+शाखाः

प्राचीनकलनम्

एकविंशतिधा बाह्वृच्यम्। एकशतमध्वर्युशाखाः। सहस्रवर्त्मा सामवेदः। नवधाथर्वणो वेदः।“ - पातन्जल महाभाष्य, पस्प-शाह्निक।
According to the Mahabhasya of Patanjali, there were 21 shakhas of Rigveda, 9 of Atharvaveda, 101 of Yajurveda (86 of Krishna Yajurveda and 15 of Shukla Yajurveda, according to later authorities) and a 1000 varieties of chanting of Samaveda. Maybe, the number 1000 for the Samaveda merely refers to ‘numerous’.

एकविंशतिभेदेन ऋग्वेदं कृतवान् पुरा ।
शाखानां तु शतेनैव यजुर्वेदमथाकरोत् ॥
सामवेदं सहस्त्रेण शाखानां प्रबिभेद सः ।
अथर्वाणमथो वेदं बिभेद नवकेन तु ॥
भेदैरष्टादशैर्व्यासः पुराणं कृतवान् प्रभुः ।
कूर्मपुराणे १,५०।१८ ॥

भेदहेतुः

Two different Vedic shakhas might share one or more texts amongst themselves. Conversely, the distinction between two shakhas of the same Veda might result from the use of a different Samhita text, and/or a different Brahmana text, and/or different Kalpasutra text and so on. For e.g., the Baudhayana and the Apastamba shakhas use the same Taittiriya Brahmana, Taittiriya Samhita and Taittiriya Aranyaka but follow different Kalpasutras. On the other hand, the Shankhayana and the Kaushitaka shakhas use the same Samhita and Shrauta Sutra but their Brahmanas have slightly different readings and their Grhyasutras are quite different.

• Initially under the kuru pAnchAla realm, various family mantra-s were brought together to form the core samhita-s.
• The samhita-s later split into shAkhA-s.
• Different clans were responsible for preserving different shAkha-s of the veda-s.

पाठस्थितिः