Chapter 4 - The origin of the four Vedas

Parāśara

The ancient four-limbed Veda had a hundred thousand verses, and all ten kinds of sacrifice, like a wish-fulfilling cow, are derived from it. 1

In this, the twenty-eighth Dvāpara age, my holy scion Vyāsa arranged that single four-limbed text. 2

Just as wise Veda-vyāsa arranged it, so was it divided by all the former Vyāsas and by me as well. 3

You should know that the division into branches that he undertook, best of brahmins, is likewise done in every fourfold era. 4

Understand that Vyāsa, Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana, is Lord Nārāyaṇa himself, Maitreya. Who else on earth could compose the Mahābhārata? 5

Listen now, Maitreya, while I explain how my great son arranged the Vedas during this Dvāpara age. 6

Urged by Brahmā, he began to organise the texts, and first accepted four disciples, all well-steeped in Vedic lore. 7

That great sage adopted Paila as disciple for the Ṛg, and Vaiśampāyana for the Yajur Veda. 8

For the Sāma, Veda-vyāsa took on Jaimini. Sumantu, who understood the Atharva Veda, became a student of that prudent sage. 9

Vyāsa accepted Romaharṣaṇa, a wise disciple, as narrator for the histories and purāṇas. 10

The Yajur Veda was a single text, but he divided it in four, and, in doing so, he brought about the fourfold cāturhotra sacrifice. 11

The sage assigned the yajus prayers to the director of the sacrifice, the adhvaryu; the ṛc verses to the sacrificing priest or hotṛ; the sāman hymns to the cantor or udgātṛ; and the atharva incantations to the brahmin. 12

Vyāsa compiled the ṛc verses as the Ṛg Veda, yajus prayers as the Yajur Veda and the sāman hymns as the Sāma Veda. 13

With the atharva incantations, that master created all the rituals for the kings and for the office of the brahmins, as per usage. 14

He split in four that single spreading Veda-tree and so began a Veda forest. 15

The branches of the Ṛg Veda

First, Paila split the Ṛg in two, and gave one part to Indrapramati and one to Bāṣkala. 16

Wise Bāṣkala split his part in four, and gave each one to his disciples, Baudhya and the others. 17

Baudhya, Agnimāṭhara, Yājñavalkya and Parāśara, sage, adopted these subsections of that branch.^[1] 18

Indrapramati taught one collection to his son, great Māṇḍukeya, Maitreya. 19

This was then passed down in turn from his disciples and their disciples to their sons and their disciples. 20

Vedamitra, also known as Śākalya, studied that collection. He divided it in five and gave each part to his disciples. 21

Now hear their names from me: Mudgala, Gālava, Vātsya and Śālīya, with the great sage Śiśira as the fifth, Maitreya. 22

Śākapūṇi split that same collection differently by dividing it in three and adding an appendix as the fourth division, best of sages. 23

Krauñca, Vaitālaki and Balāka, that great sage, were his disciples, and Nirukta, master of the Vedas and their supplements, was the fourth. 24

This is how the later branches grew from all these subbranches, best of brahmins. Bāṣkala made three other compilations, brahmin. Kālāyani was his disciple, as was Gārgya, with Java as the third. 25

It is they who spread abroad these sets of Vedic verses. 26

So ends Chapter Four in Book Three of the glorious Viṣṇu Purāṇa.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Is this the same Parāśara who narrates the Viṣṇu Purāṇa?

Other Purana Concepts:

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Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Hotri, Adhvaryu, Udgatri, Brahmin, Bashkala, Yajurveda, Vedamitra, Samaveda, Great sage, Lord Narayana, Vedic lore, Dvapara age, Vedic verse.