A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.12

v1.c8.s2.12

However, the question as to what we are to understand by "earlier" or by "later" hymns, can only be treated by us at the end of this section, where we shall have to discuss the question of the age of the Veda in general. It must here suffice that the general view of the great antiquity of the Ṛgveda, even of the "later" parts of it, is fully justified by the fact that, as Alfred Ludwig says:² "The Ṛgveda pre-supposes nothing of that which we know in Indian literature, while, on the other hand, the whole of Indian literature and the whole of Indian life pre-suppose the Veda."