The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.3

v1.c17.3

There is abundant proof that, before the collections were finally united into the form in which the Rigveda has come down to us, minor additions were made; and, as it is perfectly possible that in book x old material was incorporated as well as newer work, efforts have been made to penetrate beyond the comparatively rough distinction between the first nine and the tenth books, and to assign the hymns to five different periods, representing stages in the history of Vedic India, and marked by variations in religious belief and social custom¹. But so far these efforts can scarcely be regarded as successful. The certain criteria of age supplied by the language, the metres, or the subject-matter of the Rigveda are not sufficient to justify so elaborate a chronological arrangement of its hymns. The results produced by the most elaborate and systematic attempts to apply the methods of the higher criticism to the Rigveda have hitherto failed to meet with general acceptance.