Vedic Literature: From Hymns to Philosophy

Four layers, one tradition

Vedic literature has four layers. The Samhitas come first. They are collections of hymns, chants and formulas.

The Brahmanas explain how to perform rituals. The Aranyakas come next. The Upanishads form the last layer.

The Vedas are called shruti, meaning what is heard. Smriti texts were composed by humans and remembered. Veda means knowledge.

Sources: Indian Wisdom · Sanskrit literature survey · SVPNPA (for four layers, one tradition).

The Rigveda and its ten mandalas

The Rigveda is the oldest Veda. It has 1,028 hymns, grouped into 10 books called mandalas. Mandalas 2 to 7 are the earliest part.

The tenth mandala was added later. It holds the Purusha Sukta. The Gayatri mantra is also in the Rigveda. The earliest hymns date to about 1500 BC.

Sources: IGNCA · Sanskrit literature survey (for the rigveda and its ten mandalas).

The other three Vedas

The Samaveda has 1,603 verses. Most are borrowed from the Rigveda and set to music for chanting. The Yajurveda is the book of the Adhvaryu priests. It holds the formulas used while performing a sacrifice.

The Atharvaveda has spells and notes on medicinal plants. The first three Vedas are called the Vedatrayi. The Atharvaveda was added later, and it is the latest of the four.

Sources: IGNCA · Taylor and Francis review · Sanskrit literature survey (for the other three vedas).

The Brahmanas: manuals for priests

The Brahmanas are prose texts. They explain the hymns and the rituals around them. Each Veda has its own Brahmanas.

• Aitareya and Kausitaki belong to the Rigveda.
• Satapatha belongs to the Shukla Yajurveda. It is the most exhaustive.
• Gopatha belongs to the Atharvaveda.

Sources: IGNCA · Sanskrit literature survey (for the brahmanas: manuals for priests).

The Aranyakas: forest books

Aranyaka means forest book. These texts were meant for hermits living in the forest. They stress meaning over ritual action. They act as a bridge between two paths.

The first path is karma marga, the way of ritual action. The second is jnana marga, the way of knowledge.

Sources: IGNCA · Sanskrit literature survey (for the aranyakas: forest books).

The Upanishads: atman, Brahman and Vedanta

The word Upanishad comes from sitting down near a teacher. The Upanishads are also called Vedanta. They total 108 in the usual count. The core idea is that Brahman, the ultimate reality, and atman, the self, are one.

The line tat tvam asi expresses it. India’s motto Satyameva Jayate comes from the Mundaka Upanishad. Later thinkers such as Shankara, Ramanuja and Aurobindo built on these texts.

Sources: BYU scholarship · IGNCA · Taylor and Francis review (for the upanishads: atman, brahman and vedanta).

The Surya Sukta: the marriage hymn

The Surya Sukta is a hymn in the tenth mandala of the Rigveda. It is a wedding hymn about Surya and Soma. Exams ask about it because the tenth mandala also holds the Purusha Sukta. Do not mix the two.

Sources: CDS I 2018 Q62 · IGNCA (for the surya sukta: the marriage hymn).

Upanishads and Puranas

The Upanishads are far older than the Puranas. This ordering appears in a UPSC question. The Upanishads also teach through parables and stories. So a claim that the Upanishads have no parables is false.

Sources: UPSC CSP 2024 Q58 · Sanskrit literature survey (for upanishads and puranas).

The six Vedangas: limbs of the Veda

The Vedangas are six helper sciences. They help a student read, recite and use the Vedas correctly.

• Siksha deals with pronunciation.
• Kalpa deals with rituals.
• Vyakarana deals with grammar.
• Nirukta deals with the origin of words.
• Chhandas deals with metre.
• Jyotisha deals with astronomy and timekeeping.

The word Vedanga means limb of the Veda. They draw on the Vedas but are not counted as core Vedic literature.

Sources: IGNCA (for the six vedangas: limbs of the veda).

Upavedas, Darshanas and the fifth Veda

Four Upavedas also draw on the Vedas.

• Dhanurveda is the art of warfare.
• Gandharvaveda is music.
• Silpaveda is art and architecture.
• Ayurveda is medicine.

They are respected, but they are not part of Vedic literature proper. The six schools of philosophy are called Shad-Darshana. They are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa. They are written in the sutra style, as short aphorisms.

Some call Bharata Muni’s Natyashastra the fifth Veda.

Sources: IGNCA (for upavedas, darshanas and the fifth veda).

Numbers worth remembering

Exams like exact counts, so keep these straight.

• The Rigveda has 1,028 hymns and about 10,600 mantras.
• The Samaveda has 1,603 verses. Only 75 are not borrowed from the Rigveda.
• The Atharvaveda has 20 kandas, 711 hymns and 5,987 mantras.
• The Upanishads were composed between about 800 BC and 500 BC.
• The Satapatha Brahmana gets its name from ‘one hundred paths’.
• The main Upanishads, such as Aitareya, Taittiriya, Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya and Kena, are older than Buddha and Panini.

Sources: IGNCA (for numbers worth remembering).

A living oral tradition

Vedic texts were passed down by speech for generations. Priests memorised them with exact sounds and rhythm. Only 13 of over 1,000 Vedic recitation branches survive today. The Vedas are also the base for later schools of philosophy.

Sources: Sangeet Natak Akademi · IGNCA (for a living oral tradition).