The Upanishads are a continuation of the Vedic philosophy, and were written between 800 and 400 B.C. They elaborate on how the soul (Atman) can be united with the ultimate truth (Brahman) through contemplation and mediation, as well as the doctrine of Karma—the cumulative effects of a person’ actions.
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These are also considered to be Holy books by the Hindus. But, many of the Hindus do not even know that any books by that name exist at all. Between about 900 and 700 BC the Brahmanas were written in prose as sacerdotal commentaries on the four Vedas to guide the practices of the sacrifices and give explanations often mythical and fanciful for these customs. However, their limited focus of justifying the priestly actions in the sacrifices restricted themes of these first attempts at imaginative literature. Nevertheless they do give us information about the social customs of this period and serve as a transition from the Vedas to the Aranyakas and the mystical Upanishads.
These are sister books to the Brahmanas. The larger body of Vedic literature is divided into two parts with the four Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Samhitas and their Brahmanas making up the Karmakanda on the work of the sacrifices and the Aranyakas and the Upanishads the section on knowledge called the Jnanakanda. The Aranyakas and the Upanishads were tacked on to the end of Brahmanas, and the only three Aranyakas extant share the names of the Brahmanas they followed and the Upanishads they preceded: Aitareya, Kausitaki, and the Taittiriya; the first two are associated with the Rig Veda, the last with the Yajur Veda.
The Aranyakas are called the forest texts, because ascetics retreated into the forest to study the spiritual doctrines with their students, leading to less emphasis on the sacrificial rites that were still performed in the towns. They were transitional between the Brahmanas and the Upanishads in that they still discuss rites and have magical content, dull lists of formulas and some hymns from the Vedas as well as the early speculations and intellectual discussions that flowered in the Upanishads. The sages who took in students in their forest hermitages were not as wealthy as the Brahmins in the towns who served royalty and other wealthy patrons.
There are eighteen Puranas. Their names go like this:
1. Brahma Purana
2. Vishnu Purana
3. Shiva Purana
4. Bhagavata Maha Purana
5. Narada Purana
6. Markandeya Purana
7. Brihavevarta Purana
8. Bhavishya Purana
9. Padma Purana
10. Linga Purana
11. Varaha Purana
12. Skanda Purana
13. Vamana Purana
14. Kuram Purana
15. Matsya Purana
16. Garuda Purana
17. Brahmanda Purana
18. Missing
The fairy tales are mentioned in these fairly tale books will be soon brought on this web site.
