List of important books and Authors in Ancient India
Many texts are available that were written in our ancient past. Ancient history books are sources of knowledge and understanding of our history, culture, and social position of ours. We are providing here the list of important books and Authors in Ancient India.
List of books and authors in Ancient India:
| Name of Book | Name of Author | Description |
| Rig Veda
|
Attributed to many Rishis | Hindu hymns about various gods, scientific revelations, and references to historic events.
Written in language Sanskrit |
| Yajur Veda | Attributed to many Rishis | Hindu sacrificial knowledge. Written in language Sanskrit |
| Sama Veda | Attributed to many Rishis | Hindu music and arts.
Written in language Sanskrit |
| Atharva Veda | Attributed to rishis “Atharvana” and Angiras | Hindu medicine, magic, sorcery.
Written in language Sanskrit |
| Sushruta Samhita | Sushruta | ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, and one of the most important such treatises on this subject to survive from the ancient world |
| Shatapatha Brahmana | The Shatapatha Brahmana is a commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya | |
| Aitareya | The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda | |
| Astadhyayi | Panini | Sanskrit Grammar |
| Ramayana | Valmiki | The Rāmāyana is a Sanskrit epic from ancient India
|
| Mahabharata | Veda Vyasa | The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandavas princes |
| Mimamsa Sutra or Purva Mimamsa Sutra | Rishi Jamini | one of the most important ancient Hindu philosophical texts. It forms the basis of Mimamsa, the earliest of the six orthodox schools (darshans) of Indian philosophy. |
| Bhagavad Gita | Veda Vyasa | a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata, dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE
Krishna advised Arjuna on duty |
| Panchtantra | Vishnu Sharma | an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose arranged within a frame story |
| Yogs sutra of Patanjali | Patanjali | The book is a collection of Sanskrit sutras (aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras and 196 sutras. |
| Arthashastra | Kautilya or Vishnugupta or Chanakya | It is an ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy. It is written in the era of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya |
| Milinda Panha | It is a Buddhist text record of the dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the Indo-Greek king Menander I of Bactria | |
| Sangam Literature | Also known as ‘the poetry of the noble ones’ connotes ancient Tamil literature and is the earliest known literature of South India. | |
| Buddhacharita | Asvaghosa | is an epic poem in the Sanskrit maha kavya style on the life of Gautama Buddha |
| Manusmriti | Manu | also known as the Manavas Dharmashastra or Laws of Manu. It is believed to be the first ancient legal text and constitution among the many Dharmasastra of Hinduism |
| Gaha Sattasai or Gaha Kosa | Hala (A Satvahan king) | Anthology of Poems |
| Kama Sutra | Vatsyayana | A manual of love. |
| Charaka Samhita | Charaka | It is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda |
| Siddhanta Kaumudi | Bhattoji Dikshita | Sanskrit grammar. Rearranges and provides descriptions for Panini’s Ashtadyayi. |
| Mahabhashya | Patanjali | The book is a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from Panini’s treatise, the Astadhyayi, as well as Katyayna’s Varttika – Sutra, an elaboration of Panini’s grammar. |
| Devichandraguptam or Devi Chandragupta | Vishakhadatta | Drama about Chandragupta II |
| Aryabhatiya or Aryabhatiyam | Aryabhata | The book is of mathematics |
| Mahabhaskariya | Bhaskara I | Book related to mathematics |
| Abhijanasakuntala | Kalidasa | In the play written by Kalidasa, Shakuntala is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata |
| Meghadutam or Meghaduta | Kalidasa | A poem in which the cloud is asked to take a message of love to the hero’s wife. |
| Mricchakatika or Mrcchakatika | Shudraka | Story of Brahman who is in love with a courtesan |
| Harshacharita | Banabhatta | The book is a biography of the Indian emperor Harsha in the Sanskrit language. |
| Mattavilasa Prahasana | Mahendravarman I (Pallav King) | Short one-act Sanskrit play |
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_Indian_texts
You can also read:
- Sources of Ancient History of India
- Major Sites of Indus Valley Civilization
- Chronology of Ancient History of India
Thank you 🙂
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