A Comprehensive Encyclopaedia of Sanātana Dharma — spanning Veda, Vedāṅga, Upaveda, Itihāsa, Purāṇa, Dharmaśāstra, Arts, Pilgrimage, Sages, Saints, and Civilisation.
Rarely has the whole of the Sanātana Dharma tradition been laid out, in a single ordered series, in clear modern English — faithful to the primary sources, yet legible to a reader who has never opened a Sanskrit text. That is the gap the Veda Vijñāna Series exists to close. Four convictions drive the work.
For more than three thousand years the knowledge of the Vedas and their ancillary sciences was carried by an unbroken oral lineage of teacher and pupil. That lineage is now thinning: each generation, fewer scholars remain who can read the mula text, hold the accent, and expound the meaning.
The Series fixes this living inheritance in a durable, referenced form — in print and in permanent digital editions — so that no branch of the tradition is lost for want of a competent exposition in a language the modern reader commands.
Most of the world's students of Dharma — in India and across the diaspora — now read most comfortably in English, yet the reliable expositions remain locked in Sanskrit or in academic monographs that presume years of prior training. The Series meets the reader where they are: a learner in Mysore, Melbourne, or Minneapolis can open any volume and find the tradition on its own terms — consistent IAST transliteration, genuine primary sources rather than second-hand summaries, and explanations pitched to be understood, not merely admired.
Every volume is written to be taught. The prose is pitched at the serious high-school and undergraduate reader; technical terms are introduced, not assumed; and the material is structured for a syllabus, not only a shelf. A companion digital edition makes the same content searchable and portable, and a bank of more than fourteen hundred assessment questions turns the Series into a ready resource for examinations, quiz competitions, and guided self-study.
Accessibility is never bought at the price of accuracy. Each volume works from the primary texts; transliteration follows the international IAST convention throughout; Vedic accents and special characters are set in the dedicated VijayaDV font so that nothing is silently normalised or lost; and every completed draft passes through scholarly review before it is declared ready — a body of work a specialist can cite with confidence and a newcomer can read with ease.
The seventy-two volumes are not a miscellany. They follow the classical order in which a traditional institution imparts knowledge — outward from the root to its branches, and from revealed text to applied science and lived culture. Twelve thematic divisions organise the whole: the foundational śāstras establish the ground; the Veda corpus presents the four Vedas and their auxiliaries; the Kalpa Sūtra manuals and applied “Solutions” volumes carry the ritual into practice; the Vedāṅgas and Upāṅgas supply the six limbs and the schools of reasoning; the Upavedas open onto medicine, defence, music, and statecraft; Itihāsa and the Purāṇas preserve narrative and cosmology; Dharmaśāstra codifies conduct; literature, arts, and mathematics record the civilisational achievement; the Punya Kṣetra series maps sacred geography; and the closing volumes gather the lives of the Seers, Saints, and leaders who carried the tradition to today.
The Series is written for six overlapping readerships, and each volume is measured against all of them:
Every title advances through the same disciplined pipeline: a detailed structural blueprint is drafted; the text is composed from the mula sources with full IAST transliteration and Vedic-accent typesetting; the completed draft is examined and corrected by qualified reviewers; Sanskrit and English are aligned for study editions where relevant; and the volume is finally issued in two forms — an archival print edition and a permanent online edition. Each volume's position in this pipeline is recorded as its production status in the register that follows.
The seventy-two volumes are distributed across twelve thematic divisions, following the classical curriculum from foundational śāstra to lived civilisation:
| Division | Volumes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foundational Śāstras | Vols. 1–10 |
| 2 | Veda Corpus | Vols. 11–21 |
| 3 | Vedic Manuals — Kalpa Sūtras | Vols. 22–25 |
| 4 | Vedic Solutions — Applied Ritual | Vols. 26–29 |
| 5 | Vedāṅgas & Upāṅgas | Vols. 30–38 |
| 6 | Upavedas & Applied Sciences | Vols. 39–45 |
| 7 | Itihāsa | Vols. 46–47 |
| 8 | Purāṇas | Vols. 48–50 |
| 9 | Dharmaśāstra | Vols. 51–53 |
| 10 | Literature, Arts & Mathematics | Vols. 54–61 |
| 11 | Punya Kṣetra Series | Vols. 62–67 |
| 12 | Seers, Saints & Civilisation | Vols. 68–72 |
The complete volume register on the following pages lists every title with its current production status. Volumes 1–8 — the foundational śāstras and the first Karma Prabodha ritual volumes — are the most advanced, already complete or under final review; the remaining volumes are structured and in active development.
Every title in the Series with its current production status, in the classical order of study — from the foundational śāstras outward to lived civilisation.
A guided textbook that opens the whole Vedic corpus for the newcomer: what the Veda is, its division into Mantra and Brāhmaṇa and into karma- and jñāna-kāṇḍa, and why it exists. Built on the discourses of the Kāñcī Paramācārya and other teachers of our own time, with a careful key to IAST pronunciation and the svaras.
The second guided textbook carries the reader from ritual to realisation, presenting the Upaniṣads as the culmination — the anta — of the Veda. It surveys the principal Upaniṣadic teachings and the schools of Vedānta in the same accessible, teachable format as Book 1.
The third foundational textbook maps the six limbs of the Veda — Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Chandas, Nirukta, Kalpa, and Jyotiṣa — together with the ancillary sciences, showing how each protects and applies the revealed text. It prepares the student for the specialist volumes that follow.
An English rendering of Dr. Ghanapathi's teaching on the daily obligatory rites (nitya-karma), explaining why the Veda commands action and how the karma- and jñāna-kāṇḍas relate. As Part 1 of Book 4, it grounds ritual practice in its scriptural rationale.
A comparative study of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa and Āraṇyaka of the Ṛgveda, opening with the classical definitions of mantra, ṛk, sāman, and yajus and the categories of arthavāda. It treats Pañcikā I in full, Pañcikā II in part, and the remaining pañcikās through selected samples.
A study of the principles of the Pravargya and Upasad rites of the Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda, examining the myth of the severed head of the yajña, the meaning of the śānti-mantras, and whether the Pravargya stands alone or is a limb of the Soma sacrifice.
The first of a two-volume critical study of the havir-yajñas in the Kāṇva recension of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. It covers the preface, the establishing of the fires (Agnyādheya), and the iṣṭi rites through the darśa-pūrṇamāsa.
The concluding volume carries the study through the Cāturmāsya seasonal rites and the paśubandha, with the technical definitions and the closing grantha-upasaṃhāra. Together the two volumes translate the complete thesis.
A practical manual for the Agniṣṭoma, the archetypal one-day Soma sacrifice that serves as the model for the whole class of soma-yāgas. It documents the sequence of the rite, the offices of its priests, and its ritual application.
A manual for the Agnicayana, the grand rite of building the fire-altar of ten thousand bricks in the form of the bird — among the most elaborate of the śrauta sacrifices. It documents the construction, the mantras, and the symbolism of the rite.
A complete orientation to the Ṛgveda: what it is, its statistical shape, its śākhās and the living Nambūdiri tradition, and its transmission through the guru-śiṣya paramparā. It introduces the Aitareya and Śāṅkhāyana Brāhmaṇas and the textual pyramid that rises from Saṃhitā to Upaniṣad.
A companion volume on the narrative (ākhyāyikā) hymns of the Ṛgveda, read maṇḍala by maṇḍala through the fourfold theory of Vedic language and the frame of arthavāda. It also treats the office of the Hotṛ and his four assistants and the powers of mantra custody.
Opens with the legend of Vyāsa's great distribution of the Veda, Vaiśampāyana's curse, and Yājñavalkya's Āditya-vidyā, then presents the Taittirīya Saṃhitā in the Āpastamba school. It explains what the epithet Kṛṣṇa (mixed) means and how to read the saṃhitā as an operational manual.
A supplement focused on the central role of the Adhvaryu, the statistical and structural detail of the Taittirīya Saṃhitā, and the Āpastamba Śrautasūtra. It carries the Śrī Rudram and an ākhyāyikā-koṣa of Yajurvedic narratives.
Traces the emergence of the white recension from Yājñavalkya's new school and the court of Janaka, and presents the forty adhyāyas of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā. It gives special attention to the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, the Puruṣasūkta, and the Kāṭyāyana Śrautasūtra.
Presents the Veda of song: the priority of gāna, the Udgātṛ and his assembly, the five-fold sāman structure, and the step-by-step transformation of an ṛk into a sāman. It documents the base gāna styles, the eighteen bhāva-vikāras, and the four song-books.
A thematic anthology of thirty-five Sāmavedic stories in full narrative, each with its arthavāda frame, its connection to song, and its distilled teaching (upadeśa-sāra). The themes range from brahman-recognition to the cosmic power of gāna and the women who taught it.
A reference annexe that tabulates the stotra sequences of the Soma rites day by day — from the one-day Agniṣṭoma to the year-long sattras — with rite profiles, stoma progressions, and the climactic Mahāvrata day.
Presents the fourth Veda in its own right: its unique position in the canon, the seers Atharvan, Bhṛgu, and Āṅgiras, the Śaunakīya and Paippalāda recensions, and the five pillars of its content. It emphasises the Atharvaveda as medicine — the healing of the world.
A companion anthology of thirty-five Atharvavedic stories with their arthavāda frames and teachings, organised by theme — the healing triad of maṇi, mantra, and oṣadhi; the earth as healer; and philosophical liberation.
A developed research volume proposing a modern biomedical reading of Atharvavedic healing: the logic of combination (saṃbhṛtam), the maṇi as a crystalline carrier, and the mantra as an acoustic modulator, set out as a phased in-vitro research programme. It bridges Vedic text and contemporary drug-delivery science.
Centres on the Āśvalāyana Śrauta- and Gṛhya-sūtras, mapping the Hotṛ's śastra recitations to their episodes, the three modes of oblation in the domestic fire, and the prāyaścitta for ritual error. It is the Ṛgvedic architecture of śrauta and gṛhya practice.
A master register of the Yajurvedic Kalpa traditions — śrauta, gṛhya, and paribhāṣā texts — carried through the fire rites from Agnyādhāna to Agnicayana, the havir-yajñas, the Cāturmāsya, and the Soma sacrifices across seven traditions.
Explains why the Sāmavedic Kalpa is fundamentally different, the independent Jaiminīya tradition, the Udgātṛ and his team, and the sāman and stotra-śastra systems — with a rite register set out in parallel across three traditions.
Covers the four layers of the Atharvavedic Kalpa: the Brahman's office in the Vaitāna Śrautasūtra, the Kauśika Sūtra with its healing (bheṣaja) and ābhicārika sections, and the Gopatha Brāhmaṇa.
Presents the applied use of Ṛgvedic mantras: the method of the Ṛgvidhāna, the Dharma Sindhu as its practical backbone, and the Mīmāṃsā framework of nitya, naimittika, and kāmya rites. It is a manual of mantra-application to the needs of life.
Applies the threefold taxonomy of rites across the Yajurvedic texts — obligatory, optional, and expiatory-pacificatory — with a full register of the Śānti Kamalākara's twenty-six categories and the Śrī Rudra as the backbone of the śānti system. It covers sandhyāvandana, agnihotra, saṃskāras, cāturmāsya, śrāddha, and upākarma.
Draws on the Sāmavidhāna Brāhmaṇa and the Chāndogya Upaniṣad to present the applied power of song: the daily breath-sāman, a register of desired results, the stealth (ābhicāra) tradition, and thirty-two upāsanās for every level of aspirant.
Gathers the five Atharvavedic applied texts — Śānti Kalpa, Atharva Pariśiṣṭa, Kauśika Gṛhyasūtra, Nakṣatra Kalpa, and Gopatha Brāhmaṇa — around the figure of the Brahman priest, applying the three-category framework to healing and protection.
The science of Vedic phonetics: the six Vedāṅgas and their hierarchy, the Prātiśākhyas, the phoneme inventory, and the eight aspects of every syllable — sound, place, instrument, effort, and the rest. Its purpose is rakṣā, the faultless preservation of the living Veda.
Treats grammar — the face (mukha) of the Veda — through its nine schools culminating in Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī, together with Yāska's Nirukta, the science of etymology. It sets out the legendary lineage from Indra and Bṛhaspati down to the human grammarians.
The science of metre, from the Veda's own designation as Chandas to the seven classical Vedic metres, the problem of irregular scansion, and the Prātiśākhya authorities. It carries metre forward into later Sanskrit verse and musical tāla.
The eye of the Veda: the Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa as the science of time-reckoning, the two clocks of sun and moon, eclipses, the nakṣatra maṇḍala, and the pañcāṅga. It traces astronomy's evolution from sky-observation to the analysis of the world.
The Vedic tradition's own science of self-interpretation — the formalisation of the intelligence by which the Veda reads itself. It presents the nature and scope of Jaimini's inquiry, the structure of ritual doubt (vichikitsā), and the Bhāṭṭa and Prābhākara schools.
Surveys the culmination of the Vedas across the three great schools — Śaṅkara's Advaita, Rāmānuja's Viśiṣṭādvaita, and Madhva's Dvaita — and the central doctrines of māyā, avidyā, and adhyāsa, presenting Vedānta as the living breath of the Upaniṣadic seers.
The science of reasoning through the twin streams of Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika: the atom and its combinations, the nine substances and seven padārthas, the four pramāṇas, the five-membered syllogism, and the fallacies, up to the refinements of Navya-Nyāya.
A practical presentation of yoga, from managing the mind (the vṛttis and kleśas) through āsana, prāṇāyāma, and the ṣaṭkarmas, to Patañjali's Kriyā and Aṣṭāṅga Yoga and the counsel of the Bhagavad Gītā on food, meditation, and action.
After Mādhava's classic, presents India's philosophical spectrum in ascending order — from Cārvāka materialism through the Buddhist and Jaina schools to Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, Sāṃkhya-Yoga, and Vedānta — as a model of intellectual pluralism and peaceful co-existence.
The science of life: the foundations of doṣa, dhātu, mala, and agni; the internal-medicine tradition of Caraka; the surgical tradition of Suśruta; and Vāgbhaṭa's great synthesis — with prevention through dinacaryā and ṛtucaryā as the first principle.
The Yajurvedic upaveda of arms: its origin and lineage, its classical texts, the fourfold taxonomy of weapons, and the Vedic weaponry of the Rudram and the Āyudha-sūkta — force always exercised under dharma.
The Gāndharvaveda, the sacred science of sound: the two vīṇās — bodily and wooden — the mārga and deśī streams, and the theology by which music mirrors the cosmos, from the gātra-vīṇā to brahmānusandhāna.
The science of statecraft: the aim of yogakṣema, the four sciences, and the coercive principle (daṇḍa) and its restraint, developed through Kauṭilya's fifteen books, the seven limbs of the state, the maṇḍala theory of foreign policy, and public administration and law.
The science of the sacred word, from the axiom that no syllable is without mantric power, through the phonic theology of Sanskrit as parā-vāk and śabda-brahman, the Vedic sources of mantra, the mātṛkā and bīja syllables, and the primary compendia.
The science of built space: from the Atharvavedic Vāstoṣpati and the śālā hymns and the inheritance from the Śulba, through the myth of the Vāstupuruṣa, to the great texts of the house, the temple, and the planned city.
The lateral transformation of Vedic worship into temple ritual: the four pādas of the Āgamic system and the Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava Āgama corpora. It is positioned as the institutional culmination of the entire series.
A study of Vālmīki's ādi-kāvya at the headwaters of Sanskrit literature: its authorship and the origin-of-poetry narrative, its two principal recensions and manuscript families, and its transmission from Kuśa and Lava to print, situated within the Vedic-Purāṇic continuum.
A study of the largest single literary work in human history — some 100,000 verses in eighteen parvas — its authorship by Vyāsa, its frame structure, its status as the fifth Veda, the Pune critical edition, and the Bhagavad Gītā as its philosophical core.
Opens the three-volume treatment of the eighteen Mahāpurāṇas with what a Purāṇa is — the pañcalakṣaṇa, the frame of cosmos and time, and the classification of the eighteen — then treats the Brahma through Nārada Purāṇas by text, structure, narrative, and living use.
The second volume continues from the Mārkaṇḍeya through the Varāha Purāṇa, each presented under the same rubric of transmission, structure, principal narratives, distinctive teaching, and reception.
The concluding volume completes the eighteen, from the Skanda through the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, closing the Itihāsa-Purāṇa cluster of the series.
After an overview of smṛti literature, presents the foundational code of classical Hindu dharma: its authorship, recensions, and twelve adhyāyas; the Svāyambhuva creation and the origin of the varṇas; and the āśrama system of life-stage conduct.
The two great towers built in Manu's shadow: the Parāśara Smṛti as the code of Kali-yuga conduct and lightened expiation, and the Yājñavalkya Smṛti with its three adhyāyas on conduct, civil law, and expiation — with the Mādhavīya commentary.
Surveys the wider smṛti landscape — the canon of eighteen, the foundational Dharmasūtras, and the secondary authorities such as Nārada, Bṛhaspati, and Kātyāyana — together with the role of regional custom and śiṣṭācāra as sources of law.
The world of Sanskrit poetry: its anatomy of body and soul and its twofold fruit of delight and cultivation; the forms of verse, prose, and campū; the five great mahākāvyas; drama as the seen-poetry; and the schools of poetics.
Sets the Carnatic tradition in its context — its Vedic and śāstraic foundations, the Tanjavur courts, and the Trinity — then treats the life and vocation of Tyāgarāja, the path of Rāma-nāma, and the Pañcaratna kṛtis.
Profiles the founder of Carnatic pedagogy, Purandaradāsa, and the encyclopaedic Sanskrit master Muttusvāmy Dīkṣitar, with Śyāma Śāstry — covering their theology, compositional architecture, and enduring legacy.
Bharata's fifth Veda of dance, drama, and music: the scope of the treatise, the theory of the navarasa and bhāva, the four modes of abhinaya and the language of gesture, and the distinctions of nṛtta, nṛtya, and nāṭya.
The sacred geography of Āryāvarta: the heartland of Brahmāvarta, the seven sacred rivers, the mountains and cities, and the cosmological frame of Bhū-maṇḍala and the nine divisions of Bhāratavarṣa.
Geometry in the service of the sacred: the meaning of śulba, the six traditions, the diagonal theorem and the approximation of the square root of two, squaring the circle, and the construction of the sacrificial altars.
The indigenous science of number: the Sanskrit number-name and positional systems, the earliest written zero, the great number-scale of the epics and Purāṇas, and the tradition running from Vedic arithmetic to the Kerala school.
A complete edition of Bhāskarācārya's Līlāvatī, with its tables of weights, measures, and money, its number system, and its methods of arithmetic — including the regional Telugu Gaṇitamu variants.
Śakti as the supreme principle and Śiva as the Āgamic absolute: the Mahādevīs and the fifty-one Śakti Pīṭhas, the twelve Jyotirliṅgas and the major Śiva kṣetras, their worship and pilgrimage, and their famous devotees, including the sixty-three Nāyaṉārs.
Viṣṇu in the Vedas and the avatāra doctrine from Matsya to Kalki, the 108 Divya Desams, and the great kṣetras of Śrīraṅgam, Tirumala-Tirupati, Paṇḍharpur, Guruvāyūr, and Uḍupi — closing with Hanumān as the ideal bhakta.
The auspicious beginner Gaṇeśa and the Aṣṭa-Vināyaka circuit, the divine commander Subrahmaṇya and the six abodes of Murugan, and the solar deity Sūrya — their theology, iconography, sacred kṣetras, and famous devotees.
The theology of the sacred crossing-place and the great tīrthas — rivers, sacred lakes, and ocean sites — and the major pilgrimage circuits such as the Char Dhāma, together with the observances of śrāddha and parikramā.
The aesthetic of daily life: the unstitched garments and their symbolism, the sixteen adornments (śṛṅgāra), the sacred śikhā, the nine gems and ornaments, and the planning of the home by the Vāstupuruṣa maṇḍala.
Food as life and medicine: the six tastes and the rule of suitability, the regional vegetarian cuisines, the structure and etiquette of the meal, spices as the pharmacy of the kitchen, and fasting, festival, and Siddha home remedies.
The ṛṣis of the Purāṇic age: their definition and cosmic function, the Vedic and Upaniṣadic seers, the Saptarṣis, and the great figures — Vyāsa, Nārada, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Agastya — together with the women seers of the tradition.
The teachers of recorded history, from the śramaṇa challenge and Ādi Śaṅkara through the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, the Bhakti movement, and the Sikh Gurus, to the modern reformers from Dayānanda and Vivekānanda to Gāndhī and Aurobindo.
The dharmic teachers of the modern global era — from Śivānanda and Yogānanda through Prabhupāda, the yoga masters Iyengar and Jois, and other contemporary figures who carried the tradition worldwide.
The theology of kingship (rājadharma) and the great dynasties — the solar and lunar lineages, the ideal king Rāma, and the historical empires from the Mauryas and Guptas through Vijayanagara — as the political expression of dharma.
A closing survey of Bhārat's gifts to civilisation: the decimal place-value system and zero, astronomy, Āyurveda, the six darśanas, Pāṇinian linguistics, the arts and architecture, and metallurgy and materials science.
The Veda Vijñāna Series is produced under the academic framework of Veda Vijñāna Viṣṭaram (VVV), Mysore, which has applied for recognition as a research institution — Adarsha Samskruta Shodha Samsthaa (ASSS) — of the Central Sanskrit University.
The Series constitutes a primary research and publication output for grant applications to the Central Sanskrit University (CSU) under the Ashtaadashi scheme, and is documented as part of the ASSS recognition application of VVV or Relevant Projects. Individual volumes relevant to specific grant categories are identified in the detailed volume register above.
print and online
A single dedicated contribution of USD 1,008 carries one volume through its final editing, its archival print edition, and its permanent online edition.
The sponsor's name — or a dedication in honour of a guru or in memory of a departed elder — is recorded in that volume's colophon, in print and online, in perpetuity. The sum is deliberately chosen: 1,008 is among the most auspicious numbers of the tradition, echoing the sahasranāma by which the Divine is invoked.
| Way to contribute | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sponsor a Volume — print + permanent online edition, named dedication | USD 1,008 |
| Sponsor a Division — a complete thematic set of volumes | By arrangement |
| Institutional Partnership — full reference collection for a library | By arrangement |
| General Corpus Fund — a gift of any amount toward the whole Series | Any amount |
Contributions from the United States are tax-deductible through Dharma Poshanam Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization; contributions within India are received through Sanatana Guru Sampradaya Pratishthanam and the Dharma Poshanam Trust, Mysore. Every gift, at every level, is acknowledged with gratitude and a report of the volume it helped bring into the world.
Contributions from the United States are tax-deductible through Dharma Poshanam Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization; contributions within India are received through Sanatana Guru Sampradaya Pratishthanam and the Dharma Poshanam Trust, Mysore.
For institutional inquiries, collaboration, and grant correspondence: contact@vedavishtaram.in