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RIDDLE NO. 2
THE ORIGIN OF THE VEDAS- THE BRAHMINIC EXPLANATION OR AN EXERCISE IN THE ART OF CIRCUMLOCUTION
There is hardly any Hindu who does not regard the Vedas as the most sacred Book of his religion. And yet ask any Hindu what is the origin of the Vedas and it would be difficult to find one who can give a clear and a definite answer to the simple question. Of course, if the question was addressed to a Vedic Brahmin he would say that the Vedas are Sanatan. But this is no answer to the question. For first of all what does the word Sanatan means?
The best explanation of the word Sanatan is to be found in the Commentary by Kalluka Bhatt on Chapter I Shlokas 22-23 of the Manu Smriti. This is what Kulluka Bhatt defines the word Sanatan [1] .
1 Muir Sanskrit Texts Vol. III. p. 6.
We have found 72 pages dealing with the subject “Origin of the Vedas”. These pages were neither arranged properly nor paged either by the typist or by the author. We have attempted to organize and arrange all these loose papers systematically and divide them into the Riddle No. 2 to 6, in accordance with the arrangement given in the Table of contents. It is difficult to assume that all these pages are complete in the treatment of the subject of each Chapter.
There is, however, one independent chapter containing 61 pages under the title ‘Riddle of the Vedas’ placed as Appendix I. That essay deals with all the subjects mentioned in the Table of Contents at Sr. No. 2 to 6 in a consolidated manner. Several paras may be found repeated in that essay. The original MS of the chapters 2 to 6 included here bears corrections and modifications in the handwriting of the author, whereas the Chapter included as Appendix I is a typed second copy having no corrections at all. We have followed the chronology of the Table of contents and the pages of corrected MS are arranged accordingly. —Ed.