The main collections of Vedic hymns are called ______.

The correct answer is Samhita.

• The main collections of Vedic hymns are called Samhita.

Key Points

• The Rigveda Samhita is the oldest extant Indic text.
  • It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas).
  • The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities. 
• Samhitas are ritualistic texts, and they explain the social and religious importance of rituals.
  • Each Samhita has added texts called Brahmanas, which have commentaries on the hymns and rituals.
  • Each brahmana has an Aranyaka (forest text) and an Upanishad.
  • The Aranyakas contain mystical ritual instructions to be undertaken in secret by the sages who live in the forests.
  • Upanishads deal with philosophical inquiries.

Important Points

• Sutra:
  • ​Sutra in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text.
  • Sutras are a genre of ancient and medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. 
• Pad:
  • Pad refers to a word or foot in the context of Vedic texts. In particular, each verse (Rik) of a hymn can be broken down into multiple padas (feet).
• ​Mukh:
  • Mukh means face or mouth in Sanskrit.