7); this is visible, however, only when the additional hymns are excised. Thus, if
one knows – as is still prescribed today before reciting a hymn – its author, deity,
and meter, one can pinpoint its location in the RV family books accurately. This
“numerical” arrangement was perfect for society without script.
The Other Vedic Sam.hita ̄s
While the RV contains original compositions, the Sa ̄maveda was extracted,
except for 75 verses, from RV 9 and 8. These stanzas are sung, mostly during the
Soma ritual, in a very elaborate fashion, including much coloraturaand the often
nonsensicalstobhas(such as the string ha ̄ o ha ̄ o ha ̄ ha ̄yiorbha ̄,dada,hup). They
are the earliest preserved music of India. The SV is divided into two main sec-
tions, the Arcika containing the actual text used, and the Ga ̄na which contain-
ing the melodies themselves. These are designated by the textof well known
melodies, somewhat in the following fashion: one should sing a certain text
according to the melody “God save the Queen,” which is also applied to the
American song “America it is thee,” to the imperial hymn of Germany, and to
the royal one of Norway.
In stark contrast to the other Veda texts, the Atharvaveda contains, in its
oldest sections, magical poems used for healing and for all sorts of magic, includ-
ing destructive sorcery (AV 1–7). To these sometimes very old texts (reminiscent
of Germanic and Hittite sorcery stanzas), a large number of speculative hymns
(AV 8–12), other hymns dealing with the most important life cycle rituals (AV
13–18) as well as two appendixes (AV 19–20) have been added.
The AV is ordered, most clearly in its Paippala ̄da version, in clear opposition
to the arrangement of the R.gveda: it starts with a book that is composed entirely
of short hymns of just 4 stanzas and increases to one that has 19. To this nucleus
of sorcery stanzas (PS 1–15), the speculative (PS 16–17) and Gr.hya type hymns
(PS 18) as well as the appendixes (PS 19–20) were added.
The Yajurveda, however, mainly contains prose Mantras (yajus.) that are used
as offering formulas; they must accompany each individual action in ritual
(yajña) carried out by the Adhvaryu priest who mumbles them as he proceeds,
for example “you are heaven, you are earth,” “move through the interspace!”
These prose Mantras have not been recorded in the R.gveda, though the yajus.
genre is mentioned, and the extant YV Mantras are younger in form and
grammar than the RV. Originally, they consisted only of simple, though rhyth-
mical prose; but already in the first collections (MS, KS, TS), verses from the RV
have been added in a linguistically later form that is often slightly degraded by
perseveration. Once the YV Sam.hita ̄s were collected according to diverse s ́a ̄kha ̄
traditions, however, the form of the Mantras did no longer change and they were
transmitted faithfully to this very day.
To these Mantras, large sections ofbra ̄hman.astyle expository prose have been
added during the YV prose period (see below). Both of them combined consti-
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