Aranyakas
The Aranyakas were written in Forests and are concluding parts of the Brahmans. Aranyakas don't lay much emphasis on rites, ritual and sacrifices but have philosophy and mysticism. So they have moral science and philosophy. It also provides the details of the rishis who lived in jungles.
Aranyakas were written mainly for the hermits and students living in the jungles. Please note that Aranyakas are the concluding portion of the BrahmanasThe Brahmanas are the prose texts which explain the hymns in the Vedas, give explanation and applications and related stories of their origin. They also ..... or their appendices. They lay emphasis not on sacrifices but on meditation. They are in fact, opposed to sacrifices and many of the early rituals. Their stress is on moral values. They form a bridge between way of work (karma marga) which was the sole concern of the Brahmanas and the way of knowledge (gyan marga) which the Upanishads advocated.
- The Aitareya Aranyaka is appended to the Aitareya Brahmana of the Rig-VedaThe four Vedas come under the Shruti category and are considered sacred scriptures. Later texts like the various shastras and the itihaasas form Smruti. Rig-VedaRig-Veda is known as the oldest religious text in the world. It is also known as "First testament" of mankind. It was composed around 1700 ..... Rig-Veda ...... The Sankhyayana or Kaushitaki Aranyaka is the concluding portion of the Kaushitaki Brahmana of the Rig-Veda.
- In the black YajurVeda"Yajus" means "sacrificial formula" and Yajurveda is the book of sacrificial prayers. It contains the rituals of the Yajnas. It is estimated to have ....., the Taittriya Aranyaka is only a continuation of the Taitttriya Brahamana. In the white YajurVeda, the 14th book of the Satapatha Brahmana is in name only an Aranyaka- the Brihdarnayaka.
- For the SamaVeda, the only Aranyakas are the first Aranyaka-like sections of the Chhandogya UpanishadThe word Upanishad means to sit down near someone and denotes a student sitting near his guru to learn. Eventually the word began to be ....., which belongs to the Tandyamaha Brahmana, and the Jaimniya Upanishad Brahmana, which is nothing but an Aranyaka of the Jaiminiya or Talavakara school of the SamaVeda and comprises the well Known Kena (or Talvakra) Upanishad.
There are no Aranyakas of Atharvaveda
