A report on Vedas

Four Vedas
The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.
Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari
A page from the Taittiriya Samhita, a layer of text within the Yajurveda

The Vedas (,, वेदः) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India.

- Vedas
Four Vedas

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Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra

Mahabharata

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One of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa.

One of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa.

Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra
Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th–19th-century painting
Modern depiction of Vyasa narrating the Mahābhārata to Ganesha at the Murudeshwara temple, Karnataka.
Sauti recites the slokas of the Mahabharata.
Vyasa Reviewing Mahabharata
The snake sacrifice of Janamejaya
Map of some Painted Grey Ware (PGW) sites.
Ganesha writes the Mahabharata upon Vyasa's dictation.
Shantanu falls in love with Satyavati, the fisherwoman. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.
Draupadi with her five husbands – the Pandavas. The central figure is Yudhishthira; the two on the bottom are Bhima and Arjuna. Nakula and Sahadeva, the twins, are standing. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma, c. 1900.
Arjuna piercing the eye of the fish as depicted in Chennakesava Temple built by Hoysala Empire
Draupadi humiliated
A scene from the Mahābhārata war, Angkor Wat: A black stone relief depicting several men wearing a crown and a dhoti, fighting with spears, swords, and bows. A chariot with half the horse out of the frame is seen in the middle.
Gandhari, blindfolded, supporting Dhrtarashtra and following Kunti when Dhritarashtra became old and infirm and retired to the forest. A miniature painting from a 16th-century manuscript of part of the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the Mahabharata
Bhishma on his death-bed of arrows with the Pandavas and Krishna. Folio from the Razmnama (1761–1763), Persian translation of the Mahabharata, commissioned by Mughal emperor Akbar. The Pandavas are dressed in Persian armour and robes.
The Pandavas and Krishna in an act of the Javanese wayang wong performance
Krishna as portrayed in Yakshagana from Karnataka which is based largely on stories of Mahabharata
Depiction of wedding procession of Lord Neminatha. The enclosure shows the animals that are to be slaughtered for food for weddings. Overcome with Compassion for animals, Neminatha refused to marry and renounced his kingdom to become a Shramana

It is generally agreed that "Unlike the Vedas, which have to be preserved letter-perfect, the epic was a popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to changes in language and style," so the earliest 'surviving' components of this dynamic text are believed to be no older than the earliest 'external' references we have to the epic, which may include an allusion in Panini's 4th century BCE grammar Aṣṭādhyāyī 4:2:56.

Painting of Adi Shankara, exponent of Advaita Vedanta with his disciples by Raja Ravi Varma

Adi Shankara

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Adi Shankara (8th cent.

Adi Shankara (8th cent.

Painting of Adi Shankara, exponent of Advaita Vedanta with his disciples by Raja Ravi Varma
The birthplace of Adi Shankara at Kalady
Adi Sankara Keerthi Sthampa Mandapam, Kalady, Kochi
Murti of Shankara at his Samadhi Mandir, behind Kedarnath Temple, in Kedarnath, India
Murti of Shankara at the SAT Temple in Santa Cruz, California
Vidyashankara temple at Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Shringeri

Most mention Shankara studying the Vedas, Upanishads and Brahmasutra with Govindapada, and Shankara authoring several key works in his youth, while he was studying with his teacher.

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Shatapatha Brahmana

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Commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda.

Commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda.

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A miniature replica of the Falcon altar (with yajna utensils) used during Athirathram
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Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the Vedas), it contains detailed explanations of Vedic sacrificial rituals, symbolism, and mythology.

Charvaka

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Ancient school of Indian materialism or hedonism.

Ancient school of Indian materialism or hedonism.

It rejects the authority of Vedas or any sacred scriptures and opposed the Vaidika dharma.

A Sanskrit manuscript page of Lotus Sutra (Buddhism) from South Turkestan in Brahmi script

Sutra

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Aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text.

Aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text.

A Sanskrit manuscript page of Lotus Sutra (Buddhism) from South Turkestan in Brahmi script
A manuscript page from Kalpa Sūtra (Jainism)
A 17th-century birch bark manuscript of ancient Panini Sutra, a treatise on grammar, found in Kashmir.

The oldest sutras of Hinduism are found in the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of the Vedas.

A Jain monk

Śramaṇa

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Śramaṇa (Sanskrit; Pali: samaṇa) means "one who labours, toils, or exerts themselves (for some higher or religious purpose)" or "seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic".

Śramaṇa (Sanskrit; Pali: samaṇa) means "one who labours, toils, or exerts themselves (for some higher or religious purpose)" or "seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic".

A Jain monk
23rd Jain Tirthankar, Parshwanatha re-organized the shraman sangha in 9th century BCE.

Part of the śramaṇa tradition retained their distinct identity from Hinduism by rejecting the epistemic authority of the Vedas, while a part of the śramaṇa tradition became part of Hinduism as one stage in the Ashrama dharma, that is as renunciate sannyasins.

The verses 1-2 of Baudhayana Shulba Sutra state that the squares of any rectangle's width and length add up to the square of its diagonal. This is one of the earliest descriptions of Pythagorean theorem, appearing many centuries before Pythagoras.

Kalpa (Vedanga)

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The verses 1-2 of Baudhayana Shulba Sutra state that the squares of any rectangle's width and length add up to the square of its diagonal. This is one of the earliest descriptions of Pythagorean theorem, appearing many centuries before Pythagoras.

Kalpa (कल्प) means "proper, fit" and is one of the six disciplines of the Vedānga, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism.

Sukadeva Gosvami addressing Pariksit.

Bhagavata Purana

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One of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (Mahapuranas).

One of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (Mahapuranas).

Sukadeva Gosvami addressing Pariksit.
Depiction of Brahma's anger and the origin of Shiva from the former's eyebrows, when the Four Kumaras decide immediately to perform penance before helping their father in creation.
Vidura admonishes Dhritarashtra.
Vishnu appears before Dhruva
Rsabha.
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Nrsimha and Prahlada (R).
Vamana with Bali.
Parashurama
Hamsa
Kalki
Kapila Muni.
Sringeri Sharada Peetham is one of the Hindu Advaita Vedanta matha or monastery established by Adi Shankara.
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Chaitanya (1486–1534 CE)
Kuvalayapida Slain

The text presents a form of religion (dharma) that competes with that of the Vedas, wherein bhakti ultimately leads to self-knowledge, salvation (moksha) and bliss.

Samhita

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Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".

Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".

Saṃhitā also refers to the most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting of mantras, hymns, prayers, litanies and benedictions.

Vedanga

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The Vedanga (वेदाङ्ग , "limbs of the Veda" ) are six auxiliary disciplines of Hinduism that developed in ancient times and have been connected with the study of the Vedas: