Dates of the Rigveda According to S. Talageri

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In his book on the RV (2000: 78), Talageri claims that “by a conservative estimate the total period of composition of the Rigveda must have covered a period of at least two millenniums” (Talageri’s spelling and emphases). Talageri precedes his claim with a chart (p. 76) that lays out his absurd views of the relative dating of different layers of the text (dark type below). When pressed in an online exchange in July 2000 (see the quoted post at the end of this page), Talageri expanded on his “conservative estimates” and “lower limits” for the supposed age of the text. Again, he claimed that the RV was composed over an impossible period of at least two millennia (see the text in red added to his original chart).

Below are Talageri’s own words, taken from a mini-List post sent to critics and supporters on 21 July 2000. Note that Talageri claims that these dates for the RV are conservative estimates – implying that the text might be even more impossibly old than he suggests here and in his book.

On 21 July 2000, S. Talageri wrote:

>Taking the lower limits, I would put it as follows:
>
> Mandala 6: 3500-2900 BC,
> Mandalas 3,7, early 1: 2900-2700 BC,
> Mandalas 4,2, middle 1: 2700-2400 BC,
> Mandalas 5,8,9, late 1: 2400-2100 BC,
> Mandala 10: 2100-1500 BC.
>
> These *are* in my opinion conservative estimates; but just how
> conservative, I cannot speculate.

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