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                            Hymns of Sama Veda
         Translated with a Popular Commentary — Ralph T.H. Griffith
                                   1895
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                                Preface

The Samaveda, or Veda of Holy Songs, third in the usual order of enumeration
of the three Vedas, ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the
Ṛgveda or Veda of Recited Praise. Its Saṃhitā, or metrical portion, consists
chiefly of hymns to be chanted by the Udgātṛ priests at the performance of
those important sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and
mixed with milk and other ingredients, was offered in libation to various
deities. The Collection is made up of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached
verses, taken mainly from the Ṛgveda, transposed and re-arranged, without
reference to their original order, to suit the religious ceremonies in which
they were to be employed. In these compiled hymns there are frequent
variations, of more or less importance, from the text of the Ṛgveda as we now
possess it, which variations, although in some cases they are apparently
explanatory, seem in others to be older and more original than the readings of
the Ṛgveda. In singing, the verses are still further altered by prolongation,
repetition and insertion of syllables, and various modulations, rests, and
other modifications prescribed, for the guidance of the officiating priests,
in the Gānas or Song-books. Two of these manuals, the Grāmageyagāna, or
Congregational, and the Araṇyagāna or Forest Song-Book, follow the order of
the verses of Part I of the Saṃhitā, and two others, the Ūhagāna and the
Ūhyagāna, of Part II. This part is less disjointed than Part I, and is
generally arranged in triplets whose first verse is often the repetition of a
verse that has occurred in Part I.

There is no clue to the date of the compilation of the Sāmaveda Hymns, nor has
the compiler's name been handed down to us. Such a manual was unnecessary in
the early times when the Aryans first came into India, but was required for
guidance and use in the complicated ritual elaborated by the invaders after
their expansion and settlement in their new homes.

There are three recensions of the text of the Sāmaveda Saṃhitā: the Kauthuma
Śākhā or recension is current in Guzerat, the Jaiminīya in the Carnatic, and
the Rāṇāyanīya in the Mahratta country. A translation, by Dr. Stevenson, of
the Rāṇāyanīya recension — or, rather, a free version of Sāyaṇa's paraphrase —
was edited by Professor Wilson, in 1842; in 1848 Professor Benfey of Göttingen
brought out an excellent edition of the same text with a metrical translation,
a complete glossary, and explanatory notes; and in 1874-78 Pandit Satyavrata
Sāmaśramī of Calcutta published in the Bibliotheca Indica a most meritorious
edition of the Saṃhitā according to the same recension, with Sāyaṇa's
commentary, portions of the Song-books, and other illustrative matter. I have
followed Benfey's text, and have made much use of his glossary and notes.
Pandit Satyavrata Sāmaśramī's edition also has been of the greatest service to
me. To Mr. Venis, Principal of the Benares Sanskrit College, I am indebted for
the loan of the College manuscripts of the text and commentary.

I repeat the expression of my obligations to those scholars whose works
assisted me in my translation of the Hymns of the Ṛgveda. For help in
translating the non-Ṛgvedic Hymns of the Sāmaveda, I am additionally indebted
to the late Professor Benfey and to Professor Ludwig, whose version will be
found in his Der Ṛgveda, vol. III, pp. 19-25.

For further information regarding the Sāmaveda, Weber's History of Indian
Literature, and Max Müller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, or the
article on the Veda in Chamber's Encyclopaedia should be consulted.

							       R.T.H. GRIFFITH
							      Kotagiri, Nilgiri
								25th May, 1893.
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