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List Of Historic Indian Texts
This article attempts to capture in one place the names of books and other works written in ancient India. For the purpose of this list, we consider all books written in the Indian subcontinent up to and including the Mughal era as being 'ancient books'. Collections Each collection represents a set of books that are collectively known by the collection's name. In the list of books (shown below the table of collections), each book also refers to the collection it belongs to (if it does). Books Key * Subject Area - subject area of the book * Topic - topic (within the subject area) * Collection - belongs to a collection listed in the table above * Date - date (year range) book was written/composed * Reign of - king/ruler in whose reign this book was written (occasionally a book could span reigns) * Reign Age - extent of the reign * Geographic Region - as it was known at the time of writing See also * Indian literature * Timeline of Hindu texts * Sanskrit Buddhist l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient India
Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; by 4500 BCE, settled life had spread, and gradually evolved into the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of three early Cradle of civilization, cradles of civilisation in the Old World, which flourished between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE in present-day Pakistan and north-western India. Early in the second millennium BCE, 4.2 kiloyear event, persistent drought caused the population of the Indus Valley to scatter from large urban centres to villages. Rigvedic tribes, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from Central Asia in several Indo-Aryan migration theory, waves of migration. The Vedic Period of the Vedic people in northern India (1500–500 BCE) was marked by the composition of their extensive collections of hymns (Vedas). The social structure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dharmaśāstra
''Dharmaśāstra'' () are Sanskrit Puranic Smriti texts on law and conduct, and refer to treatises (shastras, śāstras) on Dharma. Like Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are also elaborate law commentaries based on vedas, Dharmashastra themselves evolved from dharmshutra. There are many Dharmashastras, variously estimated to number from 18 to over 100. Each of these texts exists in many different versions, and each is rooted in Dharmasutra texts dated to the 1st millennium BCE that emerged from Kalpa (Vedanga) studies in the Vedic era. The textual corpus of Dharmaśāstra were composed in poetic verse, and are part of the Hindu Smritis, constituting divergent commentaries and treatises on ethics particularly duties, and responsibilities to oneself and family as well as those required as a member of society. The texts include discussion of Ashrama (stage), ashrama (stages of life), varna (Hinduism), varna (social classes), Puruṣārtha, purushartha (proper g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sushruta Samhita
The ''Sushruta Samhita'' (, ) is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and one of the most important such treatises on this subject to survive from the ancient world. The ''Compendium of Sushruta, Suśruta'' is one of the foundational texts of Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine originating from the Atharvaveda), alongside the ''Charaka Samhita, Charaka-Saṃhitā'', ''the Bhela Samhita, Bhela-Saṃhitā'', and the medical portions of the Bower Manuscript. It is one of the two foundational Hindu texts on the medical profession that have survived from ancient India. The ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' is of great historical importance because it includes historically unique chapters describing surgical training, instruments and procedures. The oldest surviving manuscript of the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' is MS Kathmandu KL 699, a palm-leaf manuscript preserved at the Kaiser library, Kaiser Library, Nepal that is datable to 878 CE. History Date The most detailed and extensive considerati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taittiriya Shakha
The ''Taittirīya Shakha'' (Sanskrit, loosely meaning 'Branch or School of the sage Tittiri'), is a ''shakha'' (i.e. 'branch', 'school', or Recension, rescension) of the Black Yajurveda, Krishna (black) Yajurveda. The Taittiriyas are themselves divided into numerous sub-schools. Among these, the followers of Baudhayana and Apastamba Dharmasutra, Apastamba were found all over South India (including Maharashtra), while the Hiranyakeshins were found mainly in Konkan and Western Maharashtra. The Vaikhanasas have a more eastern presence- around Tirupati and Chennai. The Vadhulas are present currently in Kerala and earlier in adjacent parts of Tamil Nadu. The Agniveshyas, a subdivision of the Vadhula immigrants from Malabar Coast, Malabar, are found around Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The Apastamba, Hiranyakeshin, Vaikhanasa and Baudhayana schools have survived with all their texts intact, it consists of the ''Taittirīya Samhita'' ('TS'), Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, ''Taittirīya Brahmana'' (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angiras (sage)
Angiras ( (stem), , , nominative singular , , , rendered Angirā in Hindi) was a Vedic rishi (sage) of Hinduism. He is described in the ''Rigveda'' as a teacher of divine knowledge, a mediator between men and gods, as well as stated in other hymns to be the first of Agni-devas (fire gods). In some texts, he is considered to be one of the seven great sages or '' Saptarishis'', but in others he is mentioned but not counted in the list of seven great sages. In some manuscripts of ''Atharvaveda'', the text is attributed to "Atharvangirasah", which is a compound of sage Atharvan and Angira. The student family of Angira are called "Angira", and they are credited to be the authors of some hymns in the first, second, fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth books of the ''Rigveda''. By the time of the composition of the Rigveda, the Angirases were an old Rishi clan, and were stated to have participated in several events. Texts Many hymns of the ''Rigveda'' credit the Angirases as their au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atharva Veda
The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (, , from ''wikt:अथर्वन्, अथर्वन्'', "priest" and ''wikt:वेद, वेद'', "knowledge") or is the "knowledge storehouse of ''wikt:अथर्वन्, atharvans'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), "Veda and Upanishad," in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, , page 38 The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.Laurie Patton (1994), ''Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation,'' State University of New York Press, , page 57 The language of the Atharvaveda is different from Rigvedic Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European archaisms. It is a collection of 730 Music of India#History, hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books.Maurice Bloomfield''The Atharvaveda'' Harvard University Press, pages 1-2 About a sixth of the Atharvaveda texts adapt verses from the Rigveda, and exce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sama Veda
The ''Samaveda'' (, , from '' सामन्'', "song" and ''वेद'', "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and is one of the sacred scriptures in Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses. All but 75 verses have been taken from the Rigveda. Three recensions of the ''Samaveda'' have survived, and variant manuscripts of the Veda have been found in various parts of India. While its earliest parts are believed to date from as early as the Rigvedic period, the existing samhita text dates from the post-Rigvedic Mantra period of Vedic Sanskrit, between c. 1200 and 1000 BCE or "slightly rather later," roughly contemporary with the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda. Along with the Samhita layer of text, the ''Samaveda'' includes Brahmana texts, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations (Upanishads). These layers of the compilation date from the post-Rigvedic Mantr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yajur Veda
The ''Yajurveda'' (, , from यजुस्, "worship", and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism'' (Editor: Gavin Flood), Blackwell, , pages 76–77 An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual-offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire. Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurveda's composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda. The Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the "black" or "dark" (''Krishna'') Yajurveda and the "white" or "bright" (''Shukla'') Yajurveda. The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" which implies t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saraswati
Saraswati (, ), also spelled as Sarasvati, is one of the principal Devi, goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of knowledge, education, learning, arts, speech, poetry, music, purification, language and culture. Together with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati, she forms the trinity of chief goddesses, known as the Tridevi. Sarasvati is a pan-Indian deity, venerated not only in Hinduism but also in Jainism and Buddhism.Ludvik (2007), pp. 1, 11. She is one of the prominent goddesses in the Historical Vedic religion, Vedic tradition (1500 to 500 BCE) who retains her significance in later Hinduism. In the Vedas, her characteristics and attributes are closely connected with the Sarasvati River, making her one of the earliest examples of a Rivers in Hinduism, river goddess in Indian tradition. As a deity associated with a river, Sarasvati is revered for her dual abilities to purify and to nurture fertility. In later Vedic literature, particularly the Brahmanas, Sarasvati is i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the disputed Kashmir region, first through the Indian-administered Ladakh, and then the Pakistani administered Gilgit Baltistan, Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. It is bounded by the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang to the northeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east (both parts of China), by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, by Pakistan to the west, and by Afghanistan to the northwest. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, ... The southern and southeastern portions constitute the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian- and Pakistani-administered portions are divided by a "line of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapta Sindhu
The Rigveda refers to a number of rivers located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, from Gandhara to Kurukshetra. Rigvedic geography Identification of Rigvedic hydronyms has engaged multiple historians; it is the single most important way of establishing the geography and chronology of the early Vedic period. Rivers with certain identifications stretch from eastern Afghanistan to the western Gangetic plain, clustering in the Punjab. The Rigveda mentions the ''sapta-sindhavaḥ'' (, seven rivers), along with other rivers: ''Sapta-sindhavaḥ'' is cognate with Avestan ''hapta həndu'', and is interpreted as referring to Punjab. The region's name comes from پنج, ''panj'', 'five' and آب, ''āb'', 'water' thus " five waters", a Persian calque of the Indo-Aryan ''Pancha-nada'' meaning "five rivers". The same names were often imposed on different rivers as the Vedic culture migrated eastward from around Afghanistan (where they stayed for a considerable time) to the subco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
