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The Samaveda, or
Veda of Holy Songs, third in the usual order of enumeration of the three Vedas,
ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rgveda or Veda
of Recited praise. Its Sanhita, or metrical portion, consists chiefly of hymns
to be chanted by the Udgatar priests at the performance of those important
sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk
and other ingredients, was offered in libation to various deities. The
Collection is made up of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached verses, taken
mainly from the Rgveda, transposed and re-arranged, without reference to
their original order, to suit the religious ceremonies in which they were to be
employed. In these compiled hymns there are frequent variations, of more or less
importance, from the text of the Rgveda as we now possess it which
variations, although in some cases they are apparently explanatory, seem in
others to be older and more original than the readings of the Rgveda. In
singing, the verses are still further altered by prolongation, repetition and
insertion of syllables, and various modulations, rests, and other modifications
prescribed, for the guidance of the officiating priests, in the Ganas or
Song-books. Two of these manuals, the Gramageyagdna, or Congregational, and the
Aranyagana or Forest Song-Book, follow the order of the verses of part I, of
the Sanhita, and two others, the Uhagana, the Uhyagana, of Part II. This part
is less disjointed than part I, and is generally arranged in triplets whose
first verse is often the repetition of a verse that has occurred in part I.
There is no clue to the
date of the compilation of the Samaveda Hymns, nor has the compiler's
name been handed down to us. Such a manual was unnecessary in the early times
when the Aryans first came into India, but was required for guidance and use in
the complicated ritual elaborated by the invaders after their expansion and
settlement in their new homes.
There are three recensions
of the text of the Samaveda Sanhita, the Kauthuma Sakha or recension is
current in Guzerat, the Jaiminiya in the Carnatic, and the Ranayaniya in the
Mahratta country. A translation, by Dr. Stevenson, of the Ranayaniya
recension-or, rather, a free version of Sayana's paraphrase-was edited by
Professor Wilson, in 1842; in 1848 Professor Benfey of Göttingen brought out an
excellent edition of the same text with a metrical translation, a complete
glossary, and explanatory notes; and in 1874-78 Pandit Satyavrata Samasrami of
Calcutta published in the Bibliotheca Indicaa. most meritorious edition of the
Sanhita according to the same recension, with Sayana's commentary, portions of
the Song-books, andi other illustrative matter. I have followed Benfey's text,
and have, made much use of his glossary and notes. Pandit Satyavrata
Samasrami's edition also has been of the greatest service to me. To Mr. Venis,
Principal of the Benares Sanskrit College, I am indebted for, the loan of the
College manuscripts of the text and commentary.
I repeat the expression of
my obligations to those scholars whose works assisted me in my translation of
the Hymns of the Rgveda. For help in translating the non-Rgvedic Hymns
of the Samaveda, I am additionally indebted to the late Professor Benfey
and to Professor Ludwig whose version will be found in his Der Rgveda,
vol. III, pp. 19-25.
For further information
regarding the Samaveda Weber's History Of Indian Literature, and
Max Müller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, or the article on
the Veda in Chamber's Encyclopaedia should be consulted.
R.T.H. GRIFFITH
Kotagiri, Nilgiri
25th
May,1893.
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