The heard tradition
Śruti
Enter the Vedas and Upaniṣads with attention to recensional traditions, Vedic Sanskrit, oral preservation, and traditional interpretation.
- Veda
- Saṃhitā
- Brāhmaṇa
- Āraṇyaka
- Upaniṣad
Discover Sources
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Foundational texts and knowledge traditions
Sources
Encounter the foundational and inherited sources through which Indic traditions preserve revelation, knowledge, law, philosophy, practice, history, and civilizational memory.
Explore this fieldHow to enter
A field of connected inquiry.
Every source is identified by its traditional category, textual layer, language, recension or edition, commentator, sampradāya, and provenance wherever these are known.
Explore the field
Six ways to begin.
Choose an entrance, then follow its sources, terms, people, places, practices, and connected questions.
Remembered and interpreted tradition
Smṛti & Dharma sources
Explore texts concerned with conduct, life stages, society, custom, responsibility, and changing circumstances.
- Smṛti
- Dharmaśāstra
- Ācāra
- Nibandha
Memory through story and lineage
Itihāsa & Purāṇa
Encounter the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Bhagavad Gītā, Purāṇas, genealogies, cosmologies, and regional retellings.
- Rāmāyaṇa
- Mahābhārata
- Gītā
- Purāṇa
Systematic knowledge and disciplined inquiry
Śāstra & Darśana
Follow sūtra, bhāṣya, vārttika, ṭīkā, debate, and the textual lineages of distinct knowledge systems and Darśanas.
- Sūtra
- Bhāṣya
- Śāstra
- Siddhānta
Temple, practice and revelation
Āgama & Tantra
Explore textual traditions connected with worship, temple, mantra, iconography, theology, and modes of sādhana.
- Āgama
- Tantra
- Mantra
- Paddhati
Preserving and interpreting the Veda
Vedāṅga & supporting disciplines
Meet phonetics, metre, grammar, etymology, ritual procedure, and sacred time as disciplines supporting Vedic preservation and interpretation.
- Śikṣā
- Chandas
- Vyākaraṇa
- Kalpa
Questions people bring
Begin with a real question.
Each answer should lead back to sources, named interpretations, and related pathways—not stop at a summary.
Guided pathways
Not sure where to begin?
Start with a shaped journey. Each pathway brings together sources, explanation, media, reflection, and related fields.
How to approach an Indic text
Learn source type, structure, language layers, commentary, and provenance.
Follow in the Vidyame app →Begin the Bhagavad Gītā
Meet the text within the Mahābhārata and compare named commentarial traditions.
Follow in the Vidyame app →Understand the source hierarchy
Distinguish Śruti, Smṛti, Itihāsa, Purāṇa, Śāstra, Āgama, Tantra, and commentary.
Follow in the Vidyame app →The Vidyame Promise
Context is part of the knowledge.
Every source is identified by its traditional category, textual layer, language, recension or edition, commentator, sampradāya, and provenance wherever these are known.
How Vidyame approaches sourcesContinue discovering