The Vedas are considered the earliest literary record of
Indo-Aryan civilization, and the most sacred books of India.
They are the original scriptures of Hindu teachings, and contain
spiritual knowledge encompassing all aspects of our life. Vedic
literature with its philosophical maxims has stood the test of
time and is the highest religious authority for all sections of
Hindus in particular and for mankind in general.
“Veda” means wisdom, knowledge or vision, and it manifests the
language of the gods in human speech. The laws of the Vedas
regulate the social, legal, domestic and religious customs of
the Hindus to the present day. All the obligatory duties of the
Hindus at birth, marriage, death etc. owe their allegiance to
the Vedic ritual. They draw forth the thought of successive
generation of thinkers, and so contain within it the different
strata of thought.
Origin of the Vedas
The Vedas are probably the earliest documents of the human mind
and is indeed difficult to say when the earliest portions of the
Vedas came into existence. As the ancient Hindus seldom kept any
historical record of their religious, literary and political
realization, it is difficult to determine the period of the
Vedas with precision. Historians provide us many guesses but
none of them is free from ambiguity.
Who wrote the Vedas?
It is believed that humans did not compose the revered
compositions of the Vedas, which were handed down through
generations by the word of mouth from time immemorial. The
general assumption is that the Vedic hymns were either taught by
God to the sages or that they were revealed themselves to the
sages who were the seers or “mantradrasta” of the hymns. The
Vedas were mainly compiled by Vyasa Krishna Dwaipayana around
the time of Lord Krishna (c. 1500 BC)
Classification of the Vedas |