28/02/2019 Timeline of Hindu texts - Wikipedia

Timeline of Hindu texts

Hindu scriptures are classified into two parts: shruti or śruti, meaning what has been heard and smriti, or smṛti, meaning
what has been retained or remembered. The Vedas are classified under śruti.

The following list provides a somewhat common set of reconstructed dates for the terminus ante quem of Hindu texts, by
title or genre. 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, 1800 – 1100 BC [1][2]

Samaveda, 1200 - 800 BCE[2]
Yajurveda, 1100 - 800 BCE[2]
Atharvaveda, 1000 - 800 BCE[2]
The early Upanishads were composed over 900 - 300 BC.[2][3]

Others

Mahabharata, 400 BC [4][5][6]

Bhagavad Gita, 400 BC [2]
Ramayana, 400 BC [4][7][8]
Samkhya Sutra
Mimamsa Sutra, 300-200 BC [9]
Arthashastra, 400 BC -[10]
Nyaya Sutra, 2nd century BCE[11]
Vaiseshika Sutra, 2nd century BCE[12]
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 100 BCE - 500 CE[13]
Brahma Sutra, 500 BC [14][15]
Puranas, 100 BC
Shiva Sutras, 120 BC
Abhinavabharati, 950 - 1020 CE
Yoga Vasistha, 750 CE [16][17]

See also
List of historic Indian texts
Manusmṛti

References
1. 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
2. Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. pp. 37–39. ISBN 0521438780.
3. Sharma, Shubhra (1985), Life in the Upanishads, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 978-81-7017-202-4, pp. 17–19.

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28/02/2019 Timeline of Hindu texts - Wikipedia

4. Molloy, Michael (2008). Experiencing the World's Religions. p. 87. ISBN 9780073535647.
5. Brockington, J. (1998). The Sanskrit Epics (https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C), Leiden. p. 26
6. Van Buitenen; The Mahabharata (https://books.google.com/books?id=wFtXBGNn0aUC) Vol. 1; The Book of the
Beginning. Introduction (Authorship and Date).
7. 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."
8. Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam. History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A. D. (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%2
0composed%20before%20500%20B.C.%20while%20the%20more%20recent%20portion%20were%20not%20probab
ly%20added%20till%20the%202nd%20century%20B.C.%20and%20later.%22&f=false). 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."
9. Hiriyanna, M. (1995). The Essentials of Indian Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=QeRIP-TuKLAC&pg=P
A130&dq=mimamsa+sutra+twelve+chapters&hl=en&ei=OUc5TeHeI4WnrAfZiOn0CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=resul
t&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwADge#v=onepage&q&f=false). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 130. ISBN 81-208-
1330-8.
10. 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."
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 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."
11. B. K. Matilal "Perception. An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge" (Oxford University Press, 1986), p.
xiv.
12. Oliver Leaman, Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy. Routledge, 1999 , page 269.
13. Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-521-43878-
0.
14. James Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 978-
0823931798, page 746
15. Andrew J. Nicholson (2013). Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=AVusAgAAQBAJ). Columbia University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-231-14987-7.
16. Chapple, Christopher (1984). "Introduction". The Concise Yoga Vāsiṣṭha (https://books.google.com/books?id=1FFdOj
2dv8cC). Translated by Venkatesananda, Swami. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. ix-x with footnote 3.
ISBN 0-87395-955-8. OCLC 11044869 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11044869).
17. Hanneder, Jürgen; Slaje, Walter. Moksopaya Project: Introduction (http://www.indologie.uni-halle.de/forschung/Mokso
paya/introduction.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20051228130128/http://www.indologie.uni-halle.de/forsc
hung/Moksopaya/introduction.htm) 2005-12-28 at the Wayback Machine.

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