The Illumination of Knowledge

In India, the earliest literature is the Vedic literature, which is Sanskrit literature, whose earliest specimens reveal a very advanced state of development and which has greatly, influenced the world and all civilizations of the Old World. Sanskrit is the language of culture, it is very much a living language whose vocabulary and grammar, approach and construction, remains unsurpassed. The Vedic literature comprises of the four Vedas and their auxiliary texts, which include the Upavedas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, the Upanishads and the Vedangas. The Upanishads, which are the philosophical part of the Brahmanas which are the commentaries on the Vedas, contain the essence of the knowledge of the Atman or Brahman. The existence of Brahman is revealed by the Rig Veda and it is Agni who shows the way leading to Brahman, the sole source and refuge of all.