[2][3] Śrutis has been variously described as a revelation through anubhava (direct experience),[4] or of primordial origins realized by ancient Rishis.
[5] The Śruti texts themselves assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.
[9][10] A popular quote on supreme authority is Śruti can be found in Manusmriti (Adhyaya 1, Mantra 132) that Dharmaṃ jijñāsamānānāṃ pramāṇaṃ paramaṃ śrutiḥ (Devanagari: धर्मं जिज्ञासमानानां प्रमाणं परमं श्रुतिः, lit.
These works span much of the history of Hinduism, beginning with the earliest known texts and ending in the early historical period with the later Upanishads.
[14] The word is also found in ancient geometry texts of India, where it means "the diagonal of a tetragon or hypotenuse of a triangle",[14] and is a synonym of karna.
Traditionally written down but constantly revised, Smriti in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, which were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed.
[24] The Mīmāṃsā tradition, famous in Hindu tradition for its Sruti exegetical contributions, radically critiqued the notion and any relevance for concepts such as "author", the "sacred text" or divine origins of Śruti; the Mimamsa school claimed that the relevant question is the meaning of the Sruti, values appropriate for human beings in it, and the commitment to it.
[25] Nāstika philosophical schools such as the Cārvākas of the first millennium BCE did not accept the authority of the śrutis and considered them to be human works suffering from incoherent rhapsodies, inconsistencies and tautologies.
[12] Patrick Olivelle writes, Even though theoretically the whole of Vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [śruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu.
[33] Translation 2: The Veda, tradition, the conduct of good people, and what is pleasing to oneself – they say that is four fold mark of religion.
Bilimoria states the role of śruti in Hinduism has been inspired by "the belief in a higher natural cosmic order (Rta succeeded later by the concept Dharma) that regulates the universe and provides the basis for its growth, flourishing and sustenance – be that of the gods, human beings, animals and eco-formations".
[36] Levinson states that the role of śruti and smṛti in Hindu law is as a source of guidance, and its tradition cultivates the principle that "the facts and circumstances of any particular case determine what is good or bad".
This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a tape-recording.... Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present.Ancient Indians developed techniques for listening, memorization and recitation of śrutis.