Indian Culture
The Yajur Veda is related to yajna, which is not just sacrifice, but also means creative reality. The mantras (verse with archetypal meanings) of the Rig Veda are adapted to certain melodies and this collection is named Sama Veda, and the Atharva Veda deals with the peace and prosperity of human society and is concerned with the daily life of man.
Vedic ritual is preserved in literary texts called the Brahmanas. The main division of the contexts of these extensive texts is twofold – the ritualistic injuction and discussions on the meaning of Vedic ritual and all that is related to it. The Aranyakas or the treatises of the forest present secret explanations of the ritual, have their origin in the philosophical discussions of the Brahmanas, find their culmination in the Upanishads and represent the transitional phase between the ritualistic symbolism of the Brahmanas and the philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. The Upanishads, written both in prose and poetry, are expressions of philosophical concepts.
In the literal term, it means that knowledge which is imparted to the student who is sitting very near to the teacher, that knowledge by which all ignorance is destroyed, the knowledge of the identity of the self (Atman) with the eternal (Brahman). The Upanishads are the end of the Vedas. This is the literature in which ancient sages realised that in the final analysis, man has to know himself.\
PURANAS
The Puranas were written to illustrate and expound the truth of the Vedas. The fundamental abstruse philosophical and religious truths are expounded through popular legends or mythological stories. We have 18 maha and 19 minor puranas. The Puranas are the meeting point of diverse religious and social beliefs, are linked with the vital spiritual and social needs and urges of the people, and are a unique outcome of the ever-continuing synthesis based on an understanding between various groups of vedic Aryans and non-Aryans. The Mahapuranas have five subjects.
Vedic ritual is preserved in literary texts called the Brahmanas. The main division of the contexts of these extensive texts is twofold – the ritualistic injuction and discussions on the meaning of Vedic ritual and all that is related to it. The Aranyakas or the treatises of the forest present secret explanations of the ritual, have their origin in the philosophical discussions of the Brahmanas, find their culmination in the Upanishads and represent the transitional phase between the ritualistic symbolism of the Brahmanas and the philosophical doctrines of the Upanishads. The Upanishads, written both in prose and poetry, are expressions of philosophical concepts.
In the literal term, it means that knowledge which is imparted to the student who is sitting very near to the teacher, that knowledge by which all ignorance is destroyed, the knowledge of the identity of the self (Atman) with the eternal (Brahman). The Upanishads are the end of the Vedas. This is the literature in which ancient sages realised that in the final analysis, man has to know himself.\
PURANAS
The Puranas were written to illustrate and expound the truth of the Vedas. The fundamental abstruse philosophical and religious truths are expounded through popular legends or mythological stories. We have 18 maha and 19 minor puranas. The Puranas are the meeting point of diverse religious and social beliefs, are linked with the vital spiritual and social needs and urges of the people, and are a unique outcome of the ever-continuing synthesis based on an understanding between various groups of vedic Aryans and non-Aryans. The Mahapuranas have five subjects.