International Journal of Hindu Studies 17, 3 (2013): 289–314 © 2014 Springer DOI The Vedam¨rti: Embodying the Veda in Contemporary Maharashtra Borayin Larios In this paper I explore how Vedic textual heritage is appropriated and performed in contemporary Maharashtra. I will revisit the concept of the Vedas as the cornerstone of Brahmin identity and how this identity is constructed through a system of formal education and through different modes of socialization, ritual in particular. In doing so, I will highlight the relevance of the Vedas as embodied texts in the figure of the Brahmin male. I will present here examples of pre-modern discourses on the orality of the Vedas as an intrinsic value linked to the social and cosmic order and how these continue to circulate and solidify in current practices in the Vedic schools of India. With this, I hope to show discursive continui- ties between the past and the present that have contributed to shape current practices and ideologies in the Bråhma~ical transmission of knowledge. The material presented here is based on the study of traditional Vedic schools, or vedapå†haçålås, of the state of Maharashtra. 1 The Vedas: A Source of Power The Vedas are generally believed to be “the oldest scriptures of Hinduism” and the definitive authoritative texts for most Hindus. 2 Even among Indologists and other scholars of the subcontinent, it is not uncommon to encounter the description of the Vedas as “sacred books,” a “body of scrip- tures” and “literature” in the conventional sense of the word. Nonetheless, the Vedas, despite having been written down in relatively recent times 3