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Sacred Scriptures of Hindus

Vedas are ancient Shruti, eternal truths as reveled by God through various sages.  For thousands of years, these have been preserved as sacred scriptures by Hindus.  There are four Samhitas, collection of sacred verses called “ruchas”.  Vedic Gods are mainly personification of nature Gods dealing with powerful forces such as thunder, rain, storm, sun, earth, fire etc.  Vedic sacrifice consists of oblations of soma juice, herbs and clarified butter accompanied by sacred verses to Indra, Varun, Surya, Soma, Agni etc.

Ruchas are Vedic verses.
Suktas are Vedic hymns.

Mantra are sacred Sanskrit verses from non-Vedic scriptures (eg Purans).
Ric are Vedic verses set to meter and intended for loud recitation.

Yajus are in prose and were recited in a low voice during yagnas.

Samans are set to meter and are sung during Soma ceremonies.

Samhitas are collections of ruchas and suktas.

Vedas are a collation of samhitas

Parisista are the supplementary appendixes to the Vedas comprising of Samhita, Brahmans and Aranyaks.

Vedanta are the appendices to the Vedas and comprise of Brahmanas, Aranyaks and Upnishads.

   Brahamans explain Vedic rituals.

   Aranyaks expand on mystic symbolism

   Upnishads help explain philosophical ideas in the Vedas.

Anukramnika are indexes.

Sutra have distilled amazing amount of information in shortest terse sentences possible.

Vedangas contain the following six technical subjects

   Siksa elaborates on the phonetics of the scripture.

   Kalpa explains the rituals

   Vyakran defines the grammar used in the scripture.

   Nirukta explores the ethmology

   Chandas explain the meter used in that particular scripture

   Jyotish are astrological and astronomical texts related to scriptures.

Vedas were the “user manual” for priests to perform Vedic rituals at Vedic sacrifices.  Hence there was no need for them to expand on philosophy or discuss metaphysics in these texts.  It was presumed that those who used these hymns were more than aware of the mythologies underlying these hymns.  For example, those who sing the psalms at Sunday service are aware of the Biblical stories and parables these psalms refer to and do not need the entire story to be retold in the psalm itself.  Similarly, ruchas made references to sacred mythologies without elaborating on them.

Originally there was only one Veda.  Because of its complexity and people’s inability to memorise it all, Veda Vyasa split into three parts.  Later it was split further into four parts.  Only those hymns that were shown to have repeatable results made it to the Samhitas for use by future generations.  Hymns that simply praised God but had no recognizable “benefits” were not included in the rituals of the yagnas.  Vedic ruchas have to be pronounced correctly to have the desired effect of inviting the Gods to partake in the rituals and shower their blessings on those present.  Like an internet password, even if one letter or syllable is out of place, the rucha does not have the desired effect.  Ruchas that are pronounced correctly should produce very specific, repeatable result.  For example if Indra was worshiped with the correct hymns, rain should fall as a proof of his grace. 

As in every field where special skill is required to perform a specific job, a professional class of people came forth who had the ability to recite ruchas clearly and audibly.  They spent considerable time learning Vedic lore to be able to perform the Vedic rituals faultlessly.  As Vedic hymns and rituals are very complex, priests concentrated on specific parts to become experts in their specialized branch of the Vedas.  Because Vedas were only used for ritual sacrifice, only those who needed to perform them took the time to learn them in any great detail.  Others simply paid the priests to perform these rituals for them.     

If the rituals were not performed properly or the hymns not pronounced correctly, it was believed that great misfortune can befall the performer and his patrons.  As a result, only those who were properly trained to do this were allowed to perform the rituals.  This was later formalized and training for Vedic lore was restricted to a very specific group of priests.  Later still, it was made illegal for anyone outside this circle of specialized priests to learn or recite the Vedic hymns.

Because Vedas were “user manuals”, they had appendixes called Vedanta, literally meaning “at the end of the Veda”.  This comprises of Brahmanas, Aranyaks and Upnishads.  Sutras were short terse sentences and acted like “flash cards” to quickly jog the memory of the student about more complicated subject matter.

Each Veda has been preserved by different sakhas, branches / schools.  Students recite the verses in a complex combination of words and letters going forwards and backwards to make sure they can remember the verses with absolute accuracy.  This oral method of passing information has helped preserve the Vedas in its original form for thousands of years.

Rig Veda contains 10,600 of the oldest ruchas used for worshipping Gods through yagnas (sacred fire).  In volume, this equals all the poems of Homer.

Yajur Veda is a book of rituals with 18,000 sacrificial formulas and instructions on how to perform the yagnas.  The yajus (sacrificial formulas) are recited as prose and verse during yagnas. 

Sama Veda has 1,549 ruchas, taken mainly from that Rig Veda and they are set to music so that they can be sung during yagnas.  It is a liturgical collection of melodies (samans).

Atharva Veda has 12,300 verses for spells, charms, incantations, prayers and hymns dealing with a wide range of religious sacrifices.  It also has hymns to counteract demons, disasters, illness etc.  There are also spells for defeating enemies, healing and ensuring long life.  Language and subject matter of Atharva Veda deals with the material world and is hence very different from the other three and reflects the society of the late Vedic period.

 Table of what the Vedas Contain

Brahama Sutra is a philosophical treaties attributed to Badarayana (Vyasa) and is considered to be one of the most important text on Hindu philosophy.  It is an important Vedanta sutra with 555 verses distributed in 4 chapters.

There are countless Upnishads.  Of these, 108 are considered to be ancient and are most commented upon by the scholars.  Of these, 13 are considered to be 'mukhya' - main ones.  Like Sutras, the language of Upnishads is terse and sentences are deliberately kept short for ease of memorisation.  Like sayings and proverbs each word, each sentence, is highly concentrated with 'meaning' to packs in as much information as possible in the shortest space possible.

Each Upnishad explains the philosophy of the Veda as per the sage who wrote the Upnishad.  Based on their ideological position, they interpret the Vedic ideology accordingly.  Hence there will be difference of opinion between different Upnishads.  Upnishads have been used to deduce the main philosophical schools of Hinduism - advaita (monotheistic), vishisthadviata (qualified monism), shuddhadvaita (pure monism), dvaita (dualism), dvaita-dvaita, achintya behda behda etc. 

Table of Upnishads schools of thought / sects they belong to

table is taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads

ShriMaad Bhagvad Gita contains essence of what is taught in the Upnishads.  For this reason, it is considered to be a part of the Shruti scriptures though it forms a part of the MahaBharata, a Smruti Itihas.

There is a large volume of Smrutis texts from ancient times till date consisting of Upavedas, Puranas, Itihases and other additional works.
Based on all these, there are six astika (belivers in Veda) Hindu darshana - namely Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta.
There are four nastik (non-belivers in Vedas) darshans - namely Charvak, Ajivikas, Bhuddha and Jain.

Upavedas are applied knowledge and deal with professional works.  Their practitioners often refer to them as the 5th Veda. 
    Ayur Veda deals with medicine and health.

    Dhanur Veda and Shhastra Shastra are related to the science archery, military and war.

    Gandharva Veda and Natya Shastra teach music and dance.

    Sthapatya Veda and Shilpa Shastra deal with arts, crafts and architecture.

    Artha Shastra teaches politics and economics.

Krushna Dwaipayan Vyasa wrote a number of Purans and the Mahabharata to elaborate on the subtle philosophy of the Vedas.  There are 18 main Puranas, 18 minor Purans and 18 sub sub Purans.  Puranas are the repository of Indian’s sacred mythologies, folklore and philosophy.  They are dedicated to further the faith of the followers of a particular God or an avatar of Braham, Vishnu, Shiva or Devi.  Hence each Purana speaks as if the entire universe revolves around the chief deity of that Purana.  Unless you are familiar with the polymorphic nature of Hinduism, whereby the supreme spirit can take any form and still remain the supreme spirit, it can get rather confusing and you would assume the Puranas were at logger heads with one another.  This is certainly not the case.  Puranas are confirm the faith of the faithful and take it further by giving them positive role models of other devotes of their particular deity.  Puranas list the creation of the universe, birth of divine beings, sages, cosmology, geography, genealogies of great beings, list of royal dynasties, philosophy, stories of heroes & villains, cycles of creation & destruction along with specific mythologies related to the chief deity of that particular Purana.

Alphabetical list of 18 main purans

There are 2 Itihases dealing with ancient histories. 

Ramayan has 24,000 verses dealing with the lives of the Surya vansha kings of the Solar dynasty.

Mahabharata has 110,000 verses dealing with lives of Chandra vansha kings of the Lunar dynasty.

Tevarams hymns are of South Indian Shaiva origin and are credited with starting the Bhakti movement that spread to the rest of India.  

Divya Prabandha hymns are of South Indian Vaishnav origin and were composed by the 12 Alvar saints.  They are also called Dravida Veda.

In the post Vedic period when idol worship largely replaced yagna (fire) worship, several Agama texts were written to help priests worship the deity in (human) form.  There are several Vaishnav, Shiva and Shakta Agamas.

Tantra literature is very extensive and has a large number of scriptures dealing with esoteric knowledge.  The language of the Tantra is deliberately confusing and it is often vulgar to deter the casual enquirer.

Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, Ramcharit Manas of Tulsidas, Abhangas of saints in Maharastra, Padas (of Pushti Marg) and works of saints such as Jyaneshwar are also seen as important scriptures by Hindus.

 
Countles works of saints and scholars of various sects are considered to be sacred scriptures by their followers.  Hindu rishis, sages and saints come from all castes and creeds and are of any gender.  They express their spiritual insights in various ways (prose, songs, lectures, scriptures etc).  Though some of these works are lost in the current of Kala (Time), much has been preserved by oral tradition of their followers and brahmin scholars over the centuries.  Palm leaf manuscripts, preserved in temples, monastries and private libraries, also help retain some of this ancient literature.  With advent of IT, some of this precious knowledge is being digitised and preserved for the future generations.

(Shrutis) Veda Samhitas > Upnishads > (Smrutis) UpaVedas > Puranas > Itihasas > Divya Prabandha > Agamas > Tantras

Resources :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_scriptures

http://www.freebsd.nfo.sk/hinduism/literatura.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads

Please note, this article is compiled and edited with source material from several books and websites.

© Bhagwat  Shah
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