A History of Indian Literature v1.c5.2

v1.c5.2

In this way, indeed, the volume assumed larger proportions than it was originally anticipated. A second consideration also accounts for this increase in the size of the work. It is precisely the oldest Indian literature, treated in this volume, which, with reference to chronology, is to a certain extent "hovering in the air." Not a single one of the numerous and extensive works which belong to the Vedas, to the national Epics, or to the Purāṇas, can be ascribed with certainty even to this or that century. It is simply impossible, in one sentence or in a few lines, to give information on the age of the Vedas, of the Mahābhārata, of the Rāmāyaṇa and even of the Purāṇas. Even for the general reader it is not sufficient to tell him that we do not know anything definite about the date of these works. It is necessary to mark off the boundaries within which our ignorance moves, and to state the grounds on which an approximate, even though only conjectural, date of these works is supported. Therefore considerable sections had to be devoted to the enquiry concerning the age of the Vedas, the Epics and the Purāṇas. I emphasize expressly that these chapters, too, are not indeed written only for the specialist, but in the first place for the layman as characterised above, whom I had in view as my reader. If, notwithstanding, they contain something new for the specialist also,—and probably also some points which might challenge contradiction,—then it is because questions are here dealt with, which, just in recent years, have been the subject of new investigations, new discoveries, and manifold controversies.