Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c8.9

c8.9

¹ It is interesting to note that this orthodox Hindu view of the Veda being made up of *Mantra* and *Brāhmaṇa* has been practically accepted by Bloomfield who states [*JAOS.*, xv, 144] "that *Mantra* and *Brāhmaṇa* are for the least part chronological distinctions ; that they represent two modes of literary activity, and two modes of literary speech, which are largely contemporaneous. . . . Both forms existed together, for aught we know, from the earliest times ; only the redaction of the *Mantra* collections seems on the whole to have preceded the redaction of the *Brāhmaṇas*. . . . The hymns of the Rigveda, like those of the other three Vedas, were liturgical from the very start. This means that they form only a fragment . . . late texts and commentaries may contain the correct explanation."