Yajur Veda
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The Yajur Veda (Sanskrit yajurveda from yajus "sacrifice" + veda "knowledge") यजुर्वेदः is one of the four Hindu Vedas; it contains religious texts focussing on liturgy and ritual.
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Versions
There are two primary versions of the Yajurveda: Shukla (white) and Krishna (black). The Shukla Yajurveda consists of vedic hymns, while the Krishna Yajurveda includes all the text also in the Shukla Yajurveda, and has additional prose commentary.
Shukla Yajurveda
There are two, almost identical, recensions of the Shukla Yajurveda:
- vājasaneyi madhyandina (VS)
- kānva
The text consists of 40 books of hymns. Most famous is the Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice described in books 22–25, and the Purushamedha or human sacrifice (probably already symbolic in Vedic times).
Krishna Yajurveda
There are four recensions of the Black Yajurveda:
- taittirīya saṃhita (TS)
- maitrayani saṃhita (MS)
- caraka-katha saṃhita (KS)
- kapiṣṭhala-katha saṃhita (KapS)
The best known of these is TS. It consists of 8 books or kandas, subdivided in chapters or prapathakas, further subdivided into individual hymns.
Some individual hymns have gained importance in Hinduism, e. g. TS 4.5 and 4.7 correspond to the Shri Rudram Chamakam, and 1.8.6.i to the Shaivaite Tryambakam mantra. The formula bhūr bhuvaḥ suvaḥ prefixed to the (rigvedic) Gayatri mantra is also from the Yajurveda, appearing four times.
Each of the recensions has a Brahmana associated with it, and some of them also have associated Shrautasutras, Grhyasutras, Aranyakas, Upanishads and Pratishakhyas.
External links
- www.sanskritweb.net/yajurveda Freely downloadable carefully edited Sanskrit texts of Taittiriya-Samhita, Taittiriya-Brahmana, Taittiriya-Aranyaka, Ekagni-Kanda etc. as well as English translations of the Taittiriya-Samhita etc.
- The Yajur Veda
- Original text in Sanskrit in Wikisource
