The Yajurveda (Sanskrit: यजुर्वेद, yajurveda, from yajus meaning “worship”, and veda meaning “knowledge”) is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals
An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual-offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire
Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism
The exact century of Yajurveda’s composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda
The Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the “black” or “dark” (Krishna) Yajurveda and the “white” or “bright” (Shukla) Yajurveda
The term “black” implies “the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection” of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the “white” which implies the “well arranged, clear” Yajurveda
The black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into the modern times
The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda
The middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection
The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy
These include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad
Two of the oldest surviving manuscript copies of the Shukla Yajurveda sections have been discovered in Nepal and Western Tibet, and these are dated to the 12th-century CE