
There are only four Vedas: the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Moreover, each consists of three sections: Samhitas, Brahmanas, and Sutras. They are collections (Samhitas) of hymns, chants, sacrificial formulas, and incantations (Satyanarayana et al., 2022). The first three Vedas refer to “sacred knowledge” and capture the totality of the understanding of the ancient Aryans about the surrounding world and the place of a man in it. The Atharva Veda has long been considered unclean; in ancient texts, there were even prescriptions for pious people not to listen to its performance so as not to defile themselves. This is because the Atharva Veda is dedicated to ancient magic.
The Vedas themselves are collections of works belonging to different times. The oldest part of them is, undoubtedly, the songs of the Rig Veda (Das, 2020). Not all Vedic hymns have religious content; some belong to secular poetry or jokes. In addition, the collection of Sama Veda hymns is an anthology of the Rig Veda “accolades”; it selects those verses that people should sing at the sacrifice of Soma. Religious “tributes” and their excerpts are arranged in the Sama Veda according to the order of worship; meter was quite crucial in the distribution.
The Yajur Veda differs from the Sama Veda since it contains hymns for all the rites of Indian sacrifice. It makes up the general service book of the rites, while Sama Veda is limited to the sacrifice of Soma. The Yajur Veda consists of half of the verses found in the Rig Veda; the other half consists of sacrificial formulas, excerpts of “accolades” not in other Vedas, and invocations of the Gods (Das, 2020). On the contrary, the Atharva Veda is composed not of incoherent passages but whole hymns, and they are arranged according to the subjects of content. The main content of the Atharva Veda consists of songs that protect against the harmful effects of divine forces, from diseases and dangerous animals, curses to enemies, appeals to herbs, and much more.
Conclusion
The Vedas are the grain of the Hindu tradition; they are texts that preserve the truth about the world and the deity, consisting of four main “directions.” Thus, the Rig Veda is the most ancient Veda, which is mainly devoted to hymns-mantras praising the Lord and His various incarnations in the form of deities. The Sama Veda repeats the hymns of the Rig Veda, selected by the special melodiousness of the sound. Moreover, the Yajur Veda contains mantras and prayers used during Vedic rituals. Atharvaveda includes a collection of Indian conspiracies and whole hymns dedicated to finding positive phenomena for a person.
References
Barman, V. (2020). Hinduism: An overview of the religion. PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(9), pp. 3661-3667. Web.
Das, D. (2020). A comparative study of Hinduism and Islam. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(1), pp. 1629-1634. Web.
Satyanarayana, B., Sharma, P. K., & Basar, A. (2022). The Vedas as the original source of the Hindu Indian ancient and modern mathematical sciences: A survey article. Journal of Mathematical Problems, Equations and Statistics, 3(1), pp. 6-10. Web.
Syed, M. H. (2022). History of Ancient India: Ancient India. KK Publications.