Religion dictionary
Vedas
[ vey-duhz ]
What are the Vedas?
The Vedas are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, made up of a large collection of ancient Sanskrit compositions known as śruti — meaning “what is heard” — and considered to be divinely revealed rather than written by humans. They preserve hymns, ritual formulas, mythic narratives, and early philosophical reflections from the Vedic period of ancient India.
The classical enumeration lists four Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda. Each includes a Samhita (mantras and benedictions), Brahmanas (ritual explanations), Aranyakas (so-called “forest” texts on symbolism and meditation around ritual), and in many cases, Upanishads — speculative and philosophical teachings on Brahman (ultimate reality) and Atman (inner self/soul). Together they form the foundational layer of what later became Hindu religious thought and practice.
Where does Vedas come from?
The word Veda comes directly from Sanskrit meaning “knowledge or wisdom,” derived from the root vid-, “to know,” a relative of Greek oida and English wit. The oldest material, especially the main strata of the Rigveda, took shape between about 1500 and 1200 BCE in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, with later Vedic texts extending into roughly the middle of the first millennium BCE.
For most of their history, the Vedas were preserved orally using highly structured recitation patterns, pitch systems, and mnemonic techniques, until scribes eventually began writing them on palm leaf or birch bark. Over time, this evolving corpus moved from hymns praising deities such as Agni and Indra, to detailed sacrificial rituals, and then finally toward the more abstract, philosophical Upanishadic discussions of self, reality, and cosmic order.
Who uses Vedas?
Within Indian thought, schools that accept Vedic authority count as āstika (“orthodox”) and include major philosophical traditions such as Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, and Yoga. Using the Brahmanas, Brahmin lineages historically recited and performed rituals for each Vedic śākhā or school, while the Upanishads in particular influenced later theology, yoga traditions, and many strands of Hindu devotional practice.
In contemporary Hindu life, full oral mastery of an entire Veda is rare, yet the Vedas retain emblematic status as a symbol of sacred knowledge, and selections such as famous Upanishadic passages and Vedic mantras continue to appear in teachings, rituals, and public religious culture.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Vedas like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Vedas that will help our users expand their word mastery.
