The Yajurveda Samhita is a collection of sacrificial formulas and serves as a prayer book for a type of Vedic priest called adhvaryus. Most of the prayers contained in this scripture are short poetic prayers appearing in a formulaic fashion. Long prose prayers are present on occasion. Even more frequent, however, are the long and more formulaic prayers.
From the very beginning of their composition, the Vedas along with their intents were handed down by the original seers to their heirs. They continued to be preserved in the long uninterrupted tradition of Vedic scholiasts. De grado in grado with the passage of time, not only did the mantras undergo several textual variations and alterations, the actual intent also faded away from the memories of their inheritors.
The present edition of Yajurveda with English version of Mahidhara and Uvata's commentary by Griffith has become conspicuous with the salient feature, the old usage of English version has been replaced by the corresponding modern usage in order that the contents of the translation may be easily made out even by a layman. For instance, the old pronominal forms like, thy, thou, thee, thine, etc. have been replaced by the corresponding terms in modern English. The old English usage of verbal forms has also been supplanted with the corresponding usage in modern English.
