What are the sacred texts of Hinduism?
Although there are a wide variety of sacred texts adopted by the various Hindu sects, those which can be said to be common to most Hindu sects are known as the Vedas. These are divided into four books: the Rig Veda(hymns), Sama Veda(chants), Yajur Veda (ritual formulae) and Atharva Veda(magic and spells). The language of the Vedas is Vedic Sanskrit, and the power of the Veda is meant to stem not only from the meaning of the words but the pronounciation of the Sanskrit words with the correct intonation and stresses. For centuries before the Vedas were written down, they were handed down orally from teacher to student taking care to preserve these nuances. Each Veda is dividided into Samhita, Aranyaka, Brahmana and Upanishad sections; the well known Upanishads are taken from this last part of the Veda. The earlier three sections of each Veda contain hymns, discourses on the hymns and prescriptions for ritual, and the Upanishads explore the deeper philosophical meaning of the hymns. Much
