The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (993 page)

probably have far greater direct influence on the population than the scriptures as such.
The Vedas gave rise to the elaborate ritual instructions and explanations of the texts known as
Br
hma
as
, and this ritual-based religion is often referred to as brahmanical religion. It gave rise also to reflections on the meanings and implications of the rituals, in the
ra
yakas
and the
Upani
ads
. Based on the consummations of the Veda in
Ved
nta
, the major forms of philosophical religion were elaborated (see
A
KARA
,
R
M
NUJA
, and
MADHVA
). But philosophical systems had already been established, some of them atheistic or materialist. There are traditionally six ways of orthodox (
stika
) insight (
dar
ana
, for list); there is a continuing debate about those which should be considered
n
stika
(unorthodox: not just, from a Hindu point of view, the obvious aberrations of the Jains and Buddhists, but perhaps also e.g.
S
khya