वेद [ veda ] [ veda ]1 m. ( fr. √ 1. [ vid ] q.v.) knowledge , true or sacred knowledge or lore , knowledge of ritual Lit. RV. Lit. AitBr.

N. of certain celebrated works which constitute the basis of the first period of the Hindū religion (these works were primarily three , viz. 1. the Ṛig-veda , 2. the Yajur-veda ( of which there are , however , two divisions see [ taittirīya-saṃhitā ] , [ vājasaneyi-saṃhitā ] ) , 3. the Sāma-veda ; these three works are sometimes called collectively [ trayī ] , " the triple Vidyā " or " threefold knowledge " , but the Ṛig-veda is really the only original work of the three , and much the most ancient ( the oldest of its hymns being assigned by some who rely on certain astronomical calculations to a period between 4000 and 2500 B.C. , before the settlement of the Āryans in India ; and by others who adopt a different reckoning to a period between 1400 and 1000 B.C. , when the Āryans had settled down in the Panjāb ) ; subsequently a fourth Veda was added , called the Atharva-veda , which was probably not completely accepted till after Manu , as his law-book often speaks of the three Vedas-calling them [ trayam brahma sanātanam ] , " the triple eternal Veda " , but only once ( Lit. xi , 33 ) mentions the revelation made to Atharvan and Aṅgiras , without , however , calling it by the later name of Atharva-veda ; each of the four Vedas has two distinct parts , viz. 1. Mantra , i.e. words of prayer and adoration often addressed either to fire or to some form of the sun or to some form of the air , sky , wind , and praying for health , wealth , long life , cattle , offspring , victory , and even forgiveness of sins , and 2. Brāhmaṇa , consisting of Vidhi and Artha-vāda , i.e. directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used and explanations of the legends connected with the Mantras ( see [ brāhmaṇa ] , [ vidhi ] ) , both these portions being termed [ śruti ] , revelation orally communicated by the Deity , and heard but not composed or written down by men ( cf. Lit. IW. 24 ) , although it is certain that both Mantras and Brāhmaṇas were compositions spread over a considerable period , much of the latter being comparatively modern ; as the Vedas are properly three , so the Mantras are properly of three forms , 1. Ṛic , which are verses of praise in metre , and intended for loud recitation ; 2. Yajus , which are in prose , and intended for recitation in a lower tone at sacrifices ; 3. Sāman , which are in metre , and intended for chanting at the Soma or Moon-plant ceremonies , the Mantras of the fourth or Atharva-veda having no special name ; but it must be borne in mind that the Yajur and Sāma-veda hymns , especially the latter , besides their own Mantras , borrow largely from the Ṛig-veda ; the Yajur-veda and Sāma-veda being in fact not so much collections of prayers and hymns as special prayer- and hymn-books intended as manuals for the Adhvaryu and Udgātṛi priests respectively ( see [ yajur-veda ] , [ sāma-veda ] ) ; the Atharva-veda , on the other hand , is , like the Ṛig-veda , a real collection of original hymns mixed up with incantations , borrowing little from the Ṛig and having no direct relation to sacrifices , but supposed by mere recitation to produce long life , to cure diseases , to effect the ruin of enemies ; each of the four Vedas seems to have passed through numerous Śākhās or schools , giving rise to various recensions of the text , though the Ṛig-veda is only preserved in the Śākala recension , while a second recension , that of the Bhāshkalas , is only known by name ; a tradition makes Vyāsa the compiler and arranger of the Vedas in their present form: they each have an Index or Anukramaṇī ( q.v. ) , the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvânukramaṇī ( q.v. ) ; out of the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Veda grew two other departments of Vedic literature , sometimes included under the general name Veda , viz. the strings of aphoristic rules , called Sūtras ( q.v. ) , and the mystical treatises on the nature of God and the relation of soul and matter , called Upanishad ( q.v. ) , which were appended to the Āraṇyakas ( q.v. ) , and became the real Veda of thinking Hindūs , leading to the Darśanas or systems of philosophy ; in the later literature the name of " fifth Veda " is accorded to the Itihāsas or legendary epic poems and to the Purāṇas , and certain secondary Vedas or Upa-vedas ( q.v. ) are enumerated ; the Vedâṅgas or works serving as limbs ( for preserving the integrity ) of the Veda are explained under [ vedāṅga ] below: the only other works included under the head of Veda being the Pariśishṭas , which supply rules for the ritual omitted in the Sūtras ; in the Bṛihad-āraṇyaka Upanishad the Vedas are represented as the breathings of Brahmā , while in some of the Purāṇas the four Vedas are said to have issued out of the four mouths of the four-faced Brahmā and in the Vishṇu-Purāṇa the Veda and Vishṇu are identified) Lit. RTL. 7 Lit. IW. 5 ; 24 ( 1015,1 )

N. of the number " four " Lit. VarBṛS. Lit. Śrutabh. ( 1015,2 )

feeling , perception Lit. ŚBr.

= [ vṛtta ] (v.l. [ vitta ] ) Lit. L. ( cf. 2. [ veda ] ) .