Chaturvedas
Ved means to know. And Vedas are generally referred to as first and initial corpus of Books of Knowledge produced by ancient Indians. And Vedas were composed in Sanskrit language and considered as Sacred by Indians. Vedas were categorised into four books by sage Vyasa. That’s why they are famously called as Chaturvedas. They are Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda.
Vedic hymns are termed as slokas and they are grouped into Suktas. Every hymns is composed in devine meters called as Chandas. Rig Veda consists of 10580 slokas in turn grouped into 1017 Suktas. Rig Veda comprises of 10 Mandalas (Books). Whereas Atharvana Veda consists of 5987 hymns composed into 73 Suktas. And Atharvana veda consists of 8 Kandas (books).
And Yajur Veda has 40 Adhyayas with 1975 Mantras. Composed both in hymns and stanzas.
Sama veda mostly consists of Rig Vedic hymns but rendered in musical tune.
Indians by and large follow through out the length and breadth of the Country even without knowing that the Customs and Traditions they follow are well laid down in Vedas.
Here I list out these books for the readers’ reference.
Corpus of Hindu Scriptures:
Hindu thought and philosophy is vast and varying. Main Hindu Scriptures of ancient India are said to have been handed over to next generations by Sages to Sages by memorizing them by method of rote. Sometimes these have been reduced into writing.
Vedas are Knowledge treasures acquired and preserved by Sages since time immemorial. Hence, all Corpus of Hindu Knowledge should be called as Veda.
So that Vedas include Vedangas, Upanishads, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upa Vedas, Sutras, Smritis, etc,. Srauta Sutras deal with Vedic Rituals and Gruhya Sutras deal with Dharmas in daily life . Manu Smriti, Yajnavalkya smriti,etc., are Dharma Sastras.
Some Upa Vedas are : Dhanurveda, Ayurveda, Gandharvaveda, Arthasastra .
Vedas are classified into four in number. Rig, Yazur, Sama and Atharva.
Rig Veda is full of Riks / Hymns ( Slokas ) in praise of All most all Gods in the Hindu Pantheon.
Yazur Veda deals with details of Vedic rituals, mainly Yajnas.
Sama Veda is simply singing of Rig Veda to musical tune.
Atharva Veda consists of Medicinal and Magical spell remedies to human sufferings.
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UpaVedas
Gandhrva Veda: This deals with the science of music.
Dhanur Veda: It is the science of Bow and arrow that is archery.
Artha Sastra: It deals with material science especially, Politics, Economics, Engineering, etc., Ayurveda: It deals with well being of Life of a human being. There are so many treatises on Ayurveda. Dhanvantari is a prominent ancient doctor. Charaka samhita by Charaka and Sushruta samhita by Sushruta are great Indian books on Medicine and Surgery.
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