VECHNER
^35
VEDA
merely gained him his bread, and joined the army. When the army disbanded he returned to painting again for a time, then became a merchant, and tinally threw away his time and money in the vain pnrsuit of alchemy. His best wt>rks are, The TransJujiiraHon, in the Church of San Salvatore at Venice : — and The Nativ- il//, in the Church of Sau Giuseppe at Belluno: — besides some of his cabinet pieces. The time of his death is not known. See Spooner, Bioff. Hist, of the Fine A rts, s. v.
Vechner, David, a Protestant theologian of Ger- many, was biirn JIarch 13, 1594, at Freystadt, in Silesia. He studied at various universities, and was appointed professor of logic at Ueuthen. For five years he had to leave the country, and after his return he was ap- pointed rector at Sprottau. In 1G43 he was made dea- con at Giirlitz, and in \\SG'2 pastor priinariits, and died Feb. 15, 1069. He wrote, Breviarium Germanim : — Spyridion sea Sportella Textuam evangel. Domin. etc. See Funcken, Lebensgeschichte der geistUchen Personen zii Gorlitz; Grossur, Lausitze?- Merkwiirdigkeiten; Witte, Diarium Biographicum ; Jocher, AUgemeines Gelehrien- LexikoH, s. v. (B. P.)
Vechner, Georg, brother of David, was born at Freystadt in 1590. In 1618 he was promoted as doctor of theology at Frankfort, and acted for some time as professor at the gymnasium in Beuthen. In 1646 he was called to the pastorate at Brieg, and died Dec. 24, 1647. He wrote, Palus Puuli in 2 Cor. xii: — Sinus Ahruhie: — Regia Aniini Projessio a Duvide facta ex Psalm. 101, etc. See Witte, Diarium Biographicum; AUgemeines llistorisches- Lexikon ; Jocher, AUgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, s. v. (B. P.)
Veda (from the Sanscrit vid, "to know," literally meaning knoivledge) is the general name applied to those ancient Sanscrit writings on which the early Hindii re- ligion was based. The oldest of these works is the Big- veda ; next to it are the Yajur-veda and Sama-veda ; and the latest is the Atharva-veda. The first three are called, collectively, trat/i, or " the threefold," and all are thought to be divinely inspired. Each of the Vedas consists of two distinct parts — a Sanhila, or collection of hymns or mantras, and a Brahmana. A mantra (San- scrit man, " to think") is a prayer, or else a thanksgiv- ing, adoration, or praise addressed to a deity. If such a mantra is metrical and intended for recitation aloud, it is called Rich (praise) ; whence the name Rig-veda, or the Veda containing such metrical mantras. If it is in prose, it must be muttered inaudibly, and is called Yajus (yaj, "sacrifice"); hence the name Yajur-veda. If it is metrical and intended for chanting, it is called Sa- man; hence the name Sama-veda. No special name is applied to the mantras of the Atharva-veda. The Brah- 7nana (^Brahman neuter) designates that portion in prose of the Yedas which containseithercommandmentsor ex- planations, or which gives injunctions for the perform- ance of sacrificial acts, exphiins their origin, and the occasions on which the mantras had to be used, by add- ing illustrations, legends, or philosophical speculations. Tlie Brahmana portion of the Vedas constitutes the ba- sis on which the Vedic ritual rests, and the source from whence the Upanishads (q. v.) and pliilosophical doc- trines were developed.
Though Brahmanas and mantras were claimed at a later period of Hinduism to have existed from eternity, it is certain that the Brahmana portion of each Veda is later than some portion, at least, of its Sanhita, for it re- fers to it ; and, from the bulk and character of the works, they must have been the product of a considerable pe- riod of time. Tradition records that Vyasa (q. v.), af- ter having compiled and arranged the Vedas, handed each of them to four disciples, and that these disciples taught them to their disciples, and so on down to dis- tant ages. Thus the mantras and Brahmanas passed through a large number of schools, called sakhas, and, as a natural result, discrepancies gradually arose between these schools, both as regards the Veilic texts and the
manner of interpreting them, which" in the lapse of time became very great. The differences between these sakhas did not consist in their various readings of tlie text alone, but in the arrangement as well. The number of these sakhas was very large, as ma\' be in- ferred from a statement ascribed to the ancient writer Saunaka. in which mention is made of five sakhas of the Rig-veda, eighty-six of the Yajur-veda, one thou- sand of the Sama-veda, and nine of the A tharva-vedn. But of all these schools the Rig-veda is now extant only in one, the Y'ajur-veda in three (and partially in four), the Sama-veda in two, and V\\e Atharva-veda in one. The MSS. now in existence are of no great age or au- thority ; and in cases of disputed authenticity appeal is made to the pandits of greatest repute.
For the religious ideas contained in the Vedas, see Hinduism.
The social condition of the Hindus, as reflected from the hymns of the Rig-veda, is not that of a pastoral or nomadic people, but of a people somewhat advanced in civilization. F>eqnent allusion is made to towns and cities, powerful kings and their enormous wealth. Be- sides agriculture, they mention various useful arts, such as weaving, melting precious metals, fabricating cars, golden and iron mail, and golden ornaments. The em- ployment of the needle and the use of musical instru- ments were known to them. The Hindiis of that period were familiar with the ocean, and sometimes went on naval expeditions. They had some knowledge of med- icine, had made some advance in astronomical calcida- tion, and even employed the complicated law of inherit- ance. The institution of caste, however, seems at that time to have been unknown.