Image: 1200-1000 BCE, Vajasneyi samhita sample i, Shukla Yajurveda, Sanskrit, Devanagari

Description: The Vedas are scriptures of Hinduism. The Yajurveda samhita is dated between 1200 to 1000 BCE. Each Vedic samhita consists of books. These texts are in the archaic Sanskrit language and include four layers of texts, samhita being one layer of the Vedas. The Vedas contain hymns that cover a wide mix of topics: benedictions, mythologies, questions and riddles, the methodology for yajna sacrifices (Yajurveda's specialty), potions and incantations, drama and poems, samskara (rites of passage verses), philosophy and mystical speculations. The hymns are set in the form of dialogues, dramatic play, or pedagogic style. The corpus of Vedic texts, as well all post-Vedic texts, are generally accepted to have been orally transmitted from generation to generation for over a millennium, till about the start of the common era. In Sanskrit, they were written in many Indic scripts. The scripture was written on palm leaf manuscripts, copied for preservation in Hindu temples and monasteries. Later paper and cloth versions were produced, where the page size was similar to the heritage palm leaf-like long pages. The above image is from the Shukla Yajurveda (White Yajurveda) of a northern recension of its manuscript. These manuscripts are preserved at the Lalchand Research Library, Ancient Indian Manuscript Collection, DAV College Digital Library Initiative, Chandigarh India, in association with SP Lohia and Indorama Charitable Trust. The text is over 3000 years old, the re-copying into this particular manuscript is a pre-1890 reproduction (recorded at the library as 1735 CE (1792 V.S., Vikram Samvat). The manuscript shows stain marks, decay and damage on the sides and its edges. Language: Sanskrit Script: Devanagari Script style: pre-14th century (Northern / Western) शुक्‍लयजुर्वेदसंहिता । The photo above is of a 2D artwork of a text that is over 3,000 years old, from a manuscript that was produced decades before 1923. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.
Title: 1200-1000 BCE, Vajasneyi samhita sample i, Shukla Yajurveda, Sanskrit, Devanagari
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Author: Ms Sarah Welch
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