The Vedas Hymns, Incantations, Rituals, Views on everyday life.

1. UPANISHDAS: Continuation of Vedic Philosophy (written between 800 and 400 BC). *Elaborate on how the soul (Atman) can be united with the ultimate truth (Brahman) through contemplation & meditation. *Doctrine of Karma= cumulative effects of a person's actions.

2. PURANAS: *Post-Vedic texts *Contain complete narrative of the history of the universe from creation to destruction *Genealogies of the kings, heroes, demigods. *Descriptions of Hindus cosmology & geography. *17 canonical Puranas, divided into three categories named after a deity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

2.1. Brahma

2.2. Vishnu

2.3. Shiva

3. THE EPICS: The Mahabarata and Ramayan are the national epics of India. Possibly the longest poems in any language.

3.1. MAHABARATA: Written down 540 to 300 BC. *Legends of the Bharatas, a Vedic Aryan group.

3.1.1. BHAGAVAD GITA: *Part of the sixth book of Mahabarata. *Central text of Hinduism, a philosophical dialogue between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna. *Discusses selflessness, duty, devotion, meditation and integrates many different threads of Hindu philosophy.

3.2. RAMAYANA: *Attributed to the poet Valmiki. *Written down in the 1st century AD; but based on oral traditions that go back six to seven centuries. *A moving love story with moral & spiritual themes. *Love story between King Rama and Sita, who is captured by Ravan, the King of Ceylon. Rama destroys Ceylon & wins back Sita.

4. RIG VEDA Oldest. 1500 BC. Codified 600 BC

5. SAMA VEDA

6. ATHARVA VEDA

7. YAJUR VEDA