Veda

The term Veda, derived from the root vid, “to know,” means “knowledge.” The Veda functions in Hindu traditions as an authoritative category that is ascribed the status of transcendent knowledge and has both textual and supratextual dimensions. As a textual phenomenon, the Veda is revered in many Hindu traditions as the paradigmatic scripture that has historically provided a legitimating source of authority for later sacred texts and teachings up to the contemporary period. With approximately 1 billion Hindus in India and the diaspora, the Veda is thus a phenomenon with global reach whose authority continues to reverberate throughout the transnational network of Hindu communities and beyond.

The term Veda is used to designate a corpus of sacred texts in at least four different senses. (1) The term is used in its narrow sense to designate the four Samhitās (ca. 1500–800 BCE)—Ṛg-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sāma-Veda, and Atharva-Veda—which are collections of verses (ṛcs), sacrificial formulae (yajuses), chants (sāmans), and incantations and imprecations (atharvāṅgirases or atharvans), respectively. The versified portions of the four Saṃhitās are termed mantras. (2) The term is subsequently extended to include not only the Saṃhitās but also three other categories of texts: (a) the Brāhmaṇas (ca. 900–650 BCE), sacrificial manuals attached to the Saṃhitās that are concerned with correct performance of the Vedic fire sacrifices (yajñas); (b) the āraṇyakas, “forest books” that reflect on the inner meaning of the sacrificial rituals; (c) and the Upanishads (ca. 800–200 BCE), the latest portions of the Vedas, which contain metaphysical speculations concerned with the attainment of knowledge (jñāna) of ultimate reality. (3) In post-Vedic speculations the term is at times extended even further to include two additional categories of texts that are designated as the “fifth Veda”: (a) the Itihāsas, or epics—the Mahabharata (ca. 200 BCE–100 CE) and the Ramayana of Vālmīki (ca. 200 BCE–200 CE) and (b) the Puranas (ca. 300–1000 CE and after), encyclopedic texts comprising cosmogonic myths, genealogies, and narratives about gods, kings, and sages. (4) Finally, Veda functions as an encompassing category within which can be subsumed potentially all sacred texts.

This entry discusses the distinction between the śruti and smṛti texts, the Veda as a supratextual category, and methods of engaging the Veda.