The Vedas

Question 1

What are the names of the 4 Vedas

Answer 1

1) Rig Veda
2) Sama Veda
3) Yajur Veda
4) Atava

Question 2

What are the 4 layers in the Vedas called

Answer 2

1) Samhita
2) Brahmanas
3) Aranyakas
4) Upanishads

Question 3

What was in the Samhita layer?

Answer 3

Collection of hymns

Question 4

What was in the Brahmanas layer?

Answer 4

How to properly perform the ritual

Question 5

What was in the Aranyaka layer?

Answer 5

Path of wisdom

Question 6

What was in the Upanishads layer?

Answer 6

Key concept of Hinduism is revealed

Question 7

Priest associated with Rig Veda

Answer 7

Hotr

Question 8

Priest associated with Sama Veda

Answer 8

Udgatr

Question 9

Priest associated with Yajur Veda

Answer 9

Adhvaryu

Question 10

Priest associated with Atava

Answer 10

Brahmins

Question 11

How is the Yajur Veda divided?

Answer 11

Divided into black - krsna

and white - sukla

Question 12

What is black krsna in yajur veda

Answer 12

3 books of yajus and prose, to do with elaborate rituals of sacrifice

Question 13

What is white sukla in yajur veda

Answer 13

oen book of verses and mantras

Question 14

Who composed the aranyakas

Answer 14

Forest dwellers

Question 15

What does Upanishads mean

Answer 15

sitting down near to

Question 16

When were the Vedas printed as a book

Answer 16

19th century by Max Muller

Question 17

What does Veda mean

Answer 17

Knowledge

Question 18

What does Sruti mean

Answer 18

That which is heard

Question 19

What does Sabda mean

Answer 19

that which is heard, it is the word of God

Question 20

What is the historical origin of the vedas

Answer 20

Composed by men and handed down generations orally

Question 21

What is the religious origin of the vedas

Answer 21

heard by Rishis, revealed from the divine, passed down orally

Question 22

When was the vedas put into writing

Answer 22

Not until a thousand years after its origin

Question 23

What is the oldes Vedas text

Answer 23

The rig veda

Question 24

What is Sanskrit

Answer 24

sacred language of the Gods

Question 25

purusha sukta quote about him being outside of earth

Answer 25

'three fourths are the immortal in heaven.'

Question 26

Holm and Bowker: when were the first layers of the Vedas?

Answer 26

- earliest layers of the most authoritative of this literature stretch back over three thousand years.

Question 27

Holm and Bowker: when was the Vedas wirtten?

Answer 27

- as long as a thousand years after their origin. | - rig veda only printed as a book in the 19th century by Max Muller.

Question 28

what did Staal say about Aryans writing the vedas | what did Rogriguez say

Answer 28

- for some Brahmins writing was a ritually polluting activity. - committing it to writing is regarded as diminishing its sacredness.

Question 29

Bharati quote about Vedas

Answer 29

'less than five percent of all Hindus ever knew these texts even by name, and much less than one percent knew even parts of their content,;

Question 30

Where did Vedas come from?

Answer 30

- H&B --> heard by the ancient rishis from the divine and passed down orally through generations. - Rodriguez --> contents of vedas were divinely perceived, revealed to the rishis. Authorship is some great unseen power channeled through the semi divine perceivers.

Question 31

What is the sama veda

Answer 31

- H&B --> book of songs and chants based on the rig veda with instructions on their recitation.

Question 32

What is the yajur veda

Answer 32

- H&B --> furhter collection of hymn and short porse formulae for use in rutal. Two recensions, black and white. Black composed of formulae and prose and white composed of mantras and verses.

Question 33

What is the Artha Veda (atharva)

Answer 33

- H&B --> collection of hymns and magical formulae. Not as authoritative as other Vedas because not concerned with rituals, instead with magical healing.

Question 34

what are the brahmanas

Answer 34

- H&B --> manuals for the brahmins, contain rules and elaborate symbolic explanations of vedic ritual. - postulates magical links between cosmos and sacrifice.

Question 35

what are the aranyakas

Answer 35

- H&B --> developments of the Brahmanas, speculate upon symbolism of the sacrifice.

Question 36

what are the upanishads

Answer 36

- H&B --> focus on the inner mystical experience. Means sitting near, like disciple sitting near master.

Question 37

Staal argument about mantras (3)

Answer 37

- in ritual the meaning of the words is not important, its often impossible to establish. - function of the mantras is not their meaning but their use. - what they mean is second to their place in the ritual sequence and correct recitation.

Question 38

what is the rig veda

Answer 38

- H&B -->collection of 1,028 hymns to various deities. Cosmos divided into three lokas, each realm inhabited by a deva.

Question 39

Jameson view on vedas

Answer 39

- benchmark for authenticity, if you accept Vedas as most important religious text then you are a hindu - those who do not are not truly hindu

Question 40

Dayananda Sarasvati view on Veda

Answer 40

- first to emphasise acceptance of Vedas a touchstone of being Hindu.

Question 41

What is a feature of sacredness

Answer 41

Whether or not text is transmitted orally orin writing.

Question 42

H& B view on the vedas

Answer 42

- most Hindus do not know Hinduism through the Vedas. | - know Hinduism through ritual traditions and mythologies in smriti literature.

Question 43

What is henotheism

Answer 43

- several gods at higher level, more important - Max Muller, used term interchangeably with katheotheirsm, different supreme Gods at different times. To worship one god at a time.

Question 44

When was Rig Veda composed according to Max Muller

Answer 44

1700–1100 B.C.E.

Question 45

Monotheism (3)

Answer 45

- 'O Arjuna, even those devotees who worship other lesser deities with faith, they also worship Me' - Krishna - Agni --> 'as he the sole god is preeminent in greatness among all these other gods.' - Vishnu --> devas are always looking in the supreme bode of Vishnu.'

Question 46

Definitions of Brahman in the Upanishads (3)

Answer 46

- 'the hidden self in everyone.' - 'the ruler of time, past and future,' - 'thumb sized being enshrined in the heart.'