These are supposed to be the main scriptures. The smriti are supposedly of lesser importance since they are only “received,” which is to say, handed down by tradition. In fact, because the smriti for the most part contain stories, they receive the greater amount of attention from most Hindus, whereas knowledge of the shruti tends to be confined to priests and scholars. Many scholars believe that Hindu scriptures were not written down until a few hundred years ago; prior to that they may have been