Hindu Scriptures Book

The very earliest Indian literature to survive is that of the Vedas. Orthodox Hindus as primary scriptural revelation have long revered this diverse body of polytheistic hymns, prose treatises on sacrifice, and speculation about the soul of the universe. The hymns, which form its most ancient stratum, were handed down orally for centuries, even long after development of writing in India. In this new edition of Hindu Scriptures R.C. Zaehner's original selection of hymns from the Rg-Veda and Atharva-Veda has been enlarged. This is followed by Zaehner's translations of five of the earliest Upanishads, the seminal scriptures for the monist doctrine of Sankara, the belief that the world we experience is a cosmic illusion that we project upon the one, unchanging undefinable reality, brahman.