Hindu texts Prior to the start of the common era, the Hindu texts were composed orally, then memorized and transmitted orally, from one generation to next, for more than a millennia before they were written down into manuscripts. This verbal tradition of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, continued into the modern era. The Vedas are a large body of Hindu texts originating in ancient India, with its Samhita and Brahmanas complete before about 800 BCE. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. Hindus consider
Vedas for Indo-European studies was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the "Sacred Books of the East" series edited by Müller between 1879 and 1910. Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899. Voltaire regarded Vedas to be exceptional, he remarked that: Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007. Vedas The Vedas (; Sanskrit: "", "knowledge") are a large body of religious texts originating in the ancient India. Composed in Vedic