VEDIC HERITAGE PORTAL

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended

Context: Union Home Minister said the government was securing the knowledge in India’s ancient scriptures and manuscripts for the future through technology.

Details: 

About the portal:

• It has been created by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).
• The portal is a one-stop solution for common users and researchers seeking any information regarding Vedic heritage.
• It gives detailed information about oral traditions, textual tradition in form of published books/manuscripts, or implements
• The audio visual recording of four vedas have been uploaded on the Vedic Heritage portal.
• This portal has over 18 thousand mantras of the four vedas with a duration of over 550 hours.

Objectives:

• With the help of this, the younger generation would be able to carry forward the knowledge and tradition of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
• The portal aims to communicate message enshrined in the Vedas.
• It will help common people to have a general understanding about the Vedas.

About IGNCA:

• The IGNCA comes under of Ministry of Culture.
• The IGNCA was launched on 19th November, 1985 by the late Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi.
• The elements – fire, water, earth, sky and vegetation – were brought together. Five rocks from five five major rivers – Sindhu, Ganga, Kaveri, Mahanadi and the Narmada (where the most ancient ammonite fossils are found) were composed into sculptural forms.

Aims & Objectives:

• To serve as a major resource centre for the arts, especially written, oral and visual source materials
• To undertake research and publication programmes of reference works, glossaries, dictionaries and encyclopaedia concerning the arts and the humanities
• To establish a tribal and folk arts division with a core collection for conducting systematic scientific studies and for live presentations.
• To provide a forum for a creative and critical dialogue through performances, exhibitions, multi-media projections, conferences, seminars and workshops between and amongst the diverse arts, traditional and cotemporary
• To foster dialogue between arts and current ideas in philosophy, science and technology, with a view toward bridging the gap in intellectual understanding between modern sciences and arts and culture
• To evolve models of research programmes and arts administration more portinent to the Indian ethos
• To elucidate the formative and dynamic factors in the complex web of interactions between diverse social strata, communities and regions
• To promote an network with national and international institutions; and
• To conduct related research in the arts, humanities and culture.

The Four Vedas:

• The Vedas are considered the oldest Hindu texts.
• Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge)
• Vedas are śruti ("what is heard"), distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered").
• Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless," revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient sages after intense meditation.

The Rig-Veda:

• The most important and, according to scholars, oldest of the Vedas.
• It is divided into ten books (called mandalas) and has 1028 hymns in praise of various deities. These include Indra, Agni, Vishnu, Rudra, Varuna, and other early or “Vedic gods.”
• It also contains the famous Gayatri mantra and the prayer called the Purusha Shukta (the story of Primal Man).

The Yajur-Veda: A priestly handbook for use in the performance of yajnas (sacrifices) It is divided into two sections, the earlier “black” and the more recent “white.”

Sama-Veda: This consists of chants and melodies to be sung during worship and the performance of yajna.

Atharva-Veda: Contains hymns, mantras and incantations, largely outside the scope of yajna.

Four types of composition:

• The first two divisions relate to the performance of sacrificial rituals, whereas the second pair consists of philosophy.

1. The Samhitas – literally “collections,” in this case of hymns and mantras. They form the Veda proper.
2. The Brahmanas – prose manuals of ritual and prayer for the guiding priests. They tend to explain the Samhitas. They also contain early versions of some stories.
3. The Aranyakas – literally “forest books” for hermits and saints. They are philosophical treatises.
4. The Upanishads – books of philosophy, also called “Vedanta,” the end or conclusion of the Vedas.

Supplementary literature:

• The Vedangas, which expound the sciences required to understand and apply the Vedas.
• The Upavedas (usually considered smriti) which deal with the four traditional arts and sciences. The Four Upavedas (following the Vedas) explain arts and sciences

1. Ayur-veda (medicine)
2. Gandharva-veda (music and dance)
3. Dhanur-veda (warfare)
4. Shilpa-veda (architecture)

PRACTICE QUESTION Q) Discuss the significance of Vedic learnings in contemporary times. Enumerate the various steps taken by the government in this regard. (150 words)

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