The scriptures of devotional Hinduism belong to the smriti tradition, smriti meaning `memory'. Such scriptures were written by sages who `remembered' the words which God had spoken to them. Smriti literature consists of:

     Vedangas rules on ritual, astronomy, morals, grammar and phonetics, and also the Dharma Sastras, the `Law Books'.Darsanas writings on the six philosophical schools of religious thought.
Itihasas literally this indeed it rvas; these are historical narratives, and both the Ramayan and the Mahabharat belong in this context, though they hardly seem like historical accounts. Upavedas writings which have been appended to the Vedas, for example the Ayurveda which is concerned with medicine.

     Tantras esoteric, mystical teachings. Agamas writings which are pertinent to specific Hindu sects such as Vaisnavites or Saivites. They may fall into the category of tantric writings because they are rather mystical and require a guru in order to understand them. Upangas literature concerned with ritual and logical thought. Puranas eighteen major works which are mainly highly devotional and are generally dedicated to the various main deities of Hinduism.

     Devotional belief and practices are involved particularly with the Itihasas and the Puranas. Indeed, there is much similarity and even synonymity between these two types of literature. The latter are important scriptures for extolling the various deities. Visnu, Siva and Sakti are given supremacy in different Puranas. While they deal with complex concepts such.as time, creation and dissolution, the cosmos and the nature of the world, they are also guidelines for life, and are immensely loved by the ordinary Hindu as much as the learned. It is in the Bhagavat Purana that the life of Krisna is related, with wonderful stories about his birth, childhood and manhood. It is the Puranas, too, which contain detailed accounts of the avatars of Visnu, where they stretch well beyond the usual ten.
     The narratives contained in the Puranas are immensely attractive and the use of narrative for the medium of teaching religious ideas appeals to Hindus everywhere, being at once easy to understand, yet at the same time containing levels of thought which cater for different stages of consciousness: thus each individual can respond to them in his or her own way. But the Puranas should not be considered as totally divorced from the Vedic scriptures for they are believed to complement Vedic teaching by presenting it in narrative form. The Upanisads taught the way of jnana, intuitive knowledge of the divine and withdrawal from the world, but the Puranas extol the life of the householder and demonstrate that the path to God can be one that does not exclude everyday life, a factor which is very valid for the ordinary Hindu. And in devotional Hinduism, most Hindus would favour the particular Purana or Puranas which feature their chosen deity, where that deity in question is portrayed as supreme over all others. Hindus see nothing unusual in the concept that supremacy is accorded Visnu in one Purana, Siva in another and the Mother Goddess in another. The manifest forms of Brahman are many, but ultimately all are Brahman and whatever form in which the worshipper wishes to approach the divine, then Brahman takes that form.
It would be erroneous to consider that devotional Hinduism is centred entirely on the most anthropomorphic conception of deity in the form of avatars. Apart from a host of local deities who are the focus of devotional practices, the great ascetic God Siva also features widely in devotional Hinduism and Saivism is, in the main, a devotional phenomenon. The intense personal devotion between a bhakta and the deity, and the ardent love of Siva, is . very well expressed in a twelth-century poem by a Saivite woman saint, Mahadevi, who betrothed herself to Siva arid wrote of him:

     He bartered my heart, looted my flesh, claimed as tribute my pleasure, took over all of me. I'm the woman of love for my Lord, white as jasmine.