[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.2037 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2037 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2037 - **Language:** English ### [c5.2037](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2037) The Yajur or second Veda is composed almost exclusively of hymns taken from the \*Rig\*, but it contains some prose passages which are new. Many of the hymns show considerable deviations from the original text of the \*Rig\*. These differences may perhaps be attributable either to an original difference of the traditional text or to modifications required by the ritualistic uses of the Yajur. The Yajur-veda is the priests' office-book, arranged in a liturgical form for the performance of sacrifices. As the manual of the priesthood, it became the great subject of study, and it has a great number of different Sākhās or schools. It has two Sanhitās, one called the Taittirīya Sanhitā, the other Vājasaneyī Sanhitā, commonly known as the Black and White Yajur. Of these, the former is the more ancient, and seems to have been known in the third century B.C. These Sanhitās contain upon the whole the same matter, but the arrangement is different. The White Yajur is the more orderly and systematic, and it contains some texts which are not in the Black. - [Previous: c5.2036](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2036) - [Next: c5.2038](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2038) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (4) - [Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.krsnayajur*taittiriya) — Sanskrit - [Śuklayajurvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.suklayajur*vajasaneyi) — Sanskrit - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg) — Sanskrit - [Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.krsnayajur) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2037](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.2037) · Pramāṇa