Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism

SRUTI (= The vedas)

Rg-veda - Branches: sAkala; sAnkhAyana
yajur-veda - Branches: taittirIya; maitrAyaNIya;
kaNva; mAdhyandina
sama-veda - Branches: rANAyaNIya; jaiminIya;
kauthuma
atharva-veda - Branches: saunaka; pippalAda
Upanishad portion of
Sruti
AraNyaka portion of Sruti

Saiva agama;
Sakta agama; etc.)
Itihasa
Ramayana of Valmiki
and
Mahabharata of Vyasa
These three constitute what may be called the
bedrock of Popular Hinduism. They provide such a
secure foundation to the lay Hindu that millions of
people live and die as convinced Hindus without ever
having had even a passing acquaintance with the
vedas or Upanishads, or the smRti, or the intellectual
excursions of the darSanas.

Mantra portion of Sruti

The ten major Upanishads:
Isa
Kena
Katha
Prasna
Mundaka
Mandukya
Aitareya
Taittiriya
Chandogya
Brihadaranyaka
Other Important Upanishads
Svetasvatara
Maitri
Kausitiki
Nrisimha-purva-tapini
Kaivalya
Amrita-bindu
There are 108 Upanishads known
SmRti
(Yajnavalkya smRti;
Parasara smrti;
Manu smRti;
etc.)
SmRti Itihasa Purana Agama Darsana
(All these derive their authority from the Sruti)
See separate boxes for each
Purana
There are 18 major puranas. There are also 18
subsidiary puranas.
Agama
(Vaishnava agama;
Pancaratra agama;

Darsana
(School of Thought)
nyAya as originally propounded in Gautama sUtras
vaiSeshika as in Kanada sUtras
sAnkhya as in Kapila sUtras
yoga as in -- Patanjali sUtras
pUrva mImAmsa as in Jaimini sUtras
vedAnta as in brahma-sUtras of Badarayana Vyasa
In addition to all the above, there are six vedAngas
(limbs of the vedas):
sIkshA ; vyAkaraNaM; chandas;
niruktam;
jyotishaM ;
kalpaM
(Phonetics)
(Grammar)
(Meter)
(Etymology) (Astronomy & Astrology)
(Ceremonials)
Then there are the four upavedas ( subsidiary vedas):
Ayur-veda
artha-SAstra
dhanur-veda
gAndharva-veda
(Science of Medicine)
(Science of Politics &
Finance) (Science of Warfare) (Science of
Music)
On this page we have been talking everywhere only
of scriptures in the Sanskrit language. Besides the
translations of these scriptures, several Indian
languages have their own original works in the
respective languages, with definite authorships and
dates. Some of these also have the status of
scriptures, in the sense they are recited just for the
sake of religious merit. Examples are: nAlAyira
prabandham;
tevAraM; tiruvAchagaM; all in Tamil
jnAneSvari (in Marathi); and
rAmcarit-mAnas (in Awadhi) .