Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c2.8

v1.c2.8

The lower limit of the Vedic period is the epoch of the rise and spread of Buddhism, or, roughly, 500 B.C. The Brāhmaṇa literature to be exploited was assumed to be undoubtedly anterior to that date. The boundary line would, however, to some extent have to be overstepped by drawing on the Sūtras for evidence where the Vedas and Brāhmaṇas fail. But though the Sūtras are roughly contemporaneous with the first three centuries of Buddhism, they are practically an epitome of the practices of the Brāhmaṇa period, and are thus often of great value in illustration or corroboration of the facts of that period. They are also important as representing the Brahminical evidence for those three centuries, especially as it is somewhat uncertain how far even the earliest Buddhist literary sources go back in an authentic form to the three centuries following the death of Buddha. Names and practices not referred to before the Sūtras were, however, to be mentioned only incidentally if at all: the few cases to the contrary that actually occur are not real exceptions, because they are derived from Vedic verses quoted in Sūtras, or from Brāhmaṇa parts of Sūtras such as Baudhāyana.