1. Hinduism
Sacred Writings

2. “Sacred writings” are also called “sources of authority” in a religion
“Sacred writings” are also called “sources of authority” in a religion. Most religions have two types:
Primary
Secondary

3. Primary and Secondary Primary: Secondary:
direct words of the deity. It is never changed or altered.
Secondary:
interpretation, explanation or words of holy men or prophets in a religion. This may be altered or changed to aid in understanding the religion as times change.

4. In Hinduism:
the Primary source of writing is the Shruti (Sruti)
the Secondary source of writing is the Smriti.

5. Shruti
The word Shruti means “hearings”. Shruti are the words the rishis (holy men) heard from the gods, thus they are eternal and were in existence when the rishis discovered them. They include the Vedas.
The Vedas which means “knowledge of God” consist of four collections (Samhitas) recorded in Sanskrit between 1500 and 800 BCE.

6. The Four Samhitas (Vedas)
Rig Veda
Sama Veda
Yajur Veda
Atharva Veda

7. Rig – Veda (Veda of Praise or Royal Veda)
is the most sacred and oldest.
It consists of ten volumes (mandalas) written by the Aryans.
It contains 1017 hymns to nature gods, each made up of a number of verses (mantra). These hymns reflect the nomadic life of the people who cry out to their favorite gods as they charge into battle. Especially Indra (warrior god) and Agni (god of fire)

8. The Sama Veda (Veda of chants)
comprises hymns from the Rig-Veda to various gods arranged for the chanting priests to use in the Soma (Hallucinatory plant) rituals of the Aryans in praise of Agni.

9. The Yajur-Veda (Sacrificial Veda)
contains prose prayers for domestic and public rituals

10. Atharva-Veda (Compiled by the priest Atharvan)
corrects the pronunciation and errors of the trayi-veda with its incantations and magical texts for healing.
N.B. The Rig Veda, Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda collectively is called the Trayi Veda.

11. In a diagram it would look like this:
Sacred Writings
Shruti
Atharva Veda
Trayi Veda
Rig Veda
Sama Veda
Yajur Veda
Smriti

12. Smriti The word Smriti means “memory”.
These are the words remembered from generation to generation then written down by wise men. This means that they are considered as lower than Shriuti. They include the “Mahabharata” and the “Ramayana”.