Hinduism: What Really Happenned in India (PDF) - Oration

Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan
is quite unlikely because at some point the translation occurred from
Vedic to Sanskrit. Hence, its original form or content cannot be
guaranteed. It is quite likely that the form and content changed during
this period as it does even today (in spite of the writing). At any rate,
this is just a conjecture and cannot be validated by any documentary or
concrete evidence.
'The Gita is written in good classical Sanskrit, and epigraphic evidence
clearly shows that the Gita could not have been written before the second
century A.D.’ It is probably of much later period. It could most probably
of the 7 th century.
'The earliest epigraphic evidence on languages employed in India comes
from the inscriptions of Asoka inscribed in third century B.C. Asoka
took care that his messages were intelligible to all and he used a
particular kind of Prakrit. He even translated his messages to Greek and
Aramaic. But, there are no inscriptions in Sanskrit. The first evidence of
Sanskrit ever is seen around A.D.150. From the fifth century A.D.,
Classical Sanskrit is seen to be the dominant language in these
inscriptions.' Vedas were originally written using the Grantha and Nagiri
Scripts. Since the earliest evidence of Grantha Scripts are found only
around 5 th c AD, the Vedas could not have been written in the form it is
now anytime earlier. It may be argued that Vedas could have been in
oral form. This is a conjecture. People certainly have been
philosophical even without a written document. But they are not
crystallized until they are written down.
Writing in Vedic Period from internal evidence ?
There is however another problem raised by the internal reference within the
Vedas regarding writing. Were the Vedas written down during its formative
period?. Some people do argue that there is indeed evidence of that in the
Vedas.
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