''Śruti'' or shruti ( sa, श्रुति, , ) in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism.Manusmriti states: ''Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ'' ( Devanagari: श्रुतिस्तु वेदो विज्ञेयः) meaning, "Know that Vedas are Śruti". Thus, it includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts—the
Samhita
Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".Upanishads, the
Brahmanas
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...
and the Aranyakas.Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1988), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, Manchester University Press, , pages 2-3
''Śruti''s has been variously described as a revelation through ''anubhava'' (direct experience), or of primordial origins realized by ancient
Rishi
''Rishi'' () is a term for an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mentions in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "great yogis" or ...
s.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Shruti", The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N–Z, Rosen Publishing. , page 645 In Hindu tradition, they have been referred to as ''apauruṣeya'' (not created by humans). The ''Śruti'' texts themselves assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, , pages 13-14
All six schools of Hinduism accept the authority of ''śruti'', but many scholars in these schools have denied that the ''śruti''s are divine. A popular quote on supreme authority is Śruti can be found in Manusmriti (Adhyaya 1, Mantra 132) that ''Dharmaṃ jijñāsamānānāṃ pramāṇaṃ paramaṃ śrutiḥ'' ( Devanagari: धर्मं जिज्ञासमानानां प्रमाणं परमं श्रुतिः, lit. means "To those who seek the knowledge of the sacred law, the supreme authority is the revelation ''Śruti''."
Shruti (''Śruti'') differs from other sources of Hindu philosophy, particularly ''
smṛti
''Smriti'' ( sa, स्मृति, IAST: '), literally "that which is remembered" are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that ...
'' "which is remembered" or textual material. These works span much of the history of Hinduism, beginning with the earliest known texts and ending in the early historical period with the later Upanishads. Of the ''śruti''s, the Upanishads alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishadic ''śruti''s are at the spiritual core of Hindus.Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , pages 2-3; Quote: "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus."Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, , page 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth ruti in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu.
Etymology
The Sanskrit word "" (, ) has multiple meanings depending on context. It means "hearing, listening", a call to "listen to a speech", any form of communication that is aggregate of sounds (news, report, rumour, noise, hearsay). The word is also found in ancient geometry texts of India, where it means "the diagonal of a tetragon or hypotenuse of a triangle", and is a synonym of ''karna''. The word ''śruti'' is also found in ancient Indian music literature, where it means "a particular division of the octave, a quarter tone or interval" out of twenty-two enumerated major tones, minor tones, and semitones.zruti Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany In music, it refers the smallest measure of sound a human being can detect, and the set of twenty-two ''śruti'' and forty four ''half Shruti'', stretching from about 250 Hz to 500 Hz, is called the ''Shruti octave''.
In scholarly works on Hinduism, ''śruti'' refers to ancient Vedic texts from India. Monier-Williams traces the contextual history of this meaning of ''śruti'' as, "which has been heard or communicated from the beginning, sacred knowledge that was only heard and verbally transmitted from generation to generation, the Veda, from earliest
Rishi
''Rishi'' () is a term for an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mentions in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "great yogis" or ...
s (sages) in Vedic tradition. In scholarly literature, ''Śruti'' is also spelled as Shruti.
Distinction between śruti and smṛti
Smriti, literally meaning "that which is remembered," refers to a body of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
texts usually attributed to an author. Traditionally written down but constantly revised, ''Smriti'' in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, which were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed. ''Smriti'' is a derivative secondary work and is considered less authoritative than ''Śruti'' in Hinduism. While ''Śruti'' texts are fixed and their originals preserved better, each Smriti text exists in many versions, with many different readings. In ancient and medieval Hindu tradition, Smritis were considered fluid and freely rewritten by anyone.
Both śrutis and smṛtis represent categories of texts of different traditions of Hindu philosophy. According to Gokul Narang, the Sruti are asserted to be of divine origin in the mythologies of the
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
. For the people living during the composition of the ''Vedas'' the names of the authors were well known.Staal, J.F. (2008): ''Discovering the Vedas. Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights'', Penguin Books India, p. xv Ancient and medieval Hindu philosophers also did not think that śruti were divine, authored by God.Roy Perrett (1998), Hindu Ethics: A Philosophical Study, University of Hawaii Press, , pages 16-18
That ''Vedas'' were heard was a notion that was developed by the school or ''darsana'' of Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā. The Mīmāṃsā tradition, famous in Hindu tradition for its Sruti exegetical contributions, radically critiqued the notion and any relevance for concepts such as "author", the "sacred text" or divine origins of ''Śruti''; the Mimamsa school claimed that the relevant question is the meaning of the Sruti, values appropriate for human beings in it, and the commitment to it.
Nāstika philosophical schools such as the
Cārvāka
Charvaka ( sa, चार्वाक; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embrace ...
s of the first millennium BCE did not accept the authority of the śrutis and considered them to be human works suffering from incoherent rhapsodies, inconsistencies and tautologies.Richard Hayes (2000), in Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy (Editor:Roy Perrett), Routledge, , pages 187-212Original Sanskrit versio Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha pages 3-7; English version The Charvaka System with commentary by Madhava Acharya, Translators: Cowell and Gough (1882), pages 5-9
Smṛtis are to be human thoughts in response to the śrutis. Traditionally, all smṛtis are regarded to ultimately be rooted in or inspired by śrutis.
Texts
The śruti literature include the four Vedas:
* Rigveda
* Yajurveda
*
Samaveda
The Samaveda (, from ' "song" and ' "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scriptures of Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses. A ...
*
Atharvaveda
The Atharva Veda (, ' from ' and ''veda'', meaning "knowledge") is the "knowledge storehouse of ''atharvāṇas'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and G ...
Each of these Vedas include the following texts, and these belong to the śruti canon:
*
Samhita
Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".Brahmana
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...
s
* Aranyakas
* Upanishads
The literature of the shakhas, or schools, further amplified the material associated with each of the four core traditions.
Of the above śrutis, the Upanishads are most widely known, and the central ideas of them are the spiritual foundation of Hinduism. Patrick Olivelle writes,
Role in Hindu Law
Shrutis have been considered the authority in Hinduism. Smṛtis, including the '' Manusmṛti'', the ''
Nāradasmṛti
is a part of the Dharmaśāstras, written about 2400 years ago in two recensions the south India Naradamanusamhita and Nepal, in Newari language that serves as a collection of legal maxims relating to the topic of dharma. This text is purely j ...
'' and the '' Parāśarasmṛti'', are considered less authoritative than śrutis.
Only three of the four types of texts in the Vedas have behavioral precepts:
Bilimoria states the role of śruti in Hinduism has been inspired by "the belief in a higher natural cosmic order ('' Rta'' succeeded later by the concept ''Dharma'') that regulates the universe and provides the basis for its growth, flourishing and sustenance – be that of the gods, human beings, animals and eco-formations".
Levinson states that the role of śruti and smṛti in Hindu law is as a source of guidance, and its tradition cultivates the principle that "the facts and circumstances of any particular case determine what is good or bad". The later Hindu texts include fourfold sources of dharma, states Levinson, which include ''atmanastushti'' (satisfaction of one's conscience), ''sadacara'' (local norms of virtuous individuals), smṛti and śruti.Devid Levinson (2002), Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, , page 829
Transmission
The śrutis, the oldest of which trace back to the second millennium BCE, had not been committed to writing in ancient times. These were developed and transmitted verbally, from one generation to the next, for nearly two millenniums. Almost all printed editions available in the modern era are copied manuscripts that are hardly older than 500 years. Michael Witzel explains this oral tradition as follows:
Ancient Indians developed techniques for listening, memorization and recitation of śrutis. Many forms of recitation or ''pathas'' were designed to aid accuracy in recitation and the transmission of the '' Vedas'' and other knowledge texts from one generation to the next. All hymns in each Veda were recited in this way; for example, all 1,028 hymns with 10,600 verses of the Rigveda was preserved in this way; as were all other Vedas including the Principal Upanishads, as well as the Vedangas. Each text was recited in a number of ways, to ensure that the different methods of recitation acted as a cross check on the other. Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat summarizes this as follows:
* ''Samhita-patha'': continuous recitation of Sanskrit words bound by the phonetic rules of euphonic combination;
* ''Pada-patha'': a recitation marked by a conscious pause after every word, and after any special grammatical codes embedded inside the text; this method suppresses euphonic combination and restores each word in its original intended form;
* ''Krama-patha'': a step-by-step recitation where euphonically-combined words are paired successively and sequentially and then recited; for example, a hymn "word1 word2 word3 word4...", would be recited as "word1word2 word2word3 word3word4 ...."; this method to verify accuracy is credited to Vedic sages Gargya and Sakalya in the Hindu tradition and mentioned by the ancient Sanskrit grammarian Panini (dated to pre-Buddhism period);
* ''Krama-patha'' modified: the same step-by-step recitation as above, but without euphonic-combinations (or free form of each word); this method to verify accuracy is credited to Vedic sages Babhravya and Galava in the Hindu tradition, and is also mentioned by the ancient Sanskrit grammarian Panini;
* ', ' and ' are methods of recitation of a text and its oral transmission that developed after 5th century BCE, that is after the start of Buddhism and Jainism; these methods use more complicated rules of combination and were less used.
These extraordinary retention techniques guaranteed an accurate Śruti, fixed across the generations, not just in terms of unaltered word order but also in terms of sound. That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the '' '' ( 1500 BCE).
This part of a Vedic student's education was called
svādhyāya
(Devanagari: ) is a Sanskrit term which means self-study and especially the recitation of the Vedas and other sacred texts. It is also a broader concept with several meanings. In various schools of Hinduism, ''Svadhyaya'' is a Niyama (vir ...
. The systematic method of learning, memorization and practice, enabled these texts to be transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.
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#Jho, Chakradhar. 1987. ''History and Sources of Law in Ancient India'' Ashish Publishing House.
#Flood, Gavin. 1997. ''An Introduction to Hinduism''. Cambridge University Press
#Gupta, Ravi M. 2007. Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami.