The general compass of this enormous literature is from an indefinite antiquity to about 1500 A.D.A liberal margin of possible error must be allowed in the assumption of any specific dates.

The received opinion is that the Rig Veda goes back to about 2000 B.C., yet are some scholars inclined rather to accept 3000 B.C.as the time that represents this era.

Weber, in his _Lectures on Sanskrit Literature_ (p.

7), rightly says that to seek for an exact date is fruitless labor; while Whitney compares Hindu dates to ninepins--set up only to be bowled down again.
Schroeder, in his _Indiens Literatur und Cultur_, suggests that the prior limit may be "a few centuries earlier than 1500," agreeing with Weber's preferred reckoning; but Whitney, Grassmann, and Benfey provisionally assume 2000 B.C.as the starting point of Hindu literature.

The lowest possible limit for this event Mueller now places at about 1500, which is recognized as a very cautious view; most scholars thinking that Mueller's estimate gives too little time for the development of the literary periods, which, in their opinion, require, linguistically and otherwise, a greater number of years.