The first Mandala ("book") of the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...
has 191 hymns. Together with
Mandala 10
The tenth mandala of the Rigveda has 191 hymns. Together with Mandala 1, it forms the latest part of the Rigveda, containing much mythological material, including the Purusha sukta (10.90) and the dialogue of Sarama with the Panis (10.108), and n ...
, it forms the latest part of the Rigveda. Its composition likely dates to the late vedic period (1000-500 BCE) or the
Early Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
(around 1000 BCE).
Contents
Hymn 1.1 is addressed to
Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
, arranged so that the name of this god is the first word of the ''Rigveda''. The remaining hymns are mainly addressed to Agni and
Indra. Hymns 1.154 to 1.156 are addressed to
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
. Hymn 1.3 is dedicated to the
Ashvins
The Ashvins ( sa, अश्विन्, Aśvin, horse possessors), also known as Ashwini Kumara and Asvinau,, §1.42. are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, dawn and sciences. In the ''Rigveda'', they are described as youthful div ...
. Hymn 1.164.46, part of a hymn to the
Vishvadevas
The Visvedevas () ( ' "all-gods") are the various Vedic gods taken together as a whole. In the Rigveda a number of hymns are addressed to them, including (according to Griffith)
1.3,1.89,
3.54-56,
4.55,
5.41-51,
6.49-52,
7.34-37, 39, 40, 42, 43, ...
, is often quoted as an example of emerging
monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
or
monotheism
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxfo ...
. It forms the basis for the well-known statement "Truth is one, sages call it by various names":
:'
:'
:"They call him Indra,
Mitra,
Varuna
Varuna (; sa, वरुण, , Malay: ''Baruna'') is a Vedic deity associated initially with the sky, later also with the seas as well as Ṛta (justice) and Satya (truth). He is found in the oldest layer of Vedic literature of Hinduism, such ...
, Agni / and he is heavenly nobly-winged
Garutman
Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu god, Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu mythology, Hindu, Buddhist mythology, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (' ...
."
:"To what is One, sages give many a title / they call it Agni,
Yama
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. ...
,
Matarisvan." (trans. Griffith)
: – ''Rigveda 1.164.46''
Interpretation
Max Muller described the character of the Vedic hymns as a form of
henotheism
Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) used it to depict pri ...
, in which "numerous deities are successively praised as if they were one ultimate God." According to Graham, in the Vedic society it was believed that humans could contact the gods through the spoken utterances of the Vedic seers, and "the One Real" (''
ekam
Ekam is the Sanskrit for "one, single, solitary" (neuter gender), as a noun meaning "unity".
⠀⠀Ayyavazhi⠀⠀ and ⠀⠀Hinduism⠀⠀refers to a monism conceptAyyavazhi and Hinduism, it refers to a concept of monism akin to that of Brahman ...
sat'') in 1.164.46 refers to
Vāc
Vacha ( sa, वाच्, '), a Vedic goddess is a personified form of speech. She enters into the inspired poets and visionaries, gives expression and energy to those she loves; she is called the "mother of the Vedas" and consort of Prajapati, t ...
, both "speech" and goddess of speech, the "one ultimate, supreme God", and "one supreme Goddess." In later Vedic literature, "Speech or utterance is also identified with the supreme power or transcendent reality," and "equated with Brahman in this sense." Frauwallner states that "many gods are traced back to the one
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
head. The one (''ekam'') is not meant adjectively as a quality but as a substantive, as the upholding centre of reality."
The Vedic henotheism may have grown out of a growing recognition of a "unitary essence beyond all the deities," in which the deities were conceptualized as pluralistic manifestations of the same divine essence beyond this plurality.
The Vedic era conceptualization of the divine or the One, states Jeaneane Fowler, is more abstract than a monotheistic God, it is the Reality behind the phenomenal universe, which it treats as "limitless, indescribable, absolute principle", thus the Vedic divine is something of a
panentheism.
[ In late Vedic era, with the start of Upanishadic age (~800-600 BCE), from the henotheistic, panentheistic concepts emerge the concepts which scholars variously call nondualism or ]monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
, as well as forms of non-theism.
Selected hymns
Publications
The ''editio princeps'' of the book is due to Friedrich August Rosen
Friedrich August Rosen (2 September 1805 in Hannover – 12 September 1837 in London) was a German Orientalist, brother of Georg Rosen and a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. He studied in Leipzig, and from 1824 in Berlin under Fran ...
, published posthumously in 1838. It was the earliest edition of a Rigvedic Mandala, predating Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...
's edition of the entire Rigveda by more than 50 years.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{Rigveda
Rigveda