🏮 VEDAS [PART - 1]
#Historicalsources
📍 The word Veda comes from the root vid (literally, ‘to know’) and means ‘knowledge’.
📍 The Vedas have the status of shruti (literally, ‘that which has been heard’).
📍 They are thought to embody an eternal, self-existent truth realized by the rishis (seers) in a state of meditation or revealed to them by the gods.
📍 The category of smriti (literally, ‘remembered’) texts includes the Vedanga, Puranas, epics, Dharmashastra, and Nitishastra.
📍 There are four Vedas—Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva.
#Historicalsources
📍 The word Veda comes from the root vid (literally, ‘to know’) and means ‘knowledge’.
📍 The Vedas have the status of shruti (literally, ‘that which has been heard’).
📍 They are thought to embody an eternal, self-existent truth realized by the rishis (seers) in a state of meditation or revealed to them by the gods.
📍 The category of smriti (literally, ‘remembered’) texts includes the Vedanga, Puranas, epics, Dharmashastra, and Nitishastra.
📍 There are four Vedas—Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva.
🏮 VEDAS [ PART 2]
#Historicalsources
Each Veda has four parts, the last three of which sometimes blend into each other— the Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, and Upanishad.
SAMHITA
📍The Rig Veda Samhita is a collection of 1,028 hymns arranged in 10 books.
📍The Sama Veda consists of 1,810 verses, mostly borrowed from the Rig Veda, arranged according to the needs of musical notation.
📍The Yajur Veda deals with the details of the performance of rituals.
📍The Atharva Veda is the latest Veda and contains hymns, but also spells and charms which reflect aspects of popular beliefs and practices.
BRAHMANAS
📍The Brahmanas are prose explanations of the Samhita portions and give details and explanations of sacrificial rituals and their outcome.
ARANAYAKAS
📍 It interpret sacrificial rituals in a symbolic and philosophical way.
UPNISHADS
📍 There are 108 Upanishads, among which 13 are considered the principal ones.
#Historicalsources
Each Veda has four parts, the last three of which sometimes blend into each other— the Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, and Upanishad.
SAMHITA
📍The Rig Veda Samhita is a collection of 1,028 hymns arranged in 10 books.
📍The Sama Veda consists of 1,810 verses, mostly borrowed from the Rig Veda, arranged according to the needs of musical notation.
📍The Yajur Veda deals with the details of the performance of rituals.
📍The Atharva Veda is the latest Veda and contains hymns, but also spells and charms which reflect aspects of popular beliefs and practices.
BRAHMANAS
📍The Brahmanas are prose explanations of the Samhita portions and give details and explanations of sacrificial rituals and their outcome.
ARANAYAKAS
📍 It interpret sacrificial rituals in a symbolic and philosophical way.
UPNISHADS
📍 There are 108 Upanishads, among which 13 are considered the principal ones.
🏮 MAHABHARATA
#Historicalsources
📍 The Mahabharata consists of 18 Parvas (books) and has two main recensions—a northern and southern.
📍According to tradition, Mahabharata was composed by Vyasa.
📍The Mahabharata is truly an encyclopaedic work, and it boasts of this fact.
📍 A heroic story formed the core to which many other stories, sermons, and didactic portions containing teachings, were added over centuries.
📍 Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved.
📍 It is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets.
#Historicalsources
📍 The Mahabharata consists of 18 Parvas (books) and has two main recensions—a northern and southern.
📍According to tradition, Mahabharata was composed by Vyasa.
📍The Mahabharata is truly an encyclopaedic work, and it boasts of this fact.
📍 A heroic story formed the core to which many other stories, sermons, and didactic portions containing teachings, were added over centuries.
📍 Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved.
📍 It is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets.
🏮 RAMAYANA
#Historicalsources
📍 The composition of Ramayana can be placed between the 5th/4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
📍 Of seven Kandas (books), of which the first (Bala Kanda) and last (Uttara Kanda) are later interpolations.
📍 The Ramayana exists in the form of two main recensions—northern and southern.
📍 The language of the northern recension is more elaborate and polished than that of the southern one.
📍 The compact vocabulary and style indicate that the core of the text was the work of a single individual, identified as Valmiki.
📍 The popularity and dynamism of the Rama story is indicated by the fact that apart from the Valmiki Ramayana there are numerous other tellings of the story :-
• a Jaina version (the Paumachariu of Vimalasuri, in Prakrit),
• a Buddhist version (the Dasharatha Jataka in Pali),
• a 12th century Tamil version by Kamban (the Iramavataram), and
• The Ramcharitmanas (16th century) by Tulsidas, to name only a few.
#Historicalsources
📍 The composition of Ramayana can be placed between the 5th/4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
📍 Of seven Kandas (books), of which the first (Bala Kanda) and last (Uttara Kanda) are later interpolations.
📍 The Ramayana exists in the form of two main recensions—northern and southern.
📍 The language of the northern recension is more elaborate and polished than that of the southern one.
📍 The compact vocabulary and style indicate that the core of the text was the work of a single individual, identified as Valmiki.
📍 The popularity and dynamism of the Rama story is indicated by the fact that apart from the Valmiki Ramayana there are numerous other tellings of the story :-
• a Jaina version (the Paumachariu of Vimalasuri, in Prakrit),
• a Buddhist version (the Dasharatha Jataka in Pali),
• a 12th century Tamil version by Kamban (the Iramavataram), and
• The Ramcharitmanas (16th century) by Tulsidas, to name only a few.
🏮 PURANAS.
#Historicalsources
📍 The word ‘Purana’ means ‘old’.
📍 The Puranas were composed by Vyasa.
📍 There are 18 Mahapuranas (great Puranas), and many more Upapuranas (secondary Puranas).
📍 The standard list of the 18 Mahapuranas includes the Vishnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Shiva, Skanda, Agni, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana, and Brahma.
📍 The origins of the Puranas may have overlapped to some extent with the Vedas, but their composition stretched forward into the 4th– 5th centuries CE, and in some cases, even later.
📍 The Puranas are supposed to have five characteristics (pancha-lakshanas), i.e.,
they are supposed to discuss five topics—
• The creation of the world (sarga);
• Re-creation (pratisarga);
• The periods of the various Manus ;
• The genealogies of gods and rishis ; and
• an account of royal dynasties, including the Suryavamshi and Chandravamshi kings, whose origin is traced to the sun and the moon.
#Historicalsources
📍 The word ‘Purana’ means ‘old’.
📍 The Puranas were composed by Vyasa.
📍 There are 18 Mahapuranas (great Puranas), and many more Upapuranas (secondary Puranas).
📍 The standard list of the 18 Mahapuranas includes the Vishnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Shiva, Skanda, Agni, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, Vamana, and Brahma.
📍 The origins of the Puranas may have overlapped to some extent with the Vedas, but their composition stretched forward into the 4th– 5th centuries CE, and in some cases, even later.
📍 The Puranas are supposed to have five characteristics (pancha-lakshanas), i.e.,
they are supposed to discuss five topics—
• The creation of the world (sarga);
• Re-creation (pratisarga);
• The periods of the various Manus ;
• The genealogies of gods and rishis ; and
• an account of royal dynasties, including the Suryavamshi and Chandravamshi kings, whose origin is traced to the sun and the moon.