The Veda

There is no historical text in the entire world more ancient or authentic than the Veda; for the welfare of humanity, there is no greater book in any language or religious sect. Regarding this subject, a well-known foreign German scholar of a different faith, Professor Max Müller The text uses the honorific "Bhatt," a title usually reserved for learned Brahmins, showing the high esteem in which the author holds Müller., writes that by examining the thoughts, language, intent, style of composition, and grammatical uniqueness of the Vedic Samhita A 'Samhita' refers to the most ancient layer of the Vedas, consisting of hymns, prayers, and mantras., it is clearly evident that there is no book equal to the Vedic Samhita in the Sanskrit language—nor in the language of any other race or country in the world. This "Rigveda" Samhita is the most ancient work of extremely old Sanskrit literature. It is the first book for the benefit of the human race, the sole primary evidence of human civilization, the oldest history of mankind, and the first guide to religious faith—therefore, it is worthy of respect by all of humanity. At a time for which no history of the human race can be found elsewhere—when the thoughts, religion, faith, civilization, methods of worship, establishment of deities, social customs, hopes, and heart-felt emotions of that era have vanished into the womb of the eternal flow of time, and when no other means exist to recover the history of those days—the history of that immemorial time is recorded in golden letters in a well-organized form within the Rigveda Samhita. It is for this reason that the Rigveda Samhita is held in such high honor and respect among the circles of scholars throughout the civilized world.

The Veda has a two-fold interest: it belongs to the history of the world, and to the history of India. In the history of the world, the Veda fills a gap which no literary work in any other language could fill. It carries us back to times of which we have no records anywhere, and gives us the very words of a generation of men, of whom otherwise we could form but the vaguest estimate by means of conjectures and inferences. As long as man continues to take an interest in the history of his race, and as long as we collect in libraries and museums the relics of former ages, the first place in that long row of books which contains the records of the Aryan In this 19th-century context, "Aryan" refers to the Indo-European linguistic and cultural ancestors of the Indian and European peoples. branch of mankind, belongs forever to the Rig Veda The oldest of the four Vedas, composed of over 1,000 hymns dedicated to the gods of the Vedic pantheon., the most ancient of books in the library of mankind, which is more ancient than the Zend-avesta The primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, written in Avestan. and Homer (919–859 B.C.).