SAMHITA (Saṃhitā), Skt., lit. “collection”; descriptive title applied to the collected arrangements of songs and sacrifice-related texts laid down in the various Vedic scriptures.
The Samhitā of the Rigveda consists of 1,017 hymns in 10,580 verses; that of the Sāmaveda consists of 1,549 verses that (with the exception of 78) also appear in the Rigveda but have been altered to suit whatever function they serve. The samhitā of the White Yajurveda contains sacrificial passages in both prose and verse form that are taken from the Rigveda-Samhitā. The Atharvaveda-Samhitā consists of 760 hymns, of which only about a sixth are taken from the Rigveda; the rest occupy an independent position in the body of Vedic mantra-literature.
BRAHMANA (Brāhmana), Skt.; or Brāhmanam; each of the Vedas includes a Brāhmana, a manual of instruction (vidhi) for the practical use of the material found in the Samhitā. Appended to these are various explanatory texts (arthavāda) that have served as the point of departure for philosophical discussions, most of which originated toward the end of the Brāhmanas and which therefore have been compiled under the name Vedanta (“end of the Veda”). This last category forms the content of the supplementary texts appended to the Brāhmanas, the so-called Āranyakas; the Upanishads were later derived from these and are thus each allocated to a specific Veda.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Documents on the Samhitā and the Brahmanas
Books on the Samhitā and the Brahmanas