The Bashkala recension of the Rigveda has the Khilani which are not present in the Shakala text but is preserved in one Kashmir manuscript (now at Pune). Śaunaka‘s Caraṇa-vyuha lists five shakhas for the Rig Veda, the Śākala, Bāṣkala, Aśvalāyana, Śaṅkhāyana, and Māṇḍukāyana of which only the Śākala and Bāṣkala are now extant. Only a small number of recensions have survived. These have lists of the numbers of recensions that were believed to have once existed as well as those still extant at the time the works were compiled. The traditional source of information on the shakhas of each Veda is the Caraṇa-vyūha, of which two, mostly similar, versions exist: the 49th pariśiṣṭa of the Atharvaveda, ascribed to Shaunaka, and the 5th pariśiṣṭa of the Śukla (White) Yajurveda, ascribed to Kātyāyana.
Each school would learn a specific Vedic Saṃhita (one of the “four Vedas” properly so-called), as well as its associated Brahmana, Aranyakas, Shrautasutras, Grhyasutrasand Upanishads. The schools have different points of view, described as “difference of (Vedic) school” ( śākhābhedaḥ). The term is also used in Hindu philosophy to refer to an adherent of a particular orthodox system.Ī related term caraṇa, (“conduct of life” or “behavior”) is also used to refer to such a Vedic school: “although the words caraṇa and śākhā are sometimes used synonymously, yet caraṇa properly applies to the sect or collection of persons united in one school, and śākhā to the traditional text followed, as in the phrase śākhām adhite, ( “he recites a particular version of the Veda”)”. An individual follower of a particular school or recension is called a śākhin. called Shakhas.Ī shakha (Sanskrit śākhā, “branch” or “limb”), is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school. These texts have been classified by Rishis.Įach Veda has many Branches.
Some of them are also addressed to curing diseases. These Hymns have Sukhthas in them which are in praise of Deities and they are also explanation of Cosmology.
Upanishads, containing the highest Knowledge of Reality, Brahman. There are four Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Veda.Īranyakas, to be recited in the forest and Vedas, the basic referral text of Hindus is a highly organized one.