The Ṛgveda and the Panjab

Speaking of the materials furnished by the Ṛgveda, Dr. A. B. Keith has rightly said that “ conclusions can be drawn only with much caution. It is easy to frame and support by plausible evidence various hypotheses, to which the only effective objection is that other hypotheses are equally legitimate, and that facts are too imperfect to allow of conclusions being drawn ”. (The Cambridge History of India, vol. i, p. 78, 1922.) That position seems to be sound, but in the same paragraph the writer commits himself to an evident acceptance of the view that “ the bulk at least ” of the hymns of the Rgveda were composed “ south of the modern Ambala ”. The revelations of Harappa and Mohen-jo-daro and the possibility of finding archæological strata contemporary with the beginning of the Vedic age in the Panjab lend a new interest to evidence of the Veda and it is reasonable to challenge the bases of any prevailing belief with regard to the location of the main settlements of the Vedic Aryans.