Word

Yajurveda

Sanskrit

यजुर्वेद

IAST

yajurveda

In General

Vedas are considered as eternal and infallible and Yajurveda is one among them. Yajur veda is divided into two, Sukla Yajur Veda and Krishna Yajur Veda

The Samhita of Sukla Yajur Veda is also called as Vajasaneyi Samhita. Vajasani is one of the name of Sun god. It was the Sun god who taught this Samhita to its author sage Yajnavalkya. In the other part of Yajurveda called Krishna Yajur Veda. Unlike other Vedasamhitas the Krishna Yajurveda Samhita and Brahmana are not entirely different part. The Brahmans are appended here and there in Krishna Yajurveda

Krishna Yajurveda Samhita have four recession Taittiriya, Mytreyani, Kathaka, Kapisthala

Sukla Yajur Veda have two recession Madhyandina and Kanva

Veda

The Yajurveda verses are called Yajus. The word Yajus is derived from Yaj meaning worship. It is a Veda for external and internal worship by Yajna. Yajurveda hold most of the popular Yajnas like Somayaga, Agni hotra, Vajapeya Yajna, etc. Yajurveda is largely in poetic prose, but not all of them. Some Rik mantras are common to Rig Veda and Yajurveda. Few other poetic rik mantras found in Yajurveda do not exist in RV . Yajurveda is generally considered as the text Karma marga because of its practical application for Yajna(external sacrifices).

Purana

TThere is a story about the birth of Sukla Yajur veda. Once the young intelligent Yajnavalkya because of his arrogant nature and partly because of a misunderstanding was thrown out of Yajur Veda institute run by his uncle Vysampayana. Agitated at the incidence the young man did tapas and propitiated Soorya Devata. The Soorya Devata(Vajasaneyi) taught him a new set of Yajus and that he composed as Sukla Yajurveda or Vajasaneyi Samhita