A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s13.3

v1.c8.s13.3

On first becoming acquainted with Indian literature, people were inclined to ascribe tremendous antiquity to all Indian literary works. Did not Friedrich Schlegel expect from India nothing less than "enlightenment upon the history of the primitive world, so dark until now"? ¹ As late as in 1852 A. Weber wrote in his "History of Indian Literature": "The literature of India passes generally for the most ancient literature of which we possess written records, and justly so," and it was only in 1876 in his second edition that he added: "In so far as this claim may not now be disputed by the Egyptian monumental records and papyrus rolls, or even by the Assyrian literature which has but recently been brought to light." The reasons for which, according to Weber, "we are fully justified in regarding the literature of India as the most ancient literature of which written records on an extensive scale have been handed down to us" are in part geographical, in part pertain to the history of religion. In the older parts of the Ṛgveda the Indian nation appears to us to be settled in the Punjab. The gradual spread eastwards across Hindustan towards the Ganges can be traced in the later portions of Vedic literature. The Great Epics then further show us the spread of Brahmanism towards the south. Centuries must have elapsed before such an enormous stretch of land, "inhabited by wild and vigorous tribes," could become brahmanized. Many centuries too, must have been required for the religious development from the simple nature worship of the Ṛgvedic hymns up to the theosophical-philosophical speculations of the Upaniṣads, and again to such phases of mythology and cult as Megasthenes, about 300 B.C., found prevalent in India. Weber did not attempt a more exact determination of the Vedic period; in fact, he expressly declares any such attempt to be entirely futile.[^1)