There is nothing whatever in the books themselves to indicate when they were written. All references in them are to their being given orally, learned, and then again taught audibly to others. Probably for centuries after the art of writing was known in India it was not employed for preserving the sacred books, as in the Mahabharata those who write the Vedas are threatened with the punishment of hell.( 9 )

Footnotes

^5:* "Indian Wisdom," p. 9.

^6:* Goldstucker, art. "Vedas," Chambers's Cyclopaedia.

^7:* Art. "Vedas," Chambers's Cyclopaedia.