Page 16 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

INTllODlJCDON 3

()f the human mind was more luxuriant than in later times; while
the late Dr. Haug, following the same method, fixed the very
commencement of the Vedic literature between 2400-2000 B. C. •
by assigning about 500 years to each period, on the analogy of.
similar period in the Chinese literature. It is, therefore, evident
that this method of calculation, howsoever valuable it may be in
checking the results arrived at by other methods, is, when taken
by itself, most vague and uncertain. A further study of the different
periods of the Vedic literature and its comparison with other
ancient literatures, might . hereafter help us to ascertain the
duration of each period a little more accurately.t But I think we
cannot expect, this method alone, to be ever in a position to fix
with any approach to certainty the correct age of the Vedas. Prof.
Max Mtiller considers 200 years to be the minimum duration of
each period, while Dr. Haug and Prof. Wilson thought that a
period of 500 years was not too long for the purpose ;t and I believe
there is hardly any inherent improbability if a third scholar
proposes to extend the duration of each of these periods up to
something like 1000 years. In the face of this uncertainty we must
try to find out other means for as~aining the correct age of the
the Vedas.
The Vedas, the BrAhma~as and th~ Stltras contain numerous
allusions and references to astronomical facts,· and it was believed
that we might be able to ascertain from them the age of the oldest
literary relic of the Aryan race. But somehow or other the attempts
• Introduction to the Aitareya Brlhmal)a, p. 48. Prof. \Vhitncey
thinks that the hyrun11 may have been sung as early as zooo B. C. Vitit
Intro. to his Sansk.rit Grammar, p. xiii. For a summary of the opinions
of different scholars on this point see Kaegi's \tigveda translated by
Arrowsmith, p. I IO, note 39. The highest antiquity assigned is Z400
B. C.
t In a paper submitted to the Ninth Oriental Congress, Mr. Dhruva
has recently examined the whole Vedic literature 'vith a view to
ascertain its chronology, and he arrives at the conclusion that the
duration assigned to the several periods of the Vedic literature by Prof.
Max MOller is too short, and that "Without making any guesses at
numben of years or centaries .. we -sh6uld at present be con fen~ with
arranging the :Ved~io literature'• some what after the manner of the
Geological strata or periods.
t See Ait. Br. Intr., p. 48; ilso Pref. fo ~ig, Vol. IV, p. viii.