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{{Short description|Text which lies outside the four canonical Vedas}}
{{Redirect|Panchama Veda|the film|Panchama Veda (film)}}
The notion of a '''fifth Veda''' ([[Sanskrit]]: ''{{IAST|pañcama veda}}''), that is, of a text which lies outside the four canonical [[Vedas]], but nonetheless has the status of a Veda, is one that has been advanced in a number of post-Vedic Hindu texts, in order to accord a particular text or texts and their doctrines with the timelessness and authority that [[Hinduism]] associates with the Vedas.<ref name="smith1987">{{cite journal | last = Smith | first = Brian K. | title = Exorcising the Transcendent: Strategies for Defining Hinduism and Religion | journal = History of Religions | volume = 27 | issue = 1 | pages =32–55 |date=August 1987 | doi = 10.1086/463098 | jstor=1062532
| s2cid = 161100582 }} at p. 46.</ref> The idea is an ancient one, appearing for the first time in the [[Upanishads]], but has over the centuries since then also been applied to more recent Sanskrit and vernacular texts.

== Sanskrit texts: the "Panchama Veda" ==

The earliest reference to a fifth Veda is found in the [[Chandogya Upanishad]] (7.1.2),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lidova |first=Natalia R. |date=Autumn 1997|title= Review of: The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation and Ritual by Vasuda Narayanan| journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=681–684 |jstor=1465662|doi=10.1093/jaarel/65.3.681 }} at p. 684</ref> which applies the term to the "histories" ([[Itihasa]]-[[Purana]], "ancient traditions") of its day,
:''{{IAST|itihāsapurāṇaṃ pañcamaṃ vedānāṃ}}''

This reference to ''itihasa-purana'' is used by the [[Mahabharata]], which belongs to the class of [[Indian epic poetry|epic literature]] called "itihasa", to refer to itself as the fifth Veda.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Fitzgerald | first = James | title = India's Fifth Veda: The Mahabharata's Presentation of Itself | journal = Journal of South Asian Literature | volume = 20 | issue = 1 | pages =125–140 | year = 1985 }}</ref> Relying also on its attribution to [[Vyasa]], the legendary compiler of the Vedas, the Mahabharata declares itself a new Veda for a new era, intended for all people, and which is the equal of, and in some ways superior to, the four canonical Vedas.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sullivan | first = Bruce M. | title = The Religious Authority of the Mahābhārata: Vyāsa and Brahmā in the Hindu Scriptural Tradition | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Religion | volume = 62 | issue = 2 | pages =377–401 |date=October 1994 | doi = 10.1093/jaarel/LXII.2.377 | jstor=1465271
}} at p. 385.</ref> The other major Hindu epic, the [[Ramayana]], also makes a claim to be the fifth Veda. But, since the Mahabharata itself contains an abbreviated version of Ramayana, so the Mahabharata itself is considered as the fifth Veda.<ref name="smith1987" />

Similar claims are made in the [[Puranas]], which claim to be the fifth Veda together with the itihasas, frequently referring to themselves as the "Itihasa-Purana-Veda".<ref name="Holdrege2000">{{Cite book | first = Barbara A. | last = Holdrege | editor-last = Katz | editor-first = Steven T. | contribution = Mystical Cognition and Canonical Authority: The Devotional Mysticism of the Bhagavata Purana | title = Mysticism and Sacred Scripture | url = https://archive.org/details/mysticismsacreds00katz | url-access = limited | year = 2000 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/mysticismsacreds00katz/page/n194 184]–209 | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-509703-0}} at pp. 193-196.</ref> The [[Bhagavata Purana]] elaborates on the Chandogya Upanishad's statement concerning the fifth, by stating that after the four Vedas emerged from each of [[Brahma]]'s four mouths, the fifth Veda - ''itihasapurana'' - emerged from his fifth mouth<ref name="smith1987"/> or all his mouths.<ref>Bhagavata Purana, 3.12.37-3.12.39.</ref> It then declares itself supreme over all other puranas, on the grounds that it was Vyasa's crowning achievement.<ref name="Holdrege2000" /> Similarly, the [[Skanda Purana|Skandapurana]], too, suggests that the puranas are the Fifth Veda, thus giving itself scriptural authority.<ref name="smith1987"/><ref>Skandapurana [http://is1.mum.edu/vedicreserve/puranas/skanda_purana/skanda_purana_05avanti_03reva.pdf 5.3.1.18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171408/http://is1.mum.edu/vedicreserve/puranas/skanda_purana/skanda_purana_05avanti_03reva.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }}: ''{{IAST|purāṇaṃ pañcamoveda iti brahmānuśasanaṃ}}''</ref>

The नाट्यशास्त्र [[Natya Shastra]], a text dealing with performative theory, also applies to itself the label of "Fifth Veda" (1.4) although strictly speaking, it is a branch of the [[Gandharvaveda]], an [[upaveda]] of the [[Samaveda]] ([[Monier-Williams]]). The Natyashastra says that it was formulated by Brahma, incorporating elements of the other four Vedas,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Ley | first = Graham | title = Aristotle's Poetics, Bharatamuni's Natyasastra, and Zeami's Treatises: Theory as Discourse | journal = Asian Theatre Journal | volume = 17 | issue = 2 | pages =191–214 | year = 2000 | doi = 10.1353/atj.2000.0020 | url = https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/10036/48013/1/Aristotle%27s%20Poetics.pdf | hdl = 10036/48013 | s2cid = 163154226 | hdl-access = free }} at pp. 194-195.</ref> the idea being that the dramatic or musical performance of sacred stories, which, through the events they related, symbolised divine processes, could draw individuals to holier thoughts.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Bahm | first = Archie J. | title = Comparative Aesthetics | journal = The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism | volume = 24 | issue = 1 | pages =109–119 | year = 1965 | doi = 10.2307/428253 | publisher = The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 1 | jstor = 428253}} at p. 110.</ref> Other works that have been characterised as the "Fifth Veda" include, texts on [[ayurveda]] (Veda concerning the maintenance of "life"), a system of traditional South Asian medicine.<ref name = "Larson1987">{{cite journal |last=Larson |first=Gerald James |date=July 1987 |title=Ayurveda and the Hindu Philosophical Systems |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=245–259 |doi=10.2307/1398518 |publisher=Philosophy East and West, Vol. 37, No. 3 |jstor=1398518}}</ref>

== Non-Sanskrit texts ==

Several non-Sanskrit texts have also had the status of Veda assigned to them. An example is the [[Ramcharitmanas]], a 17th-century retelling of the story of the Ramayana in [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]], which is often called the "Fifth Veda" and is viewed by devotees as equalling or superseding the four canonical Vedas in authority and sanctity as the text for the [[Kali Yuga]].<ref>{{Cite book | first = Ramdas | last = Lamb | editor-last = Richman | editor-first = Paula | contribution = Personalizing the Ramayan: Ramnamis and Their Use of the Ramcaritmanas | title = Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia | year = 1991 | pages = 235–251 | place = Berkeley | publisher = University of California Press | isbn = 978-0-520-07589-4}} at pp. 237-238.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Lutgendorf | first = Philip | title = The Power of Sacred Story: Ramayana Recitation in Contemporary North India | journal = Ritual and Power| volume = 4 | issue = 1 | pages =115–147 | year = 1990}}.</ref>

Several [[Tamil language|Tamil]] texts have been assigned the status of being a new Veda by the adherents, who usually term the text in question the "Tamil Veda" or "Dravida Veda".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyo.in/variety/tamil-veda-tamil-marai-thirukkural-thevaram-divya-prabandham/story/1/17210.html|title=What is Tamil Veda?}}</ref> The [[Kural]] is traditionally praised with several epithets and alternative titles, including "the Tamil Veda" and "the Divine Book."<ref>{{cite book |last=Zvelebil |first=Kamil |title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA155 |access-date=7 March 2018|year=1973 |publisher=E.J. Brill |location=Leiden|isbn=9004035915 }}</ref>{{Rp|156}}<ref>{{cite journal | last =Cutler | first =Norman | title =Interpreting Thirukkural: the role of commentary in the creation of a text | journal =The Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume =112 | issue =4 | pages =549–566 | year =1992 | jstor= 604470 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/604470| ref={{sfnRef|Cutler, 1992}}| doi =10.2307/604470 | url-access =subscription }}</ref> The [[Tamil people|Tamil]] [[Vaishnavite]] ''[[bhakti]]'' community of the [[Alvars]] conferred this status on the [[Tiruvaymoli]]<ref>{{cite journal | last = Clooney | first = Francis X. | title = Extending the Canon: Some Implications of a Hindu Argument about Scripture | journal = The Harvard Theological Review | volume = 85| issue = 2 | pages =197–215 |date=April 1992| doi = 10.1017/S0017816000028856 }}.</ref> (and, later, the [[Divya Prabandham]] in general), a claim which was also accepted in secular works such as the [[Lilatilakam]], a 14th-century grammar of Kerala [[Manipravalam]].<ref>{{cite journal | last = Freeman | first = Rich | title = Rubies and Coral: The Lapidary Crafting of Language in Kerala | journal = The Journal of Asian Studies | volume = 57| issue = 1 | pages =38–65 |date=February 1998 | doi = 10.2307/2659023 | publisher = The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 57, No. 1 | jstor = 2659023| doi-access = free }} at p. 57.</ref> As with the Natyashastra,<ref>The similarity between the vedicisation of the Tiruvaymozhi and earlier moves to declare Sanskrit texts as the "Fifth Veda" is pointed out in {{cite journal |last=Lidova |first=Natalia R. |date=Autumn 1997|title= Review of: The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation and Ritual by Vasuda Narayanan| journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=681–684 |jstor=1465662|doi=10.1093/jaarel/65.3.681 }} at pp. 683-684.</ref> authors seeking to confer the status of a Veda on the Tiruvaymoli argued that unlike the canonical Vedic texts reserved for the Brahmins, this new Tamil Veda was accessible to all classes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Narayanan |first=Vasudha |title=The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual |year=1994 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |series=Studies in Comparative Religion |page=[https://archive.org/details/vernacularvedare00nara/page/26 26] |isbn=0-87249-965-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/vernacularvedare00nara/page/26 }}</ref> Similarly, the Tamil [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] community conferred upon the hymns of the [[Tevaram]] the status of a Tamil Veda, a claim which several of the poets themselves made.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Peterson | first = Indira V. | title = Singing of a Place: Pilgrimage as Metaphor and Motif in the Tēvāram Songs of the Tamil Śaivite Saints | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 102 | issue = 1 | pages =69–90 | year = 1982 | doi = 10.2307/601112 | publisher = Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 102, No. 1 | jstor = 601112}} at p. 77.</ref> Tamil Shaivites saw the designation "Tamil Veda" as making the Tevaram an alternative to the Sanskrit Veda, whereas Vaishnavites saw their equivalently designated texts as being a parallel track, rather than an alternative.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cutler | first1 = Norman | title = Tamil Bhakti in Translation | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 111 | issue = 4 | pages =768–775 | year = 1991 | doi = 10.2307/603406 | last2 = Peterson | first2 = Indira Viswanathan | last3 = Piḷḷāṉ | last4 = Carman | first4 = John | last5 = Narayanan | first5 = Vasudha | last6 = Pillan | publisher = Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 111, No. 4 | jstor = 603406}} at p. 770.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Upaveda]]
* [[Jataveda]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Vedas]]
[[Category:Vedanta]]
[[Category:Bhakti movement]]

Fifth Veda - Revision history

BrookEjw0071 at 17:17, 29 May 2025