Evils of Written Vedas?

[George Thompson]

Following up on Michael Witzel's comments on AVZ 19.72:

Not only is the word 'koza' problematic here, but so also is the word 'veda',
as was discussed on the list in the thread ' When did the gods become
literate? Was: Are the gods literate?' [cf. posting of Nov. 4 1999].

As for the evils of written vedas, Richard Salomon, in his *Indian Epigraphy*
[p.7] cites the following proverb:

pustakasthA tu yA vidyA parahastagataM dhanam

["Knowledge in a book (is like) money in someone else's hand"]

This is attributed to the cANakya-nIti, in R. OjhA, *bhAratIya prAcIna lipi
mAlA*, 1971.

George Thompson