During the US visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the US President Joe Biden and the First Lady Jill Biden with a number of gifts, including a 7.5 carat lab-grown diamond, an exquisite sandalwood box, and a first edition print of the book “The Ten Principal Upanishads” from 1937.
About Ten Principal Upanishads
- The Ten Principal Upanishads, translated from Sanskrit by Shri Purohit Swami, a scholar of Hindu scripture, and Irish poet WB Yeats, is considered to be one of the best translations of the Upanishads, some of the most important Hindu religious texts.
- Written in the mid-1930s, the book was a product of Yeats’ desire to create a translation which is true to the original text while still being accessible for the layperson.
Shruti and Smriti
- There are broadly two categories of Hindu sacred texts: shruti and smriti.
- The first category is considered to be the most authoritative and consists of the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva) and accompanying texts. These include Brahmanas (ritual texts), Aranyakas, and Upanishads.
- The second category of Hindu scriptures is less authoritative – in many ways they are considered to be derived from the first – but more popularly known. These include the great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, Dharmashastras, Puranas and all other post-Vedic scriptures.
