Talk on Vedas bring out senses of optimism and hope.

Talk on Vedas bring out senses of optimism and hope.

Mangalore Today News Network

Manipal :  Delivering a special talk on “Vedic Studies: An overview”, organised by the Centre for Gandhian and Peace Studies, a constituent of Manipal University,  K.P. Rao, scholar and software expert said that    Vedas, the ancient hindu  texts, celebrate life, offering a sense of optimism and hope; they, in fact, negate negation and pessimism.

According to a media note issued by the centre here on Feb 22, Monday, Prof. Rao recalled both Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore to point out how passionate the two of them were about the readings of the Vedas and how much they were all praise for the essence and literary quality of Vedic literature. Referring to late historian D.D. Kosambi, he added that Kosambi’s perspective made him look at the Vedas from an agrarian and economic point of view as well.

Giving an overview of different interpretations of the Vedas, including those by scholars Sayana, Dayanand Saraswati, Max Mueller and Frits Saal, Prof. Rao said, “Vedas are not sectarian texts and in fact, they are texts of elegant poetic culture. The Vedic people did have a sense of wonder and the innocence of villagers; they loved every bit of life and philosophy.”

“While there are different camps coming up with different theories regarding the Vedas, it is better to reinvent the Vedas for ourselves,” he said.

Stating that it was ancient grammarian Panini who developed a descriptive structure of the Vedic language which could accommodate any language, Prof. Rao reasoned that even Western scholars were all praise for Panini. “Later Buddhist and Jaina scholars adopted Paninian structure of language in their writings. However, now the earliest available manuscript of the Vedas belongs to 11th Century AD,” he said.

Earlier, Varadesh Hiregange, Director of Gandhian and Peace Studies, introduced the subject. Scholars from different fields attended the lecture it was noted.