The Yajurveda

The Rigveda is a book of hymns. The Yajurveda is a book of instructions for priests. This section explains what it contains and why it is built differently.

1.1 What does the name Yajurveda mean?

The Yajurveda is the third of the four Vedas. The four Vedas are the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. Together the first three are called the trayi-vidya, the “threefold knowledge”.

The name comes from yajus, a sacrificial formula. A sacrifice, or yajna, is a ritual where offerings are made into a sacred fire. A yajus is the short sentence a priest speaks while he does one step of that ritual. So the Yajurveda means the “Veda of sacrificial formulas”.

1.2 Why does it mix verse and prose?

The Black Yajurveda contains both verses used in rituals, called mantras, and prose sections. A prose section explains what a ritual step means or how to do it.

This is why the Yajurveda differs from the Rigveda. A hymn is made to be recited. A ritual manual must also tell the priest what to do. Prose is better for that job.

1.3 When was it composed?

No one can give an exact date. Most scholars accept that the Vedas as a whole were composed about 1500 to 1200 BCE. The prose texts that explain them, the Brahmanas, came later, perhaps about 900 BCE.

For exams, say that the Yajurveda belongs to the early Vedic age and is later than the oldest Rigvedic hymns. Do not memorise a precise year.

1.4 How is it different from the Rigveda?

Think of the Rigveda as a song book. Think of the Yajurveda as the script a priest follows at the altar. A song book gives you words to sing. A script also tells you what to do next.

• Rigveda: hymns, all in verse.
• Yajurveda: formulas in verse and prose, made for the ritual.
• Name: yajus means sacrificial formula.

2.1 What are the two branches?

The Yajurveda is divided into two main branches. They are the White (Shukla) Yajurveda and the Black (Krishna) Yajurveda.

2.2 Which texts belong to each branch?

Each branch kept its own main collection, called a samhita. The Vajasaneyi Samhita belongs to the White Yajurveda. The Taittiriya Samhita belongs to the Black Yajurveda.

The Shatapatha Brahmana is a prose text with 100 lessons. It belongs to the Shukla Yajurveda. It explains the rituals. It is a separate book, not a part of the Samhita.

• Shukla (White): Vajasaneyi Samhita and the Shatapatha Brahmana.
• Krishna (Black): Taittiriya Samhita and other recensions.

2.3 What are shakhas and recensions?

A shakha means “branch”. It is a school of priests who learned and passed on one version of the text by memory. Each version is also called a recension.

Different schools kept slightly different versions. The Shatapatha Brahmana, for example, survives in a Kanva and a Madhyamdina version.

2.4 What is the story behind “white” and “black”?

An old legend explains the names. In the Vishnu Purana, the sage Yajnavalkya quarrels with his teacher Vaishampayana. He gives back what he has learned. Other students become partridges, called tittiri, and swallow it. That is how the Taittiriya school gets its name.

Treat this as a legend. The translator of the Vishnu Purana calls it a Puranic invention. Learn it only to recognise the names in a question.

2.5 How can you remember which text goes where?

Match each branch to its main collection. Shukla goes with the Vajasaneyi Samhita. Krishna goes with the Taittiriya Samhita.

Then add the commentary. The Shatapatha Brahmana, the text with 100 lessons, goes with Shukla.

A common mistake is to call the Shatapatha Brahmana a Samhita. It is not. A Samhita is a collection of mantras. A Brahmana is a prose text that explains them.

3.1 Who used the Yajurveda?

The Yajurveda was the guide of the Adhvaryu priest. The Adhvaryu was the priest who carried out the physical actions of the sacrifice and spoke the yajus as he did them.

3.2 How does it fit with the other Vedas?

The Yajurveda is one of the first three Vedas. Together they were called the trayi-vidya, the “threefold knowledge”. The Atharvaveda was counted later.

Each Veda had its own job in the ritual. The Yajurveda was the Veda of the person who did the work at the sacrificial fire.

4.1 Which Upanishads belong to it?

The Upanishads are philosophical texts that come at the end of the Vedic tradition. For this reason they are called Vedanta, “the conclusion of the Vedas”.

The Isha Upanishad comes at the end of the Vajasaneyi Samhita. The Shukla branch therefore holds one Upanishad inside its main collection.

The Katha Upanishad is usually placed with the Black Yajurveda. This link is not certain. Some lists count it among the Atharvaveda Upanishads. One reason for the Yajurveda link is that its story of Nachiketa also appears in a Brahmana of the Taittiriya school.

The Taittiriya Upanishad carries the name of the Taittiriya school of the Black Yajurveda.

4.2 What about the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad?

The Brihadaranyaka is one of the oldest Upanishads. Britannica dates it from the 10th to 5th century BCE. It is also part of Vedanta, the “conclusion of the Vedas”.

4.3 How can you remember the Upanishads?

Link each Upanishad to a place. Isha sits at the end of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, so it goes with Shukla. Taittiriya carries the name of the Black school. Katha is usually placed with Black, but not always.

An Upanishad is called Vedanta because it comes at the end of the Vedas. The word means “the conclusion of the Vedas”.