Hinduism: Details about 'Yajurveda'
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The Yajurveda (Sanskrit यजुर्वेदः yajurveda, a tatpurusha compound of yajus "sacrifice" + veda "knowledge") is one of the four Hindu Vedas; it contains religious texts focussing on liturgy and ritual. The Yajurveda was written sometime during the Vedic period between 1500 BC and 500 BC, along with the other Vedas. (see Vedas)
VersionsThere 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 YajurvedaShukla yajur veda or the white yajur veda is one of the two main variations of the yajur veda.Chronologicaly speaking ,it comes after the krishna yajur veda and was said to have been given to Sage Yagnyavalkya , the legendary priest of the vedic lore, by the Sun God,Aditya.The Vedic traditions have it that Yagnyavalkya had serious differences with his teacher vaishampayana,the doyen of krishna yajur veda, on some points of philosophy and is said to have outwitted the latter.The enraged vaishampayana ,then,asks Yagnyavalkya to return all the knowledge that he acquired from him.Yagnyavalkya vomits whatever he learnt from vaishampayan in the form of flesh. vaishampayana ,then, orders his other students to take the form of tittriya birds and eat the flesh vomitted by the renegade.That's how krishna yajur veda came to be known as Tyytriya Samhita. Tytriya is the adjective form of tittriya , which in this case just means that the veda has been "compiled"by the tittriya birds and is ,thus,technically "of the tittriyas".Yagnyavalkya ,then,meditates on the the Sun God Surya and gets the sukla yajur veda from him. this is the reason for Sukla Yajur Veda bieng called the Aditya Sampradaya as different from the Brahma Sampradaya of the Krishna Yajur Vedins. RECENSIONSThe Sukla Yajur Veda has primarily two recensions:1.Vajasaneyi Madhyandiniya.2.vajasaneyi Kanva.The former is popular in the North of India and Orissa and is by far the largest vedic tradition followed in the country in terms of population.The Kanva Shakha is restricted to Kerala and Tamila Nadu.Jagadguru Adi Shankara is said to have followed this recension.The vedic rituals of the famous Ranganathaswamy Temple ,The biggest temple in India ,are performed according to this Shakha.Sukla Yajur Veda is most prominent for its two great upanishads : The Isa Vasya and The Brihadaranyaka. The latter is the biggest of all upanishads and is also considered to be Upanishad Shreshtha, i.e, the most refined of all Upanishads. Krishna YajurvedaThere are four recensions of the Black Yajurveda:
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. Large numbersThe Yajurveda documents the earliest known use of numbers up to a trillion (parardha). It even discusses the concept of numeric infinity (purna "fullness"), stating that if you subtract purna from purna, you are still left with purna. See also: History of large numbers. Literature
Yajurveda यजुर्वेद संहिता Jadźurwedasa:यजुर्वेदः Yajurveda YajurvedaA
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