As I've discussed here, we know that ancient Rishi heard Vedic hymns in the state of Tapasya (deep mediation) which are called Shruti/Vedas. Vedas are divided into two parts Samhita - the (mantra) part of Veda seen/heard by Rishi & Brahman-Grantha - interpretation & commentaries on Samhita.
Now talking about Shakha (branch of Veda), generally each Shakha have it's own Brahmana of which some are lost. Aaranyaka are extracted from Brahmana and Upanishads are extracted from Aaranyaka (except Isha Upanishad). So, each & every Brahman/Aaranyaka/Upanishad belongs to a particular Shakha of a particular Veda.
For example if we talk Rigveda, there are two popular shakha - Shakala & Bashkala. Shakala has Aitareya Brahman & Upanishad and Bashkala has Kaushitaki Brahman & Upanishad.
But several times (in books and on web) I found they mention different/various Samhita of a particular Veda. For example (Note that I know that Yajurveda has two forms Shukla & Krishna and hence separate Samhita - which is different topic):
- Taittariya Samhita, Maitrayani Samhita, Charaka-Katha & Kapishthala Samhita of Krishna Yajurveda.
- Kauthuma, Ranayaniya and Jaimini Samhita of Samaveda.
Similar thing I found from the following image of veda-tree at here:
As I've not read any Samhita yet and don't know deeply about Samhita.
So, I want to know:
- Does Veda has more than one Samhita regarding to Shakha?
- In other words, does Shakha has it's Samhita like Brahmana?
- Or here different Samhita just/actually refers to Shakha of Veda?
I think if there are more than one (version) of Samhita of a particular Veda, they might be similar with just minor (chant) difference.
