The Religion of the Veda
come from a somewhat later Vedic time; they do
not coincide exactly with the earlier names, nor do
they fully correspond to the contents of the texts
themselves. The earlier names refer rather to the
different styles of composition, than to canonical col-
lections. They are reaḥ, "stanzas of praise"; pajun-
shi, "liturgical stanzas and formulas"; samani, "mel-
odics"; and atharvangirasah, "blessings and curses.
The book which goes by the name of Rig-Veda con-
tains not only "stanzas of praise," but-in its later
parts-also "blessings and curses," as well as most of
the stanzas which form the text to the saman-melo-
dies of the Sama-Veda. The Atharva-Veda contains
rcaḥ, "stanzas of praise," and yajinshi, "liturgical
stanzas," mostly worked over for its own purposes, as
well as its very own "blessings and curses." The Ya-
jur-Veda also contains materials of the other Vedic
types in addition to its main topic, the liturgy. The
Sama-Veda is merely a collection of a certain kind
of rcal, or "stanzas of praise," which are derived with
some variants and additions from the Rig-Veda, and
are here set to music which is indicated by musical
notations.
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The Rig-Veda is, on the whole, the oldest as well
as the most important of the four collections. Its
language is a priestly, very high, or very literary
speech. This we may call by distinction the hieratic
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