/lit/ - Literature

In case this turns into a long thread with a bunch of questions about what Guenon meant about something, reading pic related before any of his other works will save you much confusion. It's more of an intro to Traditionalism or Rene Guenon's thought than Hinduism.

>>10997718

Unironically pic related, which is in reality only about 1/3 about Hinduism and the other 2/3 about Traditional/Eastern civilizations and will help you understand all the ancient Eastern cultures better.

Strictly speaking, starting chronologically with India would be the Rig-Veda (brought to India by Indo-Europeans but I digress), but that's a dense, difficult and obtuse text that's not worth it unless you are an India-boo.

Starting with the Upanishads is good because they are early (they regarded as the last sections of the Vedas), they are not too difficult to understand and because they form the philosophical/metaphysical basis for ancient/classical Indian. You only really need to bother reading the Mukhya (Principal) ones.

The Principal Upanishads were composed over a long period, roughly half of them or slightly less probably pre-Buddhist (before 6th/5th century BC). Some of the Greek philosophers who traveled east were influenced by Indian thought though so it's worth it to be familiar with Indian thought before thoroughly exploring Greek thought. Definitely before you start getting into the Neoplatonists, Gnostics and early Christian thought.