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. To clarify the Vedas and in understanding them, over a period of time, different explanatory shastras have evolved to explain the different concepts presented in Vedas and they are grouped under Veda vaangmayam.
परिचय || Introduction
Understanding vedic literature itself developed into many branches covering different aspects of the subject. While some have developed independently (such as Jyotisha to explain muhurtas in vedic rituals, Ayurveda the science of all round health) others summarize (such as Kalpa which is a manual of material from different vedas) and a few others are simplified (like the Puranas in story format) for easy understanding (including the Mahabharata). They are sub classified as
- वेदाङ्ग || Vedaangas
- वेद-उपङ्ग || Veda-Upangas
- उप-वेद || Upa-Vedas
- पञ्चमवेदम् || Panchamavedam
- पुराण || Puranas
- उप-पुराण || Upa-Puranas
All these along with the other Parishistas make up a huge volume of literature which we collectively call as vaidika vaangmayam.
वेदाङ्ग || Vedaangas
शिक्षा कल्पो व्याकरणं निरुक्तं छन्दसां चयः ।
ज्योतिषामयनं चैव वेदंगानि षडेव तु ॥
According to the above sloka Vedaangas are six in number namely
| Title | Subject Dealt With |
|---|---|
| 1.शिक्षा || Siksha | Science of phonetics or pronunciation and intonation. |
| 2.व्याकरण || Vyakarana | Science of the grammar of language |
| 3.निरुक्तम् || Nirukta | Etymology or the science of origin, meaning and explanation of the Vedic words. |
| 4.छन्दः || Chandas | Prosody or science of composition of the hymns like meter, rhyme, paada etc. of the mantras |
| 5.ज्योतिष || Jyotisha | Astronomy and astrology mainly directed towards fixing up of auspicious moments for the performance of the Vedic sacrifices |
| 6.कल्प || Kalpa | Science or manual of sacrificial rituals, both Vedic and domestic. |
छन्दः पादौ तु वेदस्य हस्तौ कल्पोऽथ उच्यते ।
ज्योतिषामयनं चक्षुर्निरुक्तं श्रोत्रमुच्यते ॥
शिक्षा घ्राणं तु वेदस्य मुखं व्याकरणं स्मृतम् ।
तस्मात् साङ्गमधीत्यैव ब्रह्मलोके महीयते ॥
In Paninineeyasiksha these six vedaangas are divided as given in the above sloka which means
"Chandas forms the feet of the Vedapurusha, while Kalpas are the hands, Jyotisha are the eyes, Nirukta forms the ears, Siksha is the nose, while the face (speech) is formed by Vyakaranam. Only by studying vedas (Vedapurusha) along with vedangas (different parts) will one attain the brahmaloka".
वेद उपाङ्ग् || Veda-Upaangas
कणादेन तु संप्रक्तं शास्त्रं वैशेषिकं महत् ।
गौतमेन तथा न्यायं सांख्यं तु कपिलेन वै ॥
"The great Vaiseshika shastra has been given by Kanada, while the Nyaya shastra was elucidated by Goutama rushi, and Saankhya shastra was by Kapila rushi. "
Above Sloka from from Padma puranam shows that these darsanas belong to ancient period and not in later time period.
These are the six systems of Hindu philosophy which is known as Shad Darsanas. They are:
| VEDA UPANGAS | |||||
| Shad Darshana Or Six Systems Of Hindu Philosophy | |||||
| न्याय || Nyaya | वैसेषिक || Vaiseshika | साङ्ख्य || Sankhya | योग || Yoga | पूर्व मिमांसा || Poorva Mimamsa | उत्तर मिमांसा || Uttara Mimamsa or वेदान्त || Vedanta. |
उप वेद || 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 |
|---|---|---|
| आयुर्वेद || Ayurveda | Science of life, of sound health including the art of preventing and curing diseases | Rig Veda |
| गन्धर्व वेद || Gandharva Veda | Science of fine arts like music and dance | Sama Veda. |
| अर्थ वेद || Artha Veda | Known as Artha-sastra science of economics, politics and statecraft | Atharva Veda |
| धनुर्वेद || 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.
परिसिस्त || 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 are 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.
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.
पञ्चमवेदम् || Panchamavedam
भारतः पञ्चमवेदः || Bharatah Panchamavedaha - As given in Mahabharata expounds that Mahabharatam which covers numerous topics related to human relationships is considered as the fifth veda.
Puranas
The Puranas is a vast genre of encyclopedic Indian literature about a wide range of topics particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. 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 18 Puranas are as follows
- मत्स्य पुराणम् || Matsya puranam
- मार्कण्डेय पुराणम् || Markandeya puranam
- भागवत पुराणम् || Bhaagavata puranam
- भविष्यात पुराणम् || Bhavishyat puranam
- ब्रह्माण्ड पुराणम् || Brahmanda puranam
- ब्रह्मवैवर्त पुराणम् || Brahmavaivarta puranam
- ब्रह्म पुराणम् || Brahma puranam
- वामन पुराणम् || Vamana puranam
- वराह पुराणम् || Varaaha puranam
- विष्णु पुराणम् || Vishnu puranam
- वायु पुराणम् || Vaayu puranam
- अग्नि पुराणम् || Agni puranam
- नारद पुराणम् || Naarada puranam
- पद्म पुराणम् || Padma puranam
- लिङ्ग पुराणम् || Linga puranam
- गरुड पुराणम् || Garuda puranam
- कूर्म पुराणम् || Koorma puranam
- स्कन्द पुराणम् || Skaanda puranam
The following are the 18 Upa Puranas
- Sanathkumareeyam
- Naarasimham
- Nandeeyam
- Shivarahasyam
- Daurvaasam
- Naaradeeyam
- Kapilam
- Vaamanam
- Vaarunam
- Devibhagavatam
- Vaasishtam
- Kalki / Kaalika
- Gaanapatya or Mudgala
- Hamsam
- Saamba
- Sauram
- Paraashara
- Bhaargava
The Puranas have been influential in the Hindu culture. They are considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature) or pertaining to vedas.
The Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor. 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.