157.49.185.57 at 06:47, 20 October 2021

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{{Short description|Overview of timeline of Hindu texts}}
{{Hindu scriptures and texts}}

Hindu scriptures are traditionally classified into two parts: ''[[śruti]]'', meaning "what has been heard" (originally [[oral tradition|transmitted orally]]) and ''[[smṛti]]'', meaning "what has been retained or remembered" (originally written, and attributed to individual authors). The [[Vedas]] are classified under ''śruti''.

The following list provides a somewhat common set of reconstructed dates for the ''[[:wikt:terminus ante quem|terminus ante quem]]'' of [[Hindu texts]], by title and genre. It is notable that Hinduism largely followed an [[oral tradition]] to pass on knowledge, for which there is no record of historical dates. All dates here given ought to be regarded as roughly approximate, subject to further revision, and generally as relying for their validity on highly inferential methods and standards of evidence.

== Samhita, Brahmana layers of the Vedas ==
*''[[Rigveda]]'', 1500 – 1100 BCE<ref name=oberlies>Oberlies, Thomas (''Die Religion des Rgveda'', Wien, 1998, p. 155) gives an estimate of 1100 BCE for the youngest hymns in book 10. Estimates for a ''terminus post quem'' of the earliest hymns are more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100</ref><ref name=Flood1996>{{cite book |last1=Flood |first1=Gavin |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |isbn=0521438780 |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/37 37-39] |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/37 }}</ref>
*''[[Samaveda]]'', 1200 - 800 BCE<ref name=Flood1996/>
*''[[Yajurveda]]'', 1100 - 800 BCE<ref name=Flood1996/>
*''[[Atharvaveda]]'', 1000 - 800 BCE<ref name=Flood1996/>

The early ''[[Upanishads]]'' were composed over 900 - 300 BCE.<ref name=Flood1996/><ref>Sharma, Shubhra (1985), Life in the Upanishads, Abhinav Publications, {{ISBN|978-81-7017-202-4}}, pp. 17–19.</ref>

== Others ==
*''[[Mahabharata]]'', 400 BCE<ref name=Molloy2008/><ref name=Brockington>Brockington, J. (1998). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C The Sanskrit Epics]'', Leiden. p. 26</ref><ref>Van Buitenen; ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wFtXBGNn0aUC The Mahabharata]'' Vol. 1; The Book of the Beginning. Introduction (Authorship and Date).</ref>(Origins likely in the 8th or 9th century BCE)<ref name=Brockington>Brockington, J. (1998). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C The Sanskrit Epics]'', Leiden. p. 26</ref>
*''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', 400 BCE<ref name=Flood1996/>
*''[[Ramayana]]'', 400 BCE<ref name=Molloy2008>{{cite book|last1=Molloy|first1=Michael|title=Experiencing the World's Religions|isbn=9780073535647|year=2008|page=[https://archive.org/details/experiencingworl0004thEDmoll/page/87 87]|url=https://archive.org/details/experiencingworl0004thEDmoll/page/87}}</ref><ref>Narayan, R.K. ''The Ramayana''. Penguin Group, 2006, page xxiii: "The Indian epic, the Ramayana, dates back to 1500 BCE according to certain early scholars. Recent studies have brought it down to about the fourth century BCE."</ref><ref>Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cWmsQQ2smXIC&pg=PA38&dq=ramayana+%222nd+century+bc%22&hl=en&ei=bTnvTPWkO8L6lwe4hcX3DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20Ramayana%20was%20composed%20before%20500%20B.C.%20while%20the%20more%20recent%20portion%20were%20not%20probably%20added%20till%20the%202nd%20century%20B.C.%20and%20later.%22&f=false History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A. D.]''. p. 38:"the Kernel of the Ramayana was composed before 500 B.C. while the more recent portion were not probably added till the 2nd century B.C. and later."</ref>
*''[[Samkhya Sutra]]''
*''[[Mimamsa Sutra]]'', 300-200 BCE<ref>{{cite book|last=Hiriyanna|first=M.|title=The Essentials of Indian Philosophy|year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|location=Delhi|isbn=81-208-1330-8|pages=130|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeRIP-TuKLAC&q=mimamsa+sutra+twelve+chapters&pg=PA130}}</ref>
*''[[Arthashastra]]'', 400 BCE-<ref>Trautmann 1971:185 "If the ''Kautilīya Arthaśāstra'' in its present form is not so old as it pretends, the ''śāstra'' itself is certainly old, predating the ''dharma smritis''."<br>Mabbett 1964 "The content of the text is consistent with authorship in about the third century, C.E., and raises some questions which must be answered if it is to be assigned to the fourth B.C.E. Against this must be set the verses naming and characterising Kautilya, and the references in later literature. What emerges is that there is no necessary incompatibility between the essential claims that [[Chanakya]] was responsible for the doctrines of the Arthaśāstra, and that the text we know is a product of the later time. These do not conflict. The work could have been written late on the basis of earlier teachings and writings. Sanskrit literature being so full of derivative, traditional and stratified material, this possibility is ''a priori'' strong. Those who favour the early date usually admit the probability of interpolations....Those who favour a later date usually admit the probability that the work draws on traditional material. The controversy is therefore spurious. It is entirely possible that the {{IAST|Mauryan Kautilya}} wrote an arthaśāstra and that a later editor rewrote his work, or compressed it, or compiled a text from the teachings of his school."</ref>
*''[[Nyaya Sutras|Nyaya Sutra]]'', 2nd century BCE<ref>[[Bimal Krishna Matilal|B. K. Matilal]] "Perception. An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge" (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. xiv.</ref>
*''[[Vaiseshika Sutra]]'', 2nd century BCE<ref>Oliver Leaman, ''Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy.'' Routledge, 1999 , page 269.</ref>
*''[[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]]'', 100 BCE - 500 BCE<ref>{{cite book | last = Flood | first = Gavin | year = 1996 | title = An Introduction to Hinduism| url = https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo | url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | isbn=0-521-43878-0 | page = [https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/96 96]}}</ref>
*''[[Brahma Sutras|Brahma Sutra]]'', 500 BCE<ref>James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, page 746</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew J. Nicholson|title=Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVusAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-14987-7 |page=26 }}</ref>
*''[[Puranas]]'', 250 – 1000 CE<ref name=collins36>{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Charles Dillard|title=The Iconography and Ritual of Śiva at Elephanta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pQNi6kAGJQ4C&pg=PA36|year=1988|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-773-0|page=36}}</ref>
*''[[Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta|Shiva Sutras]]'', 120 BCE{{cn|date=July 2012}}
*''[[Abhinavabharati]]'', 950 - 1020 CE{{cn|date=July 2012}}
*''[[Yoga Vasistha]]'', 750 CE <ref>{{cite book |last=Chapple |first=Christopher |title=The Concise Yoga Vāsiṣṭha |translator=[[Swami Venkatesananda|Venkatesananda, Swami]] |contribution=Introduction |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |year=1984 |isbn=0-87395-955-8 |oclc=11044869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1FFdOj2dv8cC |pages=ix-x with footnote 3}}</ref><ref name="moksopaya-intro">Hanneder, Jürgen; Slaje, Walter. ''[http://www.indologie.uni-halle.de/forschung/Moksopaya/introduction.htm Moksopaya Project: Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051228130128/http://www.indologie.uni-halle.de/forschung/Moksopaya/introduction.htm |date=2005-12-28 }}.''</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of historic Indian texts]]
*[[Sangam literature]]
*''[[Manusmṛti]]''

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Hindudharma}}{{Timelines of religion}}
[[Category:Timelines of Hinduism]]
[[Category:Religion timelines|Hindu texts]]
[[Category:Hindu texts|*]]

Timeline of Hindu texts - Revision history

157.49.185.57 at 06:47, 20 October 2021