Hinduism

== Scriptures ==
{{Main|List of Hindu texts}}
[[File:Rigveda MS2097.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Rigveda]]'' is the first among four Vedas<ref group="note">Rigveda is not only the oldest among the vedas, but is one of the earliest [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] texts.</ref> and is one of the oldest [[religious texts]]. This Rigveda [[manuscript]] is in [[Devanagari]].]]
The ancient scriptures of Hinduism are in Sanskrit. These texts are classified into two: [[Śruti|Shruti]] and [[Smriti]]. Shruti is ''[[apauruṣeyā]]'', "not made of a man" but revealed to the ''[[rishis]]'' (seers), and regarded as having the highest authority, while the smriti are manmade and have secondary authority.{{sfn|Muesse|2011|p=202}} They are the two highest [[sources of dharma]], the other two being ''[[Ācāra|Śiṣṭa Āchāra/Sadāchara]]'' (conduct of noble people) and finally ''[[Atmatusti|Ātma tuṣṭi]]'' ("what is pleasing to oneself").{{refn|group=note|According to [[Bhavishya Purana]], Brahmaparva, Adhyaya 7, there are four [[sources of dharma]]: ''[[Śruti]]'' (Vedas), ''[[Smṛti]]'' (Dharmaśāstras, Puranas), ''[[Ācāra|Śiṣṭa Āchāra/Sadāchara]]'' (conduct of noble people) and finally ''[[Atmatusti|Ātma tuṣṭi]]'' (Self satisfaction). From the sloka:
: {{lang|sa|वेदः स्मृतिः सदाचारः स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मनः । एतच्चतुर्विधं प्राहुः साक्षाद्धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ॥}}<ref group=web>{{cite web |url=http://www.vedagyana.info/maha-puranas-telugu/bhavishya-purana/brahma-parva/?chapter=7 |script-title=te:ఏడవ అధ్యాయము – 7. వివాహ ధర్మ వర్ణనము |trans-title=Chapter 7 – 7. Description of Marriage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610234713/http://www.vedagyana.info/maha-puranas-telugu/bhavishya-purana/brahma-parva/?chapter=7 |archive-date=10 June 2020}}</ref>
:''{{IAST|vedaḥ smṛtiḥ sadācāraḥ svasya ca priyamātmanah<br />etaccaturvidham prāhuḥ sākshāddharmasya lakshaṇam}}''
:– Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahmaparva, Adhyāya 7
The meaning is ''vedas, smritis, good (approved) tradition and what is agreeable to one's Self (conscience), the wise have declared to be the four direct evidences of dharma''.}}

Hindu scriptures were composed, memorised and transmitted verbally, across generations, for many centuries before they were written down.{{sfn|Flood|2003|loc=See [[Michael Witzel]] quote|pp=68–69}}{{sfn|Sargeant|Chapple|1984|p=3}} Over many centuries, sages refined the teachings and expanded the Shruti and Smriti, as well as developed Shastras with epistemological and metaphysical theories of six classical schools of Hinduism.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

''Shruti'' (lit. that which is heard){{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=68}} primarily refers to the ''Vedas'', which form the earliest record of the Hindu scriptures, and are regarded as eternal truths revealed to the ancient sages (''rishis'').{{sfn|Flood|2003|p=4}} There are four ''Vedas'' – ''[[Rigveda]]'', ''[[Samaveda]]'', ''[[Yajurveda]]'' and ''[[Atharvaveda]]''. Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the [[Samhita]]s (mantras and benedictions), the [[Aranyakas]] (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the [[Brahmanas]] (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the [[Upanishads]] (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).{{sfn|Flood|1996|pp=35–39}}<ref>A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', {{ISBN|978-0-595-38455-6}}, pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-533261-2}}, p. 285</ref><ref>Jan Gonda (1975), ''Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas)'', Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}</ref> The first two parts of the Vedas were subsequently called the ''{{IAST|Karmakāṇḍa}}'' (ritualistic portion), while the last two form the ''{{IAST|Jñānakāṇḍa}}'' (knowledge portion, discussing spiritual insight and philosophical teachings).<ref>{{harvnb|Roer|1908|pp=1–5}}; "The Vedas are divided in two parts, the first is the karma-kanda, the ceremonial part, also (called) purva-kanda, and treats on ceremonies; the second part is the jnana kanda, the part which contains knowledge, also named uttara-kanda or posterior part, and unfolds the knowledge of Brahma or the universal Self."</ref>{{sfn|Werner|2005|pp=10, 58, 66}}{{sfn|Monier-Williams|1974|pp=25–41}}<ref name="Olivelle1998Introduction">{{cite book |last=Olivelle |first=Patrick |year=1998 |title=Upaniṣads |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-282292-5 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought, and have profoundly influenced diverse traditions.<ref name="wendydoniger" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dissanayake |first=Wiman |title=Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-7914-1080-6 |editor-last=Kasulis |editor-first=Thomas P. |page=39 |quote=The Upanishads form the '''foundations of Hindu philosophical thought''' and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self |display-editors=etal}}</ref><ref name="McDowell" /> Of the Shrutis (Vedic corpus), the Upanishads alone are widely influential among Hindus, considered scriptures par excellence of Hinduism, and their central ideas have continued to influence its thoughts and traditions.<ref name="wendydoniger">{{harvnb|Doniger|1990|pp=2–3}}: "The Upanishads supply the '''basis of later Hindu philosophy'''; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus."</ref><ref name="Olivelle2014p3q" /> Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan states that the Upanishads have played a dominating role ever since their appearance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Radhakrishnan |first=S. |year=1951 |title=The Principal Upanishads |url=https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n19/mode/2up |publisher=George Allen & Co. |isbn=978-81-7223-124-8 |edition=reprint |pages=17–19}}</ref> There are 108 [[Muktikā]] Upanishads in Hinduism, of which between 10 and 13 are variously counted by scholars as [[Mukhya Upanishads|Principal Upanishads]].<ref name="Olivelle1998Introduction" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Thirteen Principal Upanishads |year=1921 |publisher=Oxford University Press |translator-last=Hume |translator-first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n1/mode/2up}}</ref>

{{multiple image
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| image1            = Rāma slays Rāvaṇa.png
| caption1          = [[Ramayana]]
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| caption2          = [[Mahabharata]]
}}

The most notable of the Smritis ("remembered") are the Hindu epics and the ''[[Puranas]]''. The epics consist of the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and the ''[[Ramayana]]''. The ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' is an integral part of the ''Mahabharata'' and one of the most popular sacred texts of Hinduism.<ref>''Sarvopaniṣado gāvo'', etc. (''Gītā Māhātmya'' 6). ''Gītā Dhyānam'', cited in {{cite book |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/introduction/ |title=Bhagavad-gītā |trans-title=As It Is |via=Bhaktivedanta VedaBase |access-date=29 December 2020 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229174201/https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/introduction/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is sometimes called ''Gitopanishad'', then placed in the Shruti ("heard") category, being Upanishadic in content.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coburn |first=Thomas B. |date=September 1984 |title="Scripture" in India: Towards a Typology of the Word in Hindu Life |journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=435–459 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/52.3.435 }}</ref> The ''Puranas'', which started to be composed from {{Circa|300 CE}} onward,{{sfn|Lorenzen|1999|p=655}} contain extensive mythologies, and are central in the distribution of common themes of Hinduism through vivid narratives. The ''[[Yoga Sutras]]'' is a classical text for the Hindu Yoga tradition, which gained a renewed popularity in the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michelis |first=Elizabeth De |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHBBDq_Ul3sC |title=A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism |date=2005 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-8772-8 |access-date=14 October 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328155602/https://books.google.com/books?id=sHBBDq_Ul3sC |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since the 19th-century Indian modernists have re-asserted the 'Aryan origins' of Hinduism, "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements{{sfn|Lorenzen|2002|p=33}} and elevating the Vedic elements. Hindu modernists like Vivekananda see the Vedas as the laws of the spiritual world, which would still exist even if they were not revealed to the sages.{{sfn|Vivekananda|1987|loc=Volume I|pp=6–7}}{{sfn|Harshananda|1989}}

[[Tantra]] are the religious scriptures which give prominence to the female energy of the deity that in her personified form has both gentle and fierce form. In Tantric tradition, [[Radha]], [[Parvati]], [[Durga]] and [[Kali]] are worshipped symbolically as well as in their personified forms.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Balfour |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3U0OAAAAQAAJ&dq=worship+radha&pg=PA62 |title=The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: Commercial, Industrial and Scientific, Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures |date=1885 |publisher=B. Quaritch |pages=60 |language=en |access-date=3 July 2023 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320150436/https://books.google.com/books?id=3U0OAAAAQAAJ&dq=worship+radha&pg=PA62 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''[[Agama (Hinduism)|Agamas]]'' in Tantra refer to authoritative scriptures or the teachings of Shiva to Shakti,{{sfn|Jones|Ryan|2007|p=13}} while ''Nigamas'' refers to the Vedas and the teachings of Shakti to Shiva.{{sfn|Jones|Ryan|2007|p=13}} In Agamic schools of Hinduism, the Vedic literature and the Agamas are equally authoritative.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dhavamony |first=Mariasusai |title=Hindu Spirituality |publisher=Gregorian University and Biblical Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-88-7652-818-7 |pages=31–34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=David |title=The Dance of Siva: Religion, Art and Poetry in South India |url=https://archive.org/details/danceofsivarelig0000smit |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-48234-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/danceofsivarelig0000smit/page/116 116]}}</ref>
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