Vedas are four in number,
They are Rig, Yajur Sama and Atharva,
Of these Yajur Veda has two distinctly different versions.
One is Krishna Yajur and the other is Shukla Yajur.
Why this difference?
Sage Yajnyavalkya was studying under a Guru ,Vaisampayana.
The Gurus, including Vaisampayana used meet regularly.
On one such occasion, Vaisampayan was indisposed and could not attend the meet.
Therefore, he nominated one of his Sishyas,(pupil )to attend the meeting.
Miffed at not being chosen to represent the Guru at the meet, Yajnyavalkya remonstrated with the Guru, Vaisampayana, questioning the Guru and accused him of favoritism.
In Vedic tradition no one disputes the Guru.
Vaisampayana ,therefore asked Yajnavalkya to return the Vedas taught by him, as Yajnyavalkya committed the cardinal sin of questioning the Guru and asked him to leave.
Yajnavalkya vomited what he had learnt.
The Saṃskṛt name for partridge is “Tittiri”. As the Tittiri (partridge) birds ate this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittirīya Yajurveda. It is also known as Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda or Black-Yajurveda on account of it being a vomited substance. The Taittirīya Saṃhitā thus belongs to this Yajurveda.
Sage Yajnavalkya performed penance to the Sun God, Adhiya, Surya’ seeking the Vedas.
Surya,assuming the form of a Horse, taught him the Vedas direct .
This is Shukla Yajur Veda,
This is the version in the Sri Vishnu Purana.
The version by Shukla Yajur Vedins is as under.
”
The Vedas revealed by the Rsis have been compiled by the Great Rsi Veda Vyasa into four groups called Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Vedas. Each of the Vedas are normally grouped into Samhita (Prayers to Gods), Brahmana (Procedures for conducting Yaga) and Aranyaka (Upanisads which deals with discussion about Atman, Brahman etc). There are two divisions of Yajur Veda called Krishna (Black) Yajur Veda and Shukla (white or pure) Yajur Veda. In Krishna Yajur Veda the Samhita and Brahmana are not separate entities. The Brahmanas are found in between the Samhitas also whereas in Shukla Yajur Veda there is a clear distinction between Samhita and Brahmana. The Samhita consists mostly slokas or mantras in praise of various deities and the Brahmanas deal with the procedures to be adopted for doing the yagnas. The Aranyakas deal with methods to be adopted for spiritual elevation of man i.e. attaining the highest state of salvation that is Mukthi or Moksha after which there is no rebirth.
Shukla Yajur Veda was revealed to the sage Sri Yogeeswara Yagnavalkya (give hyper link) directly by Lord Surya. The details of how this Veda originally had been given to Sri Yogeeswara Yagnavalkya will be seen elsewhere in this site. Sri Shukla Yajur Veda originally had 15 Sakhas out of which only two Sakhas or branches, called Madyandina and Kanva Sakhas are available at present. Madyandina Saha is more prevalent in North India whereas Kanva Sakha is found mostly in South India. The book Charana Vuyha Tantram lists all the 15 Sakhas.
In both the Sakhas the Brahmana is called Sathapatha Brahmana. The name Sathapatha literally means hundred paths. In the Indian tradition the word “sata” does not indicate the exact number of one hundred, sometimes it means anything near about one hundred. The Brahmanas are the earliest annotations of the hymns of Samhita and serve as manuals for the performance of Vedic Sacrifices involving the usage of hymns. In addition they also have some narratives and anecdotes to explain the significance of the statements in Samhita and their usages in particular contexts. Brahmanas thus enumerate the mental and physical activities in consonance with the righteousness to reveal the nature of dharma which will lead to other realizations by man like wealth (artha), enjoyment (kama) and attainment of self (moksha). The Samhitas and Brahmanas are considered as apaurusheya meaning not created by man but revealed to him by God. The Brahmanas elaborate the procedure to construct altars which involve very detailed geometry and also mentions a system of remembering the number of times a sacrifice is to be made. The numbers some time run to thousand and millions and hundred millions. It shows the highly evolved system of arithmetic and geometry during the Vedic period! This arithmetic and geometry has come handy in constructing the temples of gigantic proportions without any fault!(http://www.shuklayajurveda.org/srishuklayajurveda.html)
In Sanskrit Krishna means black and Shukla, White,
Those who follow Shukla Yajur have elaborate mantras as compared to those who follow Krishna Yajur.
The reason for elaborate mantras is that even if God imparts the Vedas direct, it comes as second best to what is taught by a Guru.
To compensate this deviation from the Vedic practices, additional mantras are provided in the Shukla Yajur Veda.
Those who follow Shukla Yajur are relatively less when compared to Krishna Yajur.
The Shukla Yajur mantras are also slightly different.
For Shukla Upakarma, follow these Links.
http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/sundarasimham/Srisookthis/Yajurupaakarma.pdf
Related Articles
- Yajur Upakarma Avani Avittam Vedic Course Details. (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
- Upakarma Manthras (harikrishnamurthy.wordpress.com)
You must be logged in to post a comment.