Original Sanskrit Texts, Origin and History - The People of India, Their Religion and Institutions #248636

When I speak, however, of the lzz'story of the Veda, I am reminded that I am employing a term'which will suggest to the philosophical reader the idea of a minute and systematic account of all the various opinions which the Indians have held in regard to their sacred books from the commencement, through all the succes sive stages of their theological development, down to the present time. To do anything like this, however, would be a task demanding an extent of research far exceeding that to which I can pretend. At some future time, indeed, we may hope that a history of the theo logical and speculative ideas of the Indians, which shall treat this branch also of the subject, may be written by some competent scholar. My own design is much more modest. I only attempt to show what are the Opinions on the subject of the Veda, which have been entertained by certain distinct sets of writers whom I may broadly divide into three classes the mythological, (2) the scholastic, and (3) the Vedic.