150 
The two Sanscrit epic poems, called Ramayana and 
Mahabharat, of the poets Valmiki and Vyasa, are believed 
by some to have been revised and corrected by the Poet 
Calidas, in the reign of Vikramaditiya, whose era commences 
B.C. 57 (Prinsep). The poems therefore were probably 
written some centuries before, but are supposed by Bentley 
to have been composed, the first only in A.D. 291, and 
the second in A.D. 600, though their much greater anti- 
quity is proved by the sculptures in the temples of 
Elephanta, &c. (Heeren, iii. p. 277.) The Puranas are 
believed to have been composed as late as from the eighth 
to the tenth centuries of our era. 
But the above two poems, according to Heeren, form the 
second, while the age of Vikramaditiya, makes the third 
era of Hindoo literature. The Vedas are far more ancient 
than all — sufficiently so to contain no notices of Buddhism, 
nor of the different Indian sects ; the worship of Rama 
and Krishna having succeeded to that of the Elements 
and Planets (Colebrooke). The Vedas are thought by Sir 
William Jones to be next in antiquity to the five books 
of Moses. (Disc, ix.) This most probably is intended to 
apply only to the three first, the fourth being always consi- 
dered less ancient than the others. It is of this, or the 
Atharva Veda (note, p. 56), that the Ayur Veda, or medical 
writings of highest antiquity and authority are collectively 
called, are considered to be a portion. The two most 
ancient authors, Charaka and Susruta, are made contempo- 
raries of Rama and of the heroes of the time of fable 
(p. 57) ; while Aghastier, the translator into Tamul of 
Sanscrit medical literature, is named in the Ramayana, 
" the oldest work in the profane literature of the Hindoos, 1 ' 
and therefore prior, we may conclude, to the Christian era. 
Sir W. Jones, in referring to this work, says, that the 
" Ayur Veda, supposed to be the work of a celestial phy- 
