Sri Sadhguro Pahimam Parama Dayalu Rakshamam

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Dear Members

" Hindu Dharma " is a book published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan which contains

English translation of two volumes of the Tamil Book " Deivatthin Kural " ; which

is a collection of invaluable and engrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri

Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi MahaSwamiji.

 

http://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap9.htm

 

Date of the Vedas : Inquiry not Proper

 

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 conjunction would not have

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

date of 6000 B. C. has been arrived at must have occurred 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 astronomical " 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 prevalent 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 alphabet 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. Suppose 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.