Scriptures of India
India has one of the world's richest bodies of sacred literature, from the Vedas and Upanishads to the Guru Granth Sahib, the Tripitaka, the Jain Agamas and devotional poetry in every Indian language.
| Tradition | All of India |
|---|---|
| Type | Overview |
What it contains
- Vedas, Upanishads, epics and Puranas
- Sikh, Buddhist and Jain scriptures
- Texts of Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith
- Devotional classics in Indian languages
India's sacred texts were composed over more than three thousand years, in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Tamil, Persian, Arabic, Punjabi and every modern Indian language. Many were passed down orally for centuries before they were written down, and the tradition of exact recitation, such as Vedic chanting, is itself recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Shruti and Smriti
Hindu tradition divides its texts into Shruti ("what is heard": the Vedas, including the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads) and Smriti ("what is remembered": the epics, Puranas, Dharmashastras and other works).
Texts of other faiths
- Sikhs revere the Guru Granth Sahib as their eternal living Guru.
- Buddhists follow the Tripitaka and, in the Himalayan regions, the Tibetan canon.
- Jains follow the Agamas and the Tattvartha Sutra.
- Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Jews and Bahá'ís in India follow the Quran, the Bible, the Avesta, the Tanakh and the Bahá'í writings, often in Indian-language translations.
Preserving manuscripts
The National Mission for Manuscripts, set up by the Ministry of Culture in 2003, documents and conserves India's manuscript heritage. Dates given on these pages are cautious scholarly estimates; traditions often hold that their texts are far older or eternal.