Yajur Veda

Traditionally, the third of the four Vedas.
As with the Rg Veda and the Sama Veda,
the Yajur Veda was associated with sacrificial rituals, and the text itself consists
mainly of the mantras to be uttered
while the sacrifice was being carried
out. The Yajur Veda exists in five major
recensions, of which four are “black”
and one is “white.” Their differences
stem from the placement of explanatory
notes on the mantras and their significance: The recensions of the Black Yajur
Veda contain these notes in the text
itself, whereas the White Yajur Veda
gathers these notes into an appendix
known as a Brahmana—namely, the
Shatapatha Brahmana—and this
Brahmana literature becomes the next
major stratum of Vedic texts.