CHAPTER 3
Vedas and Upanis.ads
Michael Witzel
Veda means “(sacred) knowledge” (cf. Greek (w)oida, English wit, witness,
Germanwissen). The Four Vedas are the oldest extant texts of India and contain
religious and ritual poetry, ritual formulas and the explanatory prose that
interprets these very texts, and additionally, in the late Vedic Upanis.ads, some
early philosophy.
According to post-Vedic, medieval Indian tradition, the Four Vedas are called
S ́ruti, that is “something (revealed to and) heard” by the “primordial” sages (R.s.i).
By contrast, the concept ofSmr.ti“something learnt by heart” is restricted to the
post-Upanis.adic texts, such as the Su ̄ tras (see below) or Manu’s law book, all of
which are believed to have been composed by human beings. However, it is
known from internal evidence that the Vedic texts were orally composed in
northern India, at first in the Greater Punjab and later on also in more eastern
areas, including northern Bihar, between ca. 1500 bceand ca. 500–400 bce.
The oldest text, the R.gveda, must have been more or less contemporary with
the Mitanni texts of northern Syria/Iraq (1450–1350 bce); these mention
certain Vedic gods (Varun.a, Mitra, Indra, Na ̄satya) and some forms of early
Sanskrit that slightly predate the R.gveda (mazda ̄for Ved. medha ̄,vasˇanafor Ved.
va ̄hana, etc.). However, there still is no absolute dating of any Ved. text. Pertinent
parameters include the first use of iron (in a post-R.gvedic text, the Atharvaveda,
at ca. 1200/1000 bce) and the lifetime of the Buddha (at 500 or perhaps rather
400 bce) who postdatesalmost all Vedic texts. However, all Vedic texts predatethe
grammatical commentary of Patañjali (ca. 150 bce) and his predecessor Pa ̄n.ini,
who quote most of them.
The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without the use of
script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was for-
malized early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to
the classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a tape-recording
of ca. 1500–500 bce. Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical