SRUTI

(Sanskrit: Learning by Hearing), that class of Hindu sacred literature based on revelation, the most revered body of sacred literature in Hinduism. Sruti works are considered divine revelation, heard and transmitted by earthly sages, as contrasted to Smrti, or that which is remembered. Though Sruti is considered to be the more authoritative, in practice the Smrti texts are more influential in modern Hinduism. The revealed texts encompass the four VedasRg, Yajur, Sama, and Atharvaveda (the earliest Hindu sacred literature)and the Brahmanas (ritual treatises), the Aranyakas (Books of the Forest), and the Upanisads (philosophic elaborations on the Vedas that form the basis of much of later Indian philosophy).