Dates of the written Rgveda

[Stephen Hodge]

Steve Framer wrote:
> But at a minimum the prima facie evidence has to be dealt with, I'd
> think. E.g., in Dighanikaya 27.23, we read:
[snip]
> Is this a misreading? Buddhaghosa apparently claims that the
> passage refers to compiling the Vedas. Are there other, similar
> examples? Since a rank outsider like me ran into this passage by
> accident, I suspect there must be others.

Well, I did say "as far as I know" !   I have not made it my business
to check the entire Pali canon since it is not my main area of
research.  However, it seems likely that DN 27 belongs to a fairly
late textual stratum, post-dating the Buddha's era and the immediate
period following it by some time.  This is based on internal liguistic
evidence -- it uses some terms that would have been anachronistic --
and doctrinal grounds.   The Pali term "gantha / gandha" (S: grantha)
means any literary product or composition, though it (later ?) often
also means a book.  Given the ambivalence of the term, it would
perhaps be better to look for any mention of the act of writing,
scribes, writing materials and so forth.

Best wishes,
Stephen