Which of the following Vedas is divided into two branches as Krishna and Shukla?
- (a)Rig Veda
- (b)Sama Veda
- (c)Yajur Veda
- (d)Atharva Veda
Correct — C, Yajur Veda.
The Krishna–Shukla split is a division inside the Yajur Veda. Krishna (Black) Yajurveda hands down its sacrificial formulas tangled together with prose explanation of the ritual; Shukla (White) Yajurveda keeps the formulas clear, with the prose moved out into a separate Brahmana.
The Shukla branch's Samhita is the Vajasaneyi, preserved in the Madhyandina and Kanva recensions. The Krishna branch is represented by Samhitas such as the Taittiriya, Maitrayani and Katha.
The Brahmana attached to the Shukla branch is the Shatapatha; the Krishna branch has the Taittiriya Brahmana.
Carry away the reason behind the two colours: black means formula and commentary mixed together, white means the formula set apart.
- (a)Rig Veda — The Rig Veda is the collection of hymns arranged in ten mandalas and recited by the Hotr priest. It is the right answer when a question asks which Veda is the oldest, or which one carries the Gayatri mantra and the Purusha Sukta.
Its own internal divisions go by other names — mandalas within the Samhita, and schools such as the Shakala recension. Its Brahmanas are the Aitareya and the Kaushitaki.
- (b)Sama Veda — The Sama Veda sets verses to melody for the Udgatr priest to chant, and the bulk of its verses are taken over from the Rig Veda. It is the right answer to which Veda is treated as the root of Indian classical music.
Its schools carry names of their own — Kauthuma, Ranayaniya, Jaiminiya — and its Brahmanas include the Panchavimsha (Tandyamaha) and the Jaiminiya.
- (d)Atharva Veda — The Atharva Veda holds charms and spells alongside material on healing, household life and popular belief. It is the right answer to which Veda gives the earliest Indian material on medicine and magic.
It is handed down in the Shaunaka and Paippalada recensions, and the Gopatha Brahmana is attached to it. Those recension names, not colour names, mark its branches.
Each Veda survives through priestly schools (shakhas), and a school hands down its own Samhita of mantras, a Brahmana of ritual prose, and the Aranyaka and Upanishad that follow.
The Yajurveda carries an extra, higher-level division on top of that. Its two branches, Krishna and Shukla, differ not in subject but in editorial arrangement: whether the ritual formula and its prose explanation sit together in one text or are separated into two.
The Yajurveda is the working manual of the Adhvaryu, the priest who performs the physical acts of the sacrifice and mutters the formulas (yajus) that accompany them. Its shape follows the order of the ritual rather than the order of poetry.
That practical purpose explains the split. An older layer kept explanation embedded beside the formula; a later editorial impulse pulled the two apart, producing the Shukla recension and the large Shatapatha Brahmana that stands beside it.
The branch names also organise later texts: the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad comes down the Shukla line, while the Katha and Taittiriya Upanishads come down the Krishna line.
- The Yajurveda is handed down in two branches, Krishna (Black) Yajurveda and Shukla (White) Yajurveda.
- In the Krishna branch, sacrificial formulas are interspersed with prose explanation; in the Shukla branch the formulas stand apart from that prose.
- The Shukla Yajurveda's Samhita is the Vajasaneyi Samhita, preserved in the Madhyandina and Kanva recensions.
- Samhitas of the Krishna Yajurveda include the Taittiriya, Maitrayani and Katha (Kathaka) texts.
- The Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the Shukla Yajurveda; the Taittiriya Brahmana belongs to the Krishna Yajurveda.
- Tradition associates the Shukla Yajurveda with the sage Yajnavalkya.
- The Yajurveda supplies the formulas used by the Adhvaryu priest, as the Rigveda serves the Hotr and the Samaveda the Udgatr.
- The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad forms the closing portion of the Shatapatha Brahmana, on the Shukla side.
Both columns are the Yajur Veda. The colour names mark how each branch arranges formula and commentary.
- Krishna and Shukla are two branches of one Veda, not two of the four Vedas.
- The colour words translate directly: Black Yajurveda is Krishna, White Yajurveda is Shukla, and a question may use either form.
- Vajasaneyi sits on the Shukla side while Taittiriya, Maitrayani and Katha sit on the Krishna side — the swap is the easy slip.
- Shatapatha attaches to the Shukla branch and Taittiriya Brahmana to the Krishna branch; pairing Shatapatha with Krishna reverses the whole scheme.
- Naming a recension does not answer a branch question: Shakala, Kauthuma and Paippalada belong to other Vedas entirely.
The idea surfaces as a direct one-liner like this stem, and as its mirror — naming a Samhita or Brahmana and asking which branch or which Veda it belongs to.
A harder form uses the descriptive clue instead of the name: a recension in which the mantras are separated from the ritual prose is the Shukla branch.
UPPSC_2018_PRE_GSI_Q132018The same Krishna–Shukla division of the Yajurveda, approached from the other end. UKPSC 2025 asks which Veda splits into the two branches; UPPSC 2018 takes the Shukla branch as given and asks which Samhita belongs to it, with Vajasaneyi as the answer and Maitrayani, Taittiriya and Kathak — all Krishna-side names — as the distractors. Knowing only that the Yajurveda is the split Veda answers this stem but not that one; the branch-to-Samhita pairing is the extra step.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Vajasaneyi Samhita is associated with which of the following?
- (a)Krishna Yajurveda
- (b)Shukla Yajurveda
- (c)Sama Veda
- (d)Atharva Veda
Answerb — The Vajasaneyi Samhita is the Samhita of the Shukla Yajurveda, preserved in the Madhyandina and Kanva recensions.(a) fails because the Krishna branch is carried by the Taittiriya, Maitrayani and Katha Samhitas. (c) fails because the Sama Veda's texts go by Kauthuma, Ranayaniya and Jaiminiya. (d) fails because the Atharva Veda comes down in the Shaunaka and Paippalada recensions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Shatapatha Brahmana is attached to which of the following?
- (a)Rig Veda
- (b)Sama Veda
- (c)Shukla Yajurveda
- (d)Atharva Veda
Answerc — The Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the Shukla Yajurveda, and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad forms its closing portion.(a) fails because the Rigveda's Brahmanas are the Aitareya and the Kaushitaki. (b) fails because the Samaveda's include the Panchavimsha and the Jaiminiya. (d) fails because the Gopatha Brahmana is the one attached to the Atharvaveda.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which priest at the Vedic sacrifice recites the formulas of the Yajurveda?
- (a)Hotr
- (b)Udgatr
- (c)Adhvaryu
- (d)Brahman
Answerc — The Adhvaryu performs the physical acts of the sacrifice and mutters the yajus formulas, which is what the Yajurveda collects.(a) fails because the Hotr recites Rigvedic verses of invocation. (b) fails because the Udgatr chants the Samaveda's melodies. (d) fails because the Brahman supervises the rite as a whole rather than reciting the Yajurveda's formulas.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about the Yajurveda: 1. In its Shukla branch the sacrificial formulas are kept separate from the prose explanation of the ritual. 2. The Taittiriya Samhita belongs to its Krishna branch. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Answerc — Both hold. The Shukla (White) recension separates mantra from ritual prose, which is moved into the Shatapatha Brahmana, so statement 1 is correct.The Taittiriya Samhita is one of the Krishna Yajurveda's Samhitas, so statement 2 is correct. That makes (a), (b) and (d) wrong, since each of them rejects a statement that stands.