Apauruṣeyā

{{short description|Term used to describe the Vedas, the earliest scripture in Hinduism, meaning 'superhuman'}} {{Hindu philosophy|Website https://apaurusheya.org/}} '''Apaurusheya''' (Sanskrit: अपौरुषेय, {{IAST|apauruṣeya}}, lit. means "not of a man"), meaning "not of human"<ref>Vaman Shivaram Apte, [http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic/ ''The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary''], see apauruSeya</ref> or "impersonal, authorless", is a term used to describe the Vedas, the earliest scripture in Hinduism.<ref name=ds>D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN , pages 196-197</ref><ref>Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195384963}}, page 290</ref>

''Apaurusheya shabda'' ("impersonal words, authorless") is an extension of ''apaurusheya'' which refers to the Vedas and numerous other texts in Hinduism.<ref name=ds/><ref>Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, {{ISBN|978-1409466819}}, page 128</ref>

''Apaurusheya'' is a central concept in the Vedanta and Mimamsa schools of Hindu philosophy. These schools accept the ''Vedas'' as ''svatah pramana'' ("self-evident means of knowledge"). The Mimamsa school asserts that since the Vedas are composed of words (shabda) and the words are composed of phonemes, the phonemes being eternal, the Vedas are also eternal.{{cn|date=January 2015}} To this, if asked whether all words and sentences are eternal, the Mimamsa philosophers reply that the rules behind combination of phonemes are fixed and predetermined for the Vedas, unlike other words and sentences. The Vedanta school also accepts this line of argument.{{cn|date=January 2015}}

read more at [https://apaurusheya.org/ Home - Apaurusheya]

==See also== *Sruti *Acheiropoieta *Revelation *Shabda

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apaurusheya}} Category:Hindu philosophical concepts