Within the Vedic tradition, the Samhitas and the Brahmanas stand in a relationship of intimate complementarity. The Samhitas preserve the mantras, hymns, and verses that form the sacred speech of the ritual, while the Brahmanas unfold how that speech is to be woven into concrete sacrificial practice. The hymns praise deities, invoke powers, and articulate the verbal content of the rite; the Brahmanas, in turn, describe how these very utterances are to be enacted so that they become effective within the ritual arena. In this way, the lyrical and the procedural dimensions of Vedic religion are bound together.

The Brahmanas are closely tied to particular Samhitas within each Vedic school, and they frequently quote or allude to specific hymns. They specify which mantra is to be used at which moment, by which priest, and in conjunction with which offering or gesture. They also attend to details such as timing, sequence, and proper recitation, turning the hymns from general praise-poetry into precisely calibrated ritual instruments. The Samhitas thus supply the raw liturgical material, while the Brahmanas organize that material into a structured sacrificial performance.

Beyond mere instruction, the Brahmanas also provide a theological and symbolic framework for the use of the hymns. They explain how, when rightly applied, particular mantras are believed to yield specific ritual outcomes and correspond to broader cosmic principles. Through such interpretations, the sacrificial act is portrayed as participating in a larger order, where fire, offerings, and recitations mirror and sustain the cosmos itself. In this sense, the Brahmanas do not simply tell practitioners what to do; they articulate why the ritual, grounded in the hymns of the Samhitas, is thought to matter on the deepest level.