Upaveda
Upaveda · upa-veda, “the secondary Veda”
Grammar: masculine noun; upa (near, subordinate) with veda: “the Veda that stands beside the Veda”.
Meaning: a secondary Veda; the four sciences that came forth with the Vedas: Āyurveda, Dhanurveda, Gāndharvaveda and Sthāpatyaveda.
In the scriptures: Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that as Brahmā the Creator thought how to create the worlds as before, the four Vedas came forth from his four faces, and with them the karmas of the four ṛtviks, the extent of yajña and the Vaidika karmas, the four upavedas, the nītiśāstra, the four feet of dharma and the four āśramas. When Vidura asked which came from which face, Maitreya named the four upavedas: from the eastern face Āyurveda, the science of healing; from the southern face Dhanurveda, the science of war; from the western face Gāndharvaveda, the science of music; and from the northern face Sthāpatyaveda, the science of building and sculpture (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12).
Parīkshit, asking Śuka what Brahmā taught Nārada, asks among other things to hear of the siddhis of the great yogīs, the dissolution of their subtle body, and the nature of the Vedas, the Upavedas, the Dharmaśāstras, the Itihāsas and the Purāṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 8).
When Bhagavān Vāmana as Trivikrama raised his foot to Satyaloka, those who dwell there in embodied form bowed to it: the Vedas, the Upavedas such as Āyurveda, the yamas and niyamas, the Nyāyaśāstra, the Itihāsas, the Vedāṅgas, the Purāṇas and the Saṃhitās (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 21).
Related terms: Veda · Āyurveda · Dhanurveda · Gāndharvaveda · Sthāpatyaveda · Vedāṅga
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 8; Skandha 3, Chapter 12; Skandha 8, Chapter 21