A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s13.24

v1.c8.s13.24

Though the astronomical arguments of Tilak and Jacobi did not succeed in proving what was to be proved, they have stimulated the enquiry whether there are no other grounds for assuming a greater antiquity of Vedic culture. And indeed, from the point of view of Indian history, *nothing speaks against* the assumption that Vedic literature extends back into the third millenary, and ancient Indian culture to the fourth millenary, while the supposition of 1200 or even 1500 B. C., traceable to Max Müller, for the commencement of the Vedic period no longer agrees with the *present-day* state of our knowledge of the political history, as well as of the literary and religious history of ancient India. This has, I believe, been convincingly proved, especially by G. Bühler.²