When it comes to Hindu scriptures we are accustomed to many varied books. The Bhagavad Gita, Tirukkural, Tirumurais, Tirumantiram and Periya Puranam are the most common books we hear of. When we think of a bible, the picture that comes to mind is the Christian bible or the Islamic Koran or the Sikh Guru Granth. All these books are singular volumes which can easily be shown or referred to as the authoritative scripture of the religion. Does Hinduism have a bible like these other religions? The answer is yes and no. Yes because we do have an authoritative central Scripture in Hinduism. These are called the Vedas. No because it is not a singular volume. All Hindus revere the Vedas as the source of Hinduism. It is historically the world's oldest scripture, where scientific dating puts the writing of these Scriptures beyond 5000 years ago (well before the emergence of other scriptures in Hinduism or other religions). The teachings in the Vedas were revealed directly by God to meditating rishis. In Hinduism such God revealed Scriptures are called shruti. These teachings were then passed on orally from guru to sishya and eventually they were written down in ancient books. The revelation of the Vedas to the rishis is similar to God's revelation of Scriptures of the other religions to their prophets. However unlike the Christian Bible or the Koran, the Vedas is not a singular book. Neither were the teachings in the Vedas revealed to one particular rishi. In fact the Vedas are a collection of books that were written by many (some say thousands) of rishis, most of whom remained anonymous. All together the Vedas consists of about 400 volumes of text. These text are orgainzed into four main collection the Vedas. These four Vedas are the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Each of these four Vedas are further divided into the Samhitas (Chants), Brahmanas (ceremonies manual), Aranyakas (teachings of the forest dwelling rishis) and Upanishads (philosophical discussions). It would take a whole wall cabinet to store the entirety of the Vedas. This is why unlike the Bible or the Koran most Hindus do not have the Vedas at home. The entire collection is available in archives and libraries around the world. It is rare to find publishers willing to publish the entire collection for public purchase. Instead to study the teachings in the Vedas, God has revealed other scriptures to Hindu gurus such as the Viveka Chudamani, the Bhagavad Gita and the Tirumantiram which contain the essence of the teachings in the Vedas. Such singular volumed Scriptures are more accessible and convenient to study. There are many such Scripures to choose from. The choice of which Scripture to study is as in typical Hindu liberal fashion left up to the individual, though it will be most likely connected to his or her Hindu sectarian leaning or the books that their guru recommends.
