Veda or
Vedas may refer to:
Hinduism
The
Vedas (English plural form), part of a set of
Hindu texts. The Vedas are considered the oldest Hindu texts. Scholars believe that they were written down some 4,500 years ago, though the tradition often dates them to the beginning of Kali-yuga (circa 3000 BCE). The following is an overview of the four Vedas, which comprise more than 20,000 hymns. The Vedas have been preserved throughout time, passed down through oral recitation by priests. Only until recent, have the contents been written down into formal scriptures. Attempts by western scholars – to name only a few: Muller-Ortega, Mark Dyczkowski, Alexis Sanderson, Lilian Silburn, Andre Padoux, Raffaele Torella, Alexander Wynne, and David Shulman, all attempted to translate Hindu's sacred scriptures. Unfortunately the literal translation does not reflect the true meaning.
No one can translate these texts with just a dictionary. The Vedas, among many other texts cannot be known by mere scholarship, no matter how prestigious, even with the best dictionaries and multiple cross-references to other textual usage. To begin with, English is a language of commerce and the subtle textured layered meanings encoded within one Sanskrit word cannot be fully and precisely translated into a very limited linear language such as English.