Patanjali's Mahabhashyam mentions that there existed 1131 Shakhas originally, each of whom taught a particular Brahmana and Aranyaka. In the present day, only around 12 of them exist, from this we can infer that most of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas which explain the Samhitas are lost/destroyed.
In Mahabharat, its mentioned that there are over 1 lakh verses in the Vedas whereas in the present day, there are 20,379 verses in total in the 4 Vedas. From this I thought that the Vedic Samhitas are lost/destroyed over time as well, just like the Brahmanas.
But then we know that knowledge of Vedas were passed down purely orally since ages. And for that various techniques (like Prakriti pathas and Vikriti pathas) were developed to facilitate the memorization of the Vedas. Hence it is almost impossible for anyone to corrupt the original verses of the Samhitas. Plus they were written down in Vedic Sanskrit which was known only among the intellectual circles. This implies that the Samhitas, atleast, should be complete.
So what is the truth ? Are the Samhitas complete ? If yes, then is Mahabharat wrong about the verse count ?
