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The Vedas (Knowledges)
Northern India's ancient spiritual traditions originated within the Indus Valley civilization. The Vedas, manuscripts of philosophical verse, are now believed to be c.15,000 years old. [Graham Hancock] The Vedas are the primary texts of Hinduism. They also had a vast influence on Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Ayurveda is an interpretation from the original Vedic manuscripts & is the oldest, most complete health system known. Of the original 1,000 Chapters of Ayurvedic knowledge only 120 Chapters remain available. Compare & contrast the 2 Timelines: The official Vedas Timeline, to your left hand side & the Astrological Timeline, directly below, which may show some startling new facts. [Please Note: the dates given below for the Vedic Eras are approximations, until further research can be done... DNA]
The Vedas Timeline
PRE-VEDIC AGE
The Indus Valley Civilisation c.3250-2750? BCE
In the Pre-Vedic Age an indigenous tribal people were inhabiting the northern mountainous slopes of Bharata (India), which are now known as the Himalaya Mountains. 5 thousand years ago was a time when many wise & powerful sages (learned men or women) travelled this area of ancient India.
Archaeological evidence relating to:
• cultivation of food grains
• systematic arrangements for sanitation
• importance of personal care
• respect for trees and vegetation as a source of food & drugs
• plants, animal products, metals & minerals used as medicines
• practice of Yoga
• magico-religious beliefs - charms, amulets to protect health (?)
• high status of priest physician
c.1750 Collapse of Indus Valley Civilization
VEDIC AGE
c.2000-1000 BCE
The Vedas are a sacred literature; a collection of hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India
& they are among the most ancient religious texts still in existence.
They are most commonly dated from the "Aryan Invasion" of India (the Aryan Invasion remaining a
contraversial theory to this day). In 1500 the Aryan race of Indo-Europeans are said to have invaded India,
giving rise to the Vedic Culture. See "Demise of the Aryan Invasion Theory" for more details.
Besides their spiritual value, the Vedas also give a unique view of everyday life in India 4,000 years ago.
The Vedas are also the most ancient extensive texts in an Indo-European language,
and as such are invaluable in the study of comparative linguistics.
Vedic Literature
• Vedas (The 4 original manuscripts)
Dating back circa 5,000 years or more, the Vedic manuscripts are
generally accepted as the world's original written literature.
Written in Sanskrit (The language of the Gods), in the form of Sutras (Verses).
• Rg Veda
6,500 BCE - 2,600 BCE: Major portions of the Vedic hymns are composed
[1,550 - 1,450 BCE: Dates more commonly ascribed to the Rg Veda]
Composed during the centuries before c.1500 BCE, Codified c.600 BCE
A collection of 1,028 Poems/Hymns arranged in 10 Books
Mantras (Chants) addressed to the gods
3 hymns on the subject of Creation [Rg-Veda 10:cxxix, Rig-Veda 10:cxxx, Rig-Veda 10:cxc]
By far the oldest of the Vedic texts. Retains many common Indo-Iranian elements,
in language & content, that are not present in any other Vedic texts.
Its creation taking place over several centuries, it is said to have been was completed c.1500 BCE
It is unknown when it was finally comitted to writing, but this probably was at some point after 300 BCE
The following 3 texts are largely derived from the Rg Veda, but have undergone certain changes,
both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation. They deal mainly with ritualistic subjects:
• Sama Veda
c.1,550 -1,450 BCE
A collection of Priest's Chants/Hymns for specific liturgical (///) purposes
75 mantras not in the Rg Veda
• Yajur Veda
c.1,550 -1,450 BCE
A collection of sacrificial formulae for the appeasement of
• Atharva Veda
c.1,000 BCE
written down much later than the rest of the Vedas, 200 B.C. composed about 1000 B.C.
6,000 Verses & 1,000 Prose lines
Knowledge in relation to human anatomy, disease & treatment
Magical chants, spells, incantations
• Magico-religious beliefs: prayers & offerings to gods & natural elements.
• Empirico-rational knowledge: human anatomy, physiology, pathology, health, disease & treatments
• External application & internal administration of drugs
• Mechanical intervention: e.g. catheterization
• Surgical operations
Ayur-veda: Ayus (Life) + Vid/hya (knowledge)
100,000 Verses in 1,000 Chapters [SS.1.1.5]
Ayurveda is an Upaveda (branch of the Rg Veda)
& an Upanga (interpretation/practical application) of the Atharva Veda
POST VEDIC PERIOD
c.?BCE
• Veda (The original 4 manuscripts + their branches/appendices)
• Speculation about fundamental questions
• Development of 6 Schools of Indian Philosophy & their influence on Ayurveda
• Itihasas (Histories + supplemental portions of Vedic literature)
The Mahabharata and Ramayana are the national epics of India. They are probably the longest poems in any language.
Along with the Puranas, these are even considered the 5th Vedas.
MEDIEVAL AGE
c.1300 - 1550 ACE
The beginning of the collection & codification of a Vedic canon, with important linguistic changes.
Samhita Kala (Period of Classical Texts)
Samgraha Kala (Period of Compilations)
MODERN AGE
c.1550 ACE-onwards
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Aranyakas
2000BCE?
"Belonging to the wilderness", (books studied in the forest), "from where one cannot see the roofs of the settlement" [Taitt.Ar.2] They contain Brahmana-style discussion of especially dangerous rituals such as the Mahavrata and Pravargya, and therefore had to be learned in the wilderness.
Upanishads
1450BCE
Early Upanishads are composed during the next few hundred years
Clarification of the Vedas. They are revealed scriptures of high importance. The beginning of the Vedanta System.
• nature of existence & purpose
• nature of the atman (soul)
• relationships between
individual soul & universal soul
ca -800: Later Upanishads are recorded
Brahmanas
3100BCE
The most important part of the Mahabharata epic is the most famous of Hindu scriptures. The problem of renouncing the world is examined.
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Mahabharata
3139 BCE
Attributed to the sage Vyasa, was written down from 540 to 300 B.C. The Mahabharata tells the legends of the Bharatas, a Vedic Aryan group.
Bhagavad-gita
3150-3100BCE
A key Hindu sacred text, it is embedded in Book Six of the Mahabharata.
Ramayana
4300 BCE
Attributed to the poet Valmiki, was written down during the first century A.D., although it is based on oral traditions that go back six or seven centuries earlier. The Ramayana is a moving love story with moral and spiritual themes that has deep appeal in India to this day.
Puranas
?
ca 500: Sectarian folk traditions are revised, elaborated and reduced to writing as the Puranas, Hinduism's encyclopedic compendium of culture and mythology. Puranas are edited up until 400 ce.
Post-Vedic texts which typically contain a complete narrative of the history of the Universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of the kings, heroes and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology and geography.
17 or 18 canonical Puranas, divided into 3 categories, each named after a deity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There are also many other works termed Purana, known as 'Upapuranas.'
Astrological Timeline
The Timeline below is based on Astrological research. 10,000 BCE Taittiriya Brahmana 3.1.2 refers to Purvabhadrapada nakshatra's rising due East, a phenomenon occurring at this date [Dr. B.G. Siddharth of Birla Science Institute] indicating the earliest known dating of the sacred Veda.
Vedic culture, the essence of humanity's eternal wisdom,. Sanatana Dharma, lives in the Himalayas at end of Ice Age.
8,500 BCE Taittiriya Samhita 6.5.3 places Pleiades asterism at winter solstice, suggesting the antiquity of this Veda.
7,500BCE Excavations at Neveli Cori in Turkey reveal advanced civilization with meticulous architecture and planning. Dr. Sri B.G. Siddharth believes this was a Vedic culture.
7,000 BCE Proto-Vedic period ends. Early Vedic period begins. 7,000 BCE Time of Manu Vaivasvata, "father of mankind," of Sarasvati-Drishadvati area (also said to be a South Indian Maharaja who sailed to the Himalayas during a great flood).
7,000 BCE Early evidence of horses in the Ganga region [Dr. David Frawley]. 7,000 BCE Indus-Sarasvati area residents of Mehrgarh grow barley, raise sheep and goats. They store grain, entomb their dead and construct buildings of sun-baked mud bricks.
6,776 BCE Start of Hindu lists of kings according to ancient Greek references that give Hindus 150 kings and a history of 6,400 years before 300bce; agrees with next entry.
6,500 BCE Rig Veda verses (e.g., 1.117.22, 1.116.12, 1.84.13.5) say winter solstice begins in Aries [Dr. D. Frawley], indicating the antiquity of this section of the Vedas.
Astronomical evidence cited in the Mahabharata place the incidents upon which the Gita is based around the time 3100-3150 BCE, while the Puranas suggest a date of c. 1924 BCE. Scholars place the actual writing of the Gita in the latter half of the 1st millennium BC (roughly 4th century BC), making it a contemporary of the older Upanishads.
6,000 BCE Early sites on the Sarasvati River, then India's largest, flowing west of Delhi into the Rann of Kutch; Rajasthan is a fertile region with much grassland, as described in the Rig Veda. The culture, based upon barley (yava), copper (ayas) and cattle, also reflects that of the Rig Veda.
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