Aitihya

By Swami Harshananda

Aitihya literally means ‘traditional teaching’.

The word is derived from ‘iti + ha’ (‘it seems, it was so’). It refers to legends and because of their didactic value, they are cherished and preserved as a part of ancient tradition. The paurāṇikas (composers of the Puranas) consider it a source of knowledge and divide into three parts as follows:

• Pratyakṣa - direct perception
• Anumāna - inference
• Āgama - scriptural testimony

The incidents related in the aitihyas usually have a historical basis and tradition has always accorded it a very high value.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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