The nature of vedic Texts.

The Nature of Vedic Texts.

The holy Vedas, man's oldest scripture, dating back 6,000 to 8,000 years, are a
collection of four books:-The:-

Rig,

Yajur,

Sama,
&
Atharva.

Each has four sections:-

Hymns,

Rites,

Interpretation
&
philosophical instruction.


The oldest and core portions of the Vedas are the four Samhitas, "hymn
collections." They consist of invocations to the One Divine and the divinities
of nature, such as the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the Fire and the Dawn-as well as
prayers for matrimony, progeny, prosperity, concord, domestic rites, formulas
for magic, and more.

They are composed in beautiful metrical verses, generally of three or four
lines. The heart of the entire Veda is the 10,552-verse Rig Samhita. The Sama
and Yajur Samhitas, each with about 2,000 verses, are mainly liturgical
selections from the Rig; whereas most of the Atharva Samhita's nearly 6,000
verses of prayers, charms and rites are unique. The Sama is arranged for
melodious chanting, the Yajur for cadenced intonation.

Besides its Samhita, each Veda includes one or two Brahmanas, ceremonial
handbooks, and Aranyakas, ritual interpretations, plus many inestimable
Upanishads, metaphysical dialogs. In all there are over 100,000
Vedic verses, and some prose, in dozens of texts. The Tirumantiram confirms,
"There is no dharma other than what the Vedas say. Dharma's central core the
Vedas proclaim."