Here, chemical and bio-weapons are explicity mentioned, which might be a reason why Buddhist and Jainist texts are particularly against this veda. It is a parallel book that deals extensily with philosophy, morality, medicine, and even warfare.
Some of the riks that are found in rudram are not there even in rigveda.Ītharva Veda is the only veda to be named after a person- rishi Atharvan. The famous mantra 'rudram', which is in praise of Rudra Shiva is in Yajurveda. Generally, north Indians follow the former and south Indians, the latter. Yajurveda comes in two editions- Shukla Yajur veda and Krishna Yajur Veda. AyurvEda is considered as an upaveda born from Yajurveda. Yajus are the vedic prose that detail the various ritualistic procedures to be carried out. Gandharva veda is an upaveda (branch) of sAma vEda and the indian musical system has developed from it. One must listen to sAma Veda to really understand what I am trying to say ( ). The normal chanting of the Veda has three pitches. SAmans are mantras that are sung in a particular style. The sukta is written by Vishwamitra Rishi. The most famous mantra of all- the gAyatri mantra occurs as 3.62-10, i.e., 10th rik of the 62nd sukta of the 3rd book.
The most famous ones are PuruSa suktam, ViSnu suktam, nAsadIya suktam, hiranya-garbha suktam, etc. Rig Veda has more than 10,000 riks arranged into more than 1,000 suktas in turn arranged into 10 books. These riks and suktas are verbal representations of truths revealved to Rishis who obtained them after immense tapasya. Riks are mantras that are poetic, have a rhythmic meter, and are extremely mystic in nature. Mantras are divided into riks, sAmans, and yajus. AtharvaNa veda seems to have been composed a little while later. The whole set of Vedic canon existed as one, and at one point of time in ancient past, it was divided into three parts- rig, sAma and yajur vedas, based on the kind of the mantras that form the majority. The word 'Veda' arises from the word 'Vid', meaning 'to know'. Of course, we can always carry the discussion forward 'offline'. I dont think going in detail will be of any help right now. He is the Honorary Director of Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sas try Institute of Vedic Culture, Bengaluru.As per Kalyan's request, this post gives my perception of different Vedas. Some of his widely read books on Veda are: 'Why Read Rig Veda', 'Rudra Mantra-s', 'Essentials of Rig Veda', 'Essentials of Yajur Veda', 'Essentials of Sama Veda', 'Work, Enjoyment & Progress'. 'Rig Veda Samhita' - (12 Vols], 'Yajur Veda' (4 Vols), 'Sama Veda' (2 Vols), 'Atharva Veda' (6 Vols), Shukla Yajur Veda (2 Vols). He has translated all the mantra-s from all the five Veda-s, They are published in 26 Volumes. He has guided above 50 doctoral students. He has authored more than 350 research articles of which 220 are published in scholarly journals and the rest were presented at conferences. Vishveshwaraya Award' by 'Swadeshi Science Movement' in 2013. He is honoured with 'Veda Brahma' award by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 2013. He is the recipient of Kamataka Rajyotsava Award - 2012. He was awarded the distinguished A1umnus award by IISc (Indian Institute of Science) in 2010. In 2003 he has received 'Vedanga Vidvan' award instituted by Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratishthan (Ujjain), an autonomous body of HRD, Govt. He is the recipient of many International awards.
He had his Master's degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and obtained Ph.D. Kashyap is Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana in USA.