What are the names of the six shastras of Hinduism?
The article is from a series of questions answered by Shekhar Bodhakar
What makes think there
are only six shastras of what was termed ‘Hinduism’ by the British in the early
nineteenth century.
‘Hinduism’ was,
what we can call ‘Indianism’ today. It has nothing to do with
religion as is commonly but falsely assumed.
Shastras (instructions
manuals), derived from the root word shastra which means weapon, reminds one of
the phrase “pen is mightier than the sword”.
Knowledge is like a
powerful weapon. knowledge which can be used in defence or attack, when
systemised is called a shastra.
What are the shastras
of the Indian subcontinent, a land once known as Hindustan, once a Buddhist
empire known as Jambudeep? There are thousands upon thousands of shastras and
many countless thousands that were kept in the only universities of that era,
were destroyed in fires during the decline of Buddhism.
There are mathematics
and scientific shastras, philosophical and religious shastras, music and arts
shastras, languages, craft, history, medical etc shastras.
The oldest sets of
shastras are:
1. The Tipitaka, which
forms the Buddhist canon written by monks, exported to Sri Lanka by Ashoka’s
son, the monk Mahinda.
2. The Vedas &
Smritis composed by Brahmins sages and scholars not written until the AD era
The Tipitaka, being
the oldest available written shastra is from the Ashokan era
in the Pali language
These two sets of
shastras, with conflicting ideologies, shaped the future of the Jambudeepians,
Hindustanis and today’s Indians and are the shastras
of ‘Indianism’, the way of life of the Indians.
NOTES:
1. The terms Hindu and
Hindustan WERE geographical Identities and not religious
identities. Hindustan split into Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar
(Burma). After each country got it’s independence, the citizens of Hindustan,
the Hindus became Pakistanis, Indian, Bangladeshis, Nepalis etc and are no more
Hindus.. just as there are no more Soviets since the Soviet Union split into
independent states too.
Therefore, their (the ex-Hindus) way of life cannot be called Hinduism anymore. It makes more sense to refer to these multiple ways of life as Pakistanism, Indianism, Banglaism or Nepalism etc Even the PM, Mr Modi admits that
2. If by Hinduism you
mean Brahminism, the way of life of society controlled by
Brahmins, then why not call it what it is.. ie Brahminism. Your question
would then become :
“What are the names of the six shastras of Brahmanism?”, which warrants a different answer.
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