A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.2

v1.c8.s2.2

That this collection of hymns is the oldest, or at least contains the oldest Indian literature which we possess, is proved indisputably by the *language* of the hymns.³) But the language proves also that the collection is not a single work, but consists of older and later elements. As in the Hebrew Book of Psalms, so here also, songs which had been composed at widely separated periods of time, were united at some time in a collection, and ascribed to famous personages of prehistoric times, preferably to the earliest ancestors of those families in which the songs in question were handed down. The majority of the oldest hymns are to be found in Books II to VII, which are usually called the "Family Books," because each is ascribed by tradition to a particular family of singers. The names of the singers or Ṛṣis (*i.e.* "seers, prophets") who, as the Indians say, visioned these hymns, are mentioned, partly in the Brāhmaṇas, partly in separate lists of authors (Anukramaṇīs) connected with the Vedāṅga literature. They are: Gṛtsamada, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bharadvāja