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