yajurveda | यजुर्वेद | yajurveda
yajur—veda/ | यजुर्—वेद/ | m. ‘the sacrificial Veda’, the collective body of sacred Mantras or texts which constitute the Yajur-veda (these Mantras, though often consisting of the prose Yajus, are frequently identical with the Mantras of the Ṛg-veda, the Yajur-veda being only a sort of sacrificial prayer-book for the Adhvaryu priests formed out of the Ṛg-veda, which had to be dissected and rearranged with additional texts for sacrificial purposes; the most characteristic feature of the Yajur-veda is its division into two distinct collections of texts, the Taittirīya-saṃhitā and the Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā q.v.; the former of which is also called Kṛṣṇa i.e. ‘Black’, because in it the Saṃhitā and Brāhmaṇa portions are confused; and the latter Śukla i.e. ‘White’, because in this, which is thought the more recent of the two recensions, the Saṃhitā is cleared from confusion with its Brāhmaṇa and is as it were white or orderly; the order of sacrifices, however, of both recensions is similar, two of the principal being the Darśa-pūrṇa-māsa or sacrifice to be performed at new and full moon, and the Aśva-medha or horse-sacrifice; cf. IW. 6; 245 n. 2), Br.; GṛŚrS.; Mn. &c.