Date of the Buddha and RV

[George Thompson]

I think that Madhav Deshpande's point is that in establishing a relative
chronology the terminus ad quem [the latest possible date] has to be set
independently of the terminus a quo [the earliest possible date].  I think
that this is correct.

The date of the Buddha is usually considered the terminus ad quem of Vedic
literature. So if this date needs to be adjusted, so too will be the date of
the end of the Vedic period.

But the beginning of the Vedic period [terminus a quo] should not be measured
on the basis of what is perceived to be a reasonable length of time for the
full development of the literature. Judgments about the reasonable length of
time for the development of Vedic literature are clearly impressionistic and
subjective, as previous list discussion has amply demonstrated.

A solid terminus a quo must be based on completely independent criteria. And
this confronts us with an entirely different set of problems.

George Thompson