The Yajurveda (, , from यजुस्, "worship", and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism (Editor: Gavin Flood), Blackwell, , pages 76–77 An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual-offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajña fire. Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of the Yajurveda's composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Sāmaveda and Atharvaveda.
The Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the "black" or "dark" (Krishna) Yajurveda and the "white" or "bright" (Shukla) Yajurveda. The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" which implies the "well arranged, clear" Yajurveda.Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 217–219 The black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into modern times.
The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, , pages 273–274Edmund Gosse, , New York: Appleton, page 181 The middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection.Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, , pages 149–153, Quote: "The Satapatha is one of the largest Brahmanas..." The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy. These include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad.Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Motilal Banarsidass (2011 Edition), , page 23Patrick Olivelle (1998), Upaniṣhads, Oxford University Press, , pages 1–17
Two of the oldest surviving manuscript copies of the Shukla Yajurveda sections have been discovered in Nepal and Western Tibet, and these are dated to the 12th-century CE.
Etymology
Yajurveda is a compound Sanskrit word, composed of yajus (यजुस्) and Veda (वेद). Monier-Williams translates yajus as "religious reverence, veneration, worship, sacrifice, a sacrificial prayer, formula, particularly mantras uttered in a peculiar manner at a sacrifice".Monier Monier Williams, Sanskrit English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Entry for Yajus, page 839 Veda means "knowledge". Johnson states yajus means "(mostly) prose formulae or mantras, contained in the Yajur Veda, which are muttered".WJ Johnson (2009), Yajus, A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press,
Michael Witzel interprets Yajurveda to mean a "knowledge text of prose mantras" used in Vedic rituals. Ralph Griffith interprets the name to mean "knowledge of sacrifice or sacrificial texts and formulas".Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, page xvii Carl Olson states that Yajurveda is a text of "mantras (sacred formulas) that are repeated and used in rituals".Carl Olson (2007), The Many Colors of Hinduism, Rutgers University Press, , page 13
Dating and historical context The core text of the Yajurveda falls within the classical Mantra period of Vedic Sanskrit at the end of the 2nd millennium BCE – younger than the Rigveda, and roughly contemporary with the Atharvaveda, the Rigvedic Khilani, and the .The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools, Michael Witzel, Harvard University The scholarly consensus dates the bulk of the Yajurveda and Atharvaveda hymns to the early Indian Iron Age, after c. 1200 and before 800 BCE.
Text
Recensions The Yajurveda text includes the Shukla Yajurveda of which about 16 recensions (known as Shaakhaas) are known, while the Krishna Yajurveda may have had as many as 86 recensions. Only two recensions of the Shukla Yajurveda have survived, Madhyandina and Kanva, and others are known by name only because they are mentioned in other texts. These two recensions are nearly the same, except for a few differences. In contrast to Shukla Yajurveda, the four surviving recensions of Krishna Yajurveda are very different versions.CL Prabhakar (1972), The Recensions of the Sukla Yajurveda, Archiv Orientální, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 347–353
Shukla Yajurveda The samhita in the Shukla Yajurveda is called the Vajasaneyi Samhita. The name Vajasaneyi is derived from Vajasaneya, the patronymic of Yajnavalkya, and the founder of the Vajasaneyi branch. There are two (nearly identical) surviving recensions of the Vajasaneyi Samhita (VS): Vajasaneyi Madhyandina and Vajasaneyi Kanva. The lost recensions of the White Yajurveda, mentioned in other texts of ancient India, include Jabala, Baudhya, Sapeyi, Tapaniya, Kapola, Paundravatsa, Avati, Paramavatika, Parasara, Vaineya, Vaidheya, Katyayana and Vaijyavapa.GS Rai, Sakhas of the Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 1, pages 11–16
+ Recensions of the White Yajurveda Recension Name Adhyayas Anuvakas No. of Verses Regional presence Reference Madhyandina 40 303 1975 Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, North India GS Rai, Sakhas of the Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 1, page 13 Kanva 40 328 2086 Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu GS Rai, Sakhas of the Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 1, page 14 +Shukla Yajurveda ShaakhaasShakhaSamhitaBrahmanaAranyakaUpanishadMadhyandina (VSM)Vajasneyi Samhita (Madhyandin)Madhyandina Shatapatha (SBM)survives as Shatapatha XIV.1–8, with accents.Brihadaranyaka UpanishadKanva (VSK)Vajasneyi Samhita (Kanva)Kanva Shatapatha (SBK)
(different from madhyandina)survives as book XVII of SBKBrihadaranyaka Upanishad (different from above)
Krishna Yajurveda There are four surviving recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda – , , and .Michael Witzel, Early Sanskritization, Origins and Development of the Kuru State , Harvard University (1996) A total of eighty six recensions are mentioned to exist in Vayu Purana, however vast majority of them are believed to be lost.GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, page 235 The Katha school is referred to as a sub-school of Carakas (wanderers) in some ancient texts of India, because they did their scholarship as they wandered from place to place.GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, pages 236–238 In contrast to the Shukla Yajurveda, the saṃhitās of the Krishna Yajurveda contained both mantras and explanatory prose (which would usually belong to the brāhmaṇas).
+ Recensions of the Black Yajurveda Recension Name No. of Sub-recensions Kanda Prapathaka No. of Mantras Regional presence Reference Taittiriya 2 7 42
South India AB Keith, THE VEDA OF THE BLACK YAJUS SCHOOL: Taittiriya Sanhita, Oxford University, pages i–xii Maitrayani 6 4 54 Western India GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, pages 244 Kāṭhaka (Caraka) 12 5 40 3093 Kashmir, North India, East India GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, pages 238–241 Kapiṣṭhala 5 6 48 Extinct GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, pages 241–242 +Krishna Yajurveda ShaakhaasShakhaSamhitaBrahmanaAranyakaUpanishadTaittiriyaTaittiriya SamhitaTaittiriya Brahmana and Vadhula Brahmana (part of Vadhula Srautrasutra)Taittiriya AranyakaTaittiriya UpanishadMaitrayaniMaitrayani SamhitaWithin the SamhitaMaitrayaniya UpanishadCaraka-KathaKatha Samhita Śatādhyāya Brāhmaṇa (only exists in fragments)Katha Aranyaka (almost the entire text from a solitary manuscript)Kathaka Upanishad,
Katha-Shiksha Upanishad The most modern recensions is the . Some attribute it to Tittiri, a pupil of Yaska and mentioned by Panini. The text is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda, and attributed to the pupils of sage Tittiri (literally, partridge birds).A Weber, , Trubner & Co, pages 87–91
The is the oldest Yajurveda Samhita that has survived, and it differs largely in content from the Taittiriyas, as well as in some different arrangement of chapters, but is much more detailed.GS Rai, Sakhas of the Krsna Yajurveda in the Puranas, Purana, Vol 7, No. 2, pages 235–253
The or the , according to tradition was compiled by Katha, a disciple of Vaisampayana. Like the Maitrayani Samhita, it offers much more detailed discussion of some rituals than the younger Taittiriya samhita that frequently summarizes such accounts. The or the , named after the sage Kapisthala is extant only in some large fragments and edited without accent marks. This text is practically a variant of the .
Organization Each regional edition (recension) of Yajurveda had Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyakas, Upanishads as part of the text, with Shrautasutras, Grhyasutras and Pratishakhya attached to the text. In Shukla Yajurveda, the text organization is same for both Madhayndina and Kanva shakhas. The texts attached to Shukla Yajurveda include the Katyayana Shrautasutra, Paraskara Grhyasutra and Shukla Yajurveda Pratishakhya.
In Krishna Yajurveda, each of the recensions has or had their Brahmana text mixed into the Samhita text, thus creating a motley of the prose and verses, and making it unclear, disorganized.
Contents
Samhitas The Vajasaneyi Samhita has forty chapters or adhyayas, containing the formulas used with the following rituals:Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, page i–xvi + Chapters of the White Yajurveda Chapter No. Ritual Name Time Nature of Ritual Reference 1–2 Darṣapūrṇamāsa (Full and new moon rituals) 2 days Offer cow milk to fire. Separate calves from the cows. Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, , page 124Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 1–16 3 Agnihotra and Cāturmāsya 1 day, 4 months The former is the daily oblation of milk into the fire, and the latter is the seasonal sacrifices at the beginning of the three seasons. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 17–25 4–8 Soma sacrifice
Bathe in river. Offer milk and soma to fire. Offerings to deities of thought, speech. Prayer to Indra to harm no crop, guard the cattle, expel demons. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 26–70 9–10 Vājapeya and Rājasūya
The former is a variant of the soma sacrifice which involves a chariot race, and the latter is a variant of the soma sacrifice in which a king is consecrated. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 71–86 11–18 Agnicayana 360 Formulas and rituals for building altars and hearths for Agni yajna, with largest in the shape of outspread eagle or falcon. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 87–171 19–21 Sautrāmaṇī Ritual that deals with the overindulgence of soma, and to assure victory and success. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 172–204 22–25 Aśvamedha 180 or 360 Horse sacrifice ritual conducted by kings. Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 205–234 26–29
Supplementary formulas for above sacrifices Ralph Griffith, The texts of the white Yajurveda EJ Lazarus, pages 235–254 30–31 Puruṣamedha