Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t3.1

v1.c7.s10.t3.1

Veda is a large body of the oldest extant religious and historical texts in ancient India produced orally by primitive Indians and collected together by later generations to form present written texts. It is a great number of texts that had been produced within a lengthy span of time, and most texts originated in about the 16ᵗʰ-9ᵗʰ century BCE. It mainly consists of hymns on people’s lives and contains many religious thoughts as well as philosophical ideas in primitive India. Such thoughts not only have important impacts on ancient Indian civilisation, but also are a main source of thinking for modern Indian civilisation. Its ideas were brought into China along with Buddhism, and had been attached great importance by Chinese thinkers.