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The Yajurveda (Sanskrit: yajurveda, from yajus "worship" and veda "knowledge") is a Veda composed largely of prose mantras used in worship ceremonies. It is an old Vedic Sanskrit literature that contains a collection of ritual-offering formulae uttered by a priest when a person conducted ceremonial activities such as those done before the yajna fire. Yajurveda is one of Hinduism's four Vedas and one of its texts.
The Yajurveda's main text dates from the end of the second millennium BCE, making it younger than the Rigveda and roughly contemporaneous with the Atharvaveda, Rigvedic Khilani, and Smaveda. Scholars agree that the majority of the Yajurveda and Atharvaveda hymns date from the early Indian Iron Age, between c. 1200 and 800 BCE. According to Georg Feuerstein, the dates assigned to most of these writings are considerably too late.
Yajurveda is one of Hinduism's four Vedas and one of its texts. Yajurveda's precise century of creation is unclear, although Witzel estimates it to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, making it contemporary with Samaveda and Atharvaveda
The book is a valuable source of knowledge regarding Vedic agriculture, economics, and social life. For example, the verses enumerate the several sorts of crops that were significant in ancient India.
May my rice plants and barley, as well as my beans and sesame, kidney beans and vetches, pearl millet and proso millet, sorghum and wild rice, wheat and lentils, and pearl millet and proso millet, flourish through sacrifice.
The Samhitas (hymns), Brahmanas (rituals), Aranyakas (theologies), and Upanishads are the four sections of each Veda (philosophies). The Samhita is a compilation of mantras and hymns. The Brahmanas are religious writings that include precepts and religious obligations
In contrast to Shukla Yajurveda, the four surviving recensions of
Krishna Yajurveda are very different versions.
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Shukla Yajurveda.
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Krishna Yajurveda.
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Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
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Isha Upanishad.
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Taittiriya Upanishad.
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Katha Upanishad.
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Shvetashvatara Upanishad.
Maitrayaniya Upanishad.
Yajur Veda is made up of two words: Yajus
and Veda, which mean "prose mantras dedicated to religious adoration or
worship" and "knowledge," respectively. This liturgical
collection is known as the "book of rites" and is the third of the
Hindu dharma's four canonical books. It is a collection of ceremonial offering
formulae or prose mantras to be chanted or mumbled repeatedly by a priest when
an individual executes the established ritual acts before the sacrifice fire or
the Yajna, according to the ancient Vedic scripture.It has been the major
source of information regarding sacrifices and related rituals since Vedic
times, and it has also acted as a practical guideline for priests, or Purohits,
as they are known in Hindu dharma, who carry out the acts of ceremonial
religion.
According to academic opinion, the
majority of the Yajur Veda dates around 1200 or 1000 BCE, making it younger
than the Rig Veda, which is thought to have originated approximately 1700 BCE,
but is contemporary with the hymns of Sama deva and Atharva Veda.
However, like with the other Vedic
writings, no specific date for its production can be assigned; rather, they are
thought to be of generational descent from Vedic times through literary oral
tradition, which was then a precise and complex approach. Due to the transitory
nature of the manuscript materials, such as birch barks or palm leaves, no
certain time period in history for the genesis of Yajurveda can be determined.
Also, as is the case with the other three
Vedas, humans did not write the treasured Vedic compositions, but rather, God
taught the Vedic hymns to the sages, who subsequently passed them down through
generations through word of mouth.Also, some Hindu dharma traditions, such as
the Vedanta and Mimamsa schools of philosophy, regard the Vedas as Svatah
Pramana (Sanskrit, meaning "self-evident means of knowledge"), and
some Hindu dharma traditions, such as the Vedanta and Mimamsa schools of
philosophy, regard the Vedas as Svatah Pramana (Sanskrit, meaning "self-evident
means of knowledge Some schools of thought, particularly in the Mimosa
tradition, even claim that the Vedas are of everlasting creation. Brahma, the
Supreme Creator, is credited with creating the Vedas in the Mahabharata. The
Vedic hymns, on the other hand, claim that they were expertly composed by
Rishis (sages) following inspiration.
The Yajurveda is divided into two
sections: Krishna Yajurveda and Shukla Yajurveda. The former is also known as
the Black Yajurveda, while the latter is known as the White Yajurveda. The
collection is too often referred to as Black Yajurveda because the words of the
Krishna Yajurveda are disorganised, confusing, and different or distinct. The
Shukla Yajurveda, on the other hand, is known as the White Yajurveda because it
is well-organized and has a specific meaning.Samhita, the earliest and oldest
stratum of the Yajur Veda, has around 1,875 verses that are unique yet derived
from and constructed upon the basis of Rigvedic verses. The Satapatha Brahmana
is one of the greatest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection, and the Yajur
Veda text's youngest layer has the largest collection of basic Upanishads,
which number six and are significant to many schools of Hindu thought. To
mention a few, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, and the
Taittiriya Upanishad.
The Shukla Yajurveda is believed to
contain sixteen recensions, or updated editions of a text, of which only two
recessions have been discovered to have survived. While there may have been as
many as 86 recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda, only four have survived to
current times. In contrast to the four surviving recensions of the Shukla
Yajurveda, which are extremely diverse versions compared to one another,
Madhyandina and Kanva, the two recensions of the Yajurveda that have survived,
are almost identical.
Yajurveda has served as a reminder of Hinduism's rich cultural
history and a source of pride for Hindus. The book is a valuable source of
knowledge regarding Vedic agriculture, economics, and social life. The passage,
for example, is taken from the Shukla Yajurveda and outlines the many sorts of
crops that were essential in ancient India.
May my rice plants and barley, as well as my beans and sesame, kidney beans and vetches, pearl millet and proso millet, sorghum and wild rice, wheat and lentils, and pearl millet and proso millet, flourish through sacrifice.
Manoj Publications; 11th Edition (1 January 2017)
488 pages
Diamond Books (1 January 2018)
140 pages
Vedic Sanskrit
Vyasa (c. 1000 BCE)
BR Publishing Corporation; 12th edition (1 January 2011)
Manoj Publications; 11th Edition (1 January 2017)
1200 to 800 BCE
Manoj Publications; 11th Edition (1 January 2017)
Diamond Books (1 January 2018)