1.
Hindu texts
–
Hindu texts are manuscripts and historic literature related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few texts are shared resources across these traditions and broadly considered as Hindu scriptures and these include the Vedas and the Upanishads. There are two classifications of Hindu texts, Shruti – that which is heard, and Smriti – that which is remembered. The Śruti refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts, without any author and it includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts - the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the early Upanishads. The Smriti texts are a body of Hindu texts attributed to an author. Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts were composed in Sanskrit, many others in regional Indian languages, in modern times, most ancient texts have been translated into other Indian languages and some in Western languages. This verbal tradition of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, the Vedas are a large body of Hindu texts originating in ancient India, before about 300 BCE. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. The Upanishads are a collection of Hindu texts which contain some of the philosophical concepts of Hinduism. The Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta, variously interpreted to either the last chapters, parts of the Veda or the object. The concepts of Brahman and Ātman are central ideas in all the Upanishads, the Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are known. More than 200 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. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, some in all likelihood pre-Buddhist, of the remainder, some 95 Upanishads are part of the Muktika canon, composed from about the start of common era through medieval Hinduism
Hindu texts
–
Manuscripts of 18th-century Hindu texts in Sanskrit and in a regional language (below).
Hindu texts
Hindu texts
–
A 19th century manuscript of the Hindu text
Bhagavad Gita.
2.
Hinduism
–
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
Hinduism
–
Swami Vivekananda was a key figure in introducing
Vedanta and
Yoga in Europe and USA, raising interfaith awareness and making Hinduism a world religion.
Hinduism
–
Temple wall panel relief sculpture at the
Hoysaleswara temple in
Halebidu, representing the
Trimurti:
Brahma,
Shiva and
Vishnu.
Hinduism
–
The
Rigveda is the first and most important Veda and is one of the oldest
religious texts. This Rigveda
manuscript is in
Devanagari.
Hinduism
–
A wedding is the most extensive personal ritual an adult Hindu undertakes in his or her life. A typical
Hindu wedding is solemnized before Vedic
fire ritual (shown).
3.
Vedas
–
The Vedas are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient sages after intense meditation, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas, the various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their authority are classified as orthodox. Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts. The Sanskrit word véda knowledge, wisdom is derived from the root vid- to know and this is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning see or know. The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek εἶδος aspect, not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek οἶδα oida I know. Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc, the Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means knowledge. The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the Rigveda, means obtaining or finding wealth, property, a related word Vedena appears in hymn 8.19.5 of the Rigveda. It was translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith as ritual lore, as studying the Veda by the 14th century Indian scholar Sayana, as bundle of grass by Max Müller, Vedas are called Maṛai or Vaymoli in parts of South India. Marai literally means hidden, a secret, mystery, in some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts, the Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BC, and the circum-Vedic texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age, Michael Witzel gives a time span of c.1500 to c. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BC the only record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period
Vedas
–
Rigveda (
padapatha) manuscript in
Devanagari
4.
Rigveda
–
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, a good deal of the language is still obscure and many hymns as a consequence seem unintelligible. The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities, for each deity series the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, and the number of hymns per book increases. In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. 1700–1100 BC has also been given, some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it probably the worlds oldest religious text in continued use. This redaction also included some additions and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi, the Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the texts fidelity and meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections and this interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period, the oral tradition still continued into recent times. The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age, the family books, mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books, they are arranged by length and account for 38% of the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a deity, Agni comes first, Indra comes second. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi and his family of students, within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format, the eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest, they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, however, adds Witzel, some hymns in Mandala 8,1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas. The first mandala has an arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta intended for various rituals, the sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc, which are further analysed into units of verse called pada
Rigveda
–
Rigveda (
padapatha) manuscript in
Devanagari, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction ("śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ;; Aum(3);;"), the first line has the opening words of RV.1.1.1 (agniṃ; iḷe; puraḥ-hitaṃ; yajñasya; devaṃ; ṛtvijaṃ). The
Vedic accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red.
5.
Yajurveda
–
The Yajurveda is the Veda of prose mantras. An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire, Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurvedas composition is unknown, and estimated by scholars to be around 1200 to 1000 BCE, the Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the black Yajurveda and the white Yajurveda. The term black implies the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the white which implies the well arranged, the black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into the modern times. The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, the middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection. The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads and these include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad. Yajurveda is a compound Sanskrit word, composed of yajus and veda, monier-Williams translates yajus as religious reverence, veneration, worship, sacrifice, a sacrificial prayer, formula, particularly mantras muttered in a peculiar manner at a sacrifice. Johnson states yajus means prose formulae or mantras, contained in the Yajur Veda, michael Witzel interprets Yajurveda to mean a knowledge text of prose mantras used in Vedic rituals. Ralph Griffith interprets the name to mean knowledge of sacrifice or sacrificial texts, carl Olson states that Yajurveda is a text of mantras that are repeated and used in rituals. The Yajurveda text includes Shukla Yajurveda of which about 16 recensions are known, only two recensions of the Shukla Yajurveda have survived, Madhyandina and Kanva, and others are known by name only because they are mentioned in other texts. These two recensions are nearly the same, except for few differences, in contrast to Shukla Yajurveda, the four surviving recensions of Krishna Yajurveda are very different versions. The samhita in the Shukla Yajurveda is called the Vajasaneyi Samhita, the name Vajasaneyi is derived from Vajasaneya, patronymic of sage Yajnavalkya, and the founder of the Vajasaneyi branch. There are two surviving recensions of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, Vajasaneyi Madhyandina and Vajasaneyi Kanva, there are four surviving recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda – Taittirīya saṃhitā, Maitrayani saṃhitā, Kaṭha saṃhitā and Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā. A total of eighty six recensions are mentioned to exist in Vayu Purana, the Katha school is referred to as a sub-school of Carakas in some ancient texts of India, because they did their scholarship as they wandered from place to place. The best known and best preserved of these recensions is the Taittirīya saṃhitā, some attribute it to Tittiri, a pupil of Yaksa and mentioned by Panini. The text is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda, the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā or the Caraka-Kaṭha saṃhitā, according to tradition was compiled by Katha, a disciple of Vaisampayana. Like the Maitrayani Samhita, it offers more detailed discussion of some rituals than the younger Taittiriya samhita that frequently summarizes such accounts. The Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā or the Kapiṣṭhala-Kaṭha saṃhitā, named after the sage Kapisthala is extant only in some large fragments and this text is practically a variant of the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā
Yajurveda
–
Yajurveda text describes formula and mantras to be muttered during sacrificial fire (yajna) rituals, shown. Offerings are typically ghee (clarified butter), grains, aromatic seeds, and cow milk.
Yajurveda
–
Ashvamedhika parva of the Hindu epic
Mahabharata describes the year long ceremony according to Yajurveda.
6.
Atharvaveda
–
The Atharva is the knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life. The text is the fourth Veda, but has been an addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. The Atharvaveda is composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and it is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books. About a sixth of the Atharvaveda text adapts verses from the Rigveda, and except for Books 15 and 16, two different recensions of the text – the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into modern times. Reliable manuscripts of the Paippalada edition were believed to have been lost, the Atharvaveda is sometimes called the Veda of magical formulas, an epithet declared to be incorrect by other scholars. Many books of the Atharvaveda Samhita are dedicated to rituals without magic, the text, states Kenneth Zysk, is one of oldest surviving record of the evolutionary practices in religious medicine and reveals the earliest forms of folk healing of Indo-European antiquity. It was likely compiled as a Veda contemporaneously with Samaveda and Yajurveda, along with the Samhita layer of text, the Atharvaveda includes a Brahmana text, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations. The latter layer of Atharvaveda text includes three primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy and these include the Mundaka Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad. Monier Williams notes that the now obsolete term for fire used to be Athar, the name Atharvaveda, states Laurie Patton, is for the text being Veda of the Atharvāṇas. The oldest name of the text, according to its own verse 10.7.20, was Atharvangirasah, each school called the text after itself, such as Saunakiya Samhita, meaning the compiled text of Saunakiya. The Atharvan and Angiras names, states Maurice Bloomfield, imply different things, over time, the positive auspicious side came to be celebrated and the name Atharva Veda became widespread. The latter name Angiras which is linked to Agni and priests in the Vedas, states George Brown, michael Witzel states Atharvan roots may be *atharwan or priest, sorcerer, with links to Avestan āθrauuan priest and Tocharian <*athr, superior force. The Atharvaveda is also referred to as Bhrgvangirasah and Brahmaveda, after Bhrigu. The Atharvaveda is a collection of 20 books, with a total of 730 hymns of about 6,000 stanzas. The Caraṇavyuha, a later era Sanskrit text, states that the Atharvaveda had nine shakhas, or schools, paippalāda, stauda, mauda, śaunakīya, jājala, jalada, brahmavada, devadarśa and cāraṇavaidyā. Of these, only the Shaunakiya recension, and the recently discovered manuscripts of Paippalāda recension have survived. The Paippalāda edition is more ancient, the two recensions differ in how they are organized, as well as content. For example, the Book 10 of Paippalada recension is more detailed, more developed and more conspicuous in describing monism, the concept of oneness of Brahman, all life forms, the Atharvaveda Samhita originally was organized into 18 books, and the last two were added later
Atharvaveda
–
Rishi Caraka (above), the author of
Caraka Samhita credits Atharvaveda as an inspiration.
Atharvaveda
–
A page from the Atharva Veda
Samhita, its most ancient layer of text.
7.
Upanishads
–
The Upanishads are a collection of ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts of Hinduism, some of which are shared with Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Early Upanishads are considered by Hindus as part of their scriptures that discuss the nature of ultimate reality, the Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta, variously interpreted to mean either the last chapters, parts of the Veda or the object, the highest purpose of the Veda. The concepts of Brahman and Ātman are central ideas in all the Upanishads, the Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are known. More than 200 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. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, five of them in all likelihood pre-Buddhist, of the remainder, some 95 Upanishads are part of the Muktika canon, composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through about 15th-century CE. New Upanishads, beyond the 108 in the Muktika canon, continued to be composed through the modern and modern era. Along with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutra, the mukhya Upanishads provide a foundation for the later schools of Vedanta, among them. With the translation of the Upanishads in the early 19th century they started to attract attention from a western audience. Arthur Schopenhauer was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called it the production of the highest human wisdom, modern era Indologists have discussed the similarities between the fundamental concepts in the Upanishads and major western philosophers. The Sanskrit term Upaniṣad translates to sitting down near, referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving esoteric knowledge, monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary adds that, According to native authorities Upanishad means setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit. Adi Shankara explains in his commentary on the Kaṭha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that the word means Ātmavidyā, other dictionary meanings include esoteric doctrine and secret doctrine. The word appears in the verses of many Upanishads, such as the verse of the 13th volume in first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. The authorship of most Upanishads is uncertain and unknown, Radhakrishnan states, almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanishads. The Vedic texts themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. Women, such as Maitreyi and Gargi participate in the dialogues and are credited in the early Upanishads. There are exceptions to the tradition of the Upanishads and other Vedic literature
Upanishads
–
An early 19th-century manuscript of the Rigveda
Upanishads
–
Impact of a drop of water, a common analogy for
Brahman and the
Ātman
Upanishads
–
Adi Shankara, expounder of
Advaita Vedanta and
commentator (
bhashya) on the Upanishads
Upanishads
–
German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer, impressed by the Upanishads, called the texts "the production of the highest human wisdom".
8.
Chandogya Upanishad
–
The Chandogya Upanishad is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism. It is one of the oldest Upanishads and it lists as number 9 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad belongs to the Tandya school of the Samaveda, like Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad is an anthology of texts that must have pre-existed as separate texts, and were edited into a larger text by one or more ancient Indian scholars. The precise chronology of Chandogya Upanishad is uncertain, and it is dated to have been composed by the 8th to 6th century BCE in India. It is one of the largest Upanishadic compilations, and has eight Prapathakas, each with many volumes, the volumes are a motley collection of stories and themes. It is one of the most cited texts in later Bhasyas by scholars from the schools of Hinduism. Adi Shankara, for example, cited Chandogya Upanishad 810 times in his Vedanta Sutra Bhasya, the name of the Upanishad is derived from the word Chanda, which means poetic meter, prosody. The name implies that the nature of the text relates to the patterns of structure, stress, rhythm and intonation in language, songs, the text is sometimes known as Chandogyopanishad. Chandogya Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the part of 1st millennium BCE. The exact century of the Upanishad composition is unknown, uncertain, Patrick Olivelle states, in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards. Scholars have offered different estimates ranging from 800 BCE to 600 BCE, according to a 1998 review by Olivelle, Chandogya was composed by 7th or 6th century BCE, give or take a century or so. Phillips states that Chandogya was completed after Brihadaranyaka, both probably in part of the 1st millennium BCE. The text has eight Prapathakas, each with varying number of Khandas, each Khanda has varying number of verses. The Upanishad comprises the last eight chapters of a ten chapter Chandogya Brahmana text, the first chapter of the Brahmana is short and concerns ritual-related hymns to celebrate a marriage ceremony and the birth of a child. The second chapter of the Brahmana is short as well and its mantras are addressed to divine beings at life rituals, the last eight chapters are long, and are called the Chandogya Upanishad. A notable structural feature of Chandogya Upanishad is that it contains many nearly identical passages and stories found in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The Chandogya Upanishad, like other Upanishads, was a living document, additionally, supplements were likely attached to various volumes in a different age. Klaus Witz structurally divides the Chandogya Upanishad into three natural groups, the first group comprises chapters I and II, which largely deal with the structure, stress and rhythmic aspects of language and its expression, particularly with the syllable Om
Chandogya Upanishad
–
The Chandogya Upanishad describes natural phenomena such as a thunderstorm as a form of chant.
Chandogya Upanishad
–
Ahimsa - non-violence in action, words and thoughts - is considered the highest ethical value and virtue in Hinduism. The Chandogya Upanishad makes one of the earliest mentions of this ethical code in section 3.17. Above: non-violence sculpture by
Carl Fredrik Reutersward.
Chandogya Upanishad
–
The Chandogya Upanishad in 7th chapter discusses progressive meditation as a means to Self-knowledge.
9.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
–
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the oldest Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad is tenth in the Muktikā or canon of 108 Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is estimated to have been composed about 700 BCE, excluding some parts estimated to have been composed after the Chandogya Upanishad. The Sanskrit language text is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, which is itself a part of the Shukla Yajur Veda, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the earlier part of 1st millennium BCE. The exact year, and even the century of the Upanishad composition is unknown, scholars have offered different estimates ranging from 900 BCE to 600 BCE, all preceding Buddhism. According to a 1998 review by Olivelle, Brihadaranyaka is one of the oldest Upanishads, along with Jaiminiya Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishads. It was composed around 700 BCE, give or take a century or so, the chronology of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. Patrick Olivelle states, in spite of claims made by some, in reality, the title Brihadaranyaka Upanishad literally means great wilderness or forest Upaniṣhad. It is credited to ancient sage Yajnavalkya, but likely refined by a number of ancient Vedic scholars, the Upanishad forms the last part, that is the fourteenth khanda of Satapatha Brahmana. It includes three sections, Madhu Kanda, Muni Kanda and Khila Kanda, thus, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has six adhyayas in total. There are two major recensions for the text - the Madhyandina and the Kanva recensions, the first and second chapters of the Upanishads Madhu Kanda consists of six brahmanams each, with varying number of hymns per brahmanam. The first chapter of the Upanishads Yajnavalkya Kanda consists of nine brahmanams, the Khila Kanda of the Upanishad has fifteen brahmanams in its first chapter, and five brahmanams in the second chapter. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad starts by stating one of many Vedic theories of creation of the universe, the world is more than matter and energy, asserts Brihadaranyaka, it is constituted also of Atman or Brahman as well as Knowledge. In the last brahmana of the first chapter, the Upanishad explains that the Atman inspires by being self-evident, through empowering forms, the Soul, states Brihadaranyaka, is the imperishable one that is invisible and concealed pervading all reality. It then asserts that this fact about dreams suggests that human mind has the power to perceive the world as it is. Mind is a means, prone to flaws, the struggle man faces, asserts Brihadaranyaka in brahmana 3, is in his attempt to realize the true reality behind perceived reality. That is Atman-Brahman, inherently and blissfully existent, yet unknowable because it has no qualities, no characteristics, it is neti, neti. Yajnavalkya states that one doesnt connect with and love forms, nor does one connect or love mind, rather one connects with the Self, all love is for the sake of ones Self, and the Oneness one realizes in the Self of the beloved. He then asserts that knowledge of the Soul, the Self, the Brahman is what makes one immortal
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
–
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad literally means the "Upanishad of the great forests".
10.
Taittiriya Upanishad
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The Taittirīya Upanishad is a Vedic era Sanskrit text, embedded as three chapters of the Yajurveda. It is a mukhya Upanishad, and likely composed about 6th century BCE, the Taittirīya Upanishad is associated with the Taittirīya school of the Yajurveda, attributed to the pupils of sage Tittiri. It lists as number 7 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads, the Taittirīya Upanishad is the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, which are also called, respectively, the Śikṣāvallī, the Ānandavallī and the Bhṛguvallī. Taittiriya is a Sanskrit word that means from Tittiri, each chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad is called a Valli, which literally means a medicinal vine-like climbing plant that grows independently yet is attached to a main tree. The chronology of Taittiriya Upanishad, along with other Vedic era literature, is unclear, all opinions rest on scanty evidence, assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Ranade shares the view of Phillips in chronologically sequencing Taittiriya Upanishad with respect to other Upanishads, Paul Deussen and Winternitz, hold a similar view as that of Phillips, but place Taittiriya before Isha Upanishad, but after Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishad. According to a 1998 review by Patrick Olivelle, the Taittiriya Upanishad was composed in a pre-Buddhist period, the Taittiriya Upanishad has three chapters, the Siksha Valli, the Ananda Valli and the Bhrigu Valli. The first chapter Siksha Valli includes twelve Anuvaka, the second chapter Ananda Valli, sometimes called Brahmananda Valli includes nine verses. The third chapter Bhrigu Valli consists of ten verses, some ancient and medieval Hindu scholars have classified the Taittiriya Upanishad differently, based on its structure. For example, Sâyana in his Bhasya calls the Shiksha Valli as Sâmhitî-upanishad, the Upanishad is one of the earliest known texts where index was included at the end of each section, along with main text, as a structural layout of the book. At the end of each Vallĩ in Taittiriya Upanishad manuscripts, there is an index of the Anuvakas which it contains, the index includes the initial words and final words of each Anuvaka, as well as the number of sections in that Anuvaka. The Ananda Valli, according to the index, state each chapter to be much larger than currently surviving texts. For example, the 1st Anuvaka lists pratika words in its index as brahmavid, idam, ayam, similarly, the third Valli lists the pratika and anukramani in the index for each of the ten Anuvakas. The Siksha Valli chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad derives its name from Shiksha, the various lessons of this first chapter are related to education of students in ancient Vedic era of India, their initiation into a school and their responsibilities after graduation. It mentions lifelong pursuit of knowledge, includes hints of Self-knowledge, Paul Deussen states that the Shiksha Valli was likely the earliest chapter composed of this Upanishad, and the text grew over time with additional chapters. The first anuvaka of Taittiriya Upanishad starts with benedictions, wherein states Adi Shankara, along with the benedictions, the first anuvaka includes a prayer and promise that a student in Vedic age of India was supposed to recite. The second anuvaka highlights phonetics as an element of the Vedic instruction, taittirĩya Upanishads emphasizes, in its later anuvakas, svādhyāya, a practice that served as the principal tool for the oral preservation of the Vedas in their original form for over two millennia. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the texts of other cultures, it is, in fact
Taittiriya Upanishad
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The eighth anuvaka of Taittiriya Upanishad's first chapter discusses what is Aum?
11.
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
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The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text embedded in the Yajurveda. It is listed as number 14 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads, the Upanishad contains 113 mantras or verses in six chapters. The Upanishad is one of the 33 Upanishads from Taittiriyas, the chronology of Maitrayaniya Upanishad is contested, but generally accepted to be a late period Upanishadic composition. The text includes a credit to sage Shvetashvatara, considered the author of the Upanishad. The text is notable for its discussion of the concept of personal god – Ishvara, the text is also notable for its multiple mentions of both Rudra and Shiva, along with other Vedic deities, and of crystallization of Shiva as a central theme. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is a Principal Upanishad of Hinduism, commented by many of its ancient and it is a foundational text of the philosophy of Shaivism, as well as the Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hinduism. Some 19th century scholars suggested that Shvetashvatara Upanishad is sectarian or possibly influenced by Christianity, hypotheses that were disputed. The name Shvetashvatara has the compound Sanskrit root Shvetashva, which means white horse. Shvetashvatara is a compound of, where tara means crossing, carrying beyond. The word Shvetashvatara translates to the one carrying beyond on white horse or simply white mule that carries, the text is sometimes spelled as Svetasvatara Upanishad. It is also known as Shvetashvataropanishad or Svetasvataropanishad, and as Shvetashvataranam Mantropanishad, in ancient and medieval literature, the text is frequently referred to in the plural, that is as Svetasvataropanishadah. Some metric poetic verses, such as Vakaspatyam simply refer to the text as Shvetashva, flood as well as Gorski state that the Svetasvatara Upanishad was probably composed in the 5th to 4th century BCE. Paul Muller-Ortega dates the text between 6th to 5th century BCE, the chronology of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. Phillips chronologically lists Shvetashvatara Upanishad after Mandukya Upanishad, but before and about the time the Maitri Upanishad, ranade places Shvetashvatara Upanishads chronological composition in the fourth group of ancient Upanishads, after Katha and Mundaka Upanishads. Deussen states that Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to and incorporates phrases from the Katha Upanishad, some sections of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad are found, almost in its entirety, in chronologically more ancient Sanskrit texts. Similarly, many verses in chapters 3 through 6 are also found, in identical form in the Samhitas of Rig Veda, Atharva Veda. The text has six Adhyaya, each with varying number of verses, the first chapter includes 16 verses, the second has 17, the third chapter contains 21 verses, the fourth is composed of 22, the fifth has 14, while the sixth chapter has 23 verses. The last three verses of the chapter are considered as epilogue
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Shvetashvatara means "carried on a white horse"
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Yoga meditation under shady trees and silent surroundings is recommended in Shvetashvatara Upanishad.
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
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Swan (Haṁsa, हंस) is the frequently used symbolic term for the Highest Self (Soul) in Vedic literature, and is used in verses 6.15-6.16 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad to discuss Moksha.
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
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History
12.
Maitrayaniya Upanishad
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The Maitrayaniya Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text that is embedded inside the Yajurveda. It is also known as the Maitri Upanishad, and is listed as number 24 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad is associated with the Maitrayanas school of the Yajurveda. The chronology of Maitrayaniya Upanishad is contested, but generally accepted to be a late period Upanishadic composition, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad consists of seven Prapathakas. The content and structure of the Upanishad is also different in various manuscript recensions, the etymological root of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad are unclear. This has historically led to a variety of names and spellings for this Upanishad, Maitra and Maitri are related words which literally mean kindly, benevolent, good will, amity, friend of all creatures. The likely root for the Upanishad is probably the name of an ancient Indian scholar, Maitra, sometimes spelled Maitri or Maitreya, the ancient scholar is also credited with a school of thought, thus giving the text the name Maitrayaniya Upanishad. Olivelle includes Maitri Upanishad among the list of principal Upanishads that were composed last, mahony suggests an earlier date, placing Prashna along with Maitri and Mandukya Upanishads, as texts that probably emerged about early fourth century BCE. Jayatilleke states, Buddhism is not far removed in time from, though it is prior to, nakamura states that although Buddhistic influence can be seen in the Maitri Upanishad, the particular terms and modes of expression of Mahayana Buddhism do not yet appear. Phillips, in contrast, lists Maitri Upanishad before and about the time the first Buddhist Pali canonical texts were composed, ranade posits a view similar to Phillips, placing Maitris chronological composition in the fifth group of ancient Upanishads and last of the Principal Upanishads. The extant recension of the text consists seven Prapāṭhakas, of several sections are Khilas added later. The last two are called as khila by medieval era Indian scholar Ramatirtha, others consider the last three sections as supplements and appendices. Other discovered manuscript versions of the Maitri Upanishad present different number of sections, ranging from 1 to 4, there are also differences in style, structure and content among the discovered manuscripts when the text contains the same number of sections. The text is a prose style Upanishad, with a collection of different sized paragraphs. The first section has four paragraphs, the second has seven, as appendices, the fifth lesson has two paragraphs, while the sixth Prapathaka is the longest section with thirty eight paragraphs. The last supplementary section, or the seventh Prapāṭhaka has eleven paragraphs some with many sub-paragraphs, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad is embedded after the Brahmana text of Yajur Veda, and in its opening passages refers to rituals contained therein. It contextually belongs to the Sannyasa Upanishads corpus, hume includes it among his list of Thirteen Principal Upanishads. Maitri Upanishad deals with the concept and nature of Atman, the question of how is joy possible, and how one can achieve moksha. in later sections it offers a debate on possible answers. Therefore, let such man, after he has laid those fires, meditate on the Self, to become complete, but who is to be meditated on
Maitrayaniya Upanishad
13.
Mundaka Upanishad
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The Mundaka Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit Vedic text, embedded inside Atharva Veda. It is a Mukhya Upanishad, and is listed as number 5 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads of Hinduism and it is among the most widely translated Upanishads. It is a poetic verse style Upanishad, with 64 verses, however, these mantras are not used in rituals, rather they are used for teaching and meditation on spiritual knowledge. The Mundaka Upanishad contains three Mundakams, each with two sections, the second Mundakam describes the nature of the Brahman, the Self, the relation between the empirical world and the Brahman, and the path to know Brahman. The third Mundakam expands the ideas in the second Mundakam and then asserts that the state of knowing Brahman is one of freedom, fearlessness, complete liberation, self-sufficiency, some scholars suggest that passages in the Mundaka Upanishad present the pantheism theory. Mundaka literally means shaved, shorn, lopped trunk of a tree, eduard Roer suggests that this root is unclear, and the word as title of the Upanishad possibly refers to knowledge that shaves, or liberates, one of errors and ignorance. The chapters of the Mundaka Upanishad are also referred to as Mundakam in ancient and medieval texts. The exact chronology of Manduka Upanishad, like other Vedic texts, is unclear, phillips dates Mundaka Upanishad as a relatively later age ancient Upanishad, well after Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kena and Katha. Paul Deussen considers Mundaka Upanishad to be composed in a period where poetic expression of ideas became a feature of ancient Indian literary works, patrick Olivelle writes, Both the Mundaka and the Mahanarayana are rather late Upanisads and are, in all probability, post-Buddhist. Max Muller states that, given the similarities, either some of the teachings of the Upanishads were influenced by the doctrine of Buddhism, some of the ideas and allegories in Mundaka Upanishad have chronological roots in more ancient Vedic literature such as Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya and Katha Upanishads. The allegory of blind leading the blind in section 1.2 of Mundaka, the allegory of two birds in section 3.1 of Mundaka Upanishad, similarly, is found in hymns of Rig Veda chapter I.164. The Mundaka Upanishad has three Mundakams, each part has two khanda, the section 1.1 has 9 mantras structured as metered poetic verses. Section 1.2 has 13 verses, section 2.1 includes 10 verses, section 2.2 is composed of 11 verses, section 3.1 has 10, combined, the Upanishad features 64 mantras. Several manuscript versions of Mundaka Upanishad have been discovered so far, the Mundaka Upanishad opens with declaring Brahma as the first of gods, the creator of the universe, and the knowledge of Brahman to be the foundation of all knowledge. The text then lists a succession of teachers who shared the knowledge of Brahman with the next generation, Charles Johnston suggests that this announces the Vedic tradition of teacher-student responsibility to transfer knowledge across the generations, in unbroken succession. The teacher answered, states verse 1.1.4 of the Mundaka Upanishad, hume calls these two forms of knowledge as traditions of religion and knowledge of the eternal respectively. The lower knowledge, states the Upanishad, includes knowledge of Vedas, phonetics, grammar, etymology, meter, astronomy, some manuscripts of Manduka Upanishad expand the list of lower knowledge to include logic, history, Puranas and Dharma. The first seven mantras of second khanda of first Mundakam explain how man has called upon, promised benefits for, scared unto and misled into performing sacrifices, oblations
Mundaka Upanishad
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The second part of the Mundaka Upanishad discusses Om as a means of meditation for self-realization.
14.
Mandukya Upanishad
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The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad is the shortest of all the Upanishads, and is assigned to Atharvaveda. It is listed as number 6 in the Muktikā canon of 108 Upanishads and it is in prose, consisting of twelve terse verses, and is associated with a Rig Vedic school of scholars. It discusses the syllable Om, presents the theory of four states of consciousness, asserts the existence, the text is also notable for inspiring Gaudapadas Karika, a classic for the Vedanta school of Hinduism. Mandukya Upanishad is among the oft cited texts on chronology and philosophical relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism, the root of Mandukya is sometimes considered as Manduka which literally has several meanings. It means frog, a breed of horse, the sole of horses hoof. Some writers have suggested the frog as the root for Mandukya Upanishad. Another root for the Upanishads name is Mānduka which literally is a Vedic school or means a teacher, Paul Deussen states the etymological roots of Mandukya Upanishad to be a half lost school of Rigveda. This school may be related to the scholar named Hrasva Māṇḍūkeya, applying the rules of sandhi, the text is also called Mandukyopanishad. The chronology of Mandukya Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain, Nakamura dates the Mandukya Upanishad to about the first or second centuries A. D. Richard King too dates the Mandukya Upanishad at the first two centuries of the Common Era. Olivelle states, we have the two late prose Upanisads, the Prasna and the Mandukya, which cannot be older than the beginning of the common era. Mahony, on the hand, states that Mandukya Upanishad probably emerged in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE, along with Prashna. Phillips lists Mandukya Upanishad before and about the time the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, ranade posits a view similar to Phillips, placing Mandukyas chronological composition in the fifth, that is the last group of ancient Principal Upanishads. The foundation of several theories in the Mandukya Upanishad are found in more ancient Sanskrit texts. For example, chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the four states of consciousness as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep. The text of the Mandukya Upanishad is fully incorporated in the Mandukya Karika, a commentary attributed to the 6th century CE Gaudapada, and is not known to exist independent of this commentary. Isaeva states that scholars, including Paul Deussen, presumed that Gaudapada may be its author, however. Scholars consider Mandukya Upanishad as a Principal Upanishad with more ancient origins, in contrast to the older Upanishads, the Mandukya Upanishad is very short, with clear and concise formulations. It has twelve terse prose paragraphs, the Mandukya Upanishad is an important Upanishad in Hinduism, particularly to its Advaita Vedanta school
Mandukya Upanishad
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The Mandukya Upanishad is one of several Upanishads that discuss the meaning and significance of the syllable Om (Aum).
15.
Jyotisha
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Jyotisha is the science of tracking and predicting the movements of astronomical bodies in order to keep time. It refers to one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism and this field of study was concerned with fixing the days and hours of Vedic rituals. Jyotisha, states Monier-Williams, is rooted in the word Jyotish which means light, the term Jyotisha includes the study of astronomy, astrology and the science of timekeeping using the movements of astronomical bodies. It aimed to keep time, maintain calendar, and predict auspicious times for Vedic rituals, David Pingree has proposed that the field of timekeeping in Jyotisha may have been derived from Mesopotamia during the Achaemenid period, but Yukio Ohashi considers this proposal as definitely wrong. Ohashi states that this Vedanga field developed from actual astronomical studies in ancient India, timekeeping as well as the nature of solar and moon movements are mentioned in Vedic texts. For example, Kaushitaki Brahmana chapter 19.3 mentions the shift in the location of the sun towards north for 6 months. The ancient extant text on Jyotisha is the Vedanga-Jyotisha, which exists in two editions, one linked to Rigveda and other to Yajurveda, the Rigveda version consists of 36 verses, while the Yajurveda recension has 43 verses of which 29 verses are borrowed from the Rigveda. The Rigveda version is attributed to sage Lagadha, and sometimes to sage Shuci. The Yajurveda version credits no particular sage, has survived into the era with a commentary of Somakara. The Jyotisha text Brahma-siddhanta, probably composed in the 5th century CE, discusses how to use the movement of planets, sun and moon to keep time and calendar. This text also lists trigonometry and mathematical formulae to support its theory of orbits, predict planetary positions, the text is notable for presenting very large integers, such as 4.32 billion years as the lifetime of the current universe. The ancient Hindu texts on Jyotisha only discuss time keeping, and these ancient texts predominantly cover astronomy, but at a rudimentary level. Technical horoscopes and astrology ideas in India came from Greece, states Nicholas Campion, later medieval era texts such as the Yavana-jataka and the Siddhanta texts are more astrology-related. The field of Jyotisha deals with ascertaining time, particularly forecasting auspicious day, a Vedic Yuga had 1,860 tithis, and it defined a savana-day from one sunrise to another. The Rigvedic version of Jyotisha may be an insertion into the Veda, states David Pingree. The mathematics and devices for time keeping mentioned in these ancient Sanskrit texts, proposes Pingree, Ohashi states that it is incorrect to assume that the number of civil days in a year equal 365 in both Hindu and Egyptian–Persian year. Further, adds Plofker, and other scholars, that the discussion of time keeping concepts are found in the Sanskrit verses of the Shatapatha Brahmana, water clock and sun dials are mentioned in many ancient Hindu texts such as the Arthashastra. Some integration of Mesopotamian and Indian Jyotisha-based systems may have occurred in a roundabout way, the Jyotisha texts present mathematical formulae to predict the length of day time, sun rise and moon cycles
Jyotisha
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Nakshatras
Jyotisha
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New millennium astrological chart
Jyotisha
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Astrology portal
16.
Puranas
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The word Puranas literally means ancient, old, and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva. The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism, the content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of authors over the centuries, in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated. There are 18 Maha Puranas and 18 Upa Puranas, with over 400,000 verses, the first versions of the various Puranas were likely composed between the 3rd- and 10th-century CE. The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism and they have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of Hinduism. The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika, because they do not preach initiation into Tantra, the Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor. The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The date of the production of the written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas and they existed in an oral form before being written down, and were incrementally modified well into the 16th century. An early occurrence of the term purana is found in the Chandogya Upanishad, translated by Patrick Olivelle as the corpus of histories, importantly, the most famous form of itihāsapurāṇaṃ is the Mahabharata. The term also appears in the Atharvaveda 11.7.24, the extant Puranas, states Coburn, are not identical to the original Puranas. In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed the original Purana may date to the time of the redaction of the Vedas. Wendy Doniger, based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas and she dates Markandeya Purana to c.250 CE, Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c.350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c.450 CE, 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c, 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. Of the many texts designated Puranas the most important are the Mahāpurāṇas or the major Puranas and these are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always counted in the same way. The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, a Mahapurana is well known, the Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to Ganesha, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which extols the goddess Durga, has become a basic text for Devi worshipers
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Purana Manuscripts from 15th- to 18th-century
Puranas
Puranas
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The Goddess
Durga Leading the Eight
Matrikas in Battle Against the Demon
Raktabija, Folio from
Devi Mahatmyam, Markandeya Purana.
17.
Brahma Purana
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The Brahma Purana is one of the eighteen major Puranas genre of Hindu texts in Sanskrit language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, another title for this text is Saura Purana, because it includes many chapters related to Surya or the Sun god. The extant text is not the ancient Brahma Purana. The surviving manuscripts comprise 245 chapters and it is divided into two parts, the Purvabhaga and the Uttarabhaga. The text exists in versions, with significant differences. Further, the Brahma Purana likely borrowed numerous passages from other Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata and Puranas such as the Vishnu, Vayu, Samba and this travel guide-like sections are non-sectarian, and celebrates sites and temples related to Vishnu, Shiva, Devi and Surya. The coverage of Jagannatha temples, however, is larger than the three, leading scholars to the hypothesis that the authors of extant manuscripts may have been authors belonging to Vaishnavism. Its presentation of the Konark Sun Temple is notable, out of 245 chapters,18 chapters of the Brahma Purana cover the cosmology, mythology, genealogy, manvantara and topics that are required to make a text belong to the Puranic genre of literature. Other chapters cover Sanskara, summary of Dharmasastra, its theories on the geography of earth, summary of Samkhya and Yoga theories of Hindu philosophy, and other topics. The Padma Purana categorizes Brahma Purana as a Rajas Purana, implying the text is related to Brahma, scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as entirely fanciful and there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification. Sohnen and Schreiner published a summary of the Brahma Purana in 1989, bhagavata Purana Vishnu Purana Shiva Purana Markandeya Purana Gudhi Padwa Gregory Bailey. Epic and Puranic Bibliography Annoted and with Indexes, Part I, A - R, Part II, S - Z, the Strides of Vishnu, Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective, Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective. Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs, the Vishnu Purana, A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. History of Indian Literature Vol 1, brahmapurana, Sanskrit Manuscript, Archived by SanskritDocuments. Org Brahmapurāṇa – Tübingen Purâna Project Version, University of Tübingen, 1982–1988)
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Deities
18.
Brahmanda Purana
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The Brahmanda Purana is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies, the text is named after one of the cosmological theories of Hinduism, namely the cosmic egg. It is among the oldest Puranas, the earliest core of the text may be from the 4th-century CE, continuously edited thereafter over time and it exists in numerous versions. The Brahmanda Purana is notable for including the Lalita Sahasranamam, and being one of the early Hindu texts found in Bali, Indonesia, the Brahmanda Purana is one of the oldest Puranas, but estimates for the composition of its earliest core vary widely. The early 20th-century Indian scholar Dikshitar, known for his arguments in favor of more ancient dating of the Puranas, most later scholarship places this text to be from centuries later, in the 4th- to 6th-century of the common era. The text is assumed, states Ludo Rocher, to have achieved its current structure about 1000 CE. The text underwent continuous revisions after the 10th-century, and new sections probably replaced older ones, the Adhyatma-ramayana thus was added to this Purana later, and it is an important document to the Rama-related tradition within Hinduism. A Javanese Brahmanda palm-leaf manuscript was discovered in Indonesia in the century by colonial-era Dutch scholars. The Sanskrit originals of these are either lost or yet to be discovered, the Javanese Brahmanda was translated by the Dutch Sanskrit scholar Jan Gonda and compared to Sanskrit texts found in India. Many of these turned out to be fradulent, sold by imposters in the 19th-century. Later rare compilations claiming to be the entire Purana emerged, states Wilson, the published manuscript of the Brahmanda Purana have three Bhaga. The first part is subdivided into two Pada, while the two have just one Pada each. The first Bhaga has 38 Adhyaya, the second is structured into 74 chapters, while the third and these published text has a cumulative total of 156 chapters. Other unpublished versions of the manuscripts exist, states Rocher, preserved in various libraries, the tradition and other Puranas assert that the Brahmanda Purana had 12,000 verses, but the published Venkateshwar Press version of manuscript contains 14,286 verses. This suggests that older versions of the Indian text may have smaller, in a different style. It is non-sectarian and reveres all gods and goddesses, including Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Surya, the text is notable for its sections denouncing all animal sacrifices. The texts philosophy is a blend of the Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy, woven in with Bhakti, the second part, which comprises chapters 5–44 of the third section, the Uttarabhāga is the Lalitopākhyāna. It describes Goddess Lalita, and includes her mythology, verses on her worship as well a discussion of Tantra and this part is written as a dialogue between Hayagriva and sage Agastya
Brahmanda Purana
19.
Markandeya Purana
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The Markandeya Purana is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The texts title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu mythology, the Markandeya Purana is probably one of the oldest in Purana genre of Hindu literature, among the most interesting and important, states Ludo Rocher. It is famous for including the Devi Mahatmya within it, the oldest known treatise on Devi as the Supreme Truth, the text is considered as a central text of the Hindu Goddess-related Shaktism tradition, with an extraordinary expression of reverence for the feminine. The Markandeya Puranas Devi Mahatmya is often ranked in some Hindu traditions to be as important as the Bhagavad Gita, the extant manuscripts of this Purana have 137 chapters, of which chapters 81 through 93 is the Devi Mahatmya. Tradition and some medieval era texts assert that the Markandeya Purana has 9,000 verses, the text presents a diverse range of topics, with socio-cultural information and symbolism for Vedic ideas and metaphysical thought. The Markandeya text is one of the oldest Puranas in Hinduism. The Markandeya Purana, states Wendy Doniger, is probably from c.250 CE, with the exception of the Devi Mahatmya, other scholars have also suggested that parts of this Purana existed by the third century. In contrast, Nileshvari Desai suggests that the oldest of extant manuscripts probably is from the 7th-century CE, the text has also been dated with the help of epigraphical evidence. The Dadhimati Mata inscription, for example has been dated to be from 608 CE, and this suggests that this part of the text existed by the 6th century CE. A complete Palm-leaf manuscript of the text was discovered in Nepal, similarly, the early 8th-century text Malatimadhava of Bhavabhuti references Devi Mahatmya, which implies the text was established and in circulation by then. Other scholars have placed it between 4th- to 6th-century CE, like all the Puranas, the Markandeya Purana, has a complicated chronology. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras, thus no Purana has a single date of composition. It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf. The earliest version of the Makandeya Purana, with Devi Mahatmya, was composed near the Narmada river. This Purana has 137 chapters, of which chapters 81 through 93 is the Devi Mahatmya, the text opens with the Mimamsa founder Jaimini asking sage Markandeya for answers to some questions raised by the Mahabharata, but never addressed in it. Markandeya asserts that he needs to go and perform some Vedic rituals, the birds answer his questions, which constitute chapters 4 to 45 of the Markandeya Purana. This discussion weaves in moral instructions with mythology, the theory of Karma, Samsara, Dharma and Shraddha verses from texts such as the Mahabharata and the Gautama Dharmasutras. The text presents its Yoga philosophy in chapters 39 to 43, the later chapters also present a conversation between the birds and sage Markandeya, but the sage is the primary speaker in chapters 45-80 and 94-137
Markandeya Purana
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The oldest surviving manuscript of the Devi Māhātmya (part of Markandeya Purana), on palm-leaf, in an early
Bhujimol script,
Bihar or
Nepal, 11th century.
20.
Vishnu Purana
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The Vishnu Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus, the manuscripts of Vishnu Purana have survived into the modern era in many versions. More than any other major Purana, the Vishnu Purana presents its contents in Pancalaksana format – Sarga, Pratisarga, Vamśa, Manvañtara, the Vishnu Purana is among the shorter Purana texts, with about 7,000 verses in extant versions. It primarily centers around the Hindu god Vishnu and his avatars such as Krishna, the Purana, states Wilson, is pantheistic and the ideas in it, like other Puranas, are premised on the Vedic beliefs and ideas. Vishnu Purana, like all major Puranas, attributes its author to be sage Veda Vyasa, the actual author and date of its composition are unknown and contested. Estimates range of its range from 1st millennium BCE to early 2nd-millennium CE. The text was composed and rewritten in layers over a period of time. The Padma Purana categorizes Vishnu Purana as a Sattva Purana, the composition date of Vishnu Purana is unknown and contested, with estimates widely disagreeing. Rajendra Chandra Hazra, 275-325 CE Ramachandra Dikshitar, 700-300 BCE, Roy, Rocher states that the date of the Visnu Purana is as contested as that of any other Purana. Vishnu Purana like all Puranas has a complicated chronology, each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a date of composition. It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf. Many of the extant manuscripts were written on palm leaf or copied during the British India colonial era, the extant text comprises six aṃśas and 126 adhyāyas. The first part has 22 chapters, the part consists 16 chapters, the third part comprises 18 chapters. The fifth and the parts are the longest and the shortest part of the text. The textual tradition claims that the original Vishnu Purana had 23,000 verses, the text is composed in metric verses or sloka, wherein each verse has exactly 32 syllables, of which 16 syllables in the verse may be free style per ancient literary standards. The Vishnu Purana is an exception in that it presents its contents in Vishnu worship-related Pancalaksana format – Sarga, Pratisarga, Vamśa, Manvañtara, and Vamśānucaritam. Vishnu Purana opens as a conversation between sage Maitreya and his guru, Parashara, with the asking, what is the nature of this universe
Vishnu Purana
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Samudra madhanam
21.
Bhagavata Purana
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The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of Hinduisms eighteen great Puranas. Composed in Sanskrit and available in almost all Indian languages, it promotes bhakti to Krishna integrating themes from the Advaita philosophy of Adi Shankara. The Bhagavata Purana, like other puranas, discusses a range of topics including cosmology, genealogy, geography, mythology, legend, music, dance, yoga. As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent devas and evil asuras and now rule the universe, the Bhagavata Purana is a revered text in Vaishnavism, a Hindu tradition that reveres Vishnu. The text presents a form of religion that competes with that of the Vedas, wherein bhakti ultimately leads to self-knowledge, liberation and bliss. However the Bhagavata Purana asserts that the nature and outer form of Krishna is identical to the Vedas. An oft-quoted verse is used by some Krishna sects to assert that the text itself is Krishna in literary form, the date of composition is probably between the eighth and the tenth century CE, but may be as early as the 6th century CE. Manuscripts survive in numerous inconsistent versions revised through the 18th century creating various recensions both in the languages and across different Indian languages. The text consists of twelve books totalling 332 chapters and between 16,000 and 18,000 verses depending on the recension, the tenth book, with about 4,000 verses, has been the most popular and widely studied. Bhagavata means devoted to, follower of Bhagavat – the sacred, an alternative interpretation of Bhagavata is devotees of the Adorable One. Bhagavata Purana therefore means Ancient Tales of Followers of the Lord, the Bhagavata is widely recognized as the best-known and most influential of the Puranas and, along with the Itihasa and other puranas, is sometimes referred to as the Fifth Veda. It is the source of popular stories of Krishnas childhood told for centuries on the Indian subcontinent. The Bhagavata declares itself the essence of all the Upanishads and derivative Smritis, One who has enjoyed the nectar of its rasa never has any desire for anything else. In northern and western India the Bhagavata Purana has influenced the Hari Bhakti Vilasa, the text complements the Pancharatra Agama texts of Vaishnavism. While the text focuses on Krishna Lord Narayana himself appears and explains how Brahma, the Bhagavata Purana is also significant in asserting that Yoga practice is a form of Bhakti. The Bhagavata Purana, in verse 2.9.32, modern scholarship dates its composition to between 500 CE to 1000 CE, but most likely between 800 and 1000 CE. A version of the text existed no later than 1030 CE, within this range, scholars such as R. C. Postmodern scholars have suggested alternate theories, the Puranas are a type of traditional Hindu texts that took form during the medieval period, often both informed by earlier material and undergoing later interpolations
Bhagavata Purana
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Bhagavata Purana manuscripts from 16th- to 19th-century, in
Sanskrit (above) and in
Bengali language.
Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata Purana
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The Bhagavata Purana has been a significant text to
Bhakti movement and to the culture of India. Dance and theatre arts such as
Kathakali (left),
Kuchipudi (middle) and
Odissi (right) portray legends from the Purana.
22.
Naradiya Purana
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The Naradiya Purana or Narada Purana (Sanskrit, नारद पुराण, are two Sanskrit texts, one of which is a major Purana of Hinduism, while the other is a minor Purana. Both are Vaishnavism texts, and have been a cause of confusion in Purana-related scholarship, to prevent confusion, some scholars sometimes refer to the minor Purana as Brihannaradiya Purana. The Naradiya Purana is notable for dedicating eighteen chapters on other Puranas and it is also notable for its verses extolling Buddha in chapter 1.2. Manuscripts of nearly all the major Puranas acknowledge the existence of a major Purana named either Narada or Naradiya, yet, unlike other Puranas which either appear in the major Purana or minor Purana lists, the Narada text appears in both lists. This caused significant confusion to 19th and early 20th century Indologists, later discovered manuscripts and scholarship established that the Narada or Naradiya is the major Purana, Brihannaradiya is the Upapurana. The Naradiya Purana consists of two bhagas, with the first called Purvabhaga and second called Uttarabhaga, the Purvabhaga has four padas with the total of 125 chapters. The Uttarabhaga has 82 chapters, which embeds the Rukmangada-carita, the Brihannarada Purana has no parts or padas, and a total of 38 adhyayas. The Narada Purana texts, like other Puranas, exist in numerous versions, the Naradiya Purana, states Hazra, was likely composed after the Brihannarada Purana. Rocher states that the date of each Purana remains unclear. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom the major and minor Puranas were written, As they exist today, each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a date of composition. It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf. The Padma Purana categorizes Naradiya Purana as a Sattva Purana, scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as entirely fanciful and there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification. The Brihannaradiya Purana is focussed on the bhakti of Vishnu and it describes the festivals and ritual ceremonies of Vaishnavism. Many chapters of the text are part of Mahatmya glorifying river Ganges, pilgrimage and travel centers such as Prayag, the text also includes chapters on ethics and duties of Varna and Ashramas, vrata and summaries on Sanskara. The text glorifies Radha as the one soul and love manifests as all Hindu goddesses. The texts secular description and verse of praises are not limited to different traditions of Hinduism, for example, chapter 1.2 extols Buddha.5.16 of the Shiva Purana, chapter 54 of the Matsya Purana and various minor Puranas. Chapters 92 through 109 of Purvabhaga are notable for summarizing the 18 major Puranas, other topics covered in the verses of Uttarabhaga include flora and fauna, food, music, dance, dress, jewelry, weapons and theories on war
Naradiya Purana
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The Naradiya Purana describes the mechanics of the cosmos. Depicted here are Vishnu with his consort
Lakshmi resting on
Shesha Nag.
Narada and
Brahma are also pictured.
23.
Matsya Purana
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The Matsya Purana is one of the eighteen major Puranas, and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature in Hinduism. The text is a Vaishnavism text named after the half-human and half-fish avatar of Vishnu, the text is notable for providing one of earliest known definition of a Purana genre of literature. A history written with five characteristics is called a Purana, states Matsya Purana, the Matsya Purana is also notable for being encyclopedic in the topics it covers. The Matsya Purana, like all Puranas, was revised and updated continuously, other scholars, such as Pandurang Vaman Kane, place the earliest version of the text to between c. The Matsya Purana, in chapter 53, includes a note stating that as a Purana, wendy Doniger dates the Matsya Purana to have been composed between 250 to 500 CE. The Matsya Purana, like all Puranas, has a complicated chronology, each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has a date of composition. It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf. The text is named after the half-human, half-fish incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu called Matsya, the Tamil version of the Matsya Purana has two sections, Purva and Uttara, and it consists of 172 chapters. Other versions of the published Matsya Purana manuscripts have 291 chapters, the text and tradition asserts that Matsya Purana had 20,000 verses. However, extant manuscripts contain between 13,000 to 15,000 verses, the Padma Purana categorizes Matsya Purana as a Tamas Purana, or one that glorifies Shiva or Agni. Scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as entirely fanciful and there is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification and it narrates the story of Matsya, the first of ten major Avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu. The text includes a similar coverage on legends of god Shiva and god Vishnu, chapters 54-102 of the text discuss the significance and celebration of Hindu festivals and family celebrations such as those related to the Sanskara. The Matsya Purana, along with the such as Brihat Samhita, are among the oldest surviving texts with numerous sections on temple, sculpture. The Purana describes 20 styles of Hindu temples, such as Meru, Mandara, the text lays out guidelines on foundation, spaces within the core temple where people visit, and then the spire. The text, though named after an avatar of Vishnu, has sections on the installation of Shiva Linga, while other chapters mention Vishnu murti, goddesses. The design guidebooks embedded inside the Matsya Purana were likely suggestions, the Matsya Purana contains, like all Puranas, a collection of chapters called the Mahatmya. These, states Ariel Glucklich, were ancient or medieval Indian promotional works aimed at tourists from that era
Matsya Purana
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Viṣṇu as Matsya returning the Vedas to Brahman.
24.
Skanda Purana
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The Skanda Purana is the largest Mahāpurāṇa, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is part of Shaivite literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati, who is also known as Kartikeya and Murugan. While the text is named after Skanda, he does not feature either more or less prominently in this text than in other Shiva-related Puranas, the text has been an important historical record and influence on the Hindu traditions related to war-god Skanda. The earliest text titled Skanda Purana likely existed by the 6th-century CE and it is considered by scholars, in a historic sense, as among the shiftiest, living texts which was widely edited, over many centuries, creating numerous variants. This Mahāpurāṇa, like others, is attributed to the sage Vyasa, haraprasad Shastri and Cecil Bendall, in about 1898, discovered an old palm-leaf manuscript of Skanda Purana in a Kathmandu library in Nepal, written in Gupta script. They dated the manuscript to 7th century CE, on paleographic grounds and this suggests that the original text existed before this time. Hans Bakker states that the text specifies holy places and details about the 4th and 5th-century Citraratha of Andhra Pradesh, the oldest versions of the Skandapurana texts have been discovered in the Himalayan region of South Asia such as Nepal, and the northeastern states of India such as Assam. The critical editions of the text, for scholarly studied, rely on the Nepalese manuscripts, additional texts style themselves as khandas of Skandapurana, but these came into existed after the 12th-century. It is unclear if their root texts did belong to the Skandapurana, there are a number of texts and manuscripts that bear the title Skanda Purana. Some of these texts, except for the title, have little in common with the well known Skandapurana traced to the 1st-millennium CE, the original text has accrued several additions, resulting in several different versions. It is, therefore, very difficult to establish a date of composition for the Skanda Purana. Stylistically, the Skanda Purana is related to the Mahabharata, the two texts employ similar stock phrases and compounds that are not found in the Ramayana. Some of the mentioned in the present version of the Skanda Purana is undoubtedly post-Gupta period. This indicates that several additions were made to the text over the centuries. The Kashi Khanda, for example, acquired its present form around the mid-13th century CE, the latest part of the text might have been composed in as late as 15th century CE. The whole corpus of texts which are considered as part of the Skanda Purana is grouped in two ways, according to one tradition, these are grouped in six saṁhitās, each of which consists of several khaṇḍas. According to another tradition, these are grouped in seven khaṇḍas, the chapters are Mahatmyas, or travel guides for pilgrimage tourists. A manuscript of a commentary on the Sūta Saṁhitā by Madhavācārya is also available and these texts discuss cosmogony, theology, philosophical questions on virtues and vice, questions such as what is evil, the origin of evil, how to deal with and cure evil
Skanda Purana
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Deities
25.
Ramayana
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The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa, the Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses, divided into seven Kandas, in Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the adi-kavya. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife. The Ramayana was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Hindu life, like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is not just a story, it presents the teachings of ancient Hindu sages in narrative allegory, interspersing philosophical and ethical elements. The name Ramayana is a compound of the name Rāma and ayana. According to Hindu tradition—and according to the Ramayana itself—the epic belongs to the genre of itihasa like Mahabharata, the definition of itihāsa is a narrative of past events which includes teachings on the goals of human life. According to Hindu tradition, Ramayana takes place during a period of known as Treta Yuga. In its extant form, Valmikis Ramayana is a poem of some 24,000 verses. The text survives in several thousand partial and complete manuscripts, the oldest of which is a manuscript found in Nepal. A Times of India report dated 18 December 2015 informs about discovery of a 6th-century manuscript of the Ramayana at the Asiatic Society library, the Ramayana text has several regional renderings, recensions and subrecensions. Goldman differentiates two major regional recensions, the northern and the southern, scholar Romesh Chunder Dutt writes that the Ramayana, like the Mahabharata, is a growth of centuries, but the main story is more distinctly the creation of one mind. There has been discussion as to whether the first and the last chapters of Valmikis Ramayana were composed by the original author. Most Hindus still believe they are parts of the book, in spite of some style differences. Some cultural evidence, such as the presence of sati in Mahabharata but not in the body of Ramayana. By tradition, the text belongs to the Treta Yuga, second of the four eons of Hindu chronology, Rama is said to have been born in the Treta yuga to king Dasharatha in the Ikshvaku dynasty. The names of the characters are all known in late Vedic literature, however, nowhere in the surviving Vedic poetry is there a story similar to the Ramayana of Valmiki. Also, in the epic Mahabharata, there is a version of Ramayana known as Ramopakhyana and this version is depicted as a narration to Yudhishthira
Ramayana
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Rama with
Sita on the throne, with their children
Lava and
Kusha on their laps. Behind the throne,
Lakshmana,
Bharat and
Shatrughna stand.
Hanuman bows to Rama before the throne.
Valmiki is to the left.
Ramayana
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Scene Ramayana, Gupta art,
National Museum, New Delhi.
Ramayana
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Rama seated with Sita, fanned by
Lakshmana, while
Hanuman pays his respects.
. PMID 4899819. doi:10.1017/s0025727300014824.
