Smriti
Smriti are the scriptures of lesser authority for Hindus. They contain mythological texts like the Epics: the Ramayan, the story of Ram and Sita, and the Mahabharata, the story of the Pandav Brothers overcoming adversities with the help of Krishna. These are books written by the sages. These are subordinate to the Vedas. The Smriti have varied from time to time. As essential conditions changed, as various circumstances came to have their influence on the race, manners and customs had to be changed, and these Smriti, as mainly regulating the manners and customs of the nation, had also to be changed from time to time. But the basic principles in the Vedanta, like the dynamics of the soul, which are eternal, do not change. All Smriti are considered to have lesser authority than the Vedas. They deal with history, cosmology, symbolic illustrations of philosophical principles, and so forth. They were written to popularize the religion of the Vedas. They give the lives of saints and kings and great men and historical events, etc. The sages made use of these to illustrate the eternal principles of religion.