Puranas | Divided into sarga, pratisarga, manvantantar, vamsa (genealogical list of kings) & |
vamsanucharita. 18 main puranas & 18 subsidiary puranas. | |
Vedas | Meaning “knowledge”. Rigveda (hymns), Yajurveda (sacrificial formulae), Atharvaveda |
(magical charms & spell), Samveda. Vedas are called aparusheya (not created by man) & | |
nity | |
Upanishads | About 200 in number. Deal with philosophy. Oldest & most important are Chhandogya & |
Brihadranyaka. Other important are Kathak, Isa, Mundaka, Prasna etc. Do not believe in | |
sacrificial ceremonies. | |
Brahmanas | Talks about vedic hymns, their application, stories of their origin. Each Brahmana is |
associated with one of the four VedasAitareya brahmana is associated with Rig Veda & | |
Satapatha Brahmana with Yajur veda. | |
Aranyakas | Meaning ‘the forest books’. They discuss philosophical meditation & sacrifice. |
Vedangas | Evolved for proper understanding of the Vedas. Six in all: Siksha (phonetics), Kalpa |
(rituals), Vyakarna, Nirukta (Etymology) Chhanda (metrics) & Jyotisha. | |
Vedanta | Advaita Vedanta of Adi Sankara. |
Ancient Books & Authors