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Vedic Sanskrit, also simply referred as the Vedic language, is an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature [ 1 ] compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. [ 2 ]
The Upanishads (/ ʊ ˈ p ʌ n ɪ ʃ ə d z /; [1] Sanskrit: उपनिषद्, IAST: Upaniṣad, pronounced [ˈʊpɐnɪʂɐd]) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" [2] and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hinduism.
This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, which were composed between c. 1500 –1200 BCE (Rig Veda book 2–9), [note 1] and 1200–900 BCE for the other Samhitas. The Samhitas contain invocations to deities like Indra and Agni , "to secure their benediction for success in battles or for welfare of the clan."
According to Max Mueller, the parisista of the Vedas, "may be considered the very last outskirts of Vedic literature, but they are Vedic in character, and it would be difficult to account for their origin at any time except the expiring moments of the Vedic age." [3] Within the early Sanskrit texts, 18 parisishtas are mentioned, but numerous ...
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (c. 1500 –900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain c. 600 BCE.
Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some mixed and non-standard forms of Sanskrit.
Composed in Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] Hindus consider the Vedas to be timeless revelation, [ 16 ] apauruṣeya , which means "not of a man, superhuman" [ 20 ] and "impersonal, authorless".
The Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches separated quite early. It is the Indo-Aryan branch that moved into eastern Iran and then south into South Asia in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Once in ancient India, the Indo-Aryan language underwent rapid linguistic change and morphed into the Vedic Sanskrit language. [65]