South Asia

Abstract

The author further argues that Vedic hymns can be understood only in relation to writing, which means we should dismiss the idea that originally they were committed only to memory. He tries to show this especially in the Rbhu hymn 1,161. Rbhus, presumably the priests of the Indus civilization, supposedly invented the Indus script under the influence of the Sumerian script. He also finds the antiquity of the Vedas confirmed by astrological hints in them and by similar hints on Indus seals. The Indus civilization was not destroyed by invaders, but declined as a result of catastrophic floods, partly caused by the neglect of defences against annual inundations. The civilization was then reestablished around 1500 B.C. as the Vedic one.