Vedas are believed to be “apaurushey” which means they were not created by humans. It is not clear when this belief became dominants but Vedas themselves do not make such claims in fact the Vedas are very clear that they are about Humans trying to interpret the uninterpretable. It was perhaps a poetic hyperbole that over time became the common belief that Vedas come from divine powers.
Dr. Koenraad Elst, an Indologist with amazing body of work talks here about Vedas and their sense of history.
