The Samaveda is the Veda of melodies and chants (Sanskrit: smaveda, from sman "song" and veda "knowledge"). It is an old Vedic Sanskrit book that is part of Hinduism's scriptures. It is a liturgical text with 1,549 verses and is one of the four Vedas. Except for 75 verses, the Rigveda has been used. Three recensions of the Samaveda have survived, and different Vedic texts have been discovered in India.
The Samaveda is the Veda of melodies and chants (Sanskrit: smaveda, from sman "song" and veda "knowledge"). It is an old Vedic Sanskrit book that is part of Hinduism's scriptures. It is a liturgical text with 1,549 verses and is one of the four Vedas.
According to Michael Witzel, there is no definitive date for the Samaveda and other Vedic writings. He places the production of the text's samhita layer after the Rigveda, perhaps between 1200 and 1000 BCE, roughly contemporaneous with the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda.
Except for 75 verses, the Samaveda has 1,549 original verses, nearly completely borrowed from the Rigveda. The Rig Veda's Books 9 and 8 contain the greatest amount of verses. Some Rigvedic passages are repeated many times
There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the
Atharvaveda.
The Rig Veda's words have been set to
melody and are intended to be sung rather than read or spoken. The Sama Veda,
commonly known as the Veda of Melodies and Chants, is the third of Hinduism's
four main texts, the Four Vedas. The Sama Veda is divided into two sections,
the first of which contains the four melody collections, or the Saman, or
songs, and the second of which contains the Arcika, or verse books, which are a
collection (Samhita) of hymns, hymn fragments, and disconnected poems. All bar
75 verses of the complete 1875 verses of a liturgical text pertaining to public
worship are drawn from the Rig Veda.
The Rig Veda's words have been set to
melody and are intended to be sung rather than read or spoken. The Sama Veda,
commonly known as the Veda of Melodies and Chants, is the third of Hinduism's
four main texts, the Four Vedas. The Sama Veda is divided into two sections,
the first of which contains the four melody collections, or the Saman, or
songs, and the second of which contains the Arcika, or verse books, which are a
collection (Samhita) of hymns, hymn fragments, and disconnected poems. All bar
75 verses of the complete 1875 verses of a liturgical text pertaining to public
worship are drawn from the Rig Veda.
It is known as the 'Book of Songs' because it is formed from two Sanskrit terms, Saman, which means song, and Veda, which means knowledge. The Sama Veda has served as the primary source of traditional Indian music and dance, and the tradition proudly claims to be the world's oldest. The lines of the Sama Veda are chanted by Udgatar priests at ceremonies dedicated to certain diets, according to custom, using particularly designated melodies called Samagana.No wonder, like the Rigveda, the early sections of Samaveda typically begin with singing the hymns of Rig Vedic deities, such as Indra, a heroic deity and the king of the highest heaven called Saudharmakalpa who slain his enemy Vatra, Agni – the sacrificial fire, Soma, the sacred potion or plant that was a fundamental offering of the Vedic sacrifices, and others. The goal of Samaveda is unmistakably liturgical.
The Sama Veda contains two of the 108
Upanishads that are still extant: Chandayoga Upanishad and Kena Upanishad.
Upanishads, which are the substance of the Vedas, are ancient Sanskrit books
that include some of Hinduism's major philosophical principles and ideas, as
well as those of Buddhism and Jainism. The Chandayoga Upanishad ponders the
origins of the cosmos, as well as the nature of space and time. Three wise men,
singing in their Udgithas, put up certain reasonable hypotheses that even
contemporary science could not dismiss completely. The Kena Upanishad describes
how every man is born with an intrinsic need for spiritual knowledge, and that
happiness can only be found via it.
“Our music culture [Indian] in the North
as well as in the South, recalls and loves its beginnings in the Samaveda...
the musical version of the Rigveda,” says V. Raghavan, a Sanskrit scholar and
musicologist.
The Sama-veda has had such tremendous impact on Indian classical music and dance. So much so that the Sama-auditory Veda's and musical qualities are at the heart of the traditional Indian music and dance heritage. In addition to singing and chanting, the Samaveda specifies instruments, as well as the laws and restrictions for playing them, in order to maintain the sacredness of those ancient instruments. If one had to describe the value of the Sama Veda in a single statement, it would be that the Sama Veda has served as a reminder of Hinduism's glorious old cultural legacy and a source of pride for Hindus, not to mention that it is still in use today
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Vedic Sanskrit
According to tradition, the Atharva Veda was mainly composed by two
groups of rishis known as the Atharvanas and the Angirasa, hence its oldest
name is Ātharvāṅgirasa. In the Late Vedic Gopatha Brahmana, it is attributed to
the Bhrigu and Angirasa.
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
Books For All (An Imprint of Low Price Publications) (28 August 2016)
1700 BC
Motilal Banarsidass; 3rd edition (1 January 2016)
Books For All (An Imprint
of Low Price Publications) (28 August 2016)