Date of the Vedas : Inquiry not Proper

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Date of the Vedas : Inquiry not Proper(HinduDharma: The Vedas)  Receive pages

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The idea that the Vedas are eternal does not fit into the mental outlook of

Western indologists. Their claims to impartiality and to conducting research in

a scientific manner notwithstanding, they are not prepared to accord an elevated

status to the Hindu texts. Many Hindu research scholars have also found

themselves unable to accept the view that the Vedas are eternal.

Modern historians have adopted chiefly two methods to determine the date of the

Vedas: the first is based on the astronomical references in the scriptures and

the second on the morphology of the language of the same. But have they, using

either method, come to any definite conclusion? Each investigator has arrived

at a different age. Tilak has assigned the date 6000 B. C to the Vedas.

According to some others it is 3000 B. C or 1500 B. C.

There is no difference of opinion among historians about the dates of the

scriptures of other religions. They are agreed that the Buddhist Tripitaka was

written during the time of Asoka but that the teachings of the Buddha included

in it belong to an earlier time. There is similar unanimity of view in that the

New Testament is 2000 years old. And all are agreed that the Qur'an was composed

1, 300 years ago. In the case of Vedas alone have historians not arrived at a

decisive date.

I mentioned that two methods were adopted in reckoning the age of the Vedas.

There are references in these scriptures to the position of certain heavenly

bodies. The date of the Vedas, fixed at 6000 B. C. or so, is based on an

astronomical conjunction mentioned in them.

But is it right to say that such an astronomical conjuntion would not have

occured earlier too? Conjunctions similar to the one on the basis of which the

date of 6000 B. C. has been arrived at must have occured not only before the

present creation, but even far far earlier. Which of these is to be taken as

the one mentioned in the Vedas? The sages had a vision that could penetrate

through the eons. So such calculations will not hold in the case of the Vedas

which the great sages brought together with their trans-sensual powers of

perception. We find thus that the internal astronomicl "evidence" found in the

Vedas and made much of by modern researchers does not help in fixing their

date.

The second method is linguistic. Here we have to consider not only the language

but also the script. Brahmi is tha source of all the scripts in use today in

most parts of the country. Devanagari and the Tamil scripts may seem totally

unrelated, but the fact is otherwise. A study has been conducted on the changes

the Brahmi script has undergone during all these centuries on the basis of the

edicts found throughout the land. A chart made from the results of this study

shows that the scripts in use today in different parts of the country, though

seemingly unrelated, were evolved from the original Brahmi. An amusing thought

occurs to me that the scripts prevelent today are Brahmi letters with

moustaches and horns. Something like a moustache affixes itself to the middle

of Brahmi letters. The Devanagari (u and u) appear similarly formed. Many

letters of the Tamil alpbabet look like Brahmi letters that have sprung horns.

>From the edicts and inscriptions we can find out with some precision the period

taken for each alteration in the script. It is in this manner that the dates of

some edicts have been determined.

The Vedas, however, have never been inscribed on stone anywhere. So there is no

question of our fixing their date on the basis of any of the scripts. Other

aspects of language have to be considered in this context. The morphology of

words and the character of their sound keep changing with time. Many Tamil

words belonging to the Sangam period have changed thus. It is a phenomenon

common to all languages. An erosion takes place in the case of some sounds.

Sometimes their meaning also does not remain the same. Take the Tamil word "

veguli": it means a "simpleton", but earlier it meant "anger" or " an angry man

". In the old days the Tamil "manda " did not mean "dead": a Tamil scholar told

me that it meant "famous". Such instances are to be met with in Sanskrit also.

We do not understand the Vedas the same way as later poetical works in

Sanskrit. Compared to other languages such changes are not numerous in our own

tongues. Even an Englishman cannot follow one line of Anglo-Saxon English (Old

English) which is only 1, 000 years old. In the course of about 3000 years

English has changed so much in America as to merit a name of its own, "American

English".

The period over which a phoneme changes its character has been calculated. But

the time taken for a change in the meaning of a word has not been determined

with the same definiteness. Scholars have tried to fix the date of the Vedas by

examining the character of the sound of their words. " Every two hundred years

the sound of a word undergoes such and such a change, " observes one authority

of linguistics. " A Vedic sound, in the form we know it today, is the result of

a number of mutations. If it has undergone ten mutations, it means that the

Vedas are 2, 000 years old. Or, if thirty, they are 30x 200 = 6, 000 years old,

which would mean [according to this logic] that our scripture did not exist

before 4000 B. C" We hear such views expressed frequently.

One example would be enough to prove how wrong such a basis of calculation is to

fix the date of the Vedas.

We have so many utensils at home. We use some of them more often than others.

The bell-metal in which cook rice morning and evening has to be washed twice a

day. So it wears faster. Supposse we have another vessel, quite a big one, an

"anda" for instance. It is kept in the store room and not used except perhaps

during a wedding or some other festive occasion. Since it is washed only at

infrequent intervals it does not wear as fast as the bell-metal vessel which we

perhaps bought as recently as last year. The anda must have come as part of

grandmother's dowry and must be very old. Even so, it does not show any sign of

wear. Are we to infer that the bell-metal pot was bought before the anda? The

dinner-plate and the rose water sprinkler came together as your daughter-in

-law's dowry. In ten years, the plate has gone out of shape but the sprinkler

retains its glitter and polish.

The same is the case with the sounds of words of everyday speech on one hand and

the Vedic words on the other, the difference between them being similar to that

between the two types of vessels mentioned above. Words in common daily use

undergo erosion in many ways. Though the Vedas are chanted everyday special

care is taken to preserve the original sound of their words. I shall tell you

later about the Vedangas, Siksa and Vyakarana and about how a system was

devised by our forefathers to preserve the sound of each Vedic syllable from

undergoing any mutation. The Vedic sounds are not subject ot erosion like the

utensils in daily use or the words in common speech. They are like the anda

which, though old, is well preserved.

Modern indologists have also put forward the view that the Rgveda is the oldest

of the Vedas, that the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda came later (

in that order). They also believe that in each recension or sakha of a

particular Veda, the Samhita is the oldest part, the Brahmana and Aranyaka

being of later origin. They try to fix the date of these different texts on the

basis of the differences in their language. Also they have carried out research

into how certain words used in the Vedas are seen in a different form in the

Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the works of poets like Kalidasa.

The linguistic research conducted by these indologists will not yield true

results because they ignore the basic differences that I have pointed out

between the sound of the Vedas and that of other works. The slight changes

perceived today in certain Vedic sounds, despite all the care taken to preserve

them in the original form, could not have come about in 200 years but over some

thousands of years. If you realise that the "wear and tear" we speak of cannot

apply to the Vedas but may be to other works or to spoken languages, you will

agree that to fix the date of the Vedas, as modern indologists have tried to

do, is not right.

Hindi is only some centuries old. However, since it is spoken in a large area

and contains Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian words, it has changed in a

comparatively short period. Tamil, though spoken in a smaller region, has not

changed so much. Even so you will not understand Kamban's Ramayana to the same

extent as you will the songs of Tayumanavar. As for Jnanasambandhar's Tevaram

itself you will not understand it as easily as Kamban's Ramayana. And then

there is the Thirumurugarrupadai which is more difficult than the Tevaram. So

Tamil has also not remained the same all these centuries. Though Sanskrit was

known all over India it was not a spoken language like Hindi or Tamil. It was a

literary language and has not changed even to the extent Tamil has. As for the

Vedas, they have been preserved with greater care than the poetical works and

it is rarely that you see changes in them. So, according to linguistic experts,

if it takes 1000 years for certain changes to occur in other languages, it

should take 100, 000 years for the same in the Vedas.

The Vedas have been preserved with the utmost care in the firm belief that the

mantras will be efficacious only if each syllable is chanted with precision so

far as its sound and textual correctness are concerned. It was for this purpose

that a separate caste was assigned with the mission of caring for them. Research

conducted without realising this truth will not serve any purpose. Modern

investigations have not succeeded in establishing that the Vedas are not

eternal. Faith in the belief that they are anadi will be strengthened if you

appreciate the care with which they have been preserved during all these ages

and also consider the different ways in which their sound has been kept alive.