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The Twelfth Lesson: The Vedas; and Glossary.1359
The Twelfth Lesson: The Vedas; and Glossary.
Students of the Hindu Philosophies and Religious Systems meet with
frequent and constant allusions to the “Vedas” and “Upanishads,” the
Sacred Books of India, but as a rule find little or no description or explanation
of what the Vedas or Upanishads are; of what they consist, or of their history.
We have thought it advisable to give our students a brief description and
account of the Vedas and Upanishads in this lesson.
The Vedas.
The Vedas, generally speaking, may be defined as: The Hindu Sacred
Books comprising the Hindu Scriptures, viz., Rig-Veda; the Yajur-Veda; the
Sama-Veda; the Atharva-Veda; and also the Brahmanas and the Upanishads;
and also comprising the poems, hymns, sacred literature, rituals, and general
religious philosophy of the Hindu religious systems.
But strictly speaking, the term “The Vedas” is used to designate merely
the Sacred Scriptures of the Hindus, which we shall now consider.
The Vedas have a most ancient origin, their early history fading into “the
days before history.” There are accounts of the Sacred Writings extending
back for several thousand years, but before this time there were evidently
still older manuscripts; and before the constant verbal transmission of the