This brief section is written for readers who are looking for basic expositions and reliable, unabridged translations of the Vedas with explanatory notes. Full titles and publishing information are given in the following Bibliography and here I have only listed books that are relatively easily obtainable, often in Indian reprints. The German classics have been reprinted but are unaffordable and often specialized.
The inaccessibility of the Vedas has become a glaring scandal, especially in the English-speaking world and that, astonishingly, includes India. If I had to recommend a single general book about the Vedas in English, I would fall back on Louis Renou’s Religions of Ancient India which is certainly outdated. Fortunately, there is access, but only in India, to three of the Vedas without having to pass through the written word.
For the Rigveda, there is no reliable translation into English. The two English translations by Griffith and Wilson are nineteenth-century fantasies and best discarded. For those who read German, Geldner remains the best guide. But see the Preface, p. xxix for good news.
For the Sāmaveda, good chanters may be found through Vedapāṭhaśālas although reciters of Rig- and Yajurvedas are more common. Sāmaveda recordings are available in various formats but generally bereft of good explanations.
For the Yajurveda we have two reliable translations that are old: Keith for the Taittirīya Saṃhitā of the Black Yajurveda and Eggeling for the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa of the White Yajurveda. There are rare possibilities, in India, of witnessing authentic performances of Vedic ritual which is as important for the understanding of the Yajurveda as is listening to chants for that of the Sāmaveda.
The Atharvaveda has remained what it has always been: fairly inaccessible. (Whitney is outdated.)
The Upaniṣads have been translated often, and often badly. The best recent translation into English is that of Patrick Olivelle.
Those who wish to get an idea of more specialized studies should consult Dandekar’s Vedic Bibliography, in several volumes from 1964. Witzel has started a series of ‘Opera Minora’ attached to the Harvard Oriental Series. Two volumes contain the Proceedings of Vedic workshops. The results of a more recent meeting found their way to Egbert Forsten in Groningen. It is a beautiful production, strictly unaffordable not only for people but also for libraries.
Specialist articles continue to appear in ‘Orientalist’ journals, too many to list. If I had to select five outside India, they would be: Indo-Iranian Journal, Journal Asiatique, Journal of the American Oriental Society (affordable), Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes and Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft.