<P> Each of the four Vedas were shared by the numerous schools, but revised, interpolated and adapted locally, in and after the Vedic period, giving rise to various recensions of the text . Some texts were revised into the modern era, raising significant debate on parts of the text which are believed to have been corrupted at a later date . The Vedas each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvānukramaṇī . </P> <P> Prodigious energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity . For example, memorization of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text . The texts were subsequently "proof - read" by comparing the different recited versions . Forms of recitation included the jaṭā - pāṭha (literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated in the original order . That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Rigveda, as redacted into a single text during the Brahmana period, without any variant readings within that school . </P> <P> The Vedas were likely written down for the first time around 500 BC . However, all printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century AD . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Part of a series on Hindu scriptures </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Vedas and their Shakhas </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Rigveda (show) Shakala Bhashkala </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Samaveda (show) Ranayana Shatyamukhya Vyasa Bhaguri Olundi Goulgulvi Bhanumanoupamayava Karati Mashaka Argya Varshgagavya Kuthuma Shakugitre Jaiminiya </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Krishna Yajurveda (show) Taittiriya Samhita Maitrayani Samhita Karaka Katha Samhita Kapisthala Kahta Samhita Kathaka </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Shukla Yajurveda (show) Kanava Madhyandin </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Atharvaveda (show) Shaunaka Paippalada Stauda Mauda Jajala Jalada Kuntap Brahmavada Devadarsa Caranavaidya </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Hinduism portal </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

The veda which is composed of liturgical hymns