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The '''Rigveda ''' (Sanskrit ऋग्वेद '', a compound of '' "praise, verse"^[1] and '' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods (devas). It is counted among the four Hindu canonical sacred texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Based on philological and linguistic evidences, the Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Sapta Sindhu region (a land of seven great rivers) which is now believed to be the region around Punjab, putting it among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use, as well as among the oldest texts of any Indo-European language.
There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rigveda and the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the early Andronovo culture of ca. 2000 BC.^[2]
Today, this text is revered by Hindus around the world. Its verses are recited at prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions.

Contents

Text

Preservation

Organization

Contents

Rishis

Manuscripts

Hindu tradition

Dating and historical reconstruction

Flora and fauna in the Rigveda

Rigveda Brahmanas

Rigveda Aranyakas

Vedantic and Hindu reformist views

Editions

Translations

Notes

Bibliography

See also

External links

Text

The Rigveda consists
^[3] of 1,028 hymns (or 1,017 discounting the '' hymns 8.49–8.59) in Vedic Sanskrit, many of which are intended for various sacrificial rituals. This long collection of short hymns is mostly devoted to the praise of the gods. It is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas. Each mandala consists of hymns, called '' ('', literally, "well recited, "), which in turn consist individual verses called '', plural ''. The Mandalas are by no means of equal length or age: The "family books", mandalas 2-7, are considered the oldest part of the Rigveda, being the shortest books, arranged by length, accounting for 38% of the text. RV 8 and RV 9, likely comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. RV 1 and RV 10, finally, are both the latest and the longest books, accounting for 37% of the text.

Preservation

The text in its surviving form was redacted in the Iron Age (c. 9th to 7th century BCE). The fixed text was preserved for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone and was probably not put in writing until the Gupta period.^[4]
It is preserved by two major shakhas ("branches", i. e. schools or recensions), '' and ''. Considering its great age, the text is spectacularly well preserved and uncorrupted, the two recensions being practically identical, so that scholarly editions can mostly do without a critical apparatus. Associated to '' is the Aitareya-Brahmana. The '' includes the Khilani and has the Kausitaki-Brahmana associated to it.
This compilation or redaction included the arrangement in books as well as orthoepic changes, such as regularization of sandhi (called by Oldenberg ''orthoepische Diaskeunase''). It took place centuries after the composition of the earliest hymns, about co-eval to the redaction of the other Vedas.
From the time of its redaction, the text has been handed down in two versions: The ''Samhitapatha'' has all Sanskrit rules of sandhi applied and is the text used for recitation. The Padapatha has each word isolated in its pausa form and is used for memorization. The Padapatha is, as it were, a commentary to the ''Samhitapatha'', but the two seem to be about co-eval. The original text as reconstructed on metrical grounds (viz. "original" in the sense that it aims to recover the hymns as recorded by the Rishis) lies somewhere between the two, but closer to the Samhitapatha.

Organization

The most common numbering scheme is by book, hymn and verse (and ''pada'' (foot) ''a'', ''b'', ''c'' ..., if required). E. g. the first ''pada'' is

★ 1.1.1a '' "Agni I laud, the high priest"
and the final ''pada'' is

★ 10.191.4d '' "for your being in good company"
Each Book () is divided into Anuvākas which some modern publishers often omit (each Anuvākas contains many hymns or suktas).An alternative scheme is into (eighths), Adhāyaya (chapter) and Varga (class). Some publishers give both classifications in a single edition.
Hermann Grassmann had numbered the hymns 1 through to 1028, putting the ''vālakhilya'' at the end. It has become common practice now-a-days to regard all 11 ''vālakhilya'' hymns as integral part of the Rgveda, but Śākal śhākhā recognises only 1017 hymns, putting vāla'khil'ya in the category of khila : mantras of khila hymns were called ''khailika'' and not (''Khila'' meant distinct 'part' of Rgveda separate from regular hymns; all regular hymns make up the ''akhila or the whole'' recognised in a śhākhā,although khila hymns have sanctified roles in rituals from ancient times), while the śākhā includes 8 of these ''vālakhilya'' hymns among regular hymns, making a total of 1025 regular hymns for this śhākhā ^[5]. The entire 1028 hymns of the ''Rigveda'', in the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, contain a total of 10,552 verses, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives the number of syllables to be 432,000^[6], 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. Most verses are jagati (padas of 12 syllables), trishtubh (padas of 11 syllables), viraj (padas of 10 syllables) or gayatri or anushtubh (padas of 8 syllables).

Contents

:''See also: Rigvedic deities''
The chief gods of the ''Rigveda'' are Indra, a heroic god who is praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra, Agni, the sacrificial fire, and Soma, the sacred potion, or the plant it is made from. Other prominent gods are Mitra-Varuna and Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Savitar, Vishnu, Rudra, Pushan, Brihaspati, Brahmanaspati, as well as deified natural phenomena such as Dyaus Pita (the sky), Prithivi (the earth), Surya (the sun), Vayu (the wind), Apas (the waters), Parjanya (the rain), Vac (the word), many rivers (notably the Sapta Sindhu, and the Sarasvati River). Groups of deities are the Ashvins, the Maruts, the Adityas, the Rbhus, the Vishvadevas (the all-gods). It contains various further minor gods, persons, concepts, phenomena and items, and 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.


★ 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 and Indra. Hymns 1.154 to 1.156 are addressed to Vishnu.

★ Mandala 2 comprises 43 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. It is chiefly attributed to the Rishi ''.

★ Mandala 3 comprises 62 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. The verse 3.62.10 has great importance in Hinduism as the Gayatri Mantra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to ''.

★ Mandala 4 consists of 58 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to ''.

★ Mandala 5 comprises 87 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra, the Visvadevas (gods of the world), the Maruts, the twin-deity Mitra-Varuna and the Asvins. Two hymns each are dedicated to Ushas (the dawn) and to Savitar. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the '' family.

★ Mandala 6 comprises 75 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the '' 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 (ancient river/goddess of learning) and Vishnu, and to others. Most hymns in this book are attributed to ''.

★ Mandala 8 comprises 103 hymns to different gods. Hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are the apocryphal ''. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the '' family.

★ Mandala 9 comprises 114 hymns, entirely devoted to ''Soma Pavamana'', the plant of the sacred potion of the Vedic religion.

★ Mandala 10 comprises 191 hymns, to Agni and other gods. 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 which has significance in Hindu tradition. It also contains the Nasadiya sukta (10.129), probably the most celebrated hymns in the west, which deals with creation.

Rishis

:''See also Anukramani.''
Each hymn of the Rigveda is traditionally attributed to a specific rishi, and the "family books" (2-7) are said to have been composed ("heard") by one family of rishis each. The main families, listed by the number of verses ascribed to them are:

★ Angirasas: 3619 (especially Mandala 6)

★ Kanvas: 1315 (especially Mandala 8)

★ Vasishthas: 1267 (Mandala 7)

★ Vaishvamitras: 983 (Mandala 3)

★ Atris: 885 (Mandala 5)

★ Bhrgus: 473

★ Kashyapas: 415 (part of Mandala 9)

★ Grtsamadas: 401 (Mandala 2)

★ Agastyas: 316

★ Bharatas: 170

Manuscripts

There are 30 manuscripts of 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 scripts, written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of them is dated to 1464.
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 used by Max Müller for his edition of the Rigveda with Sayana’s commentary.
Max Müller used 24 manuscripts, while the Pune Edition used over five dozen manuscripts, but the editors of Pune Edition could not procure many manuscripts used by Max Müller and by Bombay Edition, as well as from some other sources ; hence the total number of extant manuscripts must surpass perhaps eighty at least ^[7]

Hindu tradition

According to Indian tradition, the Rigvedic hymns were collected by Paila under the guidance of , who formed the Rigveda Samhita as we know it. According to the , 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 literature described and interpreted the Rigvedic ritual. Yaska was an early commentator of the ''Rigveda''. In the 14th century, wrote an exhaustive commentary on it. Other ''s'' (commentaries) that have been preserved up to present times are those by , and .

Dating and historical reconstruction

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. The ''Rigveda'' records an early stage of Vedic religion, still closely tied to the pre-Zoroastrian Persian religion. It is thought that Zoroastrianism and Vedic Hinduism evolved from an earlier common religious Indo-Iranian culture.
The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age, making it the only example of Bronze Age literature with an unbroken tradition. Its composition is usually dated to roughly between 1700–1100 BC.^[8] The text in the following centuries underwent pronunciation revisions and standardization (samhitapatha, padapatha). This redaction would have been completed around the 7th century BC.^[9]
Writing appears in India around the 5th century BC in the form of the Brahmi script, but texts of the length of the Rigveda were likely not written down until much later, the oldest surviving manuscript dating to the 11th century. While written manuscripts were used for teaching in medieval times, they were written on bark or palm leaves, which decomposed quicker in the tropical climate, until the advent of the printing press from the 16th century. The hymns were thus preserved by oral tradition for up to a millennium from the time of their composition until the redaction of the Rigveda, and the entire Rigveda was preserved in shakhas for another 2,500 years from the time of its redaction until the ''editio princeps'' by Müller, a collective feat of preservation unparalleled in any other known society.
Puranic literature names Vidagdha as the author of the Padapatha.^[10] Other scholars argue that Sthavira Shakalya of the Aitareya Aranyaka is the padakara of the RV.^[11] After their composition, the texts were preserved and codified by a vast body of Vedic priesthood as the central philosophy of the Iron Age Vedic civilization.
The ''Rigveda'' describes a mobile, nomadic culture, with horse-drawn chariots and metal (bronze) weapons. The geography described is consistent with that of the Punjab: Rivers flow north to south, the mountains are relatively remote but still reachable (Soma is a plant found in the mountains, and it has to be purchased, imported by merchants). Nevertheless, the hymns were certainly composed over a long period, with the oldest elements possibly reaching back to times close to the split of Proto-Indo-Iranian (around 2000 BC)^[12]
Thus there is some debate over whether the boasts of the destruction of stone forts by the Vedic Aryans and particularly by Indra refer to cities of the Indus Valley civilization or whether they hark back to clashes between the early Indo-Aryans with the BMAC in what is now northern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan (separated from the upper Indus by the Hindu Kush mountain range, and some 400 km distant). In any case, while it is highly likely that the bulk of the Rigvedic hymns were composed in the Punjab, even if based on earlier poetic traditions, there is no mention of either tigers or rice^[13] in the ''Rigveda'' (as opposed to the later Vedas), suggesting that Vedic culture only penetrated into the plains of India after its completion. Similarly, it is assumed that there is no mention of iron although the term ayas (metal) occurs in the Rig Veda. ^[14] The Iron Age in northern India begins in the 12th century BC with the ''Black and Red Ware'' (BRW) culture. This is a widely accepted timeframe for the beginning codification of the ''Rigveda'' (i.e. the arrangement of the individual hymns in books, and the fixing of the samhitapatha (by applying Sandhi) and the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi) out of the earlier metrical text), and the composition of the younger Vedas. This time probably coincides with the early Kuru kingdom, shifting the center of Vedic culture east from the Punjab into what is now Uttar Pradesh.
Some of the names of gods and goddesses found in the ''Rigveda'' are found amongst other belief systems based on Proto-Indo-European religion as well: Dyaus-Pita is cognate with Greek Zeus, Latin Jupiter (from deus-pater), and Germanic Tyr; while Mitra is cognate with Persian ''Mithra''; also, Ushas with Greek Eos and Latin Aurora; and, less certainly, Varuna with Greek Uranos. Finally, both Latin ''ignis'' and Russian ''ogon'', are cognate with Agni - meaning "fire" .
N. Kazanas ^[15] in a polemic against the "Aryan Invasion Theory" suggests a date as early as 3100 BC, based on an identification of the early Rigvedic Sarasvati River as the Ghaggar-Hakra and on glottochronological arguments. Being a polemic against mainstream scholarship, this is in diametrical opposition to views in mainstream historical linguistics, and supports the controversial Out of India theory, which assumes a date as late as 3000 BC for the age of late Proto-Indo-European itself.
Some writers based on astronomical calculations even claim dates as early as 4000 BC^[16], a date well within the Indian Neolithic.^[17].

Flora and fauna in the Rigveda

The horse (ashva) and cattle play an important role in the Rigveda. There are also references to the elephant (Hastin, Varana), camel (Ustra, especially in Mandala 8), buffalo (Mahisa), lion (Simha) and to the gaur in the Rigveda.^[18] The peafowl (mayura) and the chakravaka (Anas casarca) are birds mentioned in the Rigveda.

Rigveda Brahmanas

Of the Barhmanas that were handed down in the schools of the ''Bahvṛcas'' (i.e. "possessed of many verses"), as the followers of the Rigveda are called, two have come down to us, viz. those of the Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The ''Aitareya-brahmana''^[19] 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 arrangementfeatures 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 Panini (ca. 5th c. 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, &c., 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 and founded the schcol 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 of Sankhayana (composed) in accordance with the views of Kaushitaki.

Rigveda Aranyakas

Each of these two 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 ''Aitareyopanishad'', ascribed, like its 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'', of which we possess two different recensions. The remaining portions (9-15) of the Aranyaka treat of the vital airs, the internal Agnihotra, etc., ending with the ''vamsha'', or succession of teachers.

Vedantic and Hindu reformist views

Since the 19th and 20th centuries, some reformers like Swami Dayananda, founder of the "Arya Samaj" and Sri Aurobindo have attempted to re-interpret the Vedas to conform to modern and established moral and spiritual norms. They moved the Vedantic perception of the ''Rigveda'' from the original ritualistic content to a more symbolic or mystical interpretation. For example, instances of animal sacrifice were not seen by them as literal slaughtering, but as transcendental processes.
The Sarasvati river, lauded in RV 7.95 as the greatest river flowing from the mountain to the sea is sometimes equated with the Ghaggar-Hakra river, which went dry perhaps before 2600 BC or certainly before 1900 BC. Others argue that the Sarasvati was originally the Helmand in Afghanistan. These questions are tied to the debate about the Indo-Aryan migration (termed "Aryan Invasion Theory") vs. the claim that Vedic culture together with Vedic Sanskrit originated in the Indus Valley Civilisation (termed "Out of India theory"), a topic of great significance in Hindu nationalism, addressed for example by Amal Kiran and Shrikant G. Talageri. Subhash Kak has claimed that there is an astronomical code in the organization of the hymns. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, also based on astronomical alignments in the Rigveda, in his "The Orion" (1893) claimed presence of the Rigvedic culture in India in the 4th millennium BC, and in his "Arctic Home in the Vedas" (1903) even argued that the Aryans originated near the North Pole and came south during the Ice Age.

Editions

★ editio princeps: Friedrich Max Müller, ''The 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.

★ . The Editorial Board for the First Edition included N. S. Sontakke (Managing Editor), V. K. , M. M. , and T. S. .

★ B. van Nooten und G. Holland, ''Rig Veda, a metrically restored text'', Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 1994.

Translations

The first published translation of any portion of the Rigveda in any Western language was into Latin, by Friedrich August Rosen (''Rigvedae specimen'', London 1830). Predating Müller's ''editio princeps'' of the text, Rosen was working from manuscripts brought back from India by Colebrooke.
H. H. Wilson was the first to make a complete translation of the Rig Veda into English, published in six volumes during the period 1850-88.^[20] Wilson's version was based on the commentary of . In 1977, Wilson's edition was enlarged by Nag Sharan Singh (Nag Publishers, Delhi, 2nd ed. 1990).
In 1889, Ralph T.H. Griffith published his translation as ''The Hymns of the Rig Veda'', published in London (1889).^[21]
A German translation was published by Karl Friedrich Geldner, ''Der Rig-Veda: aus dem Sanskrit ins Deutsche Übersetzt'', Harvard Oriental Studies, vols. 33–37 (Cambridge, Mass.: 1951-7).^[22]
Geldner's tranlsation was the philologically best-informed to date, and a Russian translation based on Geldner's by Tatyana Yakovlena Elizarenkova was published by Nauka 1989-1999^[23]
A 2001 revised edition of Wilson's translation was published by Ravi Prakash Arya and K. L. Joshi.^[24] The revised edition updates Wilson's translation by replacing obsolete English forms with more modern equivalents, giving the English translation along with the original Sanskrit text in Devanagari script, along with a critical apparatus.
In 2004 the United States' National Endowment for the Humanities funded Joel Brereton and Stephanie W. Jamison as project directors for a new original translation to be issued by Oxford University Press.^{[25] [26]}
Numerous partial translations exist into various languages. Notable examples include:

★ A. A. Macdonell. ''Hymns from the Rigveda'' (Calcutta, London, 1922); ''A Vedic Reader for Students'' (Oxford, 1917).

★ French: A. Langlois, Paris 1948-51 ISBN 2-7200-1029-4

★ Hungarian: Laszlo Forizs, ''Rigvéda - Teremtéshimnuszok (Creation Hymns of the Rig-Veda)'', Budapest, 1995 ISBN 963-85349-1-5 Hymns of the Rig-Veda
Wendy Doniger issued a modern selection with a translation of 108 hymns, along with critical apparatus. A bibliography of translations of the Rig Veda appears as an Appendix that work.^[27]

Notes

1. derived from the root '' "to praise", cf. Dhātupātha 28.19. Monier-Williams translates "a Veda of Praise or Hymn-Veda"
2. "The identification of the Andronovo culure as Indo-Iranian is commonly accepted by scholars."
3. There is some confusion with the term "Veda", which is traditionally applied to the texts associated with the samhita proper, such as Brahmanas or Upanishads. In English usage, the term Rigveda is usually used to refer to the Rigveda samhita alone, and texts like the Aitareya-Brahmana are not considered "part of the Rigveda" but rather "associated with the Rigveda" in the tradition of a certain shakha.
4. The oldest surviving manuscripts date to the 11th century
5. cf. Preface to Khila section by C.G.Kāshikar in Volume-5 of Pune Edition of RV (in references).
6. 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.
7. cf. Editorial notes in various volumes of Pune Edition, see references.
8. 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 EIEC (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives 1500–1000. It is certain that the hymns post-date Indo-Iranian separation of ca. 2000 BC. It cannot be ruled out that archaic elements of the Rigveda go back to only a few generations after this time, but philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium. Compare Max Müller's statement "the hymns of the Rig-Veda are said to date from 1500 B.C." ('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. some writers out of the maintream claim to trace astronomical references in the Rigveda, dating it to as early as 4000 BC, a date corresponding to the Neolithic late Mehrgarh culture; summarized by Klaus Klostermaier in a 1998 presentation
9. Oldenberg (p. 379) places it near the end of the Brahmana period, seeing that the older Brahmanas still contain pre-normalized Rigvedic citations. The Brahmana period is later than the composition of the samhitas of the other Vedas, stretching for about the 9th to 7th centuries. This would mean that the redaction of the texts as preserved was completed in roughly the 7th century BC. The EIEC (p. 306) likewise gives a 7th century date.
10. The Shatapatha Brahmana refers to Vidagdha Shakalya without discussing anything related to the Padapatha, and no grammatical work refers to Vidagdha as a padakara. But the Brahmana Purana and the Vayu Purana say that he was the Padakara of the RV. The Shatapatha Brahmana is older than the Aitareya Aranyaka. The Aitareya Aranyaka is generally dated to the 7th century BCE (Jha 1992)
11. The Rk-pratishakhya of Shaunaka also refers to Sthavira Shakalya (Jha 1992)
12. minority opinions name dates as early as the 4th millennium BC; "The Aryan Non-Invasionist Model" by Koenraad Elst
13. There is however mention of ''ApUpa'', ''Puro-das'' and ''Odana'' in the Rigveda, terms that, at least in later texts, refer to rice dishes, see Talageri (2000)
14. The term "ayas" (=metal) occurs in the Rigveda, usually translated as "bronze", although 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 must date to the late 2nd millennium at the earliest.
15. N. Kazanas, ''A new date for the Rgveda'' Philosophy and Chronology, (2000) ed. G C Pande & D Krishna, special issue of Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (June, 2001)
16. summarized by Klaus Klostermaier in a 1998 presentation
17. e.g. Michael Witzel, ''The Pleiades and the Bears viewed from inside the Vedic texts'', EVJS Vol. 5 (1999), issue 2 (December) [1]; Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate, , Koenraad, Elst, Aditya Prakashan, 1999, ISBN 81-86471-77-4 ; Bryant, Edwin and Laurie L. Patton (2005) The Indo-Aryan Controversy, Routledge/Curzon.
18. Talageri 2000, Lal 2005
19. 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).
20. Wilson, H. H. '': A Collection of Ancient Hindu Hymns''. 6 vols. (London, 1850-88); repring: Cosmo Publications (1977)
21. reprinted Delhi 1973, reprinted by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers: 1999. Complete revised and enlarged edition. 2-volume set. ISBN: 8121500419
22. reprint: Harvard Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies Harvard (University Press) (2003) ISBN 0-674-01226-7
23. extended from a partial translation ''Rigveda: Izbrannye Gimny'', published in 1972.
24. Ravi Prakash Arya and K. L. Joshi. '': Sanskrit Text, English Translation, Notes & Index of Verses''. (Parimal Publications: Delhi, 2001) ISBN 81-7110-138-7 (Set of four volumes). Parimal Sanskrit Series No. 45; 2003 reprint: 81-7020-070-9
25. http://www.neh.gov/news/awards/collaborative2004.html retrieved 22 March, 2007.
26. Joel Brereton and Stephanie W. Jamison. ''The Rig Veda: Translation and Explanatory Notes''. (Oxford University Press) ISBN: 0195179188
27. See Appendix 3, Doniger, Wendy. ''The Rig Veda''. (Penguin Books: 1981) ISBN 0-140-44989-2

Bibliography

Commentary

★ Sayana (14th century)

★
★ ed. Müller 1849-75 (German translation);

★
★ ed. Müller (original commentary of Sāyana in 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--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 based on over 60 manuscripts).

★ Sri Aurobindo: Hymns of the Mystic Fire (Commentary on the Rig Veda), Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-22-5 [2]

★ 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.
Philology

★ Vashishtha Narayan Jha, ''A Linguistic Analysis of the Rgveda-Padapatha'' Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi (1992).

★ Thomas Oberlies, ''Die Religion des Rgveda'', Wien 1998.

★ Oldenberg, Hermann: ''Hymnen des Rigveda. 1. Teil: Metrische und textgeschichtliche Prolegomena.'' Berlin 1888; Wiesbaden 1982.

★ — ''Die Religion des Veda''. Berlin 1894; Stuttgart 1917; Stuttgart 1927; Darmstadt 1977

★ — ''Vedic Hymns'', The Sacred Books of the East vo, l. 46 ed. Friedrich Max Müller, Oxford 1897
Historical

★ Lal, B.B. 2005. The Homeland of the Aryans. Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna & Archaeology, New Delhi, Aryan Books International.

★ Talageri, Shrikant: , 2000. ISBN 81-7742-010-0
Archaeoastronomy

★ Kak, Subhash: The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda, Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000, ISBN 81-215-0986-6.

★ Tilak, Bal Gangadhar: The Orion, 1893.

See also

★ Vedas

★ Upanishads

External links

★ Rigveda - Nominations submitted by India in 2006-2007 for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register. (.doc format)
;Text

★ (Wikisource)

★ (Wikisource)

★ in Devanagari and IAST (sacred-texts.com)

★ mp3 audio download (gatewayforindia.com)[North Indian style, i.e., without meter or same meter, yeha swara]
;Translation

★ Ralph Griffith, ''The Rig Veda'' 1895, full text, (online at sacred-texts.com)
;Interpretation

★ Rig Veda (Sri Aurobindo Kapali Sastry Institute)