A section from the journey

The Later Vedas

The Rigveda is the oldest Veda, but it is not the only one. There are four in all. The Yajurveda holds the words the priest says as he performs the rite. The Samaveda sets the hymns to melody, to be sung aloud. And the Atharvaveda is the closest to everyday life — full of charms for healing, for protection, and for a happy home.

We have spent long days inside the , the book of hymns of praise. It is the oldest of the Vedas, and the fountainhead. But it is not alone. Hold up a hand and count, for there are four Vedas in all.

Each of the other three grew up around a different need. Let us meet them one by one, gently, the way you meet members of a family.

First, the . Think of it as the priest's handbook for the fire-rite. When the offering is made, every act has its words, and they must be said just so, in the right order. The Yajurveda holds those words. If the Rigveda is praise, the Yajurveda is the careful doing — the script the priest follows as he works at the altar.

Second, the . Here is a lovely thing. The hymns were not only spoken; many were sung. The Samaveda takes verses — most of them drawn from the Rigveda itself — and sets them to melody. It is the songbook of the rite. The same words you have met now rise and fall in tune. Sound, you remember, was holy to these people, and the Samaveda is sound made into music.

And third, the — and this one comes from very close to home. The other three lift their eyes to the great gods and the solemn sacrifice. The Atharvaveda kneels down by the hearth, among ordinary people and their ordinary days.

What is in it? The prayers of a real life. Charms to bring down a fever and heal a wound. Words to guard a child, to bless a wedding, to keep the home safe and the fields green. Here are people asking the unseen for the small, dear things — health, love, peace under their own roof. It shows us that the Vedic world was not only grand rites under the sky. It was also a mother whispering over a sick child.

For a long time, people counted only the first three together — the Rig, the Yajur, and the Sama — and called them the "threefold knowledge" of the solemn rite. The Atharva, closer to common life, was welcomed as the fourth Veda a little later. But welcomed it was. And we are glad of it, for without it we would know only the worship and miss the home.

So now you hold all four: the Rigveda of praise, the Yajurveda of the rite, the Samaveda of song, and the Atharvaveda of daily life. Together they are the whole heart of the Vedic world — its highest hopes and its homeliest ones, kept side by side.

The Atharvaveda saved the small prayers of ordinary days — for a child's health, for a safe home. We often think great wisdom must be about great things. Where do you see something sacred in the small, daily hopes of the people around you?