Hindu Scriptures - Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Tantras, and Puranas

[JaneSmith105]

Four Vedas—Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda—considered to be the most sacred scriptures of Hindus, are the basis for these religious beliefs. These Vedas are considered as given to humanity; they were not composed by men. These Vedas are nothing but compendiums of hymns. Three hymns—Purusha Sukta, Narayan Sukta, Sri Sukta—form the basis for Vaishnavite beliefs; and three hymns—Purusha Sukta, Sri Rudram, Durga Sukta—form the basis for Saivite beliefs. Purusha Sukta is common for both sects and is the most important and fundamental hymn for all of Hinduism. While a few other hymns are also present with respect to these sects, most part of the Vedas are composed of hymns addressed to the Devas, including Agni, Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Aswins, and others. These hymns are mostly used for sacrificial purposes by sages. Performing yagnas or sacrifices was one of the fundamental activities of yore, and these other hymns held a lot of importance then. Nowadays, very few yagnas are done, so fundamental Hinduism is mostly based on the hymns listed above. (Please note that sacrifices do not in anyway mean animal sacrifices. The most common form of sacrifices involved the offering of ghee, grains, spices, or wood into a fire accompanied by chanting of Vedic hymns.)

Other scriptures of Hindus are Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Puranas, and Tantras. Brahmanas and Aranyakas are commentaries on Vedas—they contain detailed instructions on the use of the Vedic hymns in various sacrificial rituals. Upanishads are the place where the real theology of Hindus is present; they contain detailed and intricate treatises on God and his relation to human soul. They are more than hundred in number and are a vast body of knowledge base dealing with virtually every aspect of spiritualism. Puranas constitute the popular Hinduism—they are eighteen large books in number with six dedicated to Vishnu, six dedicated to Siva, six dedicated to either of them apart from talking about other gods like Brahma and Devas. The authorship of the Vedas/Brahmanas/Upanishads is not known; especially, the Vedas are considered to have been handed down to humanity. However, Puranas have an author—they are considered to have been written by a great sage called Vyasa, who is considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu. These Puranas deal with Hindu mythology, constituting a vast body of legends. The normal context of these Puranas is about evil beings called Asurs, who normally work toward the destruction of the world and victimization of mankind. They are perennially at war with Devas. In most instances, Devas find it beyond them to fight with these evil forces—that’s when either Vishnu or Siva or others enter the scene, destroy these evil forces, and restore righteousness in this world. Puranas also contain detailed accounts of various great sages and devotees of the past, and they also contain accounts of important and ancient religious shrines. Tantras are a vast body of work that contain rituals and practices that are to be observed in the Vaishnavite and Saivite temples. Tantras also contain detailed accounts of various short-cut methods to attain God—for example, concentrating on the central portion of a rectangle or a square shape—these shapes are normally called yantras. So Tantrik worshippers use yantras for worship instead of idols or lingas. While some Tantras are highly regarded, other Tantras are frowned upon for their negative content and are termed as a leftist body of work. For example, human sacrifices used to be done in the past by some extremists, based on some methods prescribed in a few of the Tantras.

Apart from these scriptures, Hinduism has two epics, two very large scriptures, called Ramayan and Mahabharat. The subject of these epics is about incarnations of Vishnu. Vishnu, in his role as preserver of the universe, is considered to be taking various incarnations from time to time in order to destroy evil forces and restore righteousness. He is considered to have incarnated nine times until now. A future tenth incarnation is expected when God is to descend to earth and destroy evil. The first five incarnations of Vishnu were in heaven. The last four were on earth. In order to punish wicked kings on earth, Vishnu is believed to have taken birth as Parasuram, his sixth incarnation, and is considered to have roamed the earth and killed wicked kings all over. A wicked king called Ravan is considered to have taken birth in the current day Sri Lanka region to the south of India. He was so mighty that all worlds, including Devas in heaven, trembled at his name. He became so wicked that it became necessary for God Vishnu to come down to earth as Ram, his seventh incarnation, in order to kill him. The story of Ram was compiled in the epic Ramayan by a sage called Valmiki. The story of Ram got so popular that each and every language of India has its own versions, with several modifications done to the original, based on the personal preferences of the author. This way, a large number of versions of Ramayan have come about all over India and its surrounding regions. Some legends of Ram are found only in some versions, while they are not found in other versions. Similarly, there was a wicked king killed called Kans. He got so wicked that God Vishnu had to descend to earth as Krishna, his eighth incarnation, in order to kill him. Krishna was later involved in the great Indian war of Mahabharat. His exploits and those of the war were captured in the epic of Mahabharat, a huge book. Some Indians consider Buddha of Buddhism to be the ninth incarnation of Vishnu while others consider Krishna’s brother Balram to be the ninth incarnation. The tenth incarnation of Vishnu, named Kalki, is expected to come in the future. A brief description of the legends of Ramayan and Mahabharat are :-

1. Brief Story of Ramayan
2. Brief Story of Mahabharat War

Via : Prithvi