Thread by @nkgrock

1. Are there historical elements in the Veda? If yes, how to reconcile this with Veda being Nitya and Apaurusheya?

2. My response: According to Mimamsa, Veda contains five kinds of statements: 1. Vidhi/Injunction 2. Nishedha/Prohibition 3. Mantra 4. Namadheya/names of rituals etc 5. Arthavada or sentences which amplify the message of Vidhi or Nishedha by praising them or denouncing them.

3. There are different types of Arthavada, one of them is 'Bhutarthavada'-which means a statement about an occurrence that happened in the past. Ex: ‘Indra raised his thunderbolt to strike at Vṛtra’. It has to be accepted as it is as there is no way to either verify or disprove.

4. Similarly, there is one kind of Arthavada called 'Purakalpa' which demonstrates something that has been narrated by another as having taken place in the past. Even here, it has to be taken at face value: they are true because they have been mentioned as such.

5. And as far as Mimamsa is concerned, the purpose of such Arthavada is to praise or denounce a particular course of action, especially in ritual context so as to impel a person to either perform a certain action or to make him abstain from a certain action.

6. However, Purakalpa & Bhutarthavada contain material that is historical & mythological in character, narrate incidents that happened not only in earthly realm, but also in other realms. The mention of events such as the Dasharajna Battle must be seen only in that perspective.

7. The Veda is eternal, infinite & not confined only to branches of Veda which is available to us. What is available is merely the compiled & organized version which Bhagavan Veda Vyasa tailor-made for us to be transmitted in Kaliyuga, even in them, 90% of Veda Shakhas are lost.

8. Though the mantras and the vidhis are eternal and apaurusheya, they were revealed to Rishis when they were in high state of meditation at different points of time in the past. The Rishis are specially called 'Mantra Drashta' for that reason.

9. They 'Saw' the mantra so to speak in deep meditation and then revealed this to the world in the form of Veda Pravachana tradition. The historical and mythological materials have been added to serve the purpose of Artha-Vada.

10. I personally do not give much weightage to current obsession with Dating Vedas or arguments about layered wise composition of Vedas or even argument about how Upanishads was composed to counter ritualism of Mantra-Brahmanas. All these are mostly speculations.

11. This is my view on the subject.

PS. I know many friends who do not agree with the above view and they are also very well aware of my views on the issue. So, I will not get into a debate on this issue.