Essentials of Sama Veda and its Music

by Dr. R. L. Kashyap

This book on Sama Veda complements our three other books namely, Essentials of Rig Veda, Essentials of Atharva Veda and the Essentials of The Shukla and Krishna Yajur Veda.

This book has 32 chapters divided into 3 parts. The Part 1 having 10 chapters deals with the general information regarding texts, rishis, translators, connection to Upanishads and Rig Veda etc.

Part II delineates some aspects of Sama Veda related to music. The chapter 19 is particularly interesting because of the use of relatively advanced mathematics in devising a scheme for detecting the errors in the pronunciation of accents during chanting.

Part III having 13 chapters deals with the psychological powers associated with the various deities occurring in Sama mantras and the text and meaning of the associated mantras. Note that symbolism is an integral part of the meaning behind these mantras. The psychological powers associated with the deities such as the will-power, clarity of mental operations, inspiration can be developed with the help of these mantras. Understanding the meanings of words in a mantra and their deeper meanings is of great help in this process.

Table of Contents:

• Structure of Sama Veda and its Connections
• Sama Chants and Music
• Gods and Mantras with Meanings and text

About the Author:

Dr. R.L. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana in USA. He had his masters degree form Indian Institute of science, Bangalore and obtained Ph.D. form Harvard University. He is the recipient of many international awards. He has authored more than 350 research papers. He has guided more than 50 Ph.D. Scholars. He has written extensively on Veda. He has given the word-meaning of all the verses from the first 121 suktas of Rig Veda. He has to his credit six major books on the Veda. He is the Honorary Director of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute of Vedic culture, Bangalore.