CultureSouth Asia

The Vedas

1,501 BCE – 1,001 BCE

Hymns handed down by mouth, word for word, for three thousand years

In depth

The oral transmission is probably the most accurate in world history; comparison between schools separated by a thousand kilometres shows almost no divergence. The Rigveda also gives linguists the oldest extensive testimony to an Indo-European language, and has been decisive in reconstructing the whole family. The texts are at once the foundation of Hinduism and of the later caste system.

For children

The Vedas were not written down for over a thousand years. Instead priests memorised them using ingenious techniques — reciting the words backwards and in alternation to catch errors. The text we have today is probably almost unchanged.

Connects to

The Indus cities are abandoned1,901 BCE
The steppe people move out3,301 BCE – 2,601 BCE
The Buddha and the Axial Age484 BCE
The Upanishads701 BCE – 301 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org