The Oral and The Written in Hinduism

Over the years Hinduism has been broken down and studied from various prisms of existence some with biases and some with truthfulness, in this process people often forget the basic structure of Hinduism. The following is a layman’s perspective of all the scriptures associated with Hindu Dharma.

Vedas (rituals)-

Ved Samhitas are believed to be the fundamental of Hindu Dharma, and often considered to be of the highest authority in Hinduism. Vedas are considered to be the oldest literature in the world, they were orally transmitted through generations, before Vyasa compiled them and hence he is often referred as ‘Ved Vyasa’. Vedas are poems which talk about nature, human connection with the nature and are rituals performances. Vedas are shruti which literally means “that which has been heard”. Vedas are eternal in nature and are further divided into four parts. Rig Veda which is the core essence of Vedic Rituals, Yajur Veda which is essentially a manual for performing rituals (Yajur Veda is often further classified into Krishna Yajur Veda and Sukla Yajur Veda), Sama Veda which is compilation of chants, hymns and beautiful melodies, and Atharva Veda which is compilation of scientific elements of Vedas it consists of very elaborate scientific explanations much of the very higher level scientific references mentioned in Atharva Veda are now lost.

Brahamanas (ritual commentaries)-

Brahmanas are commentary to Vedas. Since Vedas are inherently difficult to grasp the commentaries helps in explaining the Vedic Rituals to the practitioners, they not only explain the symbolism and meaning of Samhitas but they also contain profound knowledge which is scientific and observational in nature like astronomy, geometry. Brahmanas provide instruction for various constructions and rituals.

Aranyakas (wilderness experiments)-

Aranyakas are often confused with Brahamanas and even though Aranyakas does have some concluding portions of the several Brahmanas, they are very different both structurally and contentually hence they demand a separate study. Aranya literally means forest, and unlike Brahmanas which are to be read in village (i.e in among human civilization) Aranyakas are to be read in forest since they constitute wilderness experiments and rituals. The rituals they attempted were considered dangerous to experiment and hence the wilderness location. One of the many examples of wilderness experiments are Agnicayana, which is a fire eperiment , the successful experiments were later codified into sutras such as “surya namaskar” (worship of sun).

Vedanga (pedagogy)-

Vedanga literally mean “limbs of Vedas”. Vedanga describe Veda as a Purush (purush does not mean man it is rather a very complex term which demands a separate study but for sake of simplicity it can be referred as ‘cosmic being’ or ‘self’ ) having six limbs namely -Shiksha(phonetics or pronunciation), Kalpa(rituals), Vyakarana (grammer), Nirukta (etymology), Chandas (meter), Jyotishs (astronomy).

Purusha has six limbs, Chandas are His two feet, Kalpa are His two arms, Jyotisha are His eyes, Nirukta is His ears, Shiksha is His nose and Vyakarana is His mouth. Vedanga helps in proper utilization of the Vedas hence they are pedagogy, which is to say that they are methods and practices of teaching and learning of some concepts of Vedas.

Upvedas (applied knowledge/sciences)-

Upveda is a collection of technical works. Upvedas accompany the Vedic texts. These included Ayurveda (a medicinal science still in use, it is associated with Rig Veda), Dhanurveda (archery science, it is associated with Yajur Veda), Shastrasastra (military science) and Gandharveda (science of music and dance, it is associated with Samveda) Arthaśāstra (Economics, it is associated with Atharvaveda).

Upanishads (philosophy or Darshana)

The Upanishads are the concluding part of the Vedas. Upanishads literally mean ‘sitting near by devotedly’ .The Upanishads come towards the end of the Aranyakas. If the Samhita is likened to a tree, the Brahmanas are its flowers and the Aranyakas are its fruit yet not ripened, the Upanishads are the ripe fruits.

These are studies on philosophical and scientific elements of the universe. These are the Hindu texts that have received the greatest attention among non-Hindus.There is a good deal of speculation concerning the number of Upanishads(some estimates say there are as many as 200 of them) although around 108 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main Upanishads.

Smritis (ones which have to be remembered)

Smriti literally mean to remember. So Smritis aren’t eternal in nature therefore in most schools of Hinduism Smriti have lesser authority than ‘Shrutis’, only the Mimasa school of Hinduism considers Smriti of higher authority than Shrutis. The most popular smritis are Manu Smriti, Yajnavalkaya Smriti, and Prasara Smriti.

Bhagvat Gita (text for common Hindus)

Bhagwat Gita is the dialogue between Arjuna (the middle son of Pandu and Kunti) and Krishna (one of the avatars of Narayna/Vishnu). It is set in the backdrop of famous ‘Krukshetra war’ in which Arjuna is in moral dilemma and poses many questions and Krishna answers them. Bhagvat Gita is considered the most important text in contemporary time.

Ithihasas (witnessed events)

Itihas literally means ‘so indeed it was’ or ‘as it happened’. Itihasas constitute of the two most important Sanskrit epics ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’. The Ramayan literally means ‘the way/path of Rama’ Rama is one of the Avataras of Vishnu and the events of his life is written by Valmiki as ‘Ramayan’. The Mahabharata is the other most important Sanskrit epic which is tells the journey through the life of Pandava brothers and also introduces ‘Krishna’. Mahabharata is the largest poem written in history of humanity. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata offer deep insights into the principles of ‘Dharma’, ‘Karma’, ‘Moksha’, ‘Aatma’, ‘Brahman’ and ‘Satya’.

Puranas (theology)

Purana literally means ‘ancient’ or ‘old’. Puranas covers a vast genre of topics from the legends to lore. Puranas cover the lives and of various deities of Hinduism. Puranas are a group of 18 texts that introduces Hindus to various theological concepts such as Svarg & Narak , major gods and various tales of good over evil.The 18 Mahapuranas are Vishnu Purana, Matsya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Kurma Purana, Garuda Purana, Varaha Purana, Agni Purana, Vamana Purana, Mahabhagavat Purana, Skanda Purana, Siva Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Markendya Purana, Linga Purana, Vayu Purana, Nareedya Purana, Brahmavavarta Purana and Padma Purana. Apart from that Sthala Puranas and Skanda Purana are also included in Puranas.

It must be noted that the difference between ‘Puranas’ and ‘Itihasas’ is that Itihasas are witnessed and then written so it is a first hand account while Puranas are heard from the previous generations which means they aren’t witnessed they are writings about part events.

Agamas (traditions)

Agama literally means ‘that which has come down’ or ‘tradition’. The three major divisions of Agamas are Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Shakta. There are 28 Shaiva Agamas, 77 Shakta Agamas (aka Tantras), and 108 Vaishnava Agamas (aka Panchtantra samhitas). Agama texts describe cosmology, epistemology, precepts on spirituality and practices,the four kinds of yoga (Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Gyana Yoga) are also part of Agamas, mantras, temple construction (with extremely elaborate specifications and keeping in mind the environment), deity worship etc.

Bhashya (commentary by Gyaanis)

Bhashya are commentaries of Hindu scriptures by Gyaanis (Acharyas, Jagadgurs like Adi Shankaracharyas) or Rasik and Bhakta Saints (like Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shri Haridas Mirabai and Tulsidas).

Darshan Shastras (school of philosophies)

Darshan means philosophy and the ‘Darshan Shastras’ are the philosophical doctrines. There are six Darshan Shastras i.e Astik (orthodox) philosophies. They are:

(1) Poorv Mimansa by Sage Jaimini (to facilitate the correct understanding of the Vedas),

(2) Nyay by Sage Gautam , (3) Vaisheshik by Sage Kanad, (both Nyay and Vaishesik are the logical steps of how to determine the rights and the wrongs in terms of finding the absolute good for a person)

(4) Sankhya by Kapil (the extent of mayic creation and the Divinity beyond that. It tells that the entire mayic creation is worth discarding and only the Divinity is to be attained because that is the only source of Bliss.),

(5) Yog by Sage Patanjali(the practical process of heart purification which may qualify a person to experience the absolute Divine.), and

(6) Uttar Mimansa (Brahm Sutra) by Bhagwan Ved Vyas. All the six Darshan Shastras are in sutra form.

Also there are five major heterodox (nastika) schools — Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajnana (Agyaan), and Charvaka. It is worth noting that only the first two of them are currently practised in signifiant numbers and both of them are techinically not a part of Hinduism while the last three are almost non existant.

It is interesting to note that Atheism isn’t a part of Hinduism even though contemporary half baked modern works on Hinduism often claim they are.