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Sanātana
Dharma

सनातन धर्म  ·  The Eternal Way

Sanātana Dharma — known in the modern world as Hinduism — is not a single religion with a single founder, a single text, or a single theology. It is a family of traditions that emerged on the Indian subcontinent over several thousand years: philosophical schools that argue with each other, sacred texts composed across different eras, devotional paths to different deities, and systematic knowledge spanning medicine, mathematics, music, and statecraft. This codex maps the entire tradition — every major thread, explained clearly, sourced from primary texts and peer-reviewed scholarship.

Documentation only  ·  No prescriptions  ·  No opinions  ·  Official sources throughout
Philosophical SchoolsDarśanas
VedāntaLive
Advaita Vedānta
Śaṅkarācārya · Non-dual
Brahman alone is real. The individual self and ultimate reality are not two different things. The tradition's most influential philosophical school.
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VedāntaComing
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Rāmānuja · Qualified non-dual
God, souls, and the world are real and distinct — but souls and world exist as the body of God. The philosophical basis of Sri Vaishnavism.
VedāntaComing
Dvaita
Madhvācārya · Dualist
God and the individual soul are eternally and fundamentally distinct. The philosophical basis of the Mādhva tradition of Vaishnavism.
DarśanaComing
Sāṃkhya
Kapila · Enumeration
The universe is composed of two eternal realities — Puruṣa (consciousness) and Prakṛti (matter). One of the oldest systematic philosophies in India.
DarśanaComing
Yoga Darśana
Patañjali · Mental discipline
Patañjali's philosophical system — the eightfold path to stilling the fluctuations of the mind. Not the physical practice — the complete philosophy.
DarśanaComing
Nyāya & Vaiśeṣika
Logic · Atomic theory
India's formal systems of logic and epistemology. Nyāya defines valid means of knowledge. Vaiśeṣika classifies all reality into atomic categories.
DarśanaComing
Mīmāṃsā
Ritual interpretation
The philosophical school devoted to correct interpretation of Vedic ritual injunctions. Establishes the self-evident authority of the Vedas.
VedāntaComing
Kashmir Śaivism
Abhinavagupta · Recognition
The Pratyabhijñā school — the universe is the free self-expression of Śiva's consciousness. One of the most sophisticated philosophical systems ever developed.
Sacred TextsŚruti · Smṛti · Itihāsa · Purāṇa
ŚrutiComing
The Four Vedas
Ṛg · Sāma · Yajur · Atharva
The oldest stratum of sacred literature — the foundational source of the entire tradition. Scholars estimate composition between 1500–500 BCE.
ŚrutiLive
The Upanishads
108 texts · Vedānta
The philosophical culmination of the Vedas — 108 texts exploring the nature of self, consciousness, and reality. The source of all Vedānta philosophy.
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PrasthānatrayīComing
Bhagavad Gītā
18 chapters · All paths
The most universally read text of the tradition — covering karma yoga, jñāna yoga, bhakti yoga, and the nature of the self in a dialogue between Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa.
ItihāsaComing
Mahābhārata
100,000 verses · Epic
The longest poem in world literature — containing the Bhagavad Gīta and an encyclopaedia of dharmic knowledge embedded in narrative.
ItihāsaComing
Rāmāyaṇa
Vālmīki · 24,000 verses
The story of Rāma — the text that has shaped the moral imagination of the subcontinent more than any other. Exists in hundreds of regional versions.
PurāṇaComing
The 18 Mahāpurāṇas
Cosmology · History · Devotion
Encyclopaedic texts covering cosmology, genealogies, geography, and devotional theology — each primarily devoted to one deity.
ĀgamaComing
Āgamas & Tantras
Śaiva · Vaishnava · Śākta
The ritual and philosophical texts governing temple worship, mantra, yantra, and tantric practice across all three major devotional streams.
PrasthānatrayīComing
Brahmasūtras
Bādarāyaṇa · 555 aphorisms
The systematic summary of Upanishadic philosophy in 555 terse aphorisms — every Vedānta school must interpret this text.
Devotional TraditionsBhakti paths
BhaktiComing
Vaishnavism
Viṣṇu · Kṛṣṇa · Rāma
The largest devotional stream — major schools founded by Rāmānuja, Madhva, Chaitanya, and Vallabha. The Āḻvār saints of Tamil Nadu form its earliest documented poetry.
BhaktiComing
Śaivism
Śiva · The auspicious one
Devotion to Śiva — spanning Kashmir Śaivism in the north, Śaiva Siddhānta in the south, and the Tamil Nāyaṉmār saints whose hymns form a parallel canon.
BhaktiComing
Śāktism
Devī · Durgā · Kālī
Devotion to the Goddess as the supreme power (Śakti) underlying all reality — from the philosophical Śrī Vidyā tradition to the Daśa Mahāvidyās.
BhaktiComing
The Sant Tradition
Kabir · Mirabai · Tukaram
Medieval poet-saints who transcended sectarian boundaries — whose vernacular poetry reshaped popular devotion across India between the 12th and 17th centuries.
BhaktiComing
Smārta Tradition
Pañcāyatana · Five deities
The tradition of worshipping five deities simultaneously as equal manifestations of the one Brahman. Associated with Advaita and Śaṅkarācārya's reform.
MovementComing
The Bhakti Movement
7th–17th century · Pan-India
The movement that democratised access to the divine through vernacular poetry — transforming how the tradition was practised across every region of the subcontinent.
Practical PathsMārgas and Yogas
YogaComing
Karma Yoga
Path of action
Acting without attachment to the fruits of action — the path detailed most fully in the Bhagavad Gīta. Liberation through engaged, dedicated work.
YogaComing
Jñāna Yoga
Path of knowledge
Liberation through the direct knowledge that the individual self and Brahman are identical. The path most associated with Advaita Vedānta.
YogaComing
Bhakti Yoga
Path of devotion
Liberation through complete surrender and love for a personal deity — the most widely practised path and the subject of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
YogaComing
Rāja Yoga
Patañjali · Aṣṭāṅga
Patañjali's eightfold path — yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi. The systematic path of mental discipline.
YogaComing
Haṭha Yoga
Physical · Prāṇic
The path of purifying the physical and subtle body — as documented in the Haṭhayogapradīpikā and related texts. Distinct from modern fitness yoga.
PathComing
Tantra
Ritual · Mantra · Energy
The systematic use of mantra, yantra, ritual, and prāṇic practices as a path to liberation — documented across the Śaiva, Vaishnava, and Śākta Āgamic traditions.
Life FrameworkĀśramas · Puruṣārthas · Dharma
FrameworkComing
The Four Puruṣārthas
Goals of human life
Dharma, Artha, Kāma, Moksha — the four legitimate goals of a human life as defined in the Dharmaśāstra and the Mahābhārata.
FrameworkComing
The Four Āśramas
Stages of life
Brahmacharya, Gṛhastha, Vānaprastha, Sannyāsa — the classical framework for a complete human life from student to renunciant.
FrameworkComing
The Saṃskāras
16 rites of passage
The sixteen rituals marking the major transitions of life — from conception through death — as documented in the Gṛhyasūtras.
FrameworkComing
Ṛta and Dharma
Cosmic order
Ṛta — cosmic order — is the oldest concept in the Vedas, predating the word Dharma itself. How the tradition understands universal law and individual duty.
CosmologyComing
The Yuga System
Satya · Tretā · Dvāpara · Kali
The tradition's cosmological time cycle — four ages of decreasing virtue, currently in Kali Yuga, the fourth age, as documented in the Purāṇas.
Law textsComing
Dharmaśāstra
Manu · Yājñavalkya
The classical legal literature — what these texts actually say, their historical context, scholarly debates about their origins, and how they have been interpreted.
Knowledge SystemsVedāṅgas · Upavedas · Sacred Arts
VedāṅgaComing
The Six Vedāṅgas
Limbs of the Veda
Śikṣā, Chandas, Vyākaraṇa, Nirukta, Kalpa, Jyotiṣa — the six auxiliary sciences developed to preserve and apply the Vedas correctly.
UpavedaLive
Āyurveda
Science of life
The classical Indian medical system — one of the world's oldest documented healthcare traditions, grounded in the Charaka Samhitā and Suśruta Samhitā.
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VedāṅgaComing
Sanskrit Grammar
Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī
Pāṇini's 4,000-rule grammar — composed around the 4th century BCE, one of the greatest intellectual achievements in the history of linguistics.
UpavedaComing
Gāndharvaveda
Music as sādhanā
The classical science of music — Carnatic and Hindustani traditions, the rāga system, and the Nāṭyaśāstra's theory of rasa as a path to the sacred.
UpavedaComing
Vāstu Śāstra
Sacred architecture
The classical science of sacred space — principles governing temple design and the relationship between built form and cosmic order.
KnowledgeComing
Jyotiṣa
Astronomy · Astrology
The Vedic science of celestial observation — astronomical calculation, the pañcāṅga calendar, and ritual timing of all major ceremonies.
Temple, Ritual & Living TraditionThe living practice
RitualComing
Āgamic Temple Worship
How temples actually work
The theological and ritual logic of the Hindu temple — what it represents, how the deity is understood to be present, and how the ritual calendar functions.
RitualComing
Pūjā & Yajña
Daily and fire ritual
Pūjā — the sixteen services offered to the deity — and Yajña — the Vedic fire sacrifice — documented from their primary textual sources.
GeographyComing
Sacred Geography
Tīrthas · Dhāms · Pīṭhas
Char Dham, the twelve Jyotirliṅgas, the 51 Śaktipīṭhas — India understood as a sacred landscape, every point a meeting of the human and the divine.
TraditionComing
The Guru Tradition
Guru-śiṣya paramparā
How knowledge has been transmitted across generations — the living lineage system, the four Śaṅkara maṭhas, and how the tradition continues today.
ArtsComing
Sacred Arts
Art as sādhanā
Bharatanāṭyam, Carnatic music, temple sculpture — the classical arts as spiritual disciplines, unified by the rasa theory of the Nāṭyaśāstra.
HistoryComing
History & Timeline
Vedic to contemporary
The full historical arc — Vedic period, Upanishadic period, classical era, Bhakti movement, colonial encounter, modern reform, global diaspora.
“This codex does not tell you what to believe. It documents what the tradition itself says — clearly, completely, and from named sources. The rest is yours.”
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