Vedas and Upanishads
Vedas are considered to be the most ancient written texts on the earth. Upanishad is a part of Veda. They are primary texts in Hinduism and have a large impact on Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism. Let me take you on a brushing-up journey to the ancient texts:)
• The word ‘Veda’ is derived from ‘Vid’ means to know. Hence, ‘Veda’ is knowledge. Each Veda explains the knowledge/secret of life’s various aspects.
• Vedas have been orally transmitted through generations. We would never know the original authors of the scriptures because the first copy was never written down. The storehouse of knowledge was passed from one generation to the other vocally. It was only after a few thousand years that somebody thought of writing down the sacred texts though the many first copies of Vedas didn’t survive. The first known written copies of Vedas are copies of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda that are held in the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
• There are four Vedas- Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Each Veda is again divided into four parts- Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishad. It means Upanishad is the last part of a given Veda, hence also called Vedanta.
• The first three parts of Vedas Samhita, Brahmana and the Aranyaka are together known as Karma Kanda. It is clear that these three deal with the ritualistic part of life. The last part, Upanishad speaks about Atman and other philosophical aspects of life.
Thus Vedas teach us both physical and spiritual aspects of life.
•Vedas were written thousands of years ago. These texts not only included metaphysics of the truths of existence but also the cosmological events describing time- its beginning and beyond.
• Rigveda is the collection of ancient Vedic hymns and commentaries on rituals and mystical ideologies.
• Yajurveda is the compilation of ritual offering formulas when an individual performs rituals before ‘Yajna’ fire.
• Samaveda is the Veda of melodies and chants that are found in scriptures of Hinduism.
•Atharvaveda contains the procedures of everyday life. It is different from the other three Vedas as it has spells for healing various illnesses, removal of demons or love spells.
This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z and Global AtoZ blogging challenge. I’m writing 26 posts in the month of April on the theme Glimpse of India. Follow my work on social media platforms with hashtags #AditiWrites, #CelebrateIndiaWithAditi
#BlogchatterA2Z #AtoZChallenge
PANORAMIC RIPPLES 
Wow.. So much to learn. Great efforts.
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Thanks dear 😊
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Mythology, vedas, upnishads, shloks, Holy books these are a few things which will forever get a mention whenever India is being talked about. Good one, Aditi
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Thanks Vartika 😊
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Thanks! I’m learning a lot about India while writing Glimpse-of-india posts:)
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Wow! You’ve read the Upanishads! Impressed 🙏
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Another mini history class on Mythology. I hope you are planning to do the ebook carnival. These posts deserve to be a part of a book.
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Not this time Sonia, I’m not very confident.
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Very informative and must needed post! I knew very few points that you have mentioned here. Total enlightenment.
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Thanks for the encouragement 😃
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Very informative especially in times when people and kids are unaware of this history of India, it’s glorious past, the shlokas, Sanskrit verses and a lot more. I love everything about India and have read about this too. Nice post on ancient texts.
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Thanks Pragun!:)
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Very insightful post. Appreciate the efforts you take to bring us such rich knowledge every day 🙂
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Thanks 😊
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This is really an interesting and very informative post dear. Loved it
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Thanks, Suhasini:)
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Hmm … I wish you did more research into the depth of Veda before exposing to the world. The same mistakes of Max Muller and H.H.Wilson is uttered by our own. Not to discourage what you wrote, but gently to suggest. You efforts are commendable in the sense that you tried to bring as much as you know to the world. I know this will be treated as a negative comment, but if possible, try to take it as a suggestion from a fellow passenger on similar track to unfold the ancient wisdom. Sorry to be straightforward.
Example to support my comment: 1) Root vid does not mean to know, but to Experi nice. Know/knowledge derives from Jna (Jnanam/Gyan). Veda means Wisdom.
2) Karma kanda and Jnana Kanda is the division of whom? Can you show us that Veda has this distinction? In fact, where in the Veda does an instruction exist as to perform a fire ritual or as you put Karma kanda? Veda was adapted to karma kanda later.
Etc.
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My knowledge is so little that I can’t claim to know all. Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom 🙏
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It is not about knowledge. It is about our effort. If we feel like our effort is genuine, I have no complain. For example, in the present article, if you have spent considerable time knowing and understanding, say a fractal part of vedas from sources which seem genuine to your logic, then I would retract my comment, because that is your opinion after genuine search. But if it is mere mimicking of Western induced Indian way of research on scriptures, my comment still stands.
I am very much happy to see that you took it positively. I hope you got the inner sense of my comment. Thanks a lot!. I will be reading other articles of yours, in due course and come back. Have a good blog-time! Cheers.
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Our culture truly has a bounty of knowledge in all these scriptures.
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We are proud to have born in the country with rich culture.
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