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v
t
e
The Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, from ṛc "praise,
shine"[1] and veda "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of
Vedic
Sanskrit
Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four canonical sacred texts
(śruti) of
Hinduism
Hinduism known as the Vedas.[2][3] The text is a
collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, organized into ten books
(Mandalas).[4] A good deal of the language is still obscure and many
hymns as a consequence are unintelligible.[5][6][7]
The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.[4] For each deity series
the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones; and the number of
hymns per book increases.[2] In the eight books that were composed the
earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology and praise
deities.[8][9] Books 1 and 10, which were added last, deal with
philosophical or speculative[9] questions about the origin of the
universe and the nature of god,[10] the virtue of dāna (charity) in
society,[11] and other metaphysical issues in its hymns.[12]
Rigveda
Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European
language.[13] Philological and linguistic evidence indicate that the
Rigveda
Rigveda was composed in the north-western region of the Indian
subcontinent, most likely between c. 1500 and
1200 BC—[14][15][16]though a wider approximation of c.
1700–1100 BC has also been given.[17][18][note 1] The initial
codification of the
Rigveda
Rigveda took place during the early Kuru kingdom
(c. 1200 – c. 900 BCE).
Some of its verses continue to be recited during
Hindu
Hindu rites of
passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it
probably the world's oldest religious text in continued use.[23][24]
Contents
1 Text
1.1 Organization
1.1.1 Mandala
1.1.2 Sukta, ṛca, and pada
1.2 Composers
1.3 Transmission
1.4 Recensions
1.5 Manuscripts
1.5.1 Versions
1.5.2 Comparison
2 Contents
2.1 Hymns
2.2
Rigveda
Rigveda Brahmanas
2.3
Rigveda
Rigveda Aranyakas and Upanishads
3 Dating and historical context
3.1 Composition
3.2 Codification
3.3 Manuscripts
3.4 Historical context
4 Atheism, Monotheism, Monism, Polytheism debate
5 Interpretation
5.1 Changing Sanskrit
5.2 Medieval
Hindu
Hindu scholarship
5.3
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj and Aurobindo movements
5.4 Contemporary Hinduism
5.5 "Indigenous Aryans" debate
6 Translations
6.1 Mistranslations, misinterpretations debate
6.2 Translations
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 External links
Text
Organization
The Rigveda is not a book,
but a library and a literature.
—E Vernon Arnold, Cambridge University[25]
Mandala
The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age
and length.[26]
The "family books", mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda
and the shortest books; they are arranged by length
(decreasing[27][28] length of hymns per book) and account for 38% of
the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each
dealing with a particular deity:
Agni
Agni comes first,
Indra
Indra comes second,
and so on. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi (sage) and his
family of students.[29] Within each collection, the hymns are arranged
in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in
the same collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are
arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in
descending order.[30][31] The second to seventh mandalas have a
uniform format.[27]
The eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account
for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the
youngest; they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each,
accounting for 37% of the text. However, adds Witzel, some hymns in
Mandala
Mandala 8, 1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas.[32] The
first mandala has a unique arrangement not found in the other nine
mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its prosody (chanda)
structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the
tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in
it.[27]
Sukta, ṛca, and pada
Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta (su-ukta, literally,
"well recited, eulogy") intended for various rituals. The sūktas in
turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc ("praise", pl. ṛcas),
which are further analysed into units of verse called pada ("foot" or
step). The meters most used in the ṛcas are the gayatri (3 verses of
8 syllables), anushtubh (4x8), trishtubh (4x11) and jagati (4x12). The
trishtubh meter (40%) and gayatri meter (25%) dominate in the
Rigveda.[33][34][35]
For pedagogical convenience, each mandala is synthetically divided
into roughly equal sections of several sūktas, called anuvāka
("recitation"), which modern publishers often omit. Another scheme
divides the entire text over the 10 mandalas into aṣṭaka
("eighth"), adhyāya ("chapter") and varga ("class"). Some publishers
give both classifications in a single edition.
The most common numbering scheme is by book, hymn and stanza (and pada
a, b, c ..., if required). E.g., the first pada is
1.1.1a agním īḷe puróhitaṃ "
Agni
Agni I invoke, the housepriest"
and the final pada is
10.191.4d yáthā vaḥ súsahā́sati
Composers
See also: Anukramani
Tradition associates a rishi (the composer) with each ṛc of the
Rigveda.[36] Most sūktas are attributed to single composers. The
"family books" (2–7) are so-called because they have hymns by
members of the same clan in each book; but other clans are also
represented in the Rigveda. In all, 10 families of rishis account for
more than 95% of the ṛcs; for each of them the
Rigveda
Rigveda includes a
lineage-specific āprī hymn (a special sūkta of rigidly formulaic
structure, used for rituals.
Family
Āprī
Ṛcas[37]
Angiras
I.142
3619 (especially
Mandala
Mandala 6)
Kanva
I.13
1315 (especially
Mandala
Mandala 8)
Vasishtha
VII.2
1276 (
Mandala
Mandala 7)
Vishvamitra
III.4
983 (
Mandala
Mandala 3)
Atri
V.5
885 (
Mandala
Mandala 5)
Bhrgu
X.110
473
Kashyapa
IX.5
415 (part of
Mandala
Mandala 9)
Grtsamada
II.3
401 (
Mandala
Mandala 2)
Agastya
I.188
316
Bharata
X.70
170
Transmission
Rigveda
Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century.
After a scribal benediction ("śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ ;;
Aum(3) ;;"), the first line has the opening words of RV.1.1.1
(agniṃ ; iḷe ; puraḥ-hitaṃ ; yajñasya ;
devaṃ ; ṛtvijaṃ). The
Vedic accent is marked by underscores
and vertical overscores in red.
The original text (as authored by the Rishis) is close to but not
identical to the extant Samhitapatha, but metrical and other
observations allow reconstruction (in part at least) of the original
text from the extant one, as printed in the Harvard Oriental Series,
vol. 50 (1994).[38]
The surviving form of the
Rigveda
Rigveda is based on an early Iron Age
collection that established the core 'family books' (mandalas 2–7,
ordered by author, deity and meter [39]) and a later redaction,
co-eval with the redaction of the other Vedas, dating several
centuries after the hymns were composed. This redaction also included
some additions (contradicting the strict ordering scheme) and
orthoepic changes to the Vedic
Sanskrit
Sanskrit such as the regularization of
sandhi (termed orthoepische Diaskeuase by Oldenberg, 1888).
As with the other Vedas, the redacted text has been handed down in
several versions, most importantly the Padapatha, in which each word
is isolated in pausa form and is used for just one way of
memorization; and the Samhitapatha, which combines words according to
the rules of sandhi (the process being described in the Pratisakhya)
and is the memorized text used for recitation.
The
Padapatha
Padapatha and the
Pratisakhya
Pratisakhya anchor the text's true meaning,[40]
and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more
than a millennium by oral tradition alone.[41] In order to achieve
this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation,
involving breaking down the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit compounds into stems and
inflections, as well as certain permutations. This interplay with
sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics.
The Rigveda was probably not written down until the
Gupta period
Gupta period (4th
to 6th centuries AD), by which time the
Brahmi script
Brahmi script had become
widespread (the oldest surviving manuscripts are from ~1040 AD,
discovered in Nepal).[2][42] The oral tradition still continued into
recent times.
Recensions
Several shakhas ("branches", i. e. recensions) of Rig
Veda
Veda are known
to have existed in the past. Of these, Śākalya is the only one to
have survived in its entirety. Another shakha that may have survived
is the Bāṣkala, although this is uncertain.[43][44][45]
The surviving padapatha version of the
Rigveda
Rigveda text is ascribed to
Śākalya.[46] The Śākala recension has 1,017 regular hymns, and an
appendix of 11 vālakhilya hymns[47] which are now customarily
included in the 8th mandala (as 8.49–8.59), for a total of 1028
hymns.[48] The Bāṣkala recension includes 8 of these vālakhilya
hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025 regular hymns
for this śākhā.[49] In addition, the Bāṣkala recension has its
own appendix of 98 hymns, the Khilani.[50]
In the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, the 1028 hymns of the
Rigveda
Rigveda contain
a total of 10,552 ṛcs, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana
gives the number of syllables to be 432,000,[51] while the metrical
text of van Nooten and Holland (1994) has a total of 395,563 syllables
(or an average of 9.93 syllables per pada); counting the number of
syllables is not straightforward because of issues with sandhi and the
post-Rigvedic pronunciation of syllables like súvar as svàr.
Three other shakhas are mentioned in Caraṇavyuha, a pariśiṣṭa
(supplement) of Yajurveda: Māṇḍukāyana, Aśvalāyana and
Śaṅkhāyana. The
Atharvaveda
Atharvaveda lists two more shakhas. The
differences between all these shakhas are very minor, limited to
varying order of content and inclusion (or non-inclusion) of a few
verses. The following information is known about the shakhas other
than Śākalya and Bāṣkala:[52]
Māṇḍukāyana: Perhaps the oldest of the Rigvedic shakhas.
Aśvalāyana: Includes 212 verses, all of which are newer than the
other Rigvedic hymns.
Śaṅkhāyana: Very similar to Aśvalāyana
Saisiriya: Mentioned in the
Rigveda
Rigveda Pratisakhya. Very similar to
Śākala, with a few additional verses; might have derived from or
merged with it.
Manuscripts
Versions
There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of
Rigveda
Rigveda at the Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, collected in the 19th century by Georg
Bühler, Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts
of India, including Kashmir, Gujarat, the then Rajaputana, Central
Provinces etc. They were transferred to Deccan College, Pune, in the
late 19th century. They are in the Sharada and
Devanagari
Devanagari scripts,
written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of them is dated to 1464.
The 30 manuscripts of
Rigveda
Rigveda preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute,
Pune
Pune were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World
Register in 2007.[53][54]
Of these 30 manuscripts, 9 contain the samhita text, 5 have the
padapatha in addition. 13 contain Sayana's commentary. At least 5
manuscripts (MS. no. 1/A1879-80, 1/A1881-82, 331/1883-84 and 5/Viś I)
have preserved the complete text of the Rigveda. MS no. 5/1875-76,
written on birch bark in bold Sharada, was only in part used by Max
Müller for his edition of the
Rigveda
Rigveda with Sayana's commentary.
Müller used 24 manuscripts then available to him in Europe, while the
Pune
Pune Edition used over five dozen manuscripts, but the editors of Pune
Edition could not procure many manuscripts used by Müller and by the
Bombay Edition, as well as from some other sources; hence the total
number of extant manuscripts known then must surpass perhaps eighty at
least.[55]
Comparison
The various
Rigveda
Rigveda manuscripts discovered so far show some
differences. Broadly, the most studied Śākala recension has 1017
hymns, includes an appendix of eleven valakhīlya hymns which are
often counted with the 8th mandala, for a total of 1,028 metrical
hymns. The Bāṣakala version of
Rigveda
Rigveda includes eight of these
vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025
hymns in the main text for this śākhā. The Bāṣakala text also
has an appendix of 98 hymns, called the Khilani, bringing the total to
1,123 hymns. The manuscripts of Śākala recension of the
Rigveda
Rigveda have
about 10,600 verses, organized into ten Books (Mandalas).[4][56] Books
2 through 7 are internally homogeneous in style, while Books 1, 8 and
10 are compilation of verses of internally different styles suggesting
that these books are likely a collection of compositions by many
authors.[56]
The first mandala is the largest, with 191 hymns and 2,006 verses, and
it was added to the text after Books 2 through 9. The last, or the
10th Book, also has 191 hymns but 1,754 verses, making it the second
largest. The language analytics suggest the 10th Book,
chronologically, was composed and added last.[56] The content of the
10th Book also suggest that the authors knew and relied on the
contents of the first nine books.[56]
The Rigveda is the largest of the four Vedas, and many of its verses
appear in the other Vedas.[57] Almost all of the 1,875 verses found in
Samaveda
Samaveda are taken from different parts of the Rigveda, either once or
as repetition, and rewritten in a chant song form. The Books 8 and 9
of the
Rigveda
Rigveda are by far the largest source of verses for Sama Veda.
The Book 10 contributes the largest number of the 1,350 verses of
Rigveda
Rigveda found in Atharvaveda, or about one fifth of the 5,987 verses
in the
Atharvaveda
Atharvaveda text.[56] A bulk of 1,875 ritual-focussed verses of
Yajurveda, in its numerous versions, also borrow and build upon the
foundation of verses in Rigveda.[57][58]
Contents
Altogether the Rig
Veda
Veda consists of:
Hymns
Hymns to the deities, the oldest part of the Rig Veda
Brahmanas, commentaries on the hymns
Aranyaka
Aranyaka or "forest books"
Upanishads
Hymns
See also: Rigvedic deities
Nasadiya Sukta
Nasadiya Sukta (Hymn of non-Eternity, origin of universe):
There was neither non-existence nor existence then;
Neither the realm of space, nor the sky which is beyond;
What stirred? Where? In whose protection?
There was neither death nor immortality then;
No distinguishing sign of night nor of day;
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse;
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;
Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
—
Rigveda
Rigveda 10.129 (Abridged, Tr: Kramer / Christian)[10] This hymn is
one of the roots of
Hindu
Hindu philosophy.[59]
The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are
Indra, a heroic god praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra; Agni,
the sacrificial fire; and Soma, the sacred potion or the plant it is
made from. Equally prominent gods are the
Adityas or
Asura
Asura gods
Mitra–
Varuna
Varuna and
Ushas
Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Savitr, Vishnu,
Rudra, Pushan,
Brihaspati
Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, as well as deified natural
phenomena such as
Dyaus Pita
Dyaus Pita (the shining sky, Father Heaven),
Prithivi
Prithivi (the earth, Mother Earth),
Surya
Surya (the sun god),
Vayu
Vayu or Vata
(the wind), Apas (the waters),
Parjanya (the thunder and rain), Vac
(the word), many rivers (notably the Sapta Sindhu, and the Sarasvati
River). The Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Sadhyas, Ashvins, Maruts, Rbhus,
and the
Vishvadevas ("all-gods") as well as the "thirty-three gods"
are the groups of deities mentioned.
The hymns mention various further minor gods, persons, phenomena and
items, and contain fragmentary references to possible historical
events, notably the struggle between the early Vedic people (known as
Vedic Aryans, a subgroup of the Indo-Aryans) and their enemies, the
Dasa or Dasyu and their mythical prototypes, the Paṇi (the Bactrian
Parna).
Mandala 1 comprises 191 hymns. Hymn 1.1 is addressed to Agni, and his
name is the first word of the Rigveda. The remaining hymns are mainly
addressed to
Agni
Agni and Indra, as well as Varuna, Mitra, the Ashvins,
the Maruts, Usas, Surya, Rbhus, Rudra, Vayu, Brhaspati, Visnu, Heaven
and Earth, and all the Gods. This
Mandala
Mandala is dated to have been added
to
Rigveda
Rigveda after
Mandala 2 through 9, and includes the philosophical
Riddle Hymn 1.164, which inspires chapters in later
Upanishads
Upanishads such as
the Mundaka.[9][60][61]
Mandala 2 comprises 43 hymns, mainly to
Agni
Agni and Indra. It is chiefly
attributed to the
Rishi
Rishi gṛtsamada śaunahotra.
Mandala 3 comprises 62 hymns, mainly to
Agni
Agni and
Indra
Indra and the
Vishvedevas. The verse 3.62.10 has great importance in
Hinduism
Hinduism as the
Gayatri
Gayatri Mantra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to viśvāmitra
gāthinaḥ.
Mandala 4 comprises 58 hymns, mainly to
Agni
Agni and
Indra
Indra as well as the
Rbhus, Ashvins, Brhaspati, Vayu, Usas, etc. Most hymns in this book
are attributed to vāmadeva gautama.
Mandala 5 comprises 87 hymns, mainly to
Agni
Agni and Indra, the Visvedevas
("all the gods'), the Maruts, the twin-deity Mitra-
Varuna
Varuna and the
Asvins. Two hymns each are dedicated to
Ushas
Ushas (the dawn) and to
Savitr. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the atri clan.
Mandala 6 comprises 75 hymns, mainly to
Agni
Agni and Indra, all the gods,
Pusan, Ashvin, Usas, etc. Most hymns in this book are attributed to
the bārhaspatya family of Angirasas.
Mandala 7 comprises 104 hymns, to Agni, Indra, the Visvadevas, the
Maruts, Mitra-Varuna, the Asvins, Ushas, Indra-Varuna, Varuna, Vayu
(the wind), two each to
Sarasvati
Sarasvati (ancient river/goddess of learning)
and Vishnu, and to others. Most hymns in this book are attributed to
vasiṣṭha maitravaruṇi.
Mandala 8 comprises 103 hymns to various gods.
Hymns
Hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are
the apocryphal vālakhilya.
Hymns
Hymns 1–48 and 60–66 are attributed to
the kāṇva clan, the rest to other (Angirasa) poets.
Mandala 9 comprises 114 hymns, entirely devoted to Soma Pavamana, the
cleansing of the sacred potion of the Vedic religion.
Mandala 10 comprises additional 191 hymns, frequently in later
language, addressed to Agni,
Indra
Indra and various other deities. It
contains the
Nadistuti sukta which is in praise of rivers and is
important for the reconstruction of the geography of the Vedic
civilization and the
Purusha sukta
Purusha sukta which has been important in studies
of Vedic sociology.[62] It also contains the
Nasadiya sukta
Nasadiya sukta (10.129),
probably the most celebrated hymn in the west, which deals with
creation.[10] The marriage hymns (10.85) and the death hymns
(10.10–18) still are of great importance in the performance of the
corresponding
Grhya
Grhya rituals.
Rigveda
Rigveda Brahmanas
See also: Brahmana
Of the
Brahmanas
Brahmanas that were handed down in the schools of the
Bahvṛcas (i.e. "possessed of many verses"), as the followers of the
Rigveda
Rigveda are called, two have come down to us, namely those of the
Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The Aitareya-brahmana[63] and the
Kaushitaki- (or Sankhayana-) brahmana evidently have for their
groundwork the same stock of traditional exegetic matter. They differ,
however, considerably as regards both the arrangement of this matter
and their stylistic handling of it, with the exception of the numerous
legends common to both, in which the discrepancy is comparatively
slight. There is also a certain amount of material peculiar to each of
them.
The Kaushitaka is, upon the whole, far more concise in its style and
more systematic in its arrangement features which would lead one to
infer that it is probably the more modern work of the two. It consists
of thirty chapters (adhyaya); while the Aitareya has forty, divided
into eight books (or pentads, pancaka), of five chapters each. The
last ten adhyayas of the latter work are, however, clearly a later
addition though they must have already formed part of it at the time
of
Pāṇini
Pāṇini (c. 5th century BC), if, as seems probable, one of his
grammatical sutras, regulating the formation of the names of
Brahmanas, consisting of thirty and forty adhyayas, refers to these
two works. In this last portion occurs the well-known legend (also
found in the Shankhayana-sutra, but not in the Kaushitaki-brahmana) of
Shunahshepa, whom his father Ajigarta sells and offers to slay, the
recital of which formed part of the inauguration of kings.
While the Aitareya deals almost exclusively with the Soma sacrifice,
the Kaushitaka, in its first six chapters, treats of the several kinds
of haviryajna, or offerings of rice, milk, ghee, etc., whereupon
follows the Soma sacrifice in this way, that chapters 7–10 contain
the practical ceremonial and 11–30 the recitations (shastra) of the
hotar. Sayana, in the introduction to his commentary on the work,
ascribes the Aitareya to the sage Mahidasa Aitareya (i.e. son of
Itara), also mentioned elsewhere as a philosopher; and it seems likely
enough that this person arranged the
Brahmana
Brahmana and founded the school
of the Aitareyins. Regarding the authorship of the sister work we have
no information, except that the opinion of the sage Kaushitaki is
frequently referred to in it as authoritative, and generally in
opposition to the Paingya—the Brahmana, it would seem, of a rival
school, the Paingins. Probably, therefore, it is just what one of the
manuscripts calls it—the
Brahmana
Brahmana of Sankhayana (composed) in
accordance with the views of Kaushitaki.
Rigveda
Rigveda Aranyakas and Upanishads
See also:
Aranyaka
Aranyaka and Upanishads
Each of these two
Brahmanas
Brahmanas is supplemented by a "forest book", or
Aranyaka. The Aitareyaranyaka is not a uniform production. It consists
of five books (aranyaka), three of which, the first and the last two,
are of a liturgical nature, treating of the ceremony called mahavrata,
or great vow. The last of these books, composed in sutra form, is,
however, doubtless of later origin, and is, indeed, ascribed by Hindu
authorities either to Shaunaka or to Ashvalayana. The second and third
books, on the other hand, are purely speculative, and are also styled
the Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad. Again, the last four chapters of the
second book are usually singled out as the Aitareya Upanishad,[64]
ascribed, like its
Brahmana
Brahmana (and the first book), to Mahidasa
Aitareya; and the third book is also referred to as the
Samhita-upanishad. As regards the Kaushitaki-aranyaka, this work
consists of 15 adhyayas, the first two (treating of the mahavrata
ceremony) and the 7th and 8th of which correspond to the 1st, 5th, and
3rd books of the Aitareyaranyaka, respectively, whilst the four
adhyayas usually inserted between them constitute the highly
interesting Kaushitaki (Brahmana-) Upanishad,[65] of which we possess
two different recensions. The remaining portions (9–15) of the
Aranyaka
Aranyaka treat of the vital airs, the internal Agnihotra, etc., ending
with the vamsha, or succession of teachers.
Dating and historical context
Geographical distribution of the Vedic era texts. Each of major
regions had their own recension of Rig
Veda
Veda (Sakhas), and the versions
varied. The Kuru versions were more orthodox, but evidence suggests
Vedic era people of other parts of Northern India had challenged the
Kuru orthodoxy.[2]
Composition
The earliest text were composed in greater Punjab (northwest India and
Pakistan), and the more philosophical later texts were most likely
composed in or around the region that is the modern era state of
Haryana.[66]
Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second
half of the second millennium.[note 2]
Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must
post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BC.[68] A
reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the
Rigveda
Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of c. 1400 BC, which contain
Indo-Aryan nomenclature.[69] Other evidence also points to a
composition close to 1400 BC.[70][71]
The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age, making
it one of the few examples with an unbroken tradition. Its composition
is usually dated to roughly between c. 1500–1200
BC.[14][15][16][note 3]
Codification
There is a widely accepted timeframe for the initial codification of
the
Rigveda
Rigveda by compiling the hymns very late in the Rigvedic or rather
in the early post-Rigvedic period, including the arrangement of the
individual hymns in ten books, coeval with the composition of the
younger
Veda
Veda Samhitas.[citation needed] This time coincides with the
early Kuru kingdom, shifting the center of Vedic culture east from the
Punjab into what is now Uttar Pradesh. The fixing of the samhitapatha
(by keeping Sandhi) intact and of the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi
out of the earlier metrical text), occurred during the later Brahmana
period.[citation needed]
Manuscripts
Writing appears in India around the 3rd century BC in the form of the
Brāhmī script, but texts of the length of the
Rigveda
Rigveda were likely
not written down until much later,[note 4] and the oldest extant
manuscripts date to AD ~1040, discovered in Nepal.[2] While written
manuscripts were used for teaching in medieval times, they were
written on birch bark or palm leaves, which decompose and therefore
were routinely copied over the generations to help preserve the text.
Some
Rigveda
Rigveda commentaries may date from the second half of the first
millennium AD. The hymns were thus composed and preserved by oral
tradition for several[75] millennia from the time of their composition
until the redaction of the Rigveda, and the entire
Rigveda
Rigveda was
preserved in shakhas for another 2,500 years from the time of its
redaction until the editio princeps by Rosen, Aufrecht and Max
Müller.
Historical context
The Rigveda is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For
this reason, it was in the center of attention of western scholarship
from the times of
Max Müller
Max Müller and
Rudolf Roth
.jpg/440px-Roth,_Rudolf_von_(1821-1895).jpg)
Rudolf Roth onwards. The Rigveda
records an early stage of Vedic religion. There are strong linguistic
and cultural similarities with the early Iranian Avesta,[76][77]
deriving from the
Proto-Indo-Iranian
Proto-Indo-Iranian times,[78] often associated with
the early
Andronovo culture
Andronovo culture (or rather, the
Sintashta culture
Sintashta culture within
the early Andronovo horizon) of c. 2000 BC.[79]
The Rigveda offers no direct evidence of social or political system in
Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite.[62] Only hints such as cattle
raising and horse racing are discernible, and the text offers very
general ideas about the ancient Indian society. There is no evidence,
state Jamison and Brereton, of any elaborate, pervasive or structured
caste system.[62] Social stratification seems embryonic, then and
later a social ideal rather than a social reality.[62] The society was
pastoral with evidence of agriculture since hymns mention plow and
celebrate agricultural divinities.[80] There was division of labor,
and complementary relationship between kings and poet-priests but no
discussion of relative status of social classes.[62] Women in Rigveda
appear disproportionately as speakers in dialogue hymns, both as
mythical or divine Indrani, Apsaras Urvasi, or Yami, as well as Apāla
Ātreyī (RV 8.91), Godhā (RV 10.134.6), Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī (RV
10.39.40), Romaśā (RV 1.126.7), Lopāmudrā (RV 1.179.1-2),
Viśvavārā Ātreyī (RV 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (RV 10.159),
Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (RV 8.1.34). The women of
Rigveda
Rigveda are quite
outspoken and appear more sexually confident than men, in the
text.[62] Elaborate and esthetic hymns on wedding suggest rites of
passage had developed during the Rigvedic period.[62] There is little
evidence of dowry and no evidence of sati in it or related Vedic
texts.[81]
The Rigvedic hymns mention rice and porridge, in hymns such as 8.83,
8.70, 8.77 and 1.61 in some versions of the text,[82] however there is
no discussion of rice cultivation.[80] The term "ayas" (metal) occurs
in the Rigveda, but it is unclear which metal it was.[83] Iron is not
mentioned in Rigveda, something scholars have used to help date
Rigveda
Rigveda to have been composed before 1000 BC.[66] Hymn 5.63 mentions
"metal cloaked in gold", suggesting metal working had progressed in
the Vedic culture.[84]
Some of the names of gods and goddesses found in the
Rigveda
Rigveda are found
amongst other belief systems based on Proto-Indo-European religion,
while words used share common roots with words from other
Indo-European languages.[85]
The horse (ashva), cattle, sheep and goat play an important role in
the Rigveda. There are also references to the elephant (Hastin,
Varana), camel (Ustra, especially in
Mandala
Mandala 8), ass (khara, rasabha),
buffalo (Mahisa), wolf, hyena, lion (Simha), mountain goat (sarabha)
and to the gaur in the Rigveda.[86] The peafowl (mayura), the goose
(hamsa) and the chakravaka (Tadorna ferruginea) are some birds
mentioned in the Rigveda.
Atheism, Monotheism, Monism, Polytheism debate
The Rigveda along with other Vedic texts, states Michael Ruse,[87]
contains a "strong traditional streak that (by Western standards)
would undoubtedly be thought atheistic". He states that hymn 10.130 of
Rigveda
Rigveda can be read to be in "an atheistic spirit".[87]
Rigveda, however, contains numerous hymns with a diversity of ideas.
The initial impression one gets, states Jeaneane Fowler, is that the
text is polytheistic because it praises many gods.[88] Yet, adds
Fowler, the text does not fit the "neat classifications of western
thought or linear thinking".[88] The deities are praised depending on
the context, and the hymns include an expression of monotheism.[88]
For example, hymn 1.164.46 of
Rigveda
Rigveda states,
They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly
nobly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama,
Matarisvan.
—
Rigveda
Rigveda 1.164.46, Translated by Ralph Griffith[89][90]
Max Muller
Max Muller and Stephen Phillips states that this "monotheism" is
henotheism (one god, accept many manifest deities).[90][91] Thomas
Urumpackal and other scholars state that monistic tendencies (Brahman
is everywhere, God inside everybody) are found in hymns of chapters
1.164, 8.36 and 10.31.[92][93] Other scholars state that Rigveda
includes an emerging diversity of thought, including monotheism,
polytheism, henotheism and pantheism, the choice left to the
preference of the worshipper.[94]
Interpretation
Changing Sanskrit
Although the text of the redacted version of the Rig
Veda
Veda was
transmitted unchanged, by 500 BC
Sanskrit
Sanskrit had changed so much that
commentaries were necessary to make sense of the Rig Vedic hymns.[95]
The
Brahmanas
Brahmanas contain numerous misinterpretations, due to this
linguistic change,[95] some of which were characterised by Sri
Aurobindo as "grotesque nonsense."[95]
Medieval
Hindu
Hindu scholarship
According to
Hindu
Hindu tradition, the Rigvedic hymns were collected by
Paila[who?] under the guidance of Vyāsa, who formed the Rigveda
Samhita
Samhita as we know it.[96] According to the Śatapatha Brāhmana, the
number of syllables in the
Rigveda
Rigveda is 432,000, equalling the number of
muhurtas (1 day = 30 muhurtas) in forty years. This statement stresses
the underlying philosophy of the Vedic books that there is a
connection (bandhu) between the astronomical, the physiological, and
the spiritual.[97]
The authors of the Brāhmana literature discussed and interpreted the
Vedic ritual.
Yaska was an early commentator of the
Rigveda
Rigveda by
discussing the meanings of difficult words. In the 14th century,
Sāyana wrote an exhaustive commentary on it.[citation needed]
A number of other commentaries (bhāṣyas) were written during the
medieval period, including the commentaries by Skandasvamin
(pre-Sayana, roughly of the Gupta period), Udgitha (pre-Sayana),
Venkata-Madhava
Venkata-Madhava (pre-Sayana, c. 10th to 12th centuries) and Mudgala
Purana (after Sayana, an abbreviated version of Sayana's
commentary).[98][full citation needed]
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj and Aurobindo movements
In the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, some reformers like Swami
Dayananda Saraswati
Dayananda Saraswati – founder of the Arya Samaj,
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo –
founder of
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, discussed the Vedas, including the
Rig veda, for their philosophies. Dayananda, stated Reverend John
Robson, was an iconoclast and willing to join with Christians to
destroy all idols in India.[99] According to Robson, Dayanand believed
"there was no errors in the
Vedas
Vedas (including the Rigveda), and if
anyone showed him an error, he would maintain that it was a corruption
added later".[99]
Dayananda and Aurobindo interpret the Vedic scholars had a
monotheistic conception.[100] Aurobindo attempted to interpret hymns
to
Agni
Agni in the
Rigveda
Rigveda as mystical.[100] Aurobindo states that the
Vedic hymns were a quest after a higher truth, define the Rta (basis
of Dharma), conceive life in terms of a struggle between the forces of
light and darkness, and sought the ultimate reality.[100]
Contemporary Hinduism
He who studies understands,
not the one who sleeps.
—
Rigveda
Rigveda 5.44.13, Tr: Frits Staal[101]
Rigveda, in contemporary Hinduism, has been a reminder of the ancient
cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus, with some hymns still
in use in major rites of passage ceremonies, but the literal
acceptance of most of the textual essence is long gone.[102][103]
Louis Renou wrote that the text is a distant object, and "even in the
most orthodox domains, the reverence to the
Vedas
Vedas has come to be a
simple raising of the hat".[102] Musicians and dance groups celebrate
the text as a mark of
Hindu
Hindu heritage, through incorporating Rigvedic
hymns in their compositions, such as in Hamsadhvani and
Subhapantuvarali of Carnatic music, and these have remained popular
among the Hindus for decades.[102] However, the contemporary Hindu
beliefs are distant from the precepts in the ancient layer of Rigveda
samhitas:
The social history and context of the Vedic texts are extremely
distant from contemporary
Hindu
Hindu religious beliefs and practice, a
reverence for the
Vedas
Vedas as an exemplar of
Hindu
Hindu heritage continues to
inform a contemporary understanding of Hinduism. Popular reverence for
Vedic scripture is similarly focused on the abiding authority and
prestige of the
Vedas
Vedas rather than on any particular exegesis or
engagement with the subject matter of the text.
— Andrea Pinkney, Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia[102]
"Indigenous Aryans" debate
Further information:
Indigenous Aryans
Indigenous Aryans and Out of India theory
Alternative theory for a much earlier composition date for the
Rigveda, as well as the
Indigenous Aryans
Indigenous Aryans theory have been
suggested.[104][105] These theories are controversial.[106][107]
Translations
Mistranslations, misinterpretations debate
The Rig
Veda
Veda is hard to translate accurately, because it is the oldest
Indo-Aryan text, composed in the archaic Vedic Sanskrit.[108][109]
There are no closely contemporary extant texts, which makes it
difficult to interpret.[110]
Early missionaries and colonial administrators in India, used Western
concepts and words in their attempts to translate and interpret the
ancient texts of Indian religions. This, state postmodern scholars
such as Frits Staal, led to mistranslations.[111] Thus, Rigveda's
Mandala
Mandala are often translated to mean 'Book', when the word actually
means 'Cycle', according to Staal.[111][112] The
Vedas
Vedas were called
'sacred books', an appellation borrowed by orientalists used for
Bible, but there is no evidence of this. Staal states, "it is nowhere
stated that the
Veda
Veda was revealed", and Sruti simply means "that what
is heard, in the sense that it is transmitted from father to son or
from teacher to pupil".[111] The Rigveda, or other Vedas, do not
anywhere assert that they are Apauruṣeyā, and this reverential term
appears centuries later in the texts of the
Mimamsa
Mimamsa school of Hindu
philosophy.[111][113][114] The text of
Rigveda
Rigveda suggests it was
"composed by poets, human individuals whose names were household
words" in the Vedic age, states Staal.[111]
The Rigveda is the earliest, the most venerable, obscure, distant and
difficult for moderns to understand – hence is often misinterpreted
or worse: used as a peg on which to hang an idea or a theory.
— Frits Staal, Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals,
Insights[115]
Translations
The first published translation of any portion of the
Rigveda
Rigveda in any
European language was into Latin, by
Friedrich August Rosen
Friedrich August Rosen (Rigvedae
specimen, London 1830). Predating Müller's editio princeps of the
text by 19 years, Rosen was working from manuscripts brought back from
India by Colebrooke.
H. H. Wilson
H. H. Wilson was the first to make a complete
translation of the Rig
Veda
Veda into English, published in six volumes
during the period 1850–88.[116] Wilson's version was based on the
commentary of Sāyaṇa. Müller's Rig
Veda
Veda Sanhita in 6 volumes
Muller, Max, ed. (W. H. Allen and Co., London, 1849) has an English
preface[117] The birch bark from which Müller produced his
translation is held at The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute,
Pune, India.[118]
Some notable translations of the Rig
Veda
Veda include:
Title
Translator
Year
Language
Notes
Rigvedae specimen
Friedrich August Rosen
1830
Latin
Partial translation with 121 hymns (London, 1830). Also known as
Rigveda
Rigveda Sanhita, Liber Primus, Sanskrite Et Latine
(ISBN 978-1275453234). Based on manuscripts brought back from
India by Henry Thomas Colebrooke.
Rig-Veda, oder die heiligen Lieder der Brahmanen
Max Müller
1856
German
Partial translation published by F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig. In 1873,
Müller published an editio princeps titled The
Hymns
Hymns of the Rig-Veda
in the
Samhita
Samhita Text. He also translated a few hymns in English
(Nasadiya Sukta).
Ṛig-Veda-Sanhitā: A Collection of Ancient
Hindu
Hindu Hymns
H. H. Wilson
1850-88
English
Published as 6 volumes, by N. Trübner & Co., London.
Rig-véda, ou livre des hymnes
A. Langlois
1870
French
Partial translation. Re-printed in Paris, 1948–51
(ISBN 2-7200-1029-4).
Der Rigveda
Alfred Ludwig
1876
German
Published by Verlag von F. Tempsky, Prague.
Rig-Veda
Hermann Grassmann
1876
German
Published by F.A. Brockhaus, Leipzig
Rigved Bhashyam
Dayananda Saraswati
1877-9
Hindi
Incomplete translation. Later translated into English by
Dharma
Dharma Deva
Vidya Martanda (1974).
The
Hymns
Hymns of the Rig Veda
Ralph T.H. Griffith
1889-92
English
Revised as The Rig
Veda
Veda in 1896. Revised by JL Shastri in 1973.
Der
Rigveda
Rigveda in Auswahl
Karl Friedrich Geldner
1907
German
Published by W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart. Geldner's 1907 work was a
partial translation; he completed a full translation in the 1920s,
which was published after his death, in 1951.[119] This translation
was titled Der Rig-Veda: aus dem
Sanskrit
Sanskrit ins Deutsche Übersetzt.
Harvard Oriental Studies, vols. 33–37 (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
1951-7). Reprinted by
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (2003)
ISBN 0-674-01226-7.
Hymns
Hymns from the Rigveda
A. A. Macdonell
1917
English
Partial translation (30 hymns). Published by Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Series of articles in Journal of the University of Bombay
Hari Damodar Velankar
1940s-1960s
English
Partial translation (
Mandala
Mandala 2, 5, 7 and 8). Later published as
independent volumes.
Rig
Veda
Veda -
Hymns
Hymns to the Mystic Fire
Sri Aurobindo
1946
English
Partial translation published by NK Gupta, Pondicherry. Later
republished several times (ISBN 9780914955221)
Rig Veda
Ramgovind Trivedi
1954
Hindi
Études védiques et pāṇinéennes
Louis Renou
1955-69
French
Appears in a series of publications, organized by the deities. Covers
most of Rigveda, but leaves out significant hymns, including the ones
dedicated to
Indra
Indra and the Asvins.
ऋग्वेद संहिता
Shriram Sharma
1950s
Hindi
Hymns
Hymns from the Rig-Veda
Naoshiro Tsuji
1970
Japanese
Partial translation
Rigveda: Izbrannye Gimny
Tatyana Elizarenkova
1972
Russian
Partial translation, extended to a full translation published during
1989–1999.
Rigveda
Rigveda Parichaya
Nag Sharan Singh
1977
English / Hindi
Extension of Wilson's translation. Republished by Nag, Delhi in 1990
(ISBN 978-8170812173).
Rig Veda
M. R. Jambunathan
1978-80.
Tamil
Two volumes, both released posthumously.
Rigvéda – Teremtéshimnuszok (Creation
Hymns
Hymns of the Rig-Veda)
Laszlo Forizs (hu)
1995
Hungarian
Partial translation published in Budapest (ISBN 963-85349-1-5)
The Rig Veda
Wendy Doniger
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
1981
English
Partial translation (108 hymns), along with critical apparatus.
Published by Penguin (ISBN 0-14-044989-2). A bibliography of
translations of the Rig
Veda
Veda appears as an Appendix.
Pinnacles of India's Past: Selections from the Rgveda
Walter H. Maurer
1986
English
Partial translation published by John Benjamins.
The Rig Veda
Bibek Debroy, Dipavali Debroy
1992
English
Partial translation published by B. R. Publishing
(ISBN 9780836427783). The work is in verse form, without
reference to the original hymns or mandalas. Part of Great Epics of
India:
Veda
Veda series, also published as The Holy Vedas.
The Holy Vedas: A Golden Treasury
Pandit Satyakam Vidyalankar
1983
English
Ṛgveda Saṃhitā
HH Wilson, Ravi Prakash Arya and K. L. Joshi
2001
English
4-volume set published by Parimal (ISBN 978-81-7110-138-2).
Revised edition of Wilson's translation. Replaces obsolete English
forms with more modern equivalents (e.g. "thou" with "you"). Includes
the original
Sanskrit
Sanskrit text in
Devanagari
Devanagari script, along with a
cristical apparatus.
Ṛgveda for the Layman
Shyam Ghosh
2002
English
Partial translation (100 hymns). Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi.
Rig-Veda
Michael Witzel, Toshifumi Goto
2007
German
Partial translation (
Mandala 1 and 2). The authors are working on a
second volume. Published by Verlag der Weltreligionen
(ISBN 978-3-458-70001-2).
ऋग्वेद
Govind Chandra Pande
2008
Hindi
Partial translation (
Mandala 3 and 5). Published by Lokbharti,
Allahabad
The
Hymns
Hymns of Rig Veda
Tulsi Ram
2013
English
Published by Vijaykumar Govindram Hasanand, Delhi
The Rigveda
Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton
2014
English
3-volume set published by Oxford University Press
(ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4). Funded by the United States' National
Endowment for the Humanities in 2004.[120]
See also
Keśin
Mayabheda
Notes
^ It is certain that the hymns post-date Indo-Iranian separation of
ca. 2000 BC and probably that of the relevant Mitanni documents of c.
1400 BC. The oldest mention of
Rigveda
Rigveda in other sources dates from 600
BC, and the oldest available text from 1200 BC. Philological estimates
tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second
millennium:
Max Müller: "the hymns men of the Rig-
Veda
Veda are said to date from 1500
B.C."[19]
Thomas Oberlies (Die Religion des Rgveda, 1998, p. 158) based on
'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100.[17] Oberlies
(1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book
10.[20]
The EIEC (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives 1500–1000 BC.
Flood and Witzel both mention c. 1500–1200 BC.[14][15]
Anthony mentions c. 1500–1300 BC.[16]
Some have used astronomical references in the Rigveda, in order to
date it to as early as 4000 BC[21] while Lok Tilak dates back it to
6000BC[22]
^ Compare Max Müller's statement "the hymns of the Rig-
Veda
Veda are said
to date from 1500 BC"[67]
^ Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest
hymns in book 10. Estimates for a terminus post quem of the earliest
hymns are far more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative
evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100. The Encyclopedia of
Indo-European Culture (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives
1500–1000 BC.
^ Al-Biruni, an 11th-century Persian scholar who visited northwest
India, credited a
Brahmin
Brahmin by the name of Vasukra, in
Kashmir
Kashmir writing
down the
Vedas
Vedas in his memoirs.[72] Modern scholarship states that the
Vedas
Vedas were codified and written down for the first time in the 1st
millennium BC.[73][74]
References
^ derived from the root ṛc "to praise", cf. Dhātupātha 28.19.
Monier-Williams
Monier-Williams translates "a
Veda
Veda of Praise or Hymn-Veda"
^ a b c d e
Michael Witzel (1997), The Development of the Vedic Canon
and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu, Harvard
University, in Witzel 1997, pp. 259–264
^ Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda:
Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, page 273
^ a b c Avari 2007, p. 77.
^ Frederick M Smith, 'Purāņaveda,' in Laurie L. Patton (ed.),
Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation, SUNY
Press 1994 p.99
^ Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Kenneth G. Zysk, The Origins and
Development of Classical
Hinduism
Hinduism , Oxford University Press, 1989 p.7.
^ Ram Gopal, The History and Principles of Vedic Interpretation,
Concept Publishing Company, 1983 ch.2 pp.7-20
^ Werner, Karel (1994). A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism. Curzon
Press. ISBN 0-7007-1049-3.
^ a b c Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda :
the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 4, 7-9
^ a b c
Original Sanskrit:
Rigveda
Rigveda 10.129 Wikisource;
Translation 1:
Max Muller
Max Muller (1859). A History of Ancient Sanskrit
Literature. Williams and Norgate, London. pp. 559–565.
Translation 2: Kenneth Kramer (1986). World Scriptures: An
Introduction to Comparative Religions. Paulist Press. p. 21.
ISBN 0-8091-2781-4.
Translation 3: David Christian (2011). Maps of Time: An Introduction
to Big History. University of California Press. pp. 17–18.
ISBN 978-0-520-95067-2.
Translation 4: Robert N. Bellah (2011). Religion in Human Evolution.
Harvard University Press. pp. 510–511.
ISBN 978-0-674-06309-9.
^ C Chatterjee (1995), Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview,
Journal of Human Values, Vol 1, No 1, pages 3-12;
Original text translated in English: The Rig Veda,
Mandala
Mandala 10, Hymn
117, Ralph T. H. Griffith (Translator);
^ See: (a) Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig
Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, pages 64-69;
Jan Gonda, A History of Indian Literature:
Veda
Veda and Upanishads, Volume
1, Part 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032, pages
134–135;
Extracted examples from these sources:
Hymn 1.164.34, "What is the ultimate limit of the earth?", "What is
the center of the universe?", "What is the semen of the cosmic
horse?", "What is the ultimate source of human speech?"
Hymn 1.164.34, "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How
could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"
Hymn 1.164.5, "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods
live?"
Hymn 1.164.6, "What, where is the unborn support for the born
universe?";
Hymn 1.164.20 (a hymn that is widely cited in the
Upanishads
Upanishads as the
parable of the Body and the Soul): "Two birds with fair wings,
inseparable companions; Have found refuge in the same sheltering tree.
One incessantly eats from the fig tree; the other, not eating, just
looks on.";
Rigveda
Rigveda Book 1, Hymn 164 Wikisource
^ p. 126, History of British Folklore, Richard Mercer Dorson, 1999,
ISBN 9780415204774
^ a b c Flood 1996, p. 37.
^ a b c Witzel 1995, p. 4.
^ a b c Anthony 2007, p. 454.
^ a b Oberlies 1998 p. 158
^ Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman (2014). Science and Religion: One
Planet, Many Possibilities. Routledge. p. 179.
^
Max Müller
Max Müller (1892). ('
Veda
Veda and Vedanta'), 7th lecture in India: What
Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University
of Cambridge.
^ Oberlies 1998 p. 155
^ 1998 presentation
^ Indus Civilization. Discovery Publishing House.
^
Klaus Klostermaier (1984). Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation
in the Theistic Traditions of India. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
p. 6. ISBN 978-0-88920-158-3.
^ Lester Kurtz (2015), Gods in the Global Village, SAGE Publications,
ISBN 978-1483374123, page 64, Quote: "The 1,028 hymns of the
Rigveda
Rigveda are recited at initiations, weddings and funerals...."
^ Arnold, Edward Vernon (2009), Vedic Metre in its historical
development, Cambridge University Press (Original Pub: 1905),
ISBN 978-1113224446, page ix
^ George Erdosy 1995, pp. 68-69.
^ a b c Pincott, Frederic (1887). "The First Maṇḍala of the
Ṛig-Veda". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Cambridge
University Press. 19 (04): 598–624.
doi:10.1017/s0035869x00019717.
^ Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford
University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
^ Barbara A. Holdrege (2012).
Veda
Veda and Torah: Transcending the
Textuality of Scripture. State University of New York Press.
pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-1-4384-0695-4.
^ George Erdosy 1995, pp. 68-69, 180-189.
^ Gregory Possehl &
Michael Witzel 2002, pp. 391-393.
^ Bryant 2001, pp. 66-67.
^ Kireet Joshi (1991). The
Veda
Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory
Essay. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 101–102.
ISBN 978-81-208-0889-8.
^ A history of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit Literature, Arthur MacDonell, Oxford
University Press/Appleton & Co, page 56
^ Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford
University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
^ In a few cases, more than one rishi is given, signifying lack of
certainty.
^ Talageri (2000), p. 33
^ B. van Nooten and G. Holland, Rig Veda. A metrically restored text.
Cambridge:
Harvard Oriental Series 1994
^ H. Oldenberg, Prolegomena,1888, Engl. transl. New Delhi: Motilal
2004
^ K. Meenakshi (2002). "Making of Pāṇini". In George Cardona,
Madhav Deshpande, Peter Edwin Hook. Indian Linguistic Studies:
Festschrift in Honor of George Cardona. Motilal Banarsidass.
p. 235. ISBN 81-208-1885-7. CS1 maint: Uses editors
parameter (link)
^ Witzel, Michael (2003). "
Vedas
Vedas and Upanisads". In Flood, Gavin. The
Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
pp. 68–69. ISBN 0631215352. The Vedic texts were orally
composed and transmitted, without the use of script, in an unbroken
line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalized early
on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the
classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a
tape-recording of ca. 1500–500 BC. Not just the actual words, but
even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in
Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. On the other hand, the
Vedas
Vedas have been written down only during the early second millennium
ce,...
^ The oldest manuscript in the
Pune
Pune collection dates to the 15th
century. The Benares
Sanskrit
Sanskrit University has a
Rigveda
Rigveda manuscript of
the 14th century. Earlier manuscripts are extremely rare; the oldest
known manuscript preserving a Vedic text was written in the 11th
century in
Nepal
Nepal (catalogued by the Nepal-German Manuscript
Preservation Project, Hamburg.
^
Michael Witzel says that "The RV has been transmitted in one
recension (the śākhā of Śākalya) while others (such as the
Bāṣkala text) have been lost or are only rumored about so far."
Michael Witzel, p. 69, "
Vedas
Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: The Blackwell
Companion to Hinduism,
Gavin Flood (ed.), Blackwell Publishing Ltd.,
2005.
^ Maurice Winternitz (History of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit Literature, Revised English
Translation Edition, 1926, vol. 1, p. 57) says that "Of the different
recensions of this Saṃhitā, which once existed, only a single one
has come down to us." He adds in a note (p. 57, note 1) that this
refers to the "recension of the Śākalaka-School."
^ Sures Chandra Banerji (A Companion To
Sanskrit
Sanskrit Literature, Second
Edition, 1989, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, pp. 300–301) says that
"Of the 21 recensions of this Veda, that were known at one time, we
have got only two, viz. Śākala and Vāṣkala."
^ Maurice Winternitz (History of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit Literature, Revised English
Translation Edition, 1926, vol. 1, p. 283.
^ Mantras of "khila" hymns were called khailika and not ṛcas (Khila
meant distinct "part" of Rgveda separate from regular hymns; all
regular hymns make up the akhila or "the whole" recognised in a
śākhā, although khila hymns have sanctified roles in rituals from
ancient times).
^
Hermann Grassmann
Hermann Grassmann had numbered the hymns 1 through to 1028, putting
the vālakhilya at the end. Griffith's translation has these 11 at the
end of the 8th mandala, after 8.92 in the regular series.
^ cf. Preface to Khila section by C.G.Kāshikar in Volume-5 of Pune
Edition of RV (in references).
^ These
Khilani hymns have also been found in a manuscript of the
Śākala recension of the
Kashmir
Kashmir
Rigveda
Rigveda (and are included in the
Poone edition).
^ equalling 40 times 10,800, the number of bricks used for the
uttaravedi: the number is motivated numerologically rather than based
on an actual syllable count.
^ Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, p. 16.
^ "Rigveda".
UNESCO
UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
^ "Rig
Veda
Veda in UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Register".
Hinduism.about.com. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
^ cf. Editorial notes in various volumes of
Pune
Pune Edition, see
references.
^ a b c d e James Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics at
Google Books, Vol. 7, Harvard Divinity School, TT Clark, pages 51-56
^ a b Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda:
Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, pages 273-274
^ Edmund Gosse, Short histories of the literatures of the world, p.
181, at Google Books, New York: Appleton, page 181
^ GJ Larson, RS Bhattacharya and K Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of
Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, Princeton University Press,
ISBN 978-0691604411, pages 5-6, 109-110, 180
^ Robert Hume, Mundaka Upanishad, Thirteen Principal Upanishads,
Oxford University Press, pages 374-375
^ Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Mundaka Upanishad, Oxford
University Press, page 38-40
^ a b c d e f g Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The
Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford
University Press, ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 57-59
^ Edited, with an English translation, by M. Haug (2 vols., Bombay,
1863). An edition in Roman transliteration, with extracts from the
commentary, has been published by Th. Aufrecht (Bonn, 1879).
^ Paul Deussen, Sixty
Upanishads
Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal
Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 7-14
^ Paul Deussen, Sixty
Upanishads
Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal
Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 21–23
^ a b Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda :
the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, page 5
^ ('
Veda
Veda and Vedanta', 7th lecture in India: What Can It Teach Us: A
Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, World
Treasures of the Library of Congress Beginnings by Irene U. Chambers,
Michael S. Roth.
^ Mallory 1989.
^ "As a possible date ad quem for the RV one usually adduces the
Hittite-Mitanni agreement of the middle of the 14th cent. B.C. which
mentions four of the major Rgvedic gods: mitra, varuNa, indra and the
nAsatya azvin)" M. Witzel, Early Sanskritization – Origin and
development of the Kuru state.
^ The Vedic People: Their History and Geography, Rajesh Kochar, 2000,
Orient Longman, ISBN 81-250-1384-9
^
Rigveda
Rigveda and River Saraswati: class.uidaho.edu
^ Sachau, Edward (Translator). "Alberuni's India. An account of the
religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy,
customs, laws and astrology of India about A.D. 1030". archive.org.
Kegan, Paul, Trench and Trubner Co. Ltd. p. 126. Retrieved 30
March 2016.
^ Barbara A. West (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and
Oceania. Infobase. p. 282. ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7.
^ Michael McDowell; Nathan Robert Brown (2009). World Religions At
Your Fingertips. Penguin. p. 208.
ISBN 978-1-101-01469-1.
^ Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the
earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 13-14
^ Oldenberg 1894 (tr. Shrotri), p. 14 "The Vedic diction has a great
number of favourite expressions which are common with the Avestic,
though not with later Indian diction. In addition, there is a close
resemblance between them in metrical form, in fact, in their overall
poetic character. If it is noticed that whole
Avesta
Avesta verses can be
easily translated into the Vedic alone by virtue of comparative
phonetics, then this may often give, not only correct Vedic words and
phrases, but also the verses, out of which the soul of Vedic poetry
appears to speak."
^ Bryant 2001:130–131 "The oldest part of the Avesta... is
linguistically and culturally very close to the material preserved in
the Rigveda... There seems to be economic and religious interaction
and perhaps rivalry operating here, which justifies scholars in
placing the Vedic and Avestan worlds in close chronological,
geographical and cultural proximity to each other not far removed from
a joint Indo-Iranian period."
^ Mallory 1989 p. 36 "Probably the least-contested observation
concerning the various Indo-European dialects is that those languages
grouped together as Indic and Iranian show such remarkable
similarities with one another that we can confidently posit a period
of Indo-Iranian unity..."
^ Mallory 1989 "The identification of the
Andronovo culture
Andronovo culture as
Indo-Iranian is commonly accepted by scholars."
^ a b Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda :
the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 6-7
^
Michael Witzel (1996), Little Dowry, No Sati: The Lot of Women in
the Vedic Period, Journal of South Asia Women Studies, Vol 2, No. 4
^ Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the
earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 40, 180, 1150, 1162
^ Chakrabarti, D.K. The Early Use of Iron in India (1992) Oxford
University Press argues that it may refer to any metal. If ayas refers
to iron, the
Rigveda
Rigveda must date to the late 2nd millennium at the
earliest.
^ Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the
earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, page 744
^ Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the
earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199370184, pages 50-57
^ among others, Macdonell and Keith, and Talageri 2000, Lal 2005
^ a b Michael Ruse (2015), Atheism, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 978-0199334582, page 185
^ a b c Jeaneane D Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An
Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex University Press,
ISBN 978-1898723936, pages 38-45
^ "The Rig Veda/
Mandala
Mandala 1/Hymn 164 - Wikisource, the free online
library". En.wikisource.org. 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
^ a b Stephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief
History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press,
ISBN 978-0231144858, page 401
^ Garry Trompf (2005), In Search of Origins, 2nd Edition, Sterling,
ISBN 978-1932705515, pages 60-61
^ Thomas Paul Urumpackal (1972), Organized Religion According to Dr.
S. Radhakrishnan, Georgian University Press, ISBN 978-8876521553,
pages 229-232 with footnote 133
^ Franklin Edgerton (1996), The Bhagavad Gita, Cambridge University
Press, Reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120811492,
pages 11-12
^ Elizabeth Reed (2001),
Hindu
Hindu Literature: Or the Ancient Books of
India, Simon Publishers, ISBN 978-1931541039, pages 16-19
^ a b c "Speak for itself" (PDF). Rigveda.co.uk. Retrieved
2017-03-10.
^ Mystic Approach to the
Veda
Veda and the
Upanishad
Upanishad by Madhav Pundalik
Pandit (1974), p. 4, ISBN 9780940985483
^ p. 155, The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek
and Indian Philosophies, by Thomas McEvilley, 2012,
ISBN 9781581159332
^ edited in 8 volumes by Vishva Bandhu, 1963–1966.
^ a b Salmond, Noel A. (2004). "Dayananda Saraswati". Hindu
iconoclasts: Rammohun Roy, Dayananda
Sarasvati
Sarasvati and Nineteenth-Century
Polemics Against Idolatry. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
pp. 114–115. ISBN 0-88920-419-5.
^ a b c The Political Philosophy of
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo by V. P. Varma
(1960), Motilal Banarsidass, p. 139, ISBN 9788120806863
^
Frits Staal
Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras,
Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, page xv
^ a b c d Andrea Pinkney (2014), Routledge Handbook of Religions in
Asia (Editors: Bryan Turner and Oscar Salemink), Routledge,
ISBN 978-0415635035, pages 31-32
^ Jeffrey Haines (2008), Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics,
Routledge, ISBN 978-0415600293, page 80
^ N Kazanas (2002), Indigenous
Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryans and the Rigveda, Journal of
Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pages 275-289;
N Kazanas (2000), ‘A new date for the Rgveda’, in G. C. Pande (Ed)
Chronology and Indian Philosophy, special issue of the JICPR, Delhi;
ND Kazanas (2001), Indo-European Deities and the Rgveda, Journal of
Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pages 257-264,
ND Kazanas (2003), Final Reply, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol.
31, pages 187-189
^ Edwin Bryant (2004), The Quest for the Origins of the Vedic Culture,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195169478
^ Agrawal, D. P. (2002). Comments on “Indigenous IndoAryans”.
Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pages 129-135;
A Parpola (2002), ‘Comments on “Indigenous Indo-Aryans”’,
Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pages 187-191
^ Michael Witzel, The Pleiades and the Bears viewed from inside the
Vedic texts, EVJS Vol. 5 (1999), issue 2 (December);
Elst, Koenraad (1999). Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate. Aditya
Prakashan. ISBN 81-86471-77-4. ;
Bryant, Edwin and Laurie L. Patton (2005) The Indo-Aryan Controversy,
Routledge/Curzon, ISBN 978-0700714636
^ John J. Lowe (2015). Participles in Rigvedic Sanskrit: The Syntax
and Semantics of Adjectival Verb Forms. Oxford University Press.
p. 329. ISBN 978-0-19-870136-1.
^ Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, pp. 3, 76.
^ Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, p. 3.
^ a b c d e
Frits Staal
Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins,
Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, pages
xv-xvi
^ AA MacDonnel (2000 print edition), India's Past: A Survey of Her
Literatures, Religions, Languages and Antiquities, Asian Educational
Services, ISBN 978-8120605701, page 15
^ D Sharma (2011), Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia
University Press, ISBN 978-0231133999, pages 196-197
^ Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical
Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195384963, page
290
^
Frits Staal
Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras,
Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, page 107
^ Wilson, H. H. Ṛig-Veda-Sanhitā: A Collection of Ancient Hindu
Hymns. 6 vols. (London, 1850–88); reprint: Cosmo Publications (1977)
^ "Rig -
Veda
Veda - Sanhita - Vol.1". Dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080.
2006-03-21. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
^ "The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute : The Manuscript
Department". Bori.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
^ Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, pp. 19–20.
^ neh.gov, retrieved 22 March 2007.
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Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
editio princeps: Friedrich Max Müller, The
Hymns
Hymns of the Rigveda, with
Sayana's commentary, London, 1849–75, 6 vols., 2nd ed. 4 vols.,
Oxford, 1890–92.
Theodor Aufrecht, 2nd ed., Bonn, 1877.
Sontakke, N. S. (1933). Rgveda-Samhitā: Śrimat-Sāyanāchārya
virachita-bhāṣya-sametā. Sāyanachārya (commentary) (First ed.).
Vaidika Samśodhana Maṇḍala. . The Editorial Board for the
First Edition included N. S. Sontakke (Managing Editor), V. K.
Rājvade, M. M. Vāsudevaśāstri, and T. S. Varadarājaśarmā.
B. van Nooten und G. Holland, Rig Veda, a metrically restored text,
Department of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 1994.
Rgveda-Samhita, Text in Devanagari, English translation Notes and
indices by H. H. Wilson, Ed. W.F. Webster, originally in 1888,
Published Nag Publishers 1990, 11A/U.A. Jawaharnagar,Delhi-7.
Commentary
Sayana (14th century)
ed. Müller 1849–75 (German translation);
ed. Müller (original commentary of Sāyana in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit based on 24
manuscripts).
ed. Sontakke et al., published by Vaidika Samsodhana Mandala, Pune
(2nd ed. 1972) in 5 volumes.
Rgveda-Samhitā Srimat-sāyanāchārya virachita-bhāṣya-sametā,
ed. by Sontakke et al., published by Vaidika Samśodhana
Mandala,Pune-9,1972, in 5 volumes (It is original commentary of
Sāyana in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit based on over 60 manuscripts).
Sri Aurobindo,
Hymns
Hymns to the Mystic Fire (Commentary on the Rig Veda),
Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-22-5 [1]
Raimundo Pannikar (1972), The Vedic Experience, University of
California Press
Philology
Vashishtha Narayan Jha, A Linguistic Analysis of the Rgveda-Padapatha
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Bjorn Merker, Rig
Veda
Veda Riddles In Nomad Perspective, Mongolian
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Darmstadt 1977
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Sacred Books of the East vo, l. 46 ed. Friedrich
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University Press
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Material Culture and Ethnicity. Walter de Gruyter.
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Gregory Possehl;
Michael Witzel (2002). "Vedic". In Peter N.
Peregrine; Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Springer.
ISBN 978-1-4684-7135-9.
Lal, B.B. 2005. The Homeland of the Aryans. Evidence of Rigvedic Flora
and Fauna & Archaeology, New Delhi, Aryan Books International.
Talageri, Shrikant: The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis, 2000.
ISBN 81-7742-010-0
Witzel, Michael (1995), "Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development
of the Kuru state" (PDF), EJVS, 1 (4), archived from the original
(PDF) on 20 February 2012
Witzel, Michael (ed.) (1997), Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New
Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera
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Extra text: authors list (link)
External links
Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Wikisource
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Original
Sanskrit
Sanskrit text in Devanagari
Wikisource
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Original
Sanskrit
Sanskrit text in ASCII transliteration
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rigveda
Texts
Devanagari
Devanagari and transliteration experimental online text at:
sacred-texts.com
With
Sanskrit
Sanskrit verses and
Devanagari
Devanagari meaning
Rigveda
Rigveda Online Commentary
at: awgp.com
ITRANS, Devanagari, transliteration online text and PDF, several
versions prepared by Detlef Eichler
Transliteration, metrically restored online text, at: Linguistics
Research Center, Univ. of Texas
The
Hymns
Hymns of the Rigveda, Editio Princeps by Friedrich Max Müller
(large PDF files of book scans). Two editions: London, 1877 (Samhita
and Pada texts) and Oxford, 1890–92, with Sayana's commentary.
Works by or about
Rigveda
Rigveda at Internet Archive
Audio
Choral
Hymns
Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op.26, Gustav Holtz, 14 pieces in 4
groups, Piano with Violins, Romantic Movements, Vocal Scores,
University of Rochester
Translations
English translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith on Wikisource
For links to other translations, see Translations section above.
Other
Nomination of
Rigveda
Rigveda (.doc format) submitted by India in 2006–2007
for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register.
A Still Undeciphered Text: How the scientific approach to the Rigveda
would open up Indo-European Studies, Karen Thomson (2009), The Journal
of Indo-European Studies, Volume 37, Number 1 & 2, pages 1–47 (a
review of various attempts to translate
Rigveda
Rigveda and the issues with
current translations)
v
t
e
Rigveda
Mandalas
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Deities
Devas
Agni
Indra
Soma
Ushas
Visvedevas
Maruts
Ashvins
Tvastar
Rbhus
Pushan
Rudra
Asuras
Mitra
Varuna
Aryaman
Apam Napat
Demons
Vritra
Dasas
Danu
Danavas
Rivers
Sapta Sindhu
Nadistuti
Sarasvati
Sindhu
Sarayu
Rasā
Rishis
Saptarishi
Gritsamada
Vishvamitra
Vamadeva
Atri
Angiras
Bharadvaja
Vasishta
Dirghatamas
v
t
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