Diversity of Vedic culture

The Vedic culture was quite diverse in beliefs and practices. Many of them are often inconsistent with each other. For example one the Candogya Upaniṣad 3.19.1 states that in the beginning the universe was Asat (non-existentce) and Sat (existence) was a secondary phenomenon.At the same time, Candogya Upaniṣad 6.2.2 tells us that only Sat was there in the beginning. To cite another example from Vedic text named Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, in verse 7.4.1.15 it informs us that Prajāpati , Vedic creator deity, is identical with Puruṣa or the whole universe personified. But again in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 12.3.4.1 both Puruṣa and Prajāpati as spoken as different entities.

The inconsistency is also evident in the rituals and rites of Vedic society. To cite one example, the Vedic people practiced both cremation of the dead as in ṚgVeda 10.16 and burial of the dead as in Ṛg Veda 10.18. Ṛg Veda 10.15.14 also speaks of both cremated and uncremated dead.

So why these inconsistencies? In my opinion, the Vedic culture does not have a single founder and Vedic scriptures were not authored by a single group of authors with a codified system. It was authored by authors who had diverse beliefs and practices. Thus, these inconsistencies arose. The Vedic texts are open for interpretations and there were many Vedic branches or Shakhas specialized in a single Vedic text or Samhita. Each branches further has its own additional texts like Brāhmaṇa-s , Āraṇyaka-s , Upaniṣad-s, sūtra-s etc associated with the main Vedic text. Obviously these additional texts were diverse as well, and contained different interpretations of Vedic beliefs and practices. This diversity is the reason why the Vedic culture later evolved into various new sects which forms the current culture which we call as Hindu or Bhāratīya culture.

To sum up, it would be good to assume that Vedic culture was quite diverse in practices and beliefs, just like modern Hindu or Bhāratīya culture and the inconsistencies are not big issues in this case.

The greatness of Sanskrit language

The Sanskrit language or Sans‌kr̥taṁ dates back to the bronze age and it is the sacred language of Āstika  traditions. Vaidika or Vedic Sanskrit which was the language of Vedic texts later evolved into Laukika or classical Sanskrit. The Prākṛta or Prakrit languages were also related to Sanskrit and they were a later development.

During the early period, Sanskrit was mostly utilized  in  northern regions of India or Bhāratavarṣa and later it was utilized all over India and even beyond India as the Indian culture spread into wider regions. At its height, Sanskrit was utilized in a large area covering from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Through Buddhism, Sanskritic elements also reached many other regions such as Central Asia and East Asia.
Sanskrit or Sanskritic origin is also the single factor which unites and links all the diverse Indian religious and cultural traditions.

The corpus of  ancient Sanskrit literature  is huge and the ancient texts like four Veda Samhita-s, Āraṇyaka-s, Brāhmaṇa-s, Upaniṣad-s, Kalpa sūtra-s , Dharma śāstra-s and Smr̥ti-s , epics Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, Purāṇa-s and Upapurāṇa-s , Tāntric-Āgamic texts, Brahma sūtra, Mimamsa sūtra, Nyāya sūtra, Vaiśēṣika sūtra and numerous other works like Nāṭya-śāstra, Yoga sūtra, Kāma sūtra, Caraka Samhita, Suśruta Samhita etc would probably make the Sanskrit literature the largest ancient literature on the planet.

 It must also be noted that today we only posses Vedic texts from the surviving Śākha-s or branches of Vedic schools. Once, there existed more Vedic Śākha-s and the texts associated with the Śākha-s which are extinct today. So we can never underestimate the size of ancient Sanskrit corpus. The knowledge of Sanskrit would help one in reading all the surviving ancient texts, though it will take a lifetime to read all of them thoroughly.