Rgveda, the oldest of the Vedas - before 1200 BCE

Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Vedic form of Sanskrit is an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian, which is attested during the period between 1700 BCE (early Rigveda) and 600 BCE (Sutra language) ], and still comparatively similar (being removed by maybe 1500 years) to the Proto-Indo-European language. It is closely related to Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian language. Vedic Sanskrit is the oldest attested language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. The composition of the Rgveda, the oldest of the Vedas, is conventionally dated to before 1200 BCE , and use of the Vedic dialect was continued for the composition of religious texts until roughly 500 BC, when the later Classical Sanskrit language began to emerge.