Indian religions these hero stones to bless them with victory. The documented history of Indian religions begins with the historical Vedic religion, the religious practices of the early Indo-Aryans, which were collected and later redacted into the "Samhitas" (usually known as the Vedas), four canonical collections of hymns or mantras composed in archaic Sanskrit. These texts are the central "shruti" (revealed) texts of Hinduism. The period of the composition, redaction and commentary of these texts is known as the Vedic period, which lasted from roughly 1750 to 500 BCE. The Vedic Period is most significant for the composition of the four Vedas,
Puranas one. Scholars such as Viman Chandra Bhattacharya and PV Kane state that the Puranas are a continuation and development of the Vedas. Sudhakar Malaviya and VG Rahurkar state the connection is closer in that the Puranas are companion texts to help understand and interpret the Vedas. K.S. Ramaswami Sastri and Manilal N. Dvivedi reflect the third view which states that Puranas enable us to know the "true import of the ethos, philosophy and religion of the Vedas". Barbara Holdrege questions the fifth Veda status of "Itihasas" (the Hindu epics) and Puranas. The Puranas, states V.S. Agrawala, intend to "explicate, interpret,