While there are surviving Vedic texts, they don't provide a comprehensive picture of the Vedic Period. Here's why:
* Limited scope: The surviving texts primarily focus on religious rituals, hymns, and philosophical ideas. They provide limited insight into daily life, political structures, or social dynamics.
* Oral tradition: Many aspects of Vedic culture were passed down orally for generations before being written down. This means a lot of information was likely lost or distorted in the process.
* Later additions: Vedic texts underwent revisions and additions over time, making it difficult to distinguish original content from later interpolations.
Therefore, while the surviving texts are valuable, they offer a fragmented and incomplete view of the Vedic Period. Historians rely on archaeological evidence and comparative studies with other ancient civilizations to fill in the gaps.