Rigveda
The Veda of hymns. About 1,028 hymns in 10 books, with around 10,600 verses. Songs of wonder to fire, dawn, rain and rivers.
New series
The Vedas for Kids
Meet the oldest books of India! Eight short episodes about the four Vedas, the songs, the fire, the wise women and the big questions, told in simple English, with a colouring page for every episode.
Episodes
Meet the four Vedas, one step at a time
EP 1What Is a Veda?Meet the Vedas · 1 min read
EP 2The Rigveda: Songs to the Dawn and FireThe Rigveda · 1 min read
EP 3The Big Question: How Did Everything Begin?The Rigveda · 1 min read
EP 4The Samaveda: The Veda of SongsThe Samaveda · 1 min read
EP 5The Veda of Doing and the Veda of Daily LifeYajurveda and Atharvaveda · 1 min read
EP 6How the Vedas Were RememberedLearning by heart · 1 min read
EP 7Gargi and Maitreyi: Wise Women of the VedasWise women · 1 min read
EP 8The Upanishads: Light and TruthThe Upanishads · 1 min read
More series to read and colour
About this series
The Vedas are some of the oldest writings in India. This series explains them in short, simple stories for children aged 3 to 8: what each Veda is, how the Vedas were remembered by heart, the wise women who asked big questions, and the Upanishads. Each episode has six short pages, one idea to take away, a question to talk about, and a colouring page to print or colour online.
Written for children from well-known scholarly and public sources, including UNESCO and the texts themselves. Nobody knows exactly when the Vedas were composed, so we say 'more than 3,000 years ago'. Families follow the Vedas in different ways; this series simply tells what the books are and what they say.
Make a personalised storybook with your child's name ›The four Vedas at a glance
Numbers are rounded; scholars count a little differentlySamaveda
The Veda of melodies. About 1,549 verses, almost all taken from the Rigveda and set to tunes. A root of Indian music.
Yajurveda
The Veda of doing. Sacred sayings for ceremonies. Two kinds: Shukla (bright) and Krishna (dark).
Atharvaveda
The Veda of daily life. About 730 hymns in 20 books: health, plants, a peaceful home, and a hymn to Mother Earth.