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3. TIME LINE
"The Vedas were written on palm-leaves and birch-barks. # The earliest manuscripts are dated very roughly around 800 CE and the first person to do so was Vishukra as quoted in Al-hind of Al-Baruni (born in 973 CE) [translation of Al-hind by Edward Sachau entitled 'Alberuni's India', Pub. in 1888 CE; reprinted in 2002].
# The earliest printed text of the Rig Veda mantra Samhita with the Bhāshya of Sāyaṇa was
brought out during (1848-1874) by Friedrich Max Muller (1823-1900). # Dr. A Weber published the text of Vājasaneyi Samhitā of Shukla Yajurveda in 1852
and the Taittiriya Samhitā of Krishna Yajur Veda in 1871. # Dr. L. Von Schroeder published the text of Maitrāyani Samhitā in (1881-86)
and Kathaka Samhitā in (1900-11). # Professor Stevenson published the text of the Rāņāyaniya Sāmaveda Samhitā with English
translation in 1842.
# Eugene Burnouf (1801-52) produced the German translation of "Kauthumiya Sāmaveda Samhita
in 1848.
# Roth and Whitney (1827-94) published the Atharva Veda Samhitā."
http://www.vedah.com/org2/literature/veda_books/printed_texts.html from the booklet "An Introduction to the Vedās" by K.S. Srinivasacharya published by the Alliance Company
The whole purpose of looking through the time line was to indicate that while all the other religions of the world insisted on the scriptures to be written down and crystalized so that it may not be perverted or interpolated, Vedic religion alone do not have any such heritage. We only have oral traditions for Vedism. We do not have any way of determining its integrity and we have aboslutely no means of dating the vedas since they were never really in any "hard copy" and we have only the hearsay evidences of their antiquity. While oral traditions especially in songs and music are a powerful means of reaching the population, it has no built in safeguard against interpolation and omissions. Thus by the time it was written down, there were several parallel versions and most of the orally transmitted portions of Vedic hymns were totally lost. Only 1% survived according to Vedic scholars.
"Out of the more than a thousand 'shakhas' (recensions) of the four Vedas in our country, unfortunately only 11 shakhas survive today in the oral tradition" http://www.arshavidya-nagpur.org/veda.htm
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