The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c7.3

c7.3

After the Ṛigveda proper. About the same time three other Vedas took shape. The Sâmaveda is only a collection of chants from the Ṛigveda for Sâman singers and is, therefore, valueless for historical purposes. The Yajurveda contains, besides a number of Ṛigvedic hymns, prose passages of its own. It is a collection of the formulæ and prayers of the Adhvaryu priests who actually performed the sacrifices. It has come down in two main recensions, the Kṛiṣṇa or black and the Śukla or white. Of the former there are three complete texts—the Taittirîya, Kaṭhaka and Maitrâyaṇî Saṃhitâs—and an incomplete text called the Kapiṣṭhala Saṃhitâ. For the White Yajurveda there is the Vâjasaneyi Saṃhitâ.¹