A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c10.86

c10.86

Besides these hymns, which were added after the collection of the ten books had been completed, there is another class of hymns, actually incorporated in the sacred Decads, but which nevertheless must be ascribed to poets who were imitators of earlier poets, and whose activity, whether somewhat anterior to, or contemporaneous with the final edition of the Rig-veda-sanhitâ, must be referred to the same Mantra period. We need not appeal to the tradition of the Brahmans, who, in matters of this kind, are extremely untrustworthy. They place a very small interval between the latest poets of the hymns and the final collection of the ten books. The latter they ascribe to Kṛiṣhṇa Dvaipâyana Vyâsa, the embodiment of the Indian διασκευή, whereas one of the poets whose hymns form part of the Sanhitâ, is Parâśara, the reputed father of Vyâsa.