[Advaita-l] Apaurusheyatva of Vedas.

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> P.S. Any model proposed for explaining अपौरुषेयत्वं will surely have to
> accommodate the fact that the earth could not support life earlier. We can
> call upon shraddhA to do the rest of the job. But to ask for jettisoning
> even such strong evidence such as the late origin for life on Earth should
> be avoided. (this does not mean that we have to accept Darwinian evolution
> etc.,)

Not so. apaurusheyatva pertains to the texts, not to the historicity or otherwise
of the seer of the texts. 

Even if one lived five hundred years ago, and believed that the earth came into
existence with human beings living on it from time t=0, one would have had to
accept that (a) human beings have finite lifespan, (b) some human beings saw
the veda and were the Rshis, and (c) the seers of the veda spanned many
generations. This is part of the traditional view itself. 

Accepting that the Rshis of the veda lived in time and space is not incompatible
with not accepting specific dates for the composition of the vedas. It really does
not matter when or where or how the Rshis lived. What matters is that they saw
the veda-s and yet the veda-s are not considered to be their own compositions.
 
Regards,
Vidyasankar