History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.180

v7.c93.180

(1) Veda is eternal, self-existent, not composed by any author, human or divine, and is infallible. This is the core of the P. M. system. Vide P. M. S. I. 1. 27-32 and Śabara on I. 1. 5 (p. 53) and Ślokavārtika (Vākyādhikaraṇa, verses¹⁹⁵³ 366-368). The argument briefly is, Veda is learnt at present and was studied in the past also by students from teachers, that there is no evidence about the person who first composed it or who first studied it. If it be argued that such a reasoning may be put forward as regards the Mahābhārata, the reply is that people know that Vyāsa is the author of it. Similarly, the passages in Smṛtis and Purāṇas that Prajāpati created the Veda are merely arthavādas (laudatory) not based on any evidence or perception and are meant only to convey the absolute authoritativeness of the Veda. If the connection between word and sense is eternal and not brought about by any person, the same reasoning holds good as to the Veda. This view is opposed to the view of the Naiyāyikas who hold that God is the author of the Veda or the interpretation of V S. I 1 3 (Śāstrayonitvāt) by Śaṅkarācārya based on Br Up II. 4. 10. Manu I. 21 (stating that Brahmā created from the words of the Veda the names and appropriate duties of all) seems to suggest that (according to Manu) the Veda was self-existent Similarly, the Mahābhāṣya on Vārtika 3 on Pāṇini IV. 3. 101 ('tena proktam') remarks ¹⁹⁵⁴ that the Vedas were not composed by anyone, that they are eternal, that the meaning of the Veda is eternal, but the arrangement of the letters is not eternal and therefore we have different vedic texts like Kāṭhaka, Kālāpaka, Paippalādaka &c. The Smṛtis also sometimes state that there is no author of the Veda, that Brahmā remembers it and that Manu also has remembrance of Dharma in different Kalpas (Parāśarasmṛti I. 21).