The scriptures, as one tree

Hindu scripture is not one book but a family of them, growing out of the four Vedas. Choose a branch to see its texts; choose a text to learn what it is and to read it here, or find an edition to buy.

Stacks of palm-leaf manuscripts tied with cord between wooden covers on a carved wooden shelf, an oil lamp glowing beside them

शास्त्रThe Hindu scriptures

4 Vedas

वेद

The root of the whole tree: four collections of hymn, chant and ritual formula, heard by the rishis and carried by memory for centuries. Every Veda has four layers: the Samhita of hymns, the Brahmanas that explain the rites, the Aranyakas of the forest, and the Upanishads.

1Samhita: hymns and mantras
2Brahmana: explanations of the rites
3Aranyaka: forest texts on the inner meaning of ritual
4Upanishad: teachings on the Self and Brahman

In the tradition

Shruti, 'that which was heard'. The Vedas are apaurusheya, authored by no one, revealed to the rishis and arranged into four by Veda Vyasa so that each age could keep them.

What historians say

The Rigveda's oldest hymns date to roughly 1500–1200 BCE; the other three collections and the Brahmanas follow over the next centuries, as the Vedic world moved east into the Ganga plain.

See this era on the timeline

Read on KarmaVaani

Complete texts, free to read: the three readers with Sanskrit beside the translation, and public-domain translations from the Library.

The shape of this tree follows the classification taught in Nirvana Academy's 'scripture tree' video, with the standard lists filled in where the video names a group without its members. Buying links search a bookshop for editions; KarmaVaani earns nothing from them.