THE VEDAS

In the Hindu tradition, the Vedas have the status of shruti

(literally, ‘that which has been heard’). They are thought to
embody an eternal, self-existent truth realized by the rishis
(seers) in a state of meditation or revealed to them by the
gods.
The category of smriti (literally, ‘remembered’) texts
includes the Vedanga, Puranas, epics, Dharmashastra, and
Nitishastra.
The word Veda comes from the root vid (literally, ‘to
know’) and means ‘knowledge’. There are four Vedas—
Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva.
The Rig Veda contains the world’s oldest surviving poetry,
some of it of extraordinary beauty and philosophical depth.
Each Veda has four parts, the last three of which sometimes
blend into each other—the Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka,
and Upanishad.
The Rig Veda Samhita is a collection of 1,028 hymns
(suktas) arranged in 10 books (Mandalas).
The Sama Veda consists of 1,810 verses, mostly borrowed
from the Rig Veda, arranged according to the needs of
musical notation. The original melodies are, however, lost.
The Yajur Veda deals with the details of the performance of
rituals. The Atharva Veda is the latest Veda and contains
hymns (some from the Rig Veda), but also spells and
charms which reflect aspects of popular beliefs and
practices.
The Brahmanas (this term should not be confused with the
Brahmana varna or caste) are prose explanations of the
Samhita portions and give details and explanations of
sacrificial rituals and their outcome.
The Aranyakas (forest books) interpret sacrificial rituals in
a symbolic and philosophical way.
There are 108 Upanishads, among which 13 are considered
the principal ones. The Upanishads contain a great variety
of philosophical ideas about sacrifice, the body, and the
universe, but are most closely associated with the concepts
of atman and brahman
Within the Vedic corpus as a whole, Books 2–7 (known as
the family books) of the Rig Veda Samhita are considered
the oldest; the later portions of this Samhita, along with all
the other Vedic texts, comprise later Vedic literature.
SMRITI TEXTS:
A number of supplementary texts known as Vedanga
(literally, ‘limbs of a Veda’) aimed at helping the proper
recitation, use, and understanding of the Vedas. These
include works on phonetics (shiksha), metre (chhanda),
grammar (vyakarana), etymology (nirukta), ritual (kalpa),
and astronomy (jyotisha). The broad period of composition
of Vedanga literature is c. 600–200 BCE.
The two Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana,
fall within the category of smriti as well as itihasa
(traditional history), although the Ramayana is sometimes
classified as kavya (poetry).
THE PURANAS
he word ‘Purana’ means ‘old’. According to tradition, the
Puranas were composed by Vyasa, but it is clear that in the
form in which they have come down to us, they were not
the work of one person nor of one age. There are 18
Mahapuranas (great Puranas), and many more Upapuranas
(secondary Puranas).
The standard list of the 18 Mahapuranas includes the
Vishnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma, Varaha,
Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Shiva, Skanda, Agni, Brahmanda,
Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana, and
Brahma. The origins of the Puranas may have overlapped to
some extent with the Vedas, but their composition stretched
forward into the 4th– 5th centuries CE, and in some cases,
even later.
The conception of time in the Puranas is mind-boggling.
There are four ages or yugas—krita, treta, dvapara, and
kali, all consisting of thousands and thousands of years.
One yuga follows the other, and the periodic destruction of
the world is followed by its re-creation. This cycle of time
is connected with the cyclical decline and revival of
dharma.
The earliest parts of the Puranic genealogies are either
entirely or partly mythical. The later genealogies of kings of
the kali age (which, according to tradition, began the day
Krishna died, 20 years after the Mahabharata war) have
historical material. The account is given in the future tense
in the form of a prophecy, because Vyasa is supposed to
have lived at the end of the dvapara yuga and the beginning
of the kali yuga, before the events he is supposed to be
describing. The Bhavishya Purana is mentioned in some
Puranas as the original authority for the genealogies, but the
present versions of this text have incomplete material on the
subject.
The Puranas have accounts of mountains, rivers, and places,
which are useful for the study of historical geography. They
also reflect the emergence of religious cults based on
devotion, especially towards the gods Vishnu and Shiva and
the goddess Shakti. This devotion was expressed through
the worship of images of deities in temples, pilgrimage
(tirtha), and vows (vrata).
THE DHARMASHASTRA
The Sanskrit word dharma (from the root dhri, meaning ‘to
maintain, support, or sustain’) is very rich in meaning and
difficult to translate. The concept of dharma is based on the
idea that the universe is governed by a certain natural law
and that the moral laws guiding people’s lives should be in
consonance with that natural law.
These goals, known as purusharthas, are dharma (righteous
conduct), artha (material well-being), kama (sensual
pleasure), and moksha (deliverance from the cycle of
rebirth).
A special group of Sanskrit texts dealing specifically with
dharma are collectively known as the Dharmashastra.
These texts can be subdivided into three groups. The first
two are the Dharmasutras (composed during c. 600–300
BCE) and the Smritis (c. 200 BCE–900 CE). The third
includes brief and elaborate commentaries (Tikas and
Bhashyas, respectively), collections with comments and
conclusions (Nibandhas), and compendia of views from
different texts (Sangrahas), all composed between the 9th
and the 19th centuries.
The Dharmasutras are part of Vedanga literature as well as
the Dharmashastra corpus. Vedanga literature includes the
Kalpasutras (aphorisms on ritual), which are divided into
Shrautasutras, Grihyasutras, and Dharmasutras. Sutra
(literally, ‘thread’) refers to a style in which ideas are
expressed in very short, condensed statements.