There are four principal books of Hinduism known as the Vedas. They occupy the highest position in respect and reverence. The first among them is the Rigveda. Then comes the Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda and finally, the Sama Veda.

 

The Rigveda is perhaps the oldest scripture of the Indo-European languages. At the same time the Vedas happen to be one of the most contested books in the world. At one side, some of the Hindutva brigade claims that they are older than 10,000 yrs, some say 25,000 yrs and some say 50,000 yrs. No wonder. After all they believe that Rama’s father Dasaratha lived for 60,000 years! In short, the exact period when the hymns were composed is a matter of conjecture. A little logical and scientific analysis would hint towards the figure 1500 BC.

 

Moreover, the Vedas are contested in another way also. One group of scholars (!?) always ties to prove to the world that they are the Ultimate Divine Scriptures. They can go to any extent to prove this. They also claim that the Hindus of those days possessed UNLIMITED SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. They readily lay claim on anything latest. For example, as soon as an atom bomb is discovered, they claim that the ‘Ancient Hindus’ already possessed this knowledge. So is the case with aeroplane, cloning, decoding the human genome etc.