Vaidika Vangmaya (वैदिकवाङ्मयम्)

Post-Vedic literature includes extensive volumes of literature which can be classified as the following Auxiliary and Subsidiary Texts of the Vedas

Vedanga

Because of the difficulty in understanding the Vedas, the sages evolved a system of auxiliaries to the Vedas known as I.Vedangas, II.Veda-Upangas both meaning the limbs of the Vedas, and III. Upa-Vedas meaning subsidiary parts of the Vedas,

I.VedangasThey are six in number viz.

VEDANGA
Title	Subject Dealt With
1.Siksha	Science of phonetics or pronunciation and intonation.
2.Vyakarana	Science of the grammar of language
3.Nirukta	Etymology or the science of origin, meaning and explanation of the Vedic words.
4.Chandas	Prosody or science of composition of the hymns like meter, rhyme, paada etc. of the mantras
5.Jyotisha	Astronomy and astrology mainly directed towards fixing up of auspicious moments for the performance of the Vedic sacrifices
6.Kalpa	Science or manual of sacrificial rituals, both Vedic and domestic.

II. Veda-Upangas These are the six systems of Hindu philosophy which is known as Shad Darsanas. They are:

VEDA UPANGA
Shad Darshana Or Six  Systems Of Hindu Philosophy
Nyaya	Vaiseshika	Sankhya	Yoga	Poorva Mimamsa	Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta.

C. Upa Vedas  They are called the subsidiary Vedas. They are four in number one attached to each Veda viz.

UPA VEDA Or Subsidiary Vedas
Title	Subject Dealt with	Veda to which attached
Ayurveda	Science of life, of sound health including the art of preventing and curing diseases	Rig Veda
Gandharva Veda	Science of fine arts like music and dance	Sama Veda.
Artha Veda	Known as Artha-sastra science of economics, politics and statecraft	Atharva Veda
Dhanurveda	Science of archery and warfare	Yajurveda.

Vedas are thus a storehouse of knowledge needed for mankind, not merely spiritual but also secular or temporal. They are not compositions made in any one particular period. They are spread over a period of time; one group separated from the other probably by centuries and handed down from one generation to the other through word of mouth.

Vedangas developed as ancillary studies for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar, linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various schools of Hindu philosophy. The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.

Parisista

Pariśiṣṭa "supplement, appendix" is the term applied to various ancillary works of Vedic literature, dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of the texts logically and chronologically prior to them: the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Sutras. Naturally classified with the Veda to which each pertains, Parisista works exist for each of the four Vedas. However, only the literature associated with the Atharvaveda is extensive.

The Āśvalāyana Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a very late text associated with the Rigveda canon.

The Gobhila Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a short metrical text of two chapters, with 113 and 95 verses respectively.

The Kātiya Pariśiṣṭas, ascribed to Kātyāyana, consist of 18 works enumerated self-referentially in the fifth of the series (the Caraṇavyūha) and the Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa.

The Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda has 3 parisistas The Āpastamba Hautra Pariśiṣṭa, which is also found as the second praśna of the Satyasāḍha Śrauta Sūtra', the Vārāha Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa

For the Atharvaveda, there are 79 works, collected as 72 distinctly named parisistas.[136]

"Fifth" and other Vedas

Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra[142] and certain Puranas, refer to themselves as the "fifth Veda".[143] The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad in hymn 7.1.2.[144]

Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art. Thus, from all the Vedas, Brahma framed the Nātya Veda. From the Rig Veda he drew forth the words, from the Sama Veda the melody, from the Yajur Veda gesture, and from the Atharva Veda the sentiment.

— First chapter of Nātyaśāstra, Abhinaya Darpana [145][146]

"Divya Prabandha", for example Tiruvaymoli, is a term for canonical Tamil texts considered as Vernacular Veda by some South Indian Hindus.[28][29]

Other texts such as the Bhagavad Gita or the Vedanta Sutras are considered shruti or "Vedic" by some Hindu denominations but not universally within Hinduism. The Bhakti movement, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism in particular extended the term veda to include the Sanskrit Epics and Vaishnavite devotional texts such as the Pancaratra.[147]

Puranas

The Puranas is a vast genre of encyclopedic Indian literature about a wide range of topics particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.[148] Several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi. There are 18 Maha Puranas (Great Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas), with over 400,000 verses.

The Puranas have been influential in the Hindu culture. They are considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature).

The Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor.[154][155] The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying Vedanta themes in the Maha Puranas.[156]