Hindu textual tradition is organized around a fundamental classification: śruti (शृति), "that which is heard," and smṛti (स्मृति), "that which is remembered." The distinction is not merely chronological — it encodes a hierarchy of religious authority that has shaped commentarial culture for more than two millennia.
— The Revealed Texts
refers to literature regarded as eternal and impersonal — apauruṣeya (अपौरुषेय), "not of human origin." In the orthodox view the ṛṣis did not compose the Vedic mantras; they heard them when, through ascetic discipline, their inner perception aligned with the timeless sound-current of the cosmos. therefore enjoys the highest scriptural authority. The corpus consists exclusively of:
- The four Samhitas — Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharva.
- The Brahmanas attached to each Samhita.
- The Aranyakas, the forest-treatise layer.
- The Upanishads, the philosophical dialogues.
Together these four layers constitute the Vedic canon proper. The Mimamsa school went so far as to argue that the Vedas have no author at all — neither human nor divine — and that the sound (śabda) and meaning of Vedic statements are co-eternal.
— The Remembered Tradition
by contrast is acknowledged human composition. It is held to be authoritative only insofar as it agrees with , but it is enormously richer in narrative, ethical guidance, devotion, and daily practice. The corpus includes:
- The Itihasa — the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
- The Puranas — eighteen major (mahāpurāṇa) and eighteen minor (upapurāṇa) compendia.
- The Dharmashastra — legal and ethical codes such as Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, and Naradasmriti.
- The Vedanga — six auxiliary disciplines (phonetics, meter, grammar, etymology, astronomy, ritual).
- The Agamas and Tantras — sectarian scriptures of Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Shakta traditions.
- The darśana sūtras — the foundational aphorisms of the six orthodox philosophical schools.
For most lived Hindu religion is the daily reference. Few worshippers can recite the Rigveda, but millions know the Bhagavad Gita (a section of the Mahabharata) or the Bhāgavata Purāṇa intimately.
The Hierarchy in Practice
When and appear to conflict, the principle stated by Manu and reaffirmed by Shankara is that prevails. The famous formulation runs: श्रुतिस्मृतिविरोधे तु श्रुतिरेव गरीयसी (śrutismṛtivirodhe tu śrutireva garīyasī) — "in a conflict between and , is weightier." Commentators, however, often work hard to harmonize the two, treating apparent contradictions as differences of context rather than substance.
Boundary Cases
Some texts straddle the categories. The Bhagavad Gita, formally , is treated as functional by the Vedanta tradition — Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva all wrote commentaries on it as one of the three foundational prasthāna-trayī texts alongside the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. The Devi Mahatmya enjoys similar elevated status in Shakta practice. Such cases show that the shruti–smriti distinction, while doctrinally sharp, is in lived tradition permeable: authority flows where devotion and commentary direct it.