The shruti refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts, believed to be eternal knowledge authored neither by human nor divine. The puranas are holy books of hinduism that date back to gupta empire in ancient india. Holy books in hinduism the galaxy of hindu literature is very vast and voluminous. These are the most ancient religious texts which define truth for hindus. The most holy of the hindu books is written in sanskrit and is referred to as the vedas. Other holy scriptures in hinduism are called the upanisads, the smrutis, the puranas, the ramayana and the mahabharata.
An overview of the hindu texts as well as access to their translation. The aryans gave hinduism its priestly language, sanskrit. Hindu scriptures and holy books are divided mainly into two categories viz sruti and smriti. Do hindus have a sacred text like bible to refer to as the canon. In this article, we detail the two different categories. The original language of early hindu sacred books is sanskrit and they. The vedas, or books of knowledge, are the foremost sacred texts in hinduism. Rather, there is a huge array of different sacred texts. The holy books of world religions sacred texts in world. Itihasas in hindu religious context this term refers to the mahabharata and the ramayana but may also be used in reference to all kinds of indian epic. The primary sacred texts, known as the vedas, were. One such definition is the followers of vaidika dharma, or those who follow the religious teachings outlined in the vedas and their corollaries. Tantric practices cross religious boundaries, and manifest themselves in aspects of hinduism, jainism, and buddhism.
However, the puranas are supposed to be complied by muni vyasa. They called the indus river sindhu, and it is from this term that hindu derives. These texts are glorious tales of the hindu trinity brahma, vishnu and maheshwar shiva. Which is the holy book or sacred scripture of hinduism. Hinduism is an ancient religion with diverse traditions such as vaishnavism, shaivism. Sruti literally means that what is revealed and smriti means that what is remembered. The bhagavad gita, usually considered part of the sixth book of the mahabharata dating from about 400 or 300 b. What are the top ten religions and what is the holy book. Unpanishads the upanishads are also called as vedantas or the end of the vedas. Sacred texts hinduism libguides at michigan state university. Hinduism download books, sacred, spiritual texts and pdf. Hindu philosophy is an attempt to outline the essence of the six classic systems of hindu philosophy, namely. Hindu texts are manuscripts and historical literature related to any of the diverse traditions.
Sruti belongs to the vedic period while smriti belongs to the postvedic period. The revealed texts were supposedly the divine word heard by a. Thus hinduism signifies the aryans culture and religious. The scriptures of the vedas are meant to guide hindu believers in their daily lives. The most ancient sacred texts of the hindu religion are written in sanskrit and called the vedas. Hindus value many sacred writings as opposed to one holy book. This is one of the most popular and accessible of all hindu scriptures, required reading for anyone interested in hinduism. Information on hinduism for kids primary homework help.
Hindu sacred literature is the most ancient of the living literatures of the world. All other schools of thought read more and download pdf. Nyaya, vaisesika, samkhya, yoga, mimarinsa, and vedanta. Hence, sruti is what ancient hindu saints heard during deep meditation. Hinduism, has many holy books, but most popular is shreemad bhagavad gita, upanishads and veda. The veda is a rather unusual collection of literature.
667 1316 317 396 943 1319 246 986 1417 1035 34 760 571 869 519 1073 647 43 1006 347 707 1130 826 1070 1423 1100 580 505 578 1406 1284 312 1303 681 967 72 1259 521 415 26 1490 246 365 1202