Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/127

Rh All the verses of the latter Veda, with the exception of a few, are to be found in the Rig-Veda, and it is supposed that these verses, too, must have been contained in some other recension of the Rig-Veda now lost to us. It is clear, therefore, that the Sanaa-Veda is only a selection from the Rig-Veda set to music for a special purpose.

Of the actual compilers of the Yajur-Veda, on the other hand, we have some information. The more ancient, or Black, Yajur-Veda is called the Taittiriya Samhita, from Tittiri, who probably compiled or promulgated it in its present shape, although in the Anukramani of the Atreya recension of this Veda we are told that it was handed down by Vaisampayana to Yaska Paingi, by Yaska to Tittiri, by Tittiri to Ukha, and by Ukha to Atreya, which would imply that the existing oldest recension of the Yajur-Veda was not the first redaction.

We have fuller information with regard to the more recent White Yajur-Veda. It is called the Vajasaneyi Samhita, from Yajnavalkya Vajasaneya, who held the influential position of chief priest in the court of Janaka, king of the Videhas, so that the promulgation of this new Veda probably proceeded from his royal master's court.

There is a striking difference in arrangement between the White Yajur-Veda and the Black Yajur-Veda. In the latter, the sacrificial formulas are followed by dogmatic explanations, and by accounts of ceremonials belonging to them. In the former, the