Education under the Kerala Style of Vedic Oral Tradition with Special Reference to Samaveda

Abstract

Sama Veda is one among the four Vedas which includes the collection of hymns with musical content which are used for worshipping god at the time of fire sacrifices. The Vedic education exists right from the Vedic age. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the uniqueness of the education ideas behind the Sama Vedic education according to Kerala style of the oral tradition. This study tried to analyse the problems faced by the system even after UNESCO considered it as intangible cultural heritage of mankind and intended to provide some practical recommendations to overcome these problems. The investigators used the Case study method for the research and the primary and secondary data were used for the analysis. The investigators found that the main aim of Sama Vedic education according to Kerala oral tradition is to preserve and transmit the Vedic culture by oral teaching learning method and the curriculum includes the Sama veda text along with its Upanishad Kerala oral tradition is now struggling for existence because of the modernization in Kerala. The investigators intended to suggest that there must be an immediate step from government or some NGOs for protecting the oral tradition of Sama Veda.