As the great Indologist Max Muller said,
“If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed the choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solution of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant-I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we here in Europe, we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thought of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw that corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human, a life not for this life only, but a transfigured and eternal life-again I should point to India.”
The sheer number of scriptures should not be so surprising, in light of the fact that Indians have always considered all arts, sciences, and occupations as sacred, i.e. offering the opportunity to perfect one’s love for God by carrying out our activities guided by the scriptures and the sages. Hence there are scriptures for meditation, administration, love-making, dancing, grammar, architecture, temple worship, and so on and so forth.
The Fourteen Fields of Knowledge
Indian scriptures span fourteen fields of knowledge (vidya) and four complements to the Vedas (upavedas). The fourteen fields are the four Vedas (Rik, Yajur, Sama, Atharva), the six vedangas (meter, etymology, phonetics, grammar, astrology-astronomy, rituals), and the four upangas (logic, enquiry, sacred history, code of social conduct). The four complements to the Vedas are medicine, politics-economics, warfare, and fine arts.
(The Mahabharata, Ramayana, as well as Sankhya, Patañjala, Pashupata and Vaishnava, form part of Dharma Shastras.)
The Six Categories
Another method is to classify all scriptures in six categories:
1) scriptures which have been divinely revealed,
2) scriptures which have been composed,
3) sacred epics,
4) sacred legends and history,
5) manuals of divine worship, and
6) the six philosophical systems.
This is the classification that we will examine presently.
I. Shrutis
Shruti means “heard”, i.e. divinely revealed scriptures. The shrutis are also known as prabhu-samhitas (“Commanding Treatises”). They refer to the four Vedas only.
All religions trace their scriptures to the revelation given by God to a single chosen messenger… except in Hinduism. The Vedas were not revealed to a single prophet. They existed in a subtle form before creation began, and were gradually revealed to a number of sages or rishis (over 800 of them, according to some calculations) in the depth of their meditation. Each Vedic mantra is dedicated to a particular deity (devata), and set in one of 19 possible meters (chhandas).
The word veda itself come from the Sanskrit root vid, “to know.”
The four Vedas number all together over 20,500 mantras.
1. Rig Veda
It was revealed to Paila Rishi and dedicated to Agni, the fire god. It is presided by the planet Guru (Jupiter).
It is divided in ten books (mandalas), made of 1028 hymns (suktas), which comprise 10,552 mantras in total.
The Rig Veda originally had twenty-one recensions (shakhas), only five of which are still extant. It contains hymns on gods, soul, social life.
It contains the Aitareya and Kaushitaki Upanishads.
2. Yajur Veda
It was revealed to Vaishampayana Rishi and dedicated to Vayu, the wind god. It is presided by the planet Shukra (Venus).
It is divided in 40 parts (skandas), which comprise 1975 mantras in total.
It is divided in: 1) the Krishna (“Black”) Yajur Veda book (the oldest), and 2) the Shukla (“White”) Yajur Veda book (a later revelation to Sage Yajñavalkya, nephew of Sage Vaishampayana)
The Yajur Veda originally had 102 recensions (85 for the Black, 17 for the White) only four of the Black and two of the White are still extant today. It is a manual on rituals and sacrifices.
The Black contains the Taittiriya and Katha Upanishads, while the White contains the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads.
3. Sama Veda
It was revealed to Jaimini Rishi and dedicated to Aditya, the sun god. It is presided by the planet Mangal (Mars).
It is divided in:
1) Purvarcika, made of four parts (skandas), containing 585 mantras.
2) Uttararcika, made of 21 parts (skandas), containing 964 mantras.
Of the total of 1549 mantras, all but 75 of them come from the Rig Veda.
The Sama Veda originally had 1000 recensions, only three of which are still extant today. It contains devotional hymns, music, prayers for peace.
It contains the Chhandogya and Kena Upanishads.
Note: in the matter of Vedic sacrifices, the prayoga (operative) mantras are taken from the Rig Veda, adhwaryu (priestly) from the Yajurveda and the audgatra (singing) from the Samaveda.
4. Atharva Veda
It was revealed to Sumanthu Rishi and dedicated to Aditya, the sun god. It is presided by the planet Budha (Mercury).
It comprises:
1) Purvadha (“first half”), made of various discourses.
2) Uttarardha (“second half”), comprising the critical appreciation of rituals, etc.
The Atharva Veda is divided in four books (prapathakas), totaling twenty chapters (skandas) and includes 6,077 mantras.
It originally had 9 recensions, of which only two are still extant today.
It contains hymns to deities, creation stories, mantras to ward off evil and enemies, magic and tantra.
An astounding total of 93 Upanishads are found in the Atharva Veda, among which the famous Prashna, Mundaka, and Mandukya Upanishads.
Division of the Vedas
Each Veda comprises four parts:
a) The mantra-samhitas: hymns of praise to deities to attain material prosperity in this world and happiness in the next.
b) The brahmanas: manual for the performance of sacrificial rites.
c) The aranyakas: philosophical interpretations of the rituals.
d) The Upanishads, a.k.a. vedanta (“end of the Vedas”): the essence or mystical portion of the Vedas.
These four divisions of the Vedas are often described in terms of a divine harvest, where the samhita represents the tree, the brahmana the flower, the aranyaka the unripe fruit, and the upanishad the ripe, sweet fruit.
II. Smritis
Smriti means “remembered”. These are the secondary scriptures, of human composition.
A. The Four Upavedas (“Subsidiary Vedas”)
1) Ayurveda (“Science of life and health”), associated with the Rig Veda:
Charaka Samhita by Charaka.
Susruta Samhita, by Susruta, on the science of rejuvenation.
Vagbhata Samhita by Vagbhata.
Kama Sutras by Vatsyayana, on the science of healthy sex.
2) Dhanurveda (“Military science”), associated with the Yajur Veda:
Dhanur Shastra by Sage Vishwamitra, in four chapters dealing with both offensive and defensive warfare, mystic missiles, spells, etc
3) Gandharva Veda (“Science of music and art”), associated with the Sama Veda:
Gandharva Shastra by Sage Bharata on the science of vocal and instrumental music and dance as a means to concentrate the mind on God.
4) Arthashastra (“Science of politics and economics”).
Note: Other (minor) sources consider this fourth upaveda to be sthapatya shastra (“Science of mechanics and construction”), associated with the Atharva Veda.
Arthasastra dealing with the acquisition of material things like wealth by righteous means. Under this head, nitisastra, shilpasastra, the sixty-four kalas and also other physical and metaphysical subjects are included.
The kalas
According to the Vamakeshvara Tantra, there are 64 books called kalas. There are various lists of these 64 “arts”. One such list is as follows:
1. Vocal music
2. Instrumental music
3. Dance
4. Acting
5. Painting
6. Making emblems
7. Making garlands and other creations with flowers
8. Artwork for mattresses
9. Artwork for bedspreads
10. Body esthetics
11. House decoration
12. Making musical instruments operated by water (such as the jalataranga, for instance)
13. Making sound effects in water
14. Costume and fashion design
15. Making pearl necklaces
16. Hair styling
17. Art of dressing
18. Making ear ornaments
19. Flower decoration
20. Food styling
21. Magic
22. Landscaping
23. Manicure
24. Pastry making
25. Making drinks
26. Sewing
27. Making nets
28. Solving and creating riddles
29. Reciting poems
30. Discoursing on epics and poetical works
31. Reading
32. Attending theatrical plays
33. Completing verses left unfinished (samasya) by others as a challenge
34. Making cane furniture
35. Woodworking
36. Debate
37. Architecture
38. Assessing gold and gems
39. Metallurgy
40. Cutting and polishing diamonds
41. Searching for ore
42. Special knowledge of trees and plants
43. Cock fighting
44. Interpreting the songs of birds
45. Massage
46. Hair care
47. Sign language
48. Learning foreign languages
49. Scholarship in local languages
50. Predicting the future
51. Mechanical engineering
52. Strengthening memory power
53. Learning by ear
54. Instantaneous verse-making
55. Decisiveness in action
56. Pretense
57. Prosody
58. Preserving clothes
59. Gambling
60. Playing dice
61. Playing with children
62. Rules of respectful behavior
63. Art of storytelling and entertaining, (like bards and minstrels)
64. Grasping the essence of subjects.
Kautilya Artha Shastra by Sage Kautilya (a.k.a. Chanakya): a treatise on government by the prime minister of India’s first great emperor, Chandragupta Maurya.
Chanakya Neeti by Chanakya.
By Swami Sivananda
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