veda

Noun
  1. (from the Sanskrit word for `knowledge') any of the most ancient sacred writings of Hinduism written in early Sanskrit;
    Traditionally believed to comprise the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads (synset 106476089)
    referred to in:
    • hindooism, hinduism - a body of religious and philosophical beliefs and cultural practices native to India and based on a caste system; it is characterized by a belief in reincarnation, by a belief in a supreme being of many forms and natures, by the view that opposing theories are aspects of one eternal truth, and by a desire for liberation from earthly evils
    • sanskrit, sanskritic language - (Hinduism) an ancient language of India (the language of the Vedas and of Hinduism); an official language of India although it is now used only for religious purposes
    is a type of: religious text, religious writing, sacred text, sacred writing - writing that is venerated for the worship of a deity
    specific instances:
    • samhita - one of four collections of sacred texts
    • brahmana - prose works attached to the Samhitas instructing the brahmins to perform the very elaborate sacrificial rituals
    • aranyaka - a treatise resembling a Brahmana but to be read or expounded by anchorites in the quiet of the forest
    • vedanga - Vedic texts from the fifth and fourth centuries BC dealing with phonetics and ritual injunctions and linguistics and grammar and etymology and lexicography and prosody and astronomy and astrology
    same as: vedic literature

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