Encyclopaedia of Vedas

The Veda is not only a religious text, but also a literature of the most ancient period, a primordial source of human knowledge, "Knowledge par excellence". This sacred text portrays the microscopic observations of the Vedic seers on macroscopic subjects. Ostensibly, different scholars have been analysing the Vedic material from diverse angles. There is scarcity of book in the English language about the teaching of the Vedas, the oldest records of the Aryan nations. It is hoped, therefore, that this will supply a want long felt alike by missionaries, ministers, and all interested in the religious history of out fellow-subjects in India. Author had to gather it little by little; at first from the works of learned specialists, and afterwards form the study of the Vedas, by the aid of pundits. The results are embodied in this book. Author must caution the general reader against concluding that the doctrines of the Vedas, as shown in this book, constitute what is known as Hinduism, or the religion of India today. Hinduism is a mixture of Vedic doctrines and pre-Aryan cults. Its authoritative guides are the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, the law books and the philosophical treatises. The author describes this book as an introduction to Vedas. It is introductory in two ways. First, it presupposes, on the part of its readers, no prior acquaintance with the subject. It should be capable of being understood without any such acquaintance. Second, it begins, not with the discussion of particulars problems, but with an account of the general nature of Vedas, as in common with many other literature of our period, the author conceive of and try to practice it.