Hindu texts Prior to the start of the common era, the Hindu texts were composed orally, then memorized and transmitted orally, from one generation to next, for more than a millennia before they were written down into manuscripts. This verbal tradition of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, continued into the modern era. The Vedas are a large body of Hindu texts originating in ancient India, with its Samhita and Brahmanas complete before about 800 BCE. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. Hindus consider
Glossary of ancient Roman religion collective, core knowledge of the augural college. Some scholars consider them distinct from the "commentarii augurum" (commentaries of the augurs) which recorded the collegial acts of the augurs, including the "decreta" and "responsa". The books were central to the practice of augury. They have not survived, but Cicero, who was an augur himself, offers a summary in "De Legibus" that represents "precise dispositions based certainly on an official collection edited in a professional fashion." The "libri pontificales" (pontifical books) are core texts in Roman religion, which survive as fragmentary transcripts and commentaries. They may have been partly annalistic, part priestly;