The Scriptures of Sanatana (Vedanta Pt-2)

The scriptures of Sanatana Dharma are collectively called Shastras. Shastras essentially mean texts which rescue the human by teaching. The great seer, Sri Adi Shankara compares Shastras to a mother. The shastras instruct the seeker in the initial stages and guide them during the later stage, thus playing a dual role.

An illustration showing the dual roles of the Shastras

The shastras are broadly divided into six categories: The Vedas or Shruthi, Sutras, Smriti, Purana, Itihasa, and Bhashya.

The Vedas:

The Vedic literature consists of about 20,000 versesand is considered to be directly given to the world by the Lord himself. They are authorless in nature. The Shruti texts are broadly divided into Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharvana texts. Veda essentially means “To be known”. In Tamil literature, the Vedas are also called “Marai” which means Hidden.

A snippet from the Kolaru Padhigam by Thirugnana Sambandhar

The Rig Veda has a metrical or poetic form of composition, while the Yajur Veda are present as prose texts. The Sama Veda is in the form of songs while the Atharvana Veda is present as Mantras. Mantras essentially mean “Protect through Chanting” and the repeated chanting of mantras are believed to protect or help the chanter.

Vedas were passed across generations only by recitation for a very long time until the written script was created. The followers of Sanatana Dharma are called Sanatanis. The preachers of Veda are called Vaidikas and are understood to have in-depth knowledge about the Shastras.

The Sutra:

The Vedas are a collection of advisory ideas in an unorganized manner. The Sutras perform the role of organization and classification of texts based on themes. There are three classifications of Sutras.

1. Dharma Sutras: Emphasize the responsibility of an individual with a focus on one’s personal growth and values.
2. Gruha Sutras: Emphasizes the responsibilities of a family including values to be cultivated within the household.
3. Shroutha Sutras: Emphasizes the responsibilities of the society we live in.

The sutras take up the important responsibility of clarifying doubtful or vague statements in Vedic Literature. Sutra means “thread” as it connects the verses with the same theme.

The Smritis:

The term Smriti means “Wisdom”. The Smritis also categorize and classify the Vedic texts. The primary difference between Smritis and Sutras is that Smritis are highly elaborate and have a broader explanation of details compared to the Sutras. The Smriti texts are in the form of Swaras and can be chanted.

There are thousands of Smritis available in our Dharma. Smritis unlike Vedas are not authorless. They are written down by Rishis and handed down to humans. Examples of Smritis are Yagnyavalkya Smriti, Vasishta Smriti, and Manu Smriti.

The Puranas:

The word Purana means Ancient yet Relevant. The Puranas are broader descriptions of the Vedic concepts and address the values through a series of incidents and stories. There are 18 major Puranic texts and 18 minor Puranic texts called Upapuranas, all authored and presented by Sage Veda Vyasa.

An example of values presented as stories is the episode describing the life of Harischandra in the Markandeya Purana. This episode expands on the value सत्यं वद, धर्मं चर which means “Speak the Truth, Follow the path of righteousness”.

The Itihasas:

Itihasas are a collection of incidents from the past written in the form of literature. The term Itihasa translates to “History”. These are accounts of incidents which give us strong messages to learn and implement in our everyday life.

“itihasa puranabhyam vedam samupabrmhayet”

This means that the role of the Itihasa along with the Puranas are responsible for elucidating the Vedic teachings. The two Itihasa texts are Ramayana and Mahabharatha by Adikavi Valmiki and Sage Veda Vyasa. The Ramayana has 24000 verses while the Mahabharatha has 1 Lakh verses.

The Itihasas possess the unique feature of an exaggeration to emphasize important points and make use of metaphorical imagery. A traditional example is that of Ravana who is said to possess 10 heads, indicating the 10 personalities of Ravana.

The Bhashyas:

Bhashyas refer to commentaries on all the various scripts by various authors of various times to elaborate on the content provided by the Vedic scripts. Most of the commentators have spent their whole lives in the interpretation of Vedic texts and presenting them to the world in a more understandable form.

Most of the Gurus including Adi Shankara, Sri Ramanujacharya, and Sri Madhvacharya have written commentaries on the mystical scripts of our Dharma. There are multiple commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and various Puranas. There are various Bhashyas that are extensions to other Bhashyas.

In essence, the role of all the above texts is to guide humans righteously to the four human goals mentioned in the previous article namely, Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha.

An illustration showing the split-up of the Shastras

Article By: Aparna Sundaresan for Dharmika

Illustrations By: Aditya Damodhar D for Dharmika

Edited By: Sushrut vinayak and Vikram for Dharmika