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UNIT 2 INTRODUCTION TO VEDAS AND UPANISADS

Contents
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Vedas and Its Contents
2.2 A General Survey of the Vedic Literature
2.3 Some Important Vedic Concepts - I
2.4 Some Important Vedic Concepts - II
2.5 Upanisads
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Key Words
2.8 Further Readings and References

2.0 OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this Unit – is to present a general outline of the origin and development of
Vedic literature and its epistemological position in the different philosophical schools of India.
Vedas have been held as the primary source of a structured society that is believed to pave way
for a religious growth and induce a philosophical quest. The various concepts and doctrines of
the Vedas can find its relevance in today’s world. In this unit, we shall briefly analyze the Vedic
literature and its concepts.

By the end of this unit you should be able:

 to gain a general idea of the vast Vedic literature and their content
 to understand the historical growth of religious practices in the Vedic background
 to learn the important concepts that led to the rise of Indian Philosophical systems
 to grasp the relevant concepts of the Vedas and appreciate its relevance in the modern
world.

2.1 VEDAS AND ITS CONTENTS

Vedas or the source of knowledge, is also referred to as the Sruti or that which is heard,
Apauruseya or that which is not authored by a human, and Shastra or that which serves as a
guide through its teaching. The words ‘Agama’ and ‘Amnaya’ are synonyms of the Veda. Since
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Veda is considered as a revelation it is termed as the ‘primary’ source of knowledge. The content
of the Vedas that has come down to us for centuries is said to have been heard by the sages in
deep meditation and these sages are therefore known as ‘mantradrastas’ or the ‘seer of the
mantras’. They transmitted this received knowledge orally to the next generation. Thus, in a
generation of oral transmission, the Vedas are preserved. Though we have lost many of the
Vedic mantras, we have managed to preserve this tradition to some extent. Moreover, the orally
transmitted vedic mantras were made available in writing too and the oldest available written
literature is considered to be the Rig Veda. Even though the written or printed material is not
considered as the preservation of the Vedic tradition, since oral practise alone is the method to
preserve the Vedas, however, the written records give a wider scope for analyasis of the
historical development of the Vedic tradition. Let us now briefly see the content of the Vedas.

The word ‘Veda’ generally refers to ‘Mantras’ and ‘Brahmanas’. Mantras are hymns in praise of
gods who are invoked in a ritual and Brahmanas are those portions which give various
instructions on the performance of rituals. Based on this, Veda is said to be of two kinds,
Mantras and Brahmanas. An anthology of mantras is known as ‘Samhitas’ and the Brahmana
portions are an elaboration and are treated as the commentary to the Samhita portions. The
Brahmana portions are further divided into three, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the
Upanisads. The Brahmana portions primarily teach the nature of ritual (yaga) and thus the word
Brahmana also means ‘yajna’ (ritual). The Aranyakas are so named because it deals with
meditation which are generally taken up while living in forest (aranya). The Upanisads reveal
the Absolute Truth, which provides the means to liberation and is popularly known as the
‘Vedanta’. Primarily the source with the four portions, namely, Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka
and the Upanisad is known as the Veda. But popularly the ritualistic and meditative portions (or
at times only the ritualistic portions) came to be known as Veda and the philosophical discovery
in the Upanisads got a distinct identity. Therefore, we say, the Veda and Upanisads. (But
upanisads are also part of the Vedas.)

As to the historical data of the origin and development of the Vedas, we have many divided
views among the historians and researchers, however here we provide a particular view.

1. Age of the Rig Veda Samhita (2500 to 1500 B.C)

2. Age of the Later Samhitas, Brahmanas and Upanisads (1500 to 500 B.C)

Veda is one source with three forms and this is often referred to as ‘Veda Trayi’ or Three Vedas.
The Rig, the Yajur and the Sama – are the three Vedas. In such references, the meaning of the
Veda refers to the ‘creation’ and the three Vedas means the threefold creation of Agni or Fire
(Rig), Vayu or Air (Yajur) and Aditya or Sun (Sama). The ‘Atharva’ refers to the ‘soma’ or the
essence without which the above three cannot survive. The popular view is that the Sage Vyasa
segregated the Vedic hymns, that is, the mantra-samhitas into four, viz., Rig Samhita, Yajur-
Samhita, Sama-Samhita and Atharva-Samhita and thus we say there are four Vedas.
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For a Vedic ritual to take place, it requires four Rtviks (roughly translated as Priests). They are:
i) Hota – one who invokes the deity of a particular ritual by employing the invocatory
hymns as found in the Rig-Samhitas and the collections of such hymns is referred to
as Rig Veda. This is said to have been taught by Vyasa to Pela.
ii) Adhvaryu – one who performs the rituals as enjoined and the relevant mantras are in
the Yajur-Samhita and the collection of this is known as Yajurveda which was taught
to Vaimshampayana by Vyasa.
iii) Udgatha – one who sings in high intonation and maintains the rhythm of chanting as
given in Samaveda and this is taught by Vyasa to Jaimini.
iv) Brahma – one who takes care of the entire proceedings of the ritual and suggests
compensatory acts in case of omissions and commissions and this was taught to
Sumantu by Vyasa.

Thus, the four Vedas were propagated through these four disciples of Vyasa.

2.2 A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE VEDIC LITERATURE

We shall briefly deal with the Vedic literature and their contents beginning from the Rig Veda.
Each Veda, as we had already mentioned, consists of four portions, namely, Samhita,
Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanisads. Here, we shall deal with these four portions of each Veda
in a nutshell.

Rig Veda:
The word ‘Rig’ means praise or eulogy. The collection of Rig is known as Rig Veda. It is set in
metrical form. The Rig is considered as the oldest record of revelations and the language of the
Rig is considered as the most ancient.
There are five branches of Rig-Samhita and they are:
1. Shakala
2. Vaskala
3. Ashvalayana
4. Samkhya and
5. Mandakayana

Rig-Samhita contains Suktas and Mandalas. Sukta means that which has been received from a
reliable source and it is of four types:
a. Richi Sukta: a collection of hymns revealed through the Sages
b. Devata Sukta: a collection of hymns in praise of gods
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c. Chanda Sukta: a collection of hymns in the same metrical form and

d. Artha Sukta: a collection of hymns, wherein the meaning of the mantras gets concluded.
The Mandalas are the sections of the Rig-Samhita. There are ten Mandalas with fifty anuvakas or
sub-sections which contain suktas. The suktas in turn contain the mantras.The two Brahmanas
and Aranyakas of the Rig that are available are: Aitareya Brahmana and Shankyayana
Brahmana; Aitareya Aranyaka and Shankyayana Aranyaka. The popular Upanisads of the Rig
are Kausitaki and Aitareya upanisads.

Yajurveda:
It is widely popular with varied descriptions of the yajna or rituals and is found in prose form.
There are two divisions of Yajur, namely Krishna Yajurveda and Shukla Yajurveda. The Krishna
Yajur is a combination of mantras and brahmanas, whereas, the Shukla Yajur is predominantly
mantra portions. Of the fifty branches of Krishna Yajur, we have today only four branches
(Taittiriya, Maitrayani, Katha and Kapilashthakatha). The Shukla Yajur is further divided into
Madhyandina branch and Kanva branch. There is only a slight difference in the rendering of the
contents of these two branches of Shukla Yajurveda. The famous available brahmana of the
Krishna Yajurveda is the Taittiriya Brahmana and that of Shukla Yajur is Shatapatha Brahmana.
The main Aranyaka portions of the Yajurveda are Taittiriya Aranyaka and Brihadaranyaka (also
contains upanisadic portions). The widely read Upanisads of the Krishna Yajurveda are
Kathopanisad and Taittiriyopanisad. The upanisads of the Shukla Yajurveda are Brihadaranayka
and the Ishopanisad.

Samaveda:
The Samaveda is the Rig Veda set in musical form. The Samaveda consists of two predominant
parts, viz., the Archika part and the Ganam part. The Archika part is that which consists of
meanings of the words and it is a collection of Rks. It is further divided into Purva Archika and
Uttara Archika. The Purva Archika consists of six chapters and is divided into four parts as:
1. Agneya parva (consists of mantras related to Agni)
2. Aindra parva (consists of mantras related to Indra)
3. Pavamana parva (with mantras related to Soma) and
4. Aranyakas (on meditations)
The Uttara Archika is with nine chapters with various divisions that primarily deals with the
practice of various rituals. The three main branches of Samaveda are Kauthuma branch,
Ranayaniya branch and Jaiminiya branch.
The various intonations and method of singing in different pitches are mentioned in detail
in the Samaveda. The musical form is broadly divided into four kinds:
a. Veyaganam – the first five chapters of Purva-Archika are sung in Veyaganam.
b. Aranyakaganam – The mantras of the Aranyaka portion are sung in Aranyakaganam.
c. Oohaganam and d. Oohyaganam are the musical pattern of the Uttara-Archika portions.
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Some of the important Sama-Brahmanas are Daivatam, Vamshabrahmanam, Tandyam etc. The
available one Aranyaka of Samaveda is the Talavakara-Aranyaka. At the end of the Talavakara
we find the Kenopanisad. The Chandogyopanisad also belongs to Samaveda.

Atharvaveda:
The Atharvaveda consists of nine branches and we have only two such branches available,
namely, the Shaunaka branch and the Pippalada branch. There are three Samhitas of the Atharva,
namely, Aashi, Acharya and Vidhiprayoga Samhitas. The only available Brahmana of the
Atharvaveda is the Gopatha Brahmanam. It consists of two parts, Purvagopatha and
Uttaragopatha. So far, we have not found any Aranyaka of the Atharvaveda. The three prominent
upanisads of the Atharva are Prashnopanisad, Mundakopanisad and Mandukyopanisad.

Commentators of the Vedas:

The celebrated commentator of the Vedas, especially, the Brahmana portions is Sayana. Some of
the other important commentators to various portions of the Veda like, Samhita, Aranyakas etc.,
are Skandasvami, Narayana, Madhavabhatta, Venkatamadhava, Anandatirtha, Uvvata,
Halayudha, Ananta and others. The commentaries help us in understanding the import of the
Vedic words. The commentators reveal the changing conditions in their interpretative
commentaries.

Check Your Progress I

Note: Use the space provided for your answer.

1) Give a brief outline of the Vedas and its Contents.

………………………………………………………………………………….
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2) Give an account of the Vedic Literature and Its Commentators.
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2.3. SOME IMPORTANT VEDIC CONCEPTS - I

Now, we shall briefly embark upon the varied topics found in the four portions of the Vedas and
then derive certain important concepts that serve as the foundation of Vedic Religion and
Philosophy.

Samhitas:
In the Rig-Mandalas, we find mention of many worldly affairs especially related to human life.
Various aspects like the earliest mention on marriage and ancestral worship is seen in the Rig.
The importance of charity (dana) is highlighted in the Rig-Suktas. Some of the thought-
provoking and paradoxical suktas of the Rig Veda are Nasadiya Sukta (10-129), Purushasukta
(10-90), Hiranyagarbha Sukta (10-121) etc. The Yajur-Samhitas prescribes the procedures for
performance of daily and occasional duties of an individual. The Atharva-Samhitas mark the
beginning of ancient ruling and administration. There are descriptions of many actions like
conquering an enemy, gaining wealth etc. We find discussion on Science especially on medicine,
disease and cure. The Ayushya-Sukta of Atharva is quite well-known for it is the prayer for long
healthy life.

Brahmanas:
By the time the Brahmana part of the Vedas developed the society has undergone a well-defined
stratification with a common goal. In this period, performance of rituals for the individual and
total benefit dominated the scene that was based on the Vedic designation in the form of varna
(class) and ashrama (stage of life). The ritual or the yajna symbolises an integrated personality
for a harmonious life. In a ritual, there are two types of oblations, one is the thought at the mental
level and the other is the speech. The thought alone is expressed as the speech in a ritual and the
same holds good in life too which aids in a harmonious living.

Aranyakas:
In the development of Aranyaka portions, we find well-defined concepts of Time. There is the
mention of the transcendental and the empirical time, where the empirical time slot is compared
to the perennial flow of waters. There is a description of various seasons and their effects on the
health of living beings. The importance of study of one’s own scripture and fivefold compulsory
acts (pancha-mahayajna) are found in this portion. The fivefold compulsory acts are: worship of
gods, worship of lineage of teachers, worship of ancestors, service to humanity and service to the
animal and plant kingdom. We find here the description of meditation on prana or vital breath.
Since this portion primarily concentrates on bringing about a serene mind, varieties of vratas or
vows are prescribed. The Upanisads deal with the philosophical enquiry into the nature of the
ultimate truth and reveal the liberating knowledge. We shall deal with the Upanisads a little later
in this unit.

Vedic gods:
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The hymns in praise of various deities have given rise to polytheism, henotheism and gradually
to monotheism. The gods are presiding deities of various powers of natural forces. The primary
gods mentioned in the Vedas are 33 gods, that is, 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas and 2 Ashvinis.
The presiding deity of all gods is said to be Indra. The importance of all the gods led to
polytheistic tendency. But, gradually, there rose the need to provide importance to one deity and
thus lord of all beings was described as PrajaPati. Later, in the Upanisads we find the one
absolute termed as Brahman.

2.4. SOME IMPORTANT VEDIC CONCEPTS - II

Here, we shall analyze some five specific important concepts that we derive from the above
mentioned varied topics of the Vedas. The following concepts have served as the strong
foundation for Indian Thinking and have highly influenced the religious and philosophical
domains.

Sat and Asat

The fundamental quest of any thinking mind is to arrive at the prime cause of this vast
multifarious creation. The Vedic seers had tried to find answers and have presented them in a
riddled language. In this connection, the concept of Sat (Existent principle) and Asat (Non-
existent principle) are described. We find statements in the Veda that say, ‘there was Sat prior to
the creation’ and there is another statement that says ‘there was Asat prior to the creation’. Such
statements have given rise to various theories on the cause of creation. For instance, some
consider that prior to creation there must be a sat principle, an existent principle since from an
existing thing alone something can originate. Others hold the view that if there had been sat prior
to creation, there will be the difficulty in stating the cause of that sat, hence it is said ‘nothing’
(asat) was there before creation. Now, these two fundamental concepts of ‘Sat’ and ‘Asat’ gave
rise to divided opinions which formed the foundation of Indian Philosophical systems in later
period.

Mutual Triad
Another important concept is the mutual triad that has been derived in the Vedas based on the
observation of Nature and its reaction. The simple concept derived from nature is the cyclic
process in a chain and disturbance in any part of the chain ruins the entire process gradually or
immediately. Based on this vital observation, the Vedas present the mutual triads, that is, the
adhyatmika (individual), adhibhautika (the universe) and adhidaivika (the presiding principle).
For instance let us take the five sense organs of knowledge and understand them at these three
levels.

Adhyatmika Adhibhautika Adhidaivika

Eye (sense of sight) Sense objects of colour Surya (Sun)
Ear (sense of sound) Sense objects of sound Dik (God of Directions)
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Skin (sense of touch) Sense objects of touch, like Vayu (Air)

hard, soft etc.
Tongue (sense of taste) Sense objects of taste, like Varuna (Waters)
sweet, sour etc
Nose (sense of smell) Sense objects of smell, like Asvinis (Twin-gods)
fragrance of rose etc.

For knowledge to take place, we need a functioning sense organs at the individual level, there
must be the sense objects available in the external world, and also the need for the grace of the
presiding deities. Only when this triad mutually functions, the knowledge of the world is gained.
This concept of triad forms the basis of religious faith and practices.

Law of Karma
Another vital doctrine that evolved from the Vedas is the Law of Karma. It is initially referred to
as ‘Rta’ or the cosmic order and later termed as ‘Satya’ or the invariable Truth. Further, it came
to be widely known by the word ‘Karma’. Karma refers to both action and result of action. It
works on certain universal principles, according to the Vedas. That is, every action gives result
and every result is reaped through various experiences. The concept of Dharma is the primary
determinant of karma. Hence, we find lot of importance given to dharma in the Vedas. The
Karma and Dharma are inseparable factors of the rhythmic flow of the universe and all its
beings. The ethical and moral codes come under dharma and the performance of the moral codes
(as prescribed or its violation, that is, dharma and adharma) comes under karma. Here too a
cyclic process is indicated wherein one performs karma, reaps karma phala (result) and that
again leads to performance of karma. This chain, is said to continue not only in the present birth
but is a chain with countless past births and future births. Thus, we have the theory of
transmigration.

Theory of Transmigration
According to this theory, an individual being under the law of karma, assumes different physical
bodies, that is, takes several births. This concept of the Vedas is imbedded in every religious act
and ritual. An individual constantly tries to remove the past accumulated adharma (demerit) and
seeks to nourish dharma (merit) in the present birth, which is believed to determine the future
birth. The religion focuses on a dharmic living to ensure a safe future birth, whereas, the
philosophers seek to exit from the cycle of births and deaths.

Vedic Designation
Apart from the religious and philosophical fervour, the Vedic society is also designed with a
hope for a harmonious living. In this view, the Veda suggests the classification of a society based
on the aptitude (guna) and profession (karma) of an individual, which is known as Varna. The
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other classification is based on the stage of life an individual passes through and it is known as
Ashrama.

Vedas visualises the aptitude of the individuals broadly as four: knowledge-oriented, action-
oriented (which is again in three ways, action for protection and administration and action for
trading and commerce) service-oriented with skilled and semi-skilled actions. These four broad
aptitudes are essential for any society and these aptitudes when designed into a profession, their
functioning would take care of the individual interest and the interest of the society at large. The
Vedas groups this as varna and names them as Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra
respectively. But, unfortunately in the fading of the Vedas, the vision of the Vedas too
diminished and took the cruel form of caste system by which we are unable to free ourselves
even in this 21st century.

From the stand of the different stages of life, again the Vedas classifies them into four, as the
student-life (Brahmacharyam), married-life (Grhastham), retired-life (Vanaprastham) and
mendicant-life (Sanyasam). These four are known as Ashramas. The four stages need not be
compulsory; depending on the aptitude of an individual one may move from the first ashrama to
the third or at times to the fourth. The dharma and karma prescribed in the varna-ashrama
scheme vary which take care of the general duties and the specific duties, thus making the
concept of dharma more complex and complicated.

2.5 UPANISADS

The Upanisads are the prime source of many philosophical conclusions. The word Upanisad can
be split as upa+ni+sat; to mean ‘upa’ – approaching a teacher; ‘ni’ – for knowledge; ‘sat’ – to
attain liberation. Of more than 1180 upanisads, the popular and widely studied are the ten
Upanisads, namely, Isa, Kena, Katha, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya,
Chandogya and Brihdaranyaka. We shall briefly see the important doctrines as found in these
upanisads.

The Upanisads present Brahman as the absolute reality and the substratum of the universe.
Brahman is revealed as both the material and intelligent cause of the universe. Upanisads employ
two ways of defining Brahman, one in its own nature (svarupa lakshana), that is, Brahman as the
Consciousness, Existent and Bliss principle. The second definition is from its accidental
attributes (tatastha lakshana) wherein Brahman is shown as the substratum of origination,
sustenance and resolution of the universe. Various methodologies are used by the Upanisads to
arrive at the absolute reality and one such method we find in the Aitareya Upanisad is known as
superimposition and negation (adhyaropa and apavada). The world and its objects are
superimposed initially and after the revelation of the non-difference between the effect and its
material cause, the world is negated as non-existent in the substratum. Further, there is the
description of the world, the individual self and the creator of the universe in the Upanisads. The
method of moving from the gross to the subtle is employed in the Taittiriya Upanisad. Here, the
nature of self is analysed beginning from the gross physical body leading to the subtlest
Consciousness. Some important images like the chariot and bow-arrow, are presented in
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Kathopanisad and Mundakopanisad respectively. The Upanisads uniformly present the triple
means to a seeker of truth, they are, listening to the scriptures (shravana), pondering on the
teaching so as to remove doubts and misconceptions (manana) and dwelling on the teaching
(nididhyasana). Mostly, the Upanisads are set in a dialogue between a teacher and a disciple and
the teaching is gradual and progressive. The various Upanisads consistently deal with one
subject-matter of that absolute truth.

Check Your Progress II

Note: Use the space provided for your answer

1) Examine some of the Basic Concepts of the Vedas that influenced the religious and
philosophical thinking of India.
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2) What is the role of the Upanisads? Give an outline of the contents of the Upanisads.
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2.6 LET US SUM UP

Vedas or the source of knowledge, is also referred to as the Sruti. The content of the Vedas that
has come down to us for centuries is said to have been heard by the sages in deep meditation and
these sages are therefore known as ‘mantradrastas’ or the ‘seer of the mantras’. The word
‘Veda’ generally refers to ‘Mantras’ and ‘Brahmanas’. Mantras are hymns in praise of gods who
are invoked in a ritual and Brahmanas are those portions which give various instructions on the
performance of rituals. The Aranyakas deals with meditation which is generally taken up while
living in forest (aranya). The Upanisads reveal the Absolute Truth, which provides the means to
liberation and is popularly known as the ‘Vedanta.’ The Vedic Literature is vast with several
branches and sections. The Vedic concepts and doctrines have highly influenced the religious
and philosophical thinking of India. Some of the concepts are the definition of Sat and Asat. The
most influential concepts are the law of karma and the concept of dharma that reflect the social
condition of Vedic period.

The Upanisads employ two ways of defining Brahman, one in its own nature (svarupa lakshana),
that is, Brahman as the Consciousness, Existent and Bliss principle. The second definition is
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from its accidental attributes (tatastha lakshana) wherein Brahman is shown as the substratum of
origination, sustenance and resolution of the universe. The Upanisads uniformly present the
triple means to a seeker of truth; they are, shravana, manana and nididhyasana. Mostly, the
Upanisads are set in a dialogue between a teacher and a disciple and the teaching is gradual and
progressive.

2.7 KEY WORDS

Veda: source of knowledge

Samhita: a collection of mantras or suktas
Brahmana: that portion which prescribes rules and regulations for rituals
Aranyaka: it gives the detail of meditations
Upanisad: it conducts a philosophical quest

2.8 FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES

Dasgupta, S. N., A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol.I, Motilal Banarasidass, New Delhi, 1988.
Hiriyanna, M., Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarasidass, New Delhi, 2005.
Vaidya, C. V., History of Vedic Literature, Sahitya Academy, Kolkata, 1992.