BRAHMANA. — This term, derived from Brahman (q.v.), means “concerning worship or the priesthood,” but when used as a noun it takes on different meanings according to gender and, in Vedic texts, also according to the word’s accentuation. As a masculine oxytone, it signifies “priest, theologian, Brahmin”; as a neuter proparoxytone, it means “ritual explanation, norm relating to faith and worship,” and collectively “the whole body of such explanations and norms,” i.e., the theological-liturgical treatise. The brahmanas, regarded as gods on earth, belonged to the first of the three Aryan castes, and the Rgveda (X, 90, 12) declares them born from the mouth of the cosmic man, a clear allusion to the power of speech which they wielded.
The first three Vedas, and consequently the three chief priests, each had their brahmanas belonging to different priestly schools, which transmitted them orally for centuries before committing them to writing. Many were lost, and only quotations in surviving treatises remain. Those that have come down to us all bear the same stamp, differing only in the greater emphasis placed on that part of the ritual corresponding to their purpose. The brahmanas of the Rgveda give prominence to what pertains to the office of the hotar, while those of the Sāmaveda and Yajurveda respectively emphasize the duties of the udgātar and the adhvaryu (q.V. BRAHMANESIMO).
To the Rgveda belong the Aitareya- and Kausītaki-brāhmaṇa; to the Sāmaveda, the Pañcavimśa- and Jaiminīya-brāhmaṇa; to the Black Yajurveda, the Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa; and to the White Yajurveda, the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa, which is the most important both in content and in size—100 chapters divided into 10 books. The Atharvaveda originally lacked a liturgical treatise, but toward the close of the Vedic age the late Gopatha-brāhmaṇa was assigned to it so that the fourth Veda might also have its ritual.