The Vedas and Brāhmaṇas are texts that existed before the idea of "Hinduism" per se emerged as a world religion. Present scholarly consensus puts the earliest date of the Vedas at 1500 bce, but there remains debate on the topic that might place the Vedas earlier. The Brāhmaṇas are placed around 900 bce. These texts were almost entirely oral, guarded by the priestly Brahmanic tradition as the basic supporting texts of the sacrifice. The cosmology of the Vedas speaks of the cosmos as Father Sky (Dyaus Pitṛ) and Earth (Pṛthivī). In other texts the cosmos is divided into three realms: bhūr (earth), bhuvaḥ (air), and svaḥ (heaven). The sacrifice and not the gods is considered the source of time, space, and all things that make up the universe. The Agnicayana, or the building of the fire altar, as well as many other forms of sacrifice are viewed in the Brāhmaṇa texts as symbolic reconstructions of the cosmos. Moreover the right placement of sacrificial implements and correct chanting of mantras allows the unimpeded turning of the year, the months, and the seasons as well as the correct placement of the three realms. At times cosmological thinking is so present and deeply assumed in Vedic texts that the "earthly realm" (as opposed to the other realms) is simply referred to as iha, "here."