A Brief Overview of Hindu Scriptures
- 1. 25 April 2020 Page 1 A Brief Overview of Hindu Scriptures This document gives a very brief overview of the ancient Indian scriptures. Needless to mention that all the works were in Sanskrit language which was the lingua franca of ancient India. For the ease of comprehension, we may divide the complete ancient works into six broad categories. These are – 1. Vedas 2. Upavedas 3. Vedangas 4. Puranas 5. Darshanas 6. Kavyas. 1. Vedas The word Veda means "knowledge". It refers to the four foundational works of Hinduism: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda. The Vedas are the foremost revealed scriptures of our tradition. It is the collective wisdom of our ancient seers. The Vedas are not written by any one person or rishi. The knowledge was revealed to the sages through their extensive sadhana and meditaion. These rishis are called seers as they ‘saw’ this knowledge through their inner vision. There were no devices available to preserve this knowledge in writing and so they passed on this knowledge to their students through regular practice of recitation. Thus the Vedas knowledge got preserved by hearing and so they are also called Shrutis. Sage Ved Vyas compiled all these Shrutis at a much later stage and divided into four Vedas. Each of the four Vedas is further sub-divided into four sections: Samhita (devotional poems and prayers) Brahmana (details of rituals and philosophy behind them) Aranyaka (contemplative/meditative verses) Upanishad (distilled wisdom) However, these are not strict divisions and we find a lot of overlap in the different sections.
- 2. 25 April 2020 Page 2 2. Upavedas Upavedas are secondary bodies of knowledge. Roughly speaking, while the Vedas are spiritual in nature, the Upavedas are secular. In other words, while the Vedas focus on the inner world, the Upavedas focus on the outer world. The four Upavedas are: Ayurveda (texts of health and wellness), Artha-veda (texts of economics, politics, governance, etc.), Gandharva-veda (texts dealing with the various arts) Sthapatya-veda (texts of engineering, architecture, et al) Texts like Shushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita, and Ashtanga Hridaya come under Ayurveda. Texts like Arthashastra, Panchatantra, and Hitopadesha come under Artha- veda. Texts like Kamasutra and Natyashastra come under Gandharva-veda. Texts like Manasara Mayamatam, Vishvarupam, and Rupavastumandana come under Sthapatya- veda. 3. Vedangas Vedangas are branches of knowledge that are necessary in order to learn the Vedas. They build a strong foundation in the language. There are six subjects that come under the Vedanga: Siksha (pronunciation, phonetics) Vyakarana (grammar) Nirukta (semantic etymology) Chandas (prosody, poetic meters) Jyotisha (astrology, astronomy) Kalpa (rituals, law, et al). 4. Puranas Puranas are old episodes and stories that were composed for the education of the common folk. While they deal largely with fantastic stories and anecdotes of several sages and kings, at their core, they contain the philosophy of the Vedas. There are eighteen Maha Puranas (including the Bhagavata Purana, Shiva Purana, Brahma Purana, and Padma Purana), eighteen Upapuranas, the two Itihasas (historical epics) Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as the various Sthala Puranas (local folk traditions). In these texts, there is a great mix of fact and fantasy, often making it difficult to separate the two. While it would be incorrect to call them history, it would be a huge mistake to ignore the historical elements in them.
- 3. 25 April 2020 Page 3 5. Darshanas The word Darshana means "point of view". It basically refers to different perspectives. Various Rishis interpreted the Vedas which were compiled by Ved Vyas and so there are many interpretations of Vedas. However, the prevailing ones are the six classical schools of Indian philosophy and three unorthodox schools. The basic difference between the classical schools and unorthodox schools is that the classical schools accept the authority of Vedas whereas the unorthodox schools refuse to accept the authority of Vedas. The six classical schools are: Sankhya (method of reasoning and enumeration) (Sage Kapila) Yoga (union of body and mind) (Sage Patanjali) Nyaya (study of knowledge and methods of learning) (Sage Gautam) Vaisheshika (study of existence and nature of reality) (Sage Kanad) Poorva Mimamsa (philosophy of rituals) (Sage Jaimini) Vedanta or Uttar Mimamsa (introspective wisdom) (Sage Ved Vyas) The three unorthodox schools are: Jaina (Jainism) Bauddha (Buddhism) Charvak or Lokayata (materialistic atheism) These nine schools of Indian philosophy pretty much cover the entire gamut of fundamental philosophy of the world. 6. Kavyas While the word Kavya means poetry, it refers to any work that evokes Rasa (aesthetic experience). In general, it refers to works of literature, poetry, epic poems, verses, historic poetry, prose, songs, and plays. When speaking of Kavya, we would do well to start with Kalidasa, who has a place among the great poets of the world. His body of work including epic poems and plays is unmatched. In the epic poem tradition, we have other greats like Kumaradasa, Bharavi, Kshemendra, Magha, Vagbhata, and Sriharsha. In the historical poetry tradition, we have poets like Ashvaghosha, Mahendravarma, Bodhayana, Kalhana, Hemachandra, and Gangadevi. In the lyrical poetry tradition, we have Halashatavahana, Bhartrhari, Jayadeva, and Amaruka. Bana, Somadeva, Dandi, Rajashekhara, and Merutunga wrote
- 4. 25 April 2020 Page 4 important prose works. Bhasa, Shudraka, Dinnaga, Vishakadatta, and Bhavabhuti were among the great playwrights. Apart from these prominent litterateurs, there are hundreds of others who have composed works of lasting importance to Sanskrit and to the Indian literary tradition. Even this brief survey of compositions in the Sanskrit language is enough to suggest the brilliance and depth of our ancestors. We are truly fortunate to inherit such a magnificent intellectual tradition that has remained unbroken for nearly 6,000 years.