Rig-Veda

The Rig-Veda (Praising Knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. It consist of 1,017-1,028 hymns (many intended for sacrifical rituals). These are contained in 10 books, known as Mandalas. This long collection of short hymns is mostly devoted to the praise of the gods. However, it also contains fragmentary references to historical events, notably the struggle between the early Vedic peoples (known as Aryans) and their enemies, the Dasa. The names of gods and goddesses found in the Rig-Veda are found amongst many other Indo-European speaking people as well. This also indicates the text's antiquity. Prominently mentioned, within the Rig-Veda, are the gods Agni, Dyaus Pitar, Indra, Prithivi Mater, Vishnu; as well as the sacred Soma. The Rig-Veda was completed by 1500 BC. (Fisher)

The first notable Western Vedic student, Max Müller considered the Rig-Veda to be the only 'real' Veda; he argued that the others (particularly the Yajur-Veda and Sama-Veda) were little more than elaborations, paraphrases and quotations of its text. For this reason the Rig-Veda Samhita (i.e. the basic text of the Rig-Veda) is of particular historical as well as religious interest. It records a very early stage in the evolution of Hinduism sometimes referred to as the 'Vedic' or Aryan stage of the religion, which is closely tied to the pre-Zoroastrian Persian religion. It is thought that Zoroastrianism and Vedic Hinduism evolved from an earlier common religious culture.

Scholars standardly date the Rig-Veda to the second millennium BC on grounds of its references to late bronze age culture (horse-drawn chariots; mostly bronze, but some iron weapons) and to the assumption that Vedic culture post-dates the Indus Valley Civilisation. Nevertheless the hymns were certainly composed over long period - several hundred years at least. Some, mostly Indian, writers have used astronomical references in the Rig-Veda to date it to the third and even the fourth millennium BC, covering the period when the Indus Valley Civilisation flourished. There is also the question of the reference to the Sarasvati river, lauded in the hymns as the greatest river flowing from the mountain to the sea. Some archaeologists have equated the river with the Ghaggar-Hakra river, which went dry perhaps before 2600 BC or certainly before 1900 BC. Others argue that the Sarasvati was originally a river in Afghanistan. These questions are tied to the debate about Aryan invasion theory, the claim that the Vedic peoples migrated into the Indus from the west rather than originated there.

The Rig-Vedic hymns were collected - says the tradition - by Paila under the guidance of Vyasa, who formed the Rig-Veda Samhita as we know it. According to the Shatapatha Brahmana, the number of syllables in the 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.

The authors of the Brahmana literature described and interpreted the Rigvedic ritual. Yaska was an early commentator of the Rig-Veda. In the 14th century, Sayana wrote an exhaustive commentary on it. More recently, Swami Dayananda, who started the Arya Samaj and Sri Aurobindo have emphasized a spiritual (adhyatimic) interpretation of the book. Subhash Kak has shown an astronomical code in the organization of the hymns.

The Rigvedic view considers the universe to be infinite in size. It divides knowledge into two categories: lower (related to objects) and \higher (related to the perceiving subject). The lower knowledge is taken to be beset with paradoxes whereas higher knowledge is not.

References

• Fisher -- Living Religions (5th Edition -- 2002), p.82
• Aurobindo -- The Secret of the Veda (1972)
• Understanding the Vedas --[[1]

External links

Refer to the Rig-veda at sacred-texts.com