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"Vedic" here only means the adjectival form of Vedas - not "scriptures having the status of Vedas", "scriptures based on Vedas", "scriptures that explain the Vedas" etc.

I also think - being written in Vedic Sanskrit with accent markings is a requirement for a scripture to be a Veda.

To me, "vedic scriptures" are the four Samhitas - Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. No more, no less. EVERYTHING else - Vedangas.Upanishads,Brahmanas,Aranyakas etc. cannot be called Vedic, since they are not Vedas. Some of them maybe "Shruti" but that doesn't make them Vedic.

The term gets used loosely at HSE - for example, calling Mahopanishad or Bhagavad-Gita "Vedic".

In a sense, any scripture that doesn't contradict the Vedas is "Vedic" - but then we don't usually call Ramayana and Mahabharata Vedas and they have a term "itihasa" to denote them.

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    Not following your line of logic. The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads are verse for verse, word for word pulled from the vedas. To deny that they are not 'veda' or 'vedic' is to deny that Vyasa and all modern Hinduism are not veda. You seem to be caught up more in English grammar than logic.
    – Swami Vishwananda
    May 22, 2022 at 4:59
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    "The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads are verse for verse, word for word pulled from the vedas." - totally false.
    – S K
    May 22, 2022 at 11:07

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Vedic (adj वैदिक vaidika - of or relating to vedas, )..
अवैदिक avaidika adj. non-Vedic

Yajnavalkya Smrithi -

१. उपोद्घातप्रकरणम् पुराणन्यायमीमांसा- धर्मशास्त्राङ्गमिश्रिताः । वेदाः स्थानानि विद्यानां धर्मस्य च चतुर्दश ॥ १.३
Purāna-nyāya-mimamsa-dharmašāstra-angamisritāh Vedāssthānāni vidyanām dharmasya ca caturdaśa

The Vedas, along with puraņa, nyaya, mimāmsā, dharma-śāstra and the six vedangas, are the fourteen sources of knowledge and of dharma."

Following snippets are from Hindu Dharma, The universal way of life, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Publication,-Pujyasri Chandrashekara Saraswati Swami

Man possesses a number of angas or limbs. In the same way the Vedas personified -- the Vedapurusa -- has six limbs.
The four Upangas, though not integral to the Vedas, are supporting limbs of the Vedapurusa.

Vedas are seen in a different form in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the works of poets like Kalidasa.

Ramayana Vedavedye pare pumsi jate DasarathatmajeVedah Pracetasadasitssaksadramayanatmana "Vedavedye"=one who is to be known by the Vedas. Who is he? "Pare pumsi"=the Supreme Being. The Supreme being to be known by the Vedas descended to earth as Rama. When he was born the son of Dasaratha, the Vedas took the form of Valmiki's child Ramayana.

BG 15.15 The lord says in the Gita:"Vedaisca sarvair ahameva vedyah"(I am indeed to be known by the Vedas)

If the Puranas are described as constituting an Upanga of the Vedas, the itihasas(the epics) are so highly thought of as to be placed on an equal footing with the Vedas. The Mahabharata is indeed called the fifth Veda ("pancamo Vedah")

Vedangas and Upangas complement vedas , (are vaidika वैदिक - never away from quintessence of Vedas ), are different expressions of Vedas in various other ways

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  • this answer is the exact opposite of what I am looking for - I am looking for precisely LIMITING what scriptures can be called Vedas (Vedic being the adjectival form of the Vedas) and this answer EXPANDS it to what looks like ALL SCRIPTURES.
    – S K
    May 21, 2022 at 18:00
  • Vedangas and Upangas truly aren't Vedas by themselves, though express the ideas of Vedas in a way . Hence they are known to complement Vedas,so bears the adj. Vaidika,
    – Athrey
    May 21, 2022 at 18:08
  • is Mahopanishad "vedic"?
    – S K
    May 21, 2022 at 18:16
  • Mahopanishad is a samanya upanishad . Some of the minor Upanishads may have theological orientation (Shavisam,Vaishnavism,et al), though it cannot be denied that they are integral part of Vedas.In kamakshi stotram composed by Paramacharya , He cites , "Keno upanishath vaakhya vinodhini, devi parasakthi , Kamakshi", so it prompts one to confirm whether major Upanishads have any theological orientation? in what way?
    – Athrey
    May 23, 2022 at 13:58
  • To me there is a sectarian gradient from the 4 Samhitas (totally non-sectarian - (unless you want to use interpretational acrobatics)) to the highly sectarian Puranas. Mahopanishad is a cornerstone of sectarianism. I want to know if scripture has drawn this line between the 4 samhitas and everything else.
    – S K
    May 23, 2022 at 14:05

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