A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s13.36

v1.c8.s13.36

There are other considerations besides this. It is indisputably to the credit of Max Müller to have shown that Buddhism at about 500 B.C. absolutely pre-supposes the existence of the whole of Vedic literature. In refutation of the view, held by some scholars,² that the earliest Upaniṣads should not be placed prior to the 6th century B.C., Oldenberg³ has shown that centuries must have elapsed between the earliest Upaniṣads and the earliest Buddhist literature. Buddhist literature, however, pre-supposes not only the Veda, but the Vedāṅgas also,⁴ and indeed brahmanical literature and science in a highly developed state. To-day, too, more light has been thrown on the religious conditions of ancient India than was the case in Max Müller's day, when it was thought possible to squeeze the whole development of the religious history of India up to the appearance of Buddhism within the limit of 700 years. Even *before* the appearance of Buddhism, there were sects in India, as Bühler has pointed out, which denied the sanctity of the Veda. The tradition of one of these sects, the Jainas, has in other respects proved so reliable as to chronology, that we may regard with some confidence a report which places the life of the first founder of this sect about 750 B.C. Bühler also thought he could prove that other sects antagonistic to the Veda and to Brahmanism went back to a much more hoary antiquity than had hitherto been supposed.¹ Unfortunately he did not live to demonstrate this proof.