Hymns of the Samaveda

Hymns of the Samaveda is a book by Ralph T. H. Griffith, first published in 1893. This work presents an English translation of the Sāmaveda, one of the four canonical Vedas of ancient Indian scripture.

The Sāmaveda is distinct among the Vedas for its musical and liturgical nature, being essentially a collection of hymns adapted for chanting during Vedic sacrifices. While much of its content overlaps with the Rigveda, its arrangement and purpose are unique, focusing on the melodic aspects of Vedic recitation.

Griffith’s translation formed part of a broader 19th-century scholarly effort to make the sacred texts of the East accessible to Western readers. As a Sanskrit scholar and member of the Indian Education Service, he approached the task with a blend of philological precision and poetic rendering, reflecting both the scholarship of the time and a Victorian literary sensibility.

The book is a valuable resource for readers interested in comparative religion, early Indo-European spirituality, or the origins of sacred music traditions, and it also offers a glimpse into the intellectual and colonial contexts that shaped early Western reception of Indian religious texts.