साम—वेद m. m. ‘
वेद of chants’,
N. of one of the three principal
वेदs (See
वेद)
it contains a number of verses or stanzas nearly all of which [except about 78] occur in the
ऋग्-
वेद and which, modified in various ways, are chanted, mostly, by the
उद्गातृ priests at
सोम sacrifices
the
संहिता of the
साम-वेद consists of two parts
the first, called
आर्चिक [or
पूर्वार्चिक or
छन्दो-ग्रन्थ], contains 585 verses disjoined from their proper sequence in the
ऋग्-वेद and arranged in 59
दशतिs or decades, which again are subdivided into
प्रपाठकs and
अर्ध-प्रपाठकs
the second, called
उत्तरार्चिक or
उत्तरा-ग्रन्थ, contains 1225 verses, also chiefly from the
ऋक्-संहिता, but less disjointed than in the first part, and arranged in nine
प्रपाठकs with
अर्ध-प्रपाठकs, mostly, however, grouped in triplets
the directions for the formation of
सामन्s or chants out of these verses are carefully laid down in the
गानs or manuals for chanting, two of which,
viz. the
गेय-गान and
आरण्य-गान, are a directory for the
आर्चिक portion, and two,
viz. ऊह-गान and
ऊह्य-गान, for the
उत्तरार्चिकाin
[Mn. i, 23] the
साम-वेद is described as drawn forth from the sun
in iv, 124 it is described as having a special reference to the
पितृs or deceased ancestors, and its sound is therefore said to possess a kind of impurity, whereas the
ऋग्-
वेद has the gods for his objects and the
यजुर्वेद men
ब्राह्मण the
साम-वेद is said to possess 8
ब्राह्मणs [see ]
[Br.] ;
[ŚāṅkhŚr.] &c. ([
[IW. 25] ])