YajnaYajna (yajña) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras. Yajna has been a Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature called Brahmanas, as well as Yajurveda. The tradition has evolved from offering oblations and libations into sacred fire to symbolic offerings in the presence of sacred fire (Agni). Yajna rituals-related texts have been called the Karma-kanda (ritual works) portion of the Vedic literature, in contrast to Jnana-kanda (knowledge) portion contained in the Vedic Upanishads.
Indian epic poetryIndian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya (or Kāvya; Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST: kāvyá). The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which were originally composed in Sanskrit and later translated into many other Indian languages, and the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature and Sangam literature are some of the oldest surviving epic poems ever written. In modern Hindi literature, Kamayani by Jaishankar Prasad has attained the status of an epic.
JaiminiSage Jaimini was an ancient Indian scholar who founded the Mīmāṃsā school of Hindu philosophy. He is considered to be a disciple of Rishi/Sage Veda Vyasa, the son of Parāśara Rishi. Traditionally attributed to be the author of the Mimamsa Sutras and Jaimini Sutras, he is estimated to have lived around 4th to 2nd century BCE. Some scholars place him between 250 BCE and 50 CE. His school is considered non-theistic, but one that emphasized rituals parts of the Vedas as essential to Dharma.
ArthashastraThe Arthashastra (अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is traditionally credited as the author of the text. The latter was a scholar at Takshashila, the teacher and guardian of Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Some scholars believe them to be the same person, while a few have questioned this identification. The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries.
UpanishadsThe Upanishads (ʊˈpʌnɪʃʌdz; उपनिषद् ˈʊpɐnɪʂɐd) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hinduism. They are the most recent addition to the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and deal with meditation, philosophy, consciousness, and ontological knowledge. Earlier parts of the Vedas dealt with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices.
Oral traditionOral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or poetry. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledge across generations without a writing system, or in parallel to a writing system.
AtharvavedaThe Atharva Veda (अथर्ववेदः, from and veda, meaning "knowledge") or Atharvana Veda (अथर्वणवेदः, ) is the "knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life". The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. The language of the Atharvaveda is different from Rigvedic Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European archaisms. It is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books.
YajurvedaThe Yajurveda (यजुर्वेद, , from meaning "worship", and veda meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals. 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.
Nyaya(Sanskrit: न्याय, nyā-yá), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy that affirm the Vedas (an astika school). Nyaya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy were systematic development of the theory of logic, methodology, and its treatises on epistemology. Nyaya school's epistemology accepts four out of six Pramanas as reliable means of gaining knowledge – Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference), Upamāṇa (comparison and analogy) and Śabda (word, testimony of past or present reliable experts).
Historical Vedic religionThe historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism or Brahminism) constituted the religious ideas and practices among some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE). These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practiced today. It is one of the major traditions which shaped Hinduism, though present-day Hinduism is markedly different from the historical Vedic religion.
