The Vedic Period. What we know of the ancient period of the Brahman religion is disclosed to us by the Vedas, its sacred books : the Rigveda, or Book of Hymns, the Sama-Veda , or Book of Song, the Yajur-Veda, or Book of Liturgical Formulas, and the Atharva-Veda, or Book of Magic Formulas, a kind of poetical treatise on sorcery.