University of Virginia Library

VEDA:

literally "knowledge" signifying the SACRED knowledge or REVELATION which has been "heard" according to the HINDU religious tradition. It began as ORAL TRADITION becoming a written tradition much later. The VEDAS are ancient revelations found in a series of HYMNS, RITUAL texts, and speculations composed over a period of a millennium beginning 1400 B.C. The earliest documents are probably from around the fifteenth century and were recorded by MUSLIM authors.