The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c26.44

v1.c26.44

The imperfection of the record of the Rigveda renders it necessary in any account of the Vedic ritual to deal with the ritual, as it stands in the later Saṁhitās and the Brāhmaṇas, and as it is set out in full detail in the Sūtras, while using the Rigveda wherever possible to explain in how far the views of that collection agree with the ideas later prevalent. This fact exposes it to certain danger: it is perfectly true that much which is recorded later is clearly old, and is omitted in the Rigveda, mainly because that collection is only concerned with a limited portion of religious practice. On the other hand, religion is in the constant process of change, and things recorded first in the later texts may be new inventions.