The Holy Vedas

by Satyakam Vidyalankar

The four Vedas contain the divine, infallible knowledge revealed to those primal men whose soul was specially illuminated to by the grace of god to receive and impart humanity the words of almighty god. The Vedas are the sacred heritage not only of India but of all mankind. In this book an attempt has been made to bring together representative hymns which encompass all the aspects enshrined in the Vedas. The author has tried to retain the spirit of the original Sanskrit mantras in English renderings and to impart some of the holy ambience of these sacred texts which are the fountainhead of Hindu philosophy and culture.

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Hinduism, Classics, Fiction

548 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 1998

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of us who do not have time to read all of the Vedas, this is a fine collection. I bought it when I was in India and was studying Sanskrit. The original Sanskrit is included for all of the selections. That's great and unusual in my experience. I have not compared it with other translations, but it reads beautifully and is very quotable. It has six sections: Hymns on creation, devotion, revelation, action, splendour, and positive science. It has a good index, with the original Sanskrit at the end.

Unfortunately, my edition is poorly bound and the paper will not last. I must handle it carefully.

Please note that this edition was originally published in 1986, not 1998, and the original Sanskrit text is included in my edition.

"Wisdom comes to the man who meditates, acts and lives according to the true eternal laws of nature." (Rig Veda 10.47.6)

[Sheshank Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a really good book. There is nothing more to say. It gives a brief introduction to what is in the vedas. Though it is a literal translation, you need to have a lot more insight and deep understanding, more like a kind of reading between the lines. It is always better to start with the commentaries on vedas and then go to vedas. But the other way goes better if you want to just brush them once and then go read the commentaries, come back and then read them again with more insight.

[Priyank]

Nice.. Grate book

[Vivek Arya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent book on Vedas and I will recommend everyone to read this book. The interpretation of Vedas in this book is based on Swami Dayanand, the greatest vedic scholar of his times.

[Zemaemidjehuty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I am grateful to have, one I read from every night, and one I will eventually gift to my daughter.