From the explanatory discussions of the Brahmanas in connection with the Rigveda, it results that the text of the latter must have been essentially fixed in their time, and that too in quite a special manner, more, for instance, than the prose formulas of the Yajurveda. For the Çatapatha Brahmana, while speaking of the possibility of varying some of these formulas, rejects the notion of changing the text of a certain Rigvedic verse, proposed by some teachers, as something not to be thought of. The Brahmanas further often mention the fact that such and such a hymn or liturgical group contains a particular number of verses. All such numerical statements appear to agree with the extant text of the Rigveda. On the other hand, transpositions and omissions of Rigvedic verses are to be found in the Brahmanas. These, however, are only connected with the ritual form of those verses, and in no way show that the text from which they were taken was different from ours. The Sutras also contain altered forms of Rigvedic verses, but these are, as in the case of the Brahmanas, to be explained not from an older recension of the text, but from the necessity of adapting them to new ritual technicalities. On the other hand, they contain many statements which confirm our present text. Thus all that the Sutra of Çankhayana says about the position occupied by verses in a hymn, or the total number of verses contained in groups of hymns, appears invariably to agree with our text. We have yet to answer the question as to when the Samhita text, which finally fixed the canonical form of the Rigveda, was constituted. Now the Brahmanas contain a number of direct statements as to the number of syllables in a word or a group of words, which are at variance with the Samhita text owing to the vowel contractions made in the latter. Moreover, the old part of the Brahmana literature shows hardly any traces of speculations about phonetic questions connected with the Vedic text. The conclusion may therefore be drawn that the Samhita text did not come into existence till after the completion of the Brahmanas. With regard to the Aranyakas and Upanishads, which form supplements to the Brahmanas, the case is different. These works not only mention technical grammatical terms for certain groups of letters, but contain detailed doctrines about the phonetic treatment of the Vedic text. Here, too, occur for the first time the names of certain theological grammarians, headed by Çakalya and Mandukeya, who are also recognised as authorities in the Pratiçakhyas. The Aranyakas and Upanishads accordingly form a transition, with reference to the treatment of grammatical questions, between the age of the Brahmanas and that of Yaska and the Pratiçakhyas. The Samhita text must have been created in this intermediate period, say about 600 B.C.