The Vedic Period

THE VEDIC PERIOD Samhitas.—The term veda, i.e. (sacred) "knowledge," "lore"— embraces a body of writings the origin of which is ascribed to divine revelation (fruti, literally "hearing"), and which forms the foundation of the Brahmanical system of religious belief. This sacred canon is divided into three or (according to a later scheme) four co-ordinate collections, likewise called Veda: (I) the Rig veda, or lore of praise (or hymns) ; (2) the Sama-veda, or lore of tunes (or chants) ; (3) the Yajur-veda, or lore of prayer (or sacri ficial formulas) ; and (4) the Atharva-veda, or lore of the Athar vans. Each of these four Vedas is a collection (samhitei) of sacred, mostly poetical, texts of a devotional nature, called mantra. This entire body of texts (and particularly the first three collections) is also known as the trayi vidya, or threefold wisdom, of hymn (rich), tune or chant (saman), and prayer (yajus)—the fourth Veda, when included, being classed together with the Rik.

Classes of Priests.

The Brahmanical religion finds its practi cal expression chiefly in sacrificial performances. The Vedic sac rifice requires for its proper performance the attendance of four officiating priests, each of whom is assisted by one or more (usually three) subordinate priests, viz.: (I) the Hotar (or hotri, i.e., either "sacrificer," or "invoker"), whose chief business is to invoke the gods, in prayers or hymns; (2) the Udgatar (udgatri), or chorister, who has to perform chants (stotra) in connection with the hotar's invocations; (3) the Adhvaryu, or offering priest par excellence, who performs all the material duties of the sacrifice, such as the kindling of the fires; (4) the Brah man, or chief "priest," who superintends the performance and rectifies any mistakes that may be committed. The Samaveda and Yajurveda form special song and prayer books, arranged for the practical use of the udgatar and adhvaryu respectively; whilst the Rik-sarphita, though not arranged for any such practical pur pose, contains the entire body of sacred lyrics whence the hotar draws the material for his recitations. The brahman, however,

had no special text-book assigned to him, but was expected to be familiar with all the Samhitas as well as with the practical details of the sacrificial performance. (See BRAHMAN and BRAH mmIA.) Brahmanas.—The several Samhitas have attached to them cer tain theological prose works, called Breihmana, which also form part of the canon. Their object is to explain the relationship of the Vedic texts to the now very elaborate sacrificial ceremonial and to explain their mystic import. (See BRAHMAN A.) Aranyakas and Upanishads.—Closely connected with the Brahmanas are two classes of treatises called Aratiyaka and Upanishad. The Aranyakas, i.e., works "relating to the forest," intended to be read or expounded by anchorites in the quiet of the forest, resemble the Brahmanas, which they supplement by dealing with special points of ritual. The Upanishads are of a more mystical nature, and form the first attempts at a systematic treatment of metaphysical questions. From their pantheistic views later developed the Vedanta philosophy. The Upanishads have to be assigned to very different periods of Sanskrit litera ture. The oldest treatises of this kind are doubtless those which form part of the Samhitas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas of the three older Vedas.

Different Recensions.

As the sacred texts were not corn mitted to writing till a much later period, but were handed down orally in the Brahmanical schools, it was inevitable that local differences of reading should spring up, which in course of time gave rise to a number of independent versions. Such different text-recensions, called ieikhei (i.e., branch), were at one time very numerous, but only a limited number have survived. As regards the Samhitas, the poetical form of the hymns, as well as the concise style of the sacrificial formulas, rendered these texts less liable to change.