(The sacred river of the Hindus)

sarasvatī


N. of a river (celebrated in RV. andﾠ held to be a goddess whose identity is much disputed;
most authorities hold that the name Sárasvatī is identical with the Avestan Haraquaiti river in Afghanistan, but that it usually means the Indus in the RV., andﾠ only occasionally the small sacred rivers in Madhya-deṡa < seeﾠ below>;
the river-goddess has seven sisters andﾠ is herself sevenfold, she is called the mother of streams, the best of mothers, of rivers, andﾠ of goddesses;
the Ṛishis always recognize the connection of the goddess with the river, andﾠ invoke her to descend from the sky, to bestow vitality, renown, andﾠ riches;
elsewhere she is described as moving along a golden path andﾠ as destroying Vṛitra etc.;
as a goddess she is often connected with other deities e.g.. with Pūshan, Indra, the Maruts andﾠ the Aṡvins;
in the Āpri hymns she forms a triad with the sacrificial goddesses Iḍā andﾠ Bhātrati;
accord. toﾠ a myth told in the VS. XIX, 12, Sárasvatī through speech < vācā> communicated vigour to Indra;
in the BrShmaṇas she is identified with vāc, « Speech», andﾠ in later times becomes goddess of eloquence seeﾠ below) RV. etc. etc.;
N. of a well-known small river (held very sacred by the Hindūs;
identified with the modern Sursooty, at, d formerly marking with the Dṛishadvatī one of the boundaries of the region Ārya-deṡa andﾠ of the sacred district called Brahmâvarta < seeﾠ Mn. II, 17 > in RV. VII, 95, 2,
this river is represented as flowing into the sea, although later legends make it disappear underground andﾠ join the Ganges andﾠ Jumnā at Allahibād;
seeﾠ tri-veṇī, prayāga) ib. ;
N. of various rivers (esp. of rivers which in sacredness are equal to Sárasvatī andﾠ which are three accord. toﾠ AV. VI, 101,
andﾠ seven accord. toﾠ MBh. IX, 2188);
any river Naigh. I, 13 ;
N. of the goddess of eloquence andﾠ learning (cf. above;
she is opposed to Ṡri orﾠ Lakshmī <cf. Vikr. V, 24 >, andﾠ sometimes considered as the daughter andﾠ alsoﾠ wife of Beahmā, the proper wife of that god being rather Sāvitri orﾠ Gāyatri;
she is alsoﾠ identified with Durgā, orﾠ even with the wife of Vishṇu andﾠ of Manu, andﾠ held to be the daughter of Daksha) Mn. MBh. etc.;
speech orﾠ the power of speech, eloquence, learning wisdom MBh. Kāv. etc.;
a celestial orﾠ oracular voice Kālid. Kathās. Rājat. ;
a cow VS. VIII, 43 ;
an excellent woman (= strī-ratna) L. ;
N. of various plants (Cardiospermum Halicacabum, Egle Marmelos, Ruta Graveolens etc.) L. ;
N. of a twoyear-old girl representing Durgā at her festival L. ;
of a poetess Cat. ;
of various other women (esp. of the wives of Dadhica, Ṡaṃkarâcārya, Maṇḍaṇamiṡra etc.) ib. ;
of one of the ten mendicant orders traced back to Ṡarnkaracārya (whose members add the word sarasvatī to their names)
- सरस्वतीकण्ठाभरण
- सरस्वतीकुटुम्ब
- सरस्वतीकृत
- सरस्वतीतन्त्र
- सरस्वतीतीर्थ
- सरस्वतीदण्डक
- सरस्वतीदशश्लोकी
- सरस्वतीदानविधि
- सरस्वतीद्वादशनामस्तोत्र
- सरस्वतीनिवास
- सरस्वतीपुराण
- सरस्वतीपूजन
- सरस्वतीपूजा
- सरस्वतीप्रक्रिया
- सरस्वतीप्रयेग
- सरस्वतीबालवाणी
- सरस्वतीमन्त्र
- सरस्वतीमाहात्म्य
- सरस्वतीरहस्योपनिषद्
- सरस्वतीवत्
- सरस्वतीविनशन
- सरस्वतीविलास
- सरस्वतीव्रत
- सरस्वतीषट्श्लोकी
- सरस्वतीसरस्
- सरस्वतीसूक्त
- सरस्वतीसूत्र
- सरस्वतीस्तव
- सरस्वतीस्तोत्र
- सरस्वतीस्वामिन्

veda

N. of certain celebrated works which constitute the basis of the first period of the Hindū religion (these works were primarily three, viz.
1. the Ṛig-veda,
2. the Yajur-veda
<of which there are, however, two divisions seeﾠ taittirīya-saṉhitā, vājasaneyi-saṉhitā>,
3. the Sāma-veda;
these three works are sometimes called collectively trayī,
« the triple Vidyā» orﾠ « threefold knowledge», but the Ṛig-veda is really the only original work of the three, andﾠ much the most ancient
<the oldest of its hymns being assigned by some who rely on certain astronomical calculations to a period between 4000 andﾠ 2500 B.C., before the settlement of the Āryans in India;
andﾠ by others who adopt a different reckoning to a period between 1400 andﾠ 1000 B.C., when the Āryans had settled down in the Panjāb>;
subsequently a fourth Veda was added, called the Atharva-veda, which was probably not completely accepted till after Manu, as his law-book often speaks of the three Vedas-calling them trayambrahmasanātanam, « the triple eternal Veda»,
but only once XI, 33 mentions the revelation made to Atharvan andﾠ Aṇgiras, without, however, calling it by the later name of Atharva-veda;
each of the four Vedas has two distinct parts,
viz. 1. Mantra, i.e. words of prayer andﾠ adoration often addressed either to fire orﾠ to some form of the sun orﾠ to some form of the air, sky, wind etc.,
andﾠ praying for health, wealth, long life, cattle, offspring, victory, andﾠ even forgiveness of sins, andﾠ 2. Brāhmaṇa, consisting of Vidhi andﾠ Artha-vāda,
i.e. directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used andﾠ explanations of the legends etc. connected with the Mantras
< seeﾠ brāhmaṇa, vidhi>, both these portions being termed ṡruti, revelation orally communicated by the Deity, andﾠ heard but not composed orﾠ written down by men <cf. I. W. 24 etc.. >,
although it is certain that both Mantras andﾠ Brāhmaṇas were compositions spread over a considerable period, much of the latter being comparatively modern;
as the Vedas are properly three, so the Mantras are properly of three forms,
1. Ṛic, which are verses of praise in metre, andﾠ intended for loud recitation;
2. Yajus, which are in prose, andﾠ intended for recitation in a lower tone at sacrifices;
3. Sāman., which are in metre, andﾠ intended for chanting at the Soma orﾠ Moon-plant ceremonies, the Mantras of the fourth orﾠ Atharva-veda having no special name;
but it must be borne in mind that the Yajur andﾠ Sāma-veda hymns, especially the latter, besides their own Mantras, borrow largely from the Ṛig-veda;
the Yajur-veda andﾠ Sāma-veda being in fact not so much collections of prayers andﾠ hymns as special prayer- andﾠ hymn-books intended as manuals for the Adhvaryu andﾠ Udgātṛi priests respectively < seeﾠ yajur-veda, sāma-veda>;
the Atharva-veda, on the other hand, is, like the Ṛig-veda, a real collection of original hymns mixed up with incantations, borrowing little from the Ṛig andﾠ having no direct relation to sacrifices, but supposed by mere recitation to produce long life, to cure diseases, to effect the ruin of enemies etc.;
each of the four Vedas seems to have passed through numerous Ṡākhās orﾠ schools, giving rise to various recensions of the text, though the Ṛig-veda is only preserved in the Ṡākala recension, while a second recension, that of the Bhāshkalas, is only known by name;
a tradition makes Vyāsa the compiler andﾠ arranger of the Vedas in their present form:
they each have an Index orﾠ Anukramaṇī <q.v.>, the principal work of this kind being the general Index orﾠ Sarvânukramaṇī <q.v.>;
out of the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Veda grew two other departments of Vedic literature, sometimes included under the general name Veda,
viz. the strings of aphoristic rules, called Sūtras <q.v.>,
andﾠ the mystical treatises on the nature of God andﾠ the relation of soul andﾠ matter, called Upanishad. <q.v.>, which were appended to the Āraṇyakas <q.v.>, andﾠ became the real Veda of thinking Hindūs, leading to the Darṡanas orﾠ systems of philosophy;
in the later literature the name of « fifth Veda» is accorded to the Itihāsas orﾠ legendary epic poems andﾠ to the Purāṇas, andﾠ certain secondary Vedas orﾠ Upa-vedas <q.v.> are enumerated;
the Vedâṇgas orﾠ works serving as limbs < for preserving the integrity> of the Veda are explained under vedâ̱ṅga below:
the only other works included under the head of Veda being the Pariṡishṭas, which supply rules for the ritual omitted in the Sūtras;
in the Bṛihad-āraṇyaka Upanishad. the Vedas are represented as the breathings of Brahmā., while in some of the Purāṇas the four Vedas are said to have issued out of the four mouths of the four-faced Brahmā. andﾠ in the Vishṇu-Purāṇa the Veda andﾠ Vishṇu are identified) RTL. 7 etc.. IW. 5; 24 etc.. ;
N. of the number « four» VarBṛS. ; Srutabh.;
2) m. (fr. 3. vid) finding, obtaining, acquisition ( seeﾠ su-v-);
property, goods ĀṡvGṛ. ;
vedá

4) m. N. of a pupil of Āyoda MBh. ;
(ā) f. N. of a river VP. ;
5) feeling, perception ṠBr. ;
= vṛitta (v.l. vitta) L. (cf. 2. veda)
- वेदकर्तृ
- वेदकविस्वामिन्
- वेदकार
- वेदकारणकारण
- वेदकुम्भ
- वेदकुशल
- वेदकौलेयक
- वेदगत
- वेदगर्भ
- वेदगर्व
- वेदगाथ
- वेदगाम्भीर्य
- वेदग्न्प्त
- वेदगुप्ति
- वेदगुह्य
- वेदघोष
- वेदचक्षुस्
- वेदजननी
- वेदज्ञ
- वेदतत्त्व
- वेदतत्त्वार्थ
- वेदतात्पर्य
- वेदतैजस
- वेदत्रय
- वेदत्रयी
- वेदत्व
- वेददक्षिणा
- वेददर्शन
- वेददर्शिन्
- वेददल
- वेददान
- वेददीप
- वेददीपिका
- वेददृष्ट
- वेदधर
- वेदधर्म
- वेदधारण
- वेदध्वनि
- वेदनाद
- वेदनिघण्टु
- वेदनिधि
- वेदनिन्दक
- वेदनिन्दा
- वेदनिन्दिन्
- वेदनिर्घोष
- वेदपठितृ
- वेदपथ
- वेदपथिन्
- वेदपददर्पण
- वेदपदस्तव
- वेदपाठ
- वेदपाठक
- वेदपाठिन्
- वेदपादरामायण
- वेदपादशिवस्तोत्र
- वेदपादस्तव
- वेदपादस्तोत्र
- वेदपारग
- वेदपारायणविधि
- वेदपुण्य
- वेदपुरुष
- वेदप्रकाश
- वेदप्रदान
- वेदप्रपद्
- वेदप्रवाद
- वेदप्लाविन्
- वेदफल
- वेदबाहु
- वेदबाह्य
- वेदबीज
- वेदब्रह्मचर्य
- वेदब्राह्मण
- वेदभाग
- वेदभाष्य
- वेदमन्त्र
- वेदमय
- वेदमातृ
- वेदमातृका
- वेदमालि
- वेदमाहात्म्य
- वेदमित्र
- वेदमुख
- वेदमुण्ड
- वेदमूर्ति
- वेदमूल
- वेदयज्ञ
- वेदरक्षण
- वेदरहस्य
- वेदरात
- वेदराशि
- वेदलक्षण
- वेदलक्षणसूत्रवृत्ति
- वेदवचन
- वेदवत्
- वेदवदन
- वेदवाक्य
- वेदवाद
- वेदवादिन्
- वेदवास
- वेदवाह
- वेदवाहन
- वेदवाह्य
- वेदविक्रयिन्
- वेदविचार
- वेदवित्त्व
- वेदविद्
- वेदविद्या
- वेदविद्वस्
- वेदविप्लावक
- वेदविलासिनी
- वेदविहित
- वेदवृत्त
- वेदवृद्ध
- वेदवेदाङ्ग
- वेदवैनाशिका
- वेदव्यास
- वेदव्रत
- वेदव्रतिन्
- वेदशब्द
- वेदशाखा
- वेदशास्त्र
- वेदशिर
- वेदशिरस्
- वेदशीर्ष
- वेदश्रवस्
- वेदश्री
- वेदश्रुत
- वेदश्रुति
- वेदसंस्थित
- वेदसंहिता
- वेदसंन्यास
- वेदसंन्यासिक
- वेदसंन्यासिन्
- वेदसमर्थन
- वेदसमाप्ति
- वेदसम्मत
- वेदसम्मित
- वेदसार
- वेदसूक्तभाष्य
- वेदसूत्र
- वेदस्तुति
- वेदस्पर्श
- वेदस्मृता
- वेदस्मृति
- वेदस्मृती
- वेदस्वामिन्
- वेदहीन