Veda, the general designation of the scriptures of the Brahmanic religion. The word means " knowledge," the Vedas being considered to contain the knowledge of all knowledge. The Veda texts or Veda Sanhitas exist in four collections, Rig-Veda, Sâma-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, for the general character and contents of which see India, Religions and Religious Liteeatuee of. About the Vedas themselves clusters an immense religious literature. Among the earliest books written in explanation of the Sanhitâs are the Brâhmanas, which are mostly confined to descriptions of the ceremonies prescribed, and relate numerous legends bearing on them. Collections of practical rules regarding matters of worship were also made;. these are called Sûtras. Vedângas, or members of the Vedas, comment upon the language, mythology, and astrology of the Sanhitas; and the Vedantas, or purpose of the Vedas, are philosophical disquisitions on the Brahmanic religion. The word shastra (s'astro) is often added to these terms, as Vedânta-shastra. Shastra signifies treatise, book, precept, and hence Vedanta-shastra is a work on the Vedanta philosophy or the whole body of teaching on that subject. - The four hymn texts of the Vedas have all been published in Europe, the Rig-Veda in three different forms.

Of the Rig-Veda, Langlois has published (Paris, 1848-51) a very poor French translation; Wilson's (London, 1850-57, continued and to be completed by Cowell) is better, but represents the commentators rather than the hymns themselves. Müller has published (1869) the first volume of a fully annotated version, but it contains only 12 hymns. Benfey has translated about 130 hymns in the Orient und Occident. J. Muir's " Original Sanskrit Texts" (5 vols., London, 1863-'70) gives the transliterated texts and literal version of a great many hymns and parts of hymns. A German translation of the Sama-Veda accompanies Benfey's edition (Leipsic, 1848).

Two books of the Atharva-Veda are rendered into German by Weber, in his Indische Studien. The most important Brâhmanas have also been published: the Catapatha by Weber; the Aitareya by Haug (Bombay, 1863, with translation); the Taittiriya by Mitra (Calcutta); the principal Upanishads, with commentary and translation, in the Bibliotheca Indica at Calcutta. - For the Vedas in general, see Colebrooke's essay in the "Asiatic Researches," vol. viii., and in his collected essays (2d ed., with detailed notes by W. D. Whitney); Roth, Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda (Stuttgart, 1846); Weber, Indische Literaturgeschichte (Berlin, 1852); Barthélemy SaintHilaire, Des Vedas (Paris, 1854); Max Müller, " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature" (London, 1859); and W. D.Whitney, in the "Journal of the American Oriental Society," vols. iii. and iv., and in " Oriental and Linguistic Studies," vol. i.