What are the Hindu holy books?

Purva Mimamsa (Jaimini)

The Mimamsa school argues that the Veda is apaurusheya: it is not the work of any person. If a person had made it, it could carry a person's errors and could not bind anyone to a duty. So the Veda is eternal, and its commands are the one sure source of dharma.

Sources for this reading

• F. Max Müller, The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy (London and New York: Longmans, Green, 1899), “Has the Veda a Superhuman Origin?”. Müller died 1900: public domain. Summarised in our words. (pp. 266 and 270–271 (leaves n301, n305–n306); pp. 270–271 checked on the page images)

Dharmashastra (Manu)

The law books set out the two classes. Manu says: “But by Sruti (revelation) is meant the Veda, and by Smriti (tradition) the Institutes of the sacred law” (2.10), and he names the Veda as the first source of dharma, then tradition and the conduct of the good (2.6). For those who seek to know dharma, he says, “the supreme authority is the revelation (Sruti)” (2.13).

Sources for this reading

• G. Bühler (tr.), The Laws of Manu (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 25, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886), 2.6, 2.10 and 2.13. Bühler died 1898: public domain. 2.10 and 2.13 quoted verbatim (the scan's OCR loses the diacritic marks of “Sruti” and “Smriti”). (2.6 (p. 30, leaf n175); 2.10 and 2.13 (p. 31, leaf n176); checked on the page images)
• Monier Monier-Williams, Hinduism (London, 1877), pp. 14–15: Sruti, “that which is directly heard or revealed”, the Mantra, Brahmana and Upanishad portions of the Veda, “believed to have no human author”; Smriti, “that which is remembered”, believed to be founded on that revelation. Monier-Williams died 1899: public domain. Quoted verbatim. (pp. 14–15 (leaves n23–n24), checked on the page images)

Vedanta

The Vedanta schools rest on three foundations (prasthana-traya): the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Shankara and Madhva wrote commentaries on all three; Ramanuja wrote commentaries on the Brahma Sutras and the Gita, and set out his reading of the Upanishads in other works. Each school's teaching is argued from these texts. This is one reason why the Gita, though part of the Mahabharata, carries so much weight in these schools.

Sources for this reading

• The Bhagavad-Gita, with the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, translated by A. Mahadeva Sastri (2nd ed., Mysore: G. T. A. Printing Works, 1901) (Shankara's commentary on the Gita)
• Sri Bhagavad-Gita with Sri Ramanujacharya's Visishtadvaita commentary, translated by A. Govindacharya (Madras, 1898) (Ramanuja's commentary on the Gita)
• Shyam Ranganathan, “Rāmānuja (c. 1017 – c. 1137)”, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (his works: the Śrī Bhāṣya on the Brahma Sūtra, the Vedārthasaṅgraha and the Gītā Bhāṣya). Cited, not copied.
• George Thibaut (tr.), The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary by Sankarâkârya, Part I (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 34, Oxford, 1890). Public domain. Cited for the commentary tradition.
• George Thibaut (tr.), The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary by Sankarâkârya, Part II (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 38, Oxford, 1896). Public domain. Cited for the commentary tradition.
• Madhva's commentaries: on the Brahma Sutras, S. Subba Rau (tr.), The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sri Madhwacharya (Madras, 1904); on an Upanishad, Srisa Chandra Vasu (tr.), The Chhandogya Upanisad with the Commentary of Sri Madhvacharya (Allahabad: Panini Office, 1909–1910; Vasu died 1918); on the Gita, the catalogue record of S. Subba Rau, The Bhagavad-Gita translation and commentaries in English according to Sri Madhwacharya's Bhashyas (Madras, 1906), not read. Cited, not copied. (Vasu, title page of part I (leaf n1); Subba Rau 1906: https://dspace.nehu.ac.in/items/8de4a180-b805-48a0-8a29-017fc3010e70/full)

Bhakti and regional traditions

Devotional traditions add their own scriptures. Vaishnavas hold the Bhagavata Purana dear. Across North India, Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, in Awadhi, is read and sung as scripture. In the Tamil country, Sri Vaishnavas treasure the hymns of the Alvars, and Shaivas the Devaram hymns of their own saints; many Shaiva Agamas call these hymns “Dravida-vedas” and have them sung in temple worship. For Shakta traditions the Tantras serve as a further Veda.

Sources for this reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Tulsidas” (the Ramcharitmanas, in Awadhi, the most popular version of the Rama story; the Bhagavata-purana “the chief scripture of Krishna worshipers”). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot August 19, 2026). Cited, not copied.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Tiruppan” (his Tamil poem's place in the Sri Vaishnava tradition). Read in the Wayback Machine copy (snapshot July 27, 2025). Cited, not copied.
• T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. 1, part 1 (Madras, 1914), p. 56: in many Shaiva Agamas the “Dravida-vedas”, the Devaram hymns of Tirujnanasambandha, Appar and Sundaramurti, are to be recited in temples as part of the service. Public domain. Checked on the page image (leaf n115). (p. 56)
• Monier Monier-Williams, Hinduism (London, 1877), p. 130: the Tantras as “a fifth Veda” for the Shaktas. Public domain. The author's judgements on the Tantras are not repeated. (p. 130 (leaf n139))

Sources

• Bhagavad Gita
• The Upanishads, Part II, translated by F. Max Müller (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. XV; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884) (introduction and translations of the Upanishads)
• Monier Monier-Williams, Hinduism (London, 1877). Public domain. Cited, not copied.

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