Vedas

Sacred literature in the form of a collection of poems or hymns composed in archaic Sanskrit and known to the Indo-European-speaking peoples who entered India during the 2nd millennium BCE. The corpus of Vedic literature includes the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads, and is believed to be derived from divine revelation. The Vedas were long preserved orally, perhaps with now-lost early manuscripts to assist memory. Several of these works are yet today recited with subtleties of intonation and rhythm that have been handed down from the early days of Vedic religion in India.