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साम—वेद m. m. ‘वेद of chants’, N. of one of the three principal वेदs (See वेद)
it contains a number of verses or stanzas nearly all of which [except about 78] occur in the ऋग्-वेद and which, modified in various ways, are chanted, mostly, by the उद्गातृ priests at सोम sacrifices
the संहिता of the साम-वेद consists of two parts
the first, called आर्चिक [or पूर्वार्चिक or छन्दो-ग्रन्थ], contains 585 verses disjoined from their proper sequence in the ऋग्-वेद and arranged in 59 दशतिs or decades, which again are subdivided into प्रपाठकs and अर्ध-प्रपाठकs
the second, called उत्तरार्चिक or उत्तरा-ग्रन्थ, contains 1225 verses, also chiefly from the ऋक्-संहिता, but less disjointed than in the first part, and arranged in nine प्रपाठकs with अर्ध-प्रपाठकs, mostly, however, grouped in triplets
the directions for the formation of सामन्s or chants out of these verses are carefully laid down in the गानs or manuals for chanting, two of which, viz. the गेय-गान and आरण्य-गान, are a directory for the आर्चिक portion, and two, viz. ऊह-गान and ऊह्य-गान, for the उत्तरार्चिका
in [Mn. i, 23] the साम-वेद is described as drawn forth from the sun
in iv, 124 it is described as having a special reference to the पितृs or deceased ancestors, and its sound is therefore said to possess a kind of impurity, whereas the ऋग्-वेद has the gods for his objects and the यजुर्वेद men
ब्राह्मण the साम-वेद is said to possess 8 ब्राह्मणs [see ] [Br.] ; [ŚāṅkhŚr.] &c. ([[IW. 25] ])
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