What are the sacred texts for Hindus?
The vEdas are treated as most Authentic because they are considered Authorless (authorless-ness is considered important for unbiased information).
Rshis (called Seers in English) are drshTaaras (the ones who “see”).
See what?
“Seeing” here means that the rshi associated with a particular vEda mantra ‘realized’ the meaning of that mantra and what it says about the Lord Almighty.
vEdas are then followed in importance by itihaasas (raamayana and mahabharata) and puraaNas (bhaagwata etc.). These are paurushEya grantas (vEdas vyaasa Himself who is considered an avatar of vishNu and not just another rshi – authored these works). Btw… Raamayana of vaalmiki is actually a derivative work of “moola raamayana” authored by bhagawan vEda vyaasa.
Another extremely important paurushEya granta is the “brahma sootras” – again authored by vEda vyaasa Himself.
After these works come other paurushEya grantas written by great authors, but of course not equal in capacity to the Lord Almighty in vEda vyaasa avatara.
The word “authentic” is better than “sacred”. Coz Indian philosophical systems lay a lot of stress on authenticity. PHILOSOPHICALLY we have schools that range from Theism and Bhakti all the way to Atheism and Nihilism. HINDUISM is NOT one philosophy, but rather a platform for thoughts. Still, the importance given by teachers of vEdic philosophies largely follows the above pattern.