Rigveda: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|First sacred canonical text of Hinduism}}

The '''''Rigveda''''' or '''''Rig Veda''''' ({{Lang-sa|[[wikt:ऋग्वेद#Sanskrit|ऋग्वेद]]}} ''{{IAST|ṛgveda}}'', from ''{{IAST|[[wikt:ऋच्#Sanskrit|ṛc]]}}'' "praise"<ref>Derived from the root ''{{IAST|ṛc}}'' "to praise", cf. Dhātupātha 28.19. [[Monier-Williams]] translates ''Rigveda'' as "a Veda of Praise or Hymn-Veda".</ref> and ''{{IAST|[[wikt:वेद#Sanskrit|veda]]}}'' "knowledge") is an [[ancient Indian]] [[miscellany|collection]] of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] [[hymn]]s (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical [[Hindu texts]] (''[[śruti]]'') known as the [[Vedas]].{{sfn|Witzel|1997|pp=259{{ndash}}264}}<ref>Antonio de Nicholas (2003), ''Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man'', New York: Authors Choice Press, {{ISBN|978-0-595-26925-9}}, p. 273</ref> Only one [[Shakha]] of the many survive today, namely the [[Shakala Shakha|Śakalya]] Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum.<ref name=":0" />

The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known [[Vedic Sanskrit]] text.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|p=3}} Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any [[Indo-European language]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Edwin F. Bryant|title=The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yivABQAAQBAJ&pg=PT565|year=2015|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4299-9598-6|pages=565{{ndash}}566}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|According to Edgar Polome, the Hittite language [[Anitta (king)|Anitta]] text from the 17th century BCE is older. This text is about the conquest of Kanesh city of Anatolia, and mentions the same Indo-European gods as in the ''Rigveda''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Edgar Polome|editor=Per Sture Ureland|title=Entstehung von Sprachen und Völkern: glotto- und ethnogenetische Aspekte europäischer Sprachen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9su8E8eOsgC&pg=PA51|year=2010|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-163373-2|page=51}}</ref>}} The sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE.{{sfn|Wood|2007}}{{sfn|Hexam|2011|p=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Dwyer|2013}} [[Philological]] and [[historical linguistics|linguistic]] evidence indicates that the bulk of the ''Rigveda'' Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the [[Indian subcontinent]] (see [[Rigvedic rivers]]), most likely between {{circa}} 1500 and 1000&nbsp;BCE,{{sfn|Flood|1996|p= 37}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p= 454}}{{sfn|Witzel|2019|p=11|ps=: "Incidentally, the Indo-Aryan loanwords in Mitanni confirm the date of the ''Rig Veda'' for ca. 1200–1000 BCE. The ''Rig Veda'' is a late Bronze age text, thus from before 1000 BCE. However, the Mitanni words have a form of Indo-Aryan that is slightly older than that ... Clearly the ''Rig Veda'' cannot be older than ca. 1400, and taking into account a period needed for linguistic change, it may not be much older than ca. 1200 BCE."}} although a wider approximation of {{circa}} 1900{{ndash}}1200&nbsp;BCE has also been given.{{sfn|Oberlies|1998|p=158}}<ref name="Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman 2014 179">{{cite book|title= Science and Religion: One Planet, Many Possibilities|author= Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman|page= 179|year= 2014|publisher= Routledge}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}}

The text is layered, consisting of the ''Samhita'', ''Brahmanas'', ''Aranyakas'' and ''Upanishads''.{{refn|group=note|The associated material has been preserved from two [[shakha|śākhā]]s or "schools", known as {{IPA|[[Shakala Shakha|Śākalya]]}}

and [[Upanishads]] (partly excerpted from the Aranyakas: ''Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad'', [[Aitareya Upanishad|Aitareya-upanishad]], ''Samhita-upanishad'', ''[[Kaushitaki Upanishad|Kaushitaki-upanishad]]'').}} The ''Rigveda Samhita'' is the core text and is a collection of 10 books (''{{IAST|maṇḍala}}''s) with 1,028 hymns (''{{IAST|sūkta}}''s) in about 10,600 verses (called ''{{IAST|ṛc}}'', eponymous of the name ''Rigveda''). In the eight books{{snd}}Books 2 through 9{{snd}}that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss [[cosmology]], rites, and rituals and praise deities.<ref>Werner, Karel (1994). ''A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism''. Curzon Press.  {{ISBN|0-7007-1049-3}}.</ref>{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=4, 7{{ndash}}9}} The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions,{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=4, 7{{ndash}}9}} virtues such as ''[[dāna]]'' (charity) in society,<ref name=chatterjee3>C Chatterjee (1995), [https://archive.today/20150415005506/http://jhv.sagepub.com/content/1/1/3.short Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview], Journal of Human Values, Vol 1, No 1, pp. 3{{ndash}}12;<br>Original text translated in English: [[s:The Rig Veda/Mandala 10/Hymn 117|The Rig Veda]], Mandala 10, Hymn 117, Ralph T.&nbsp;H. Griffith (Translator);</ref> questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine,<ref name=3translations/><ref>Examples:<br>'''Verse 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?"<br>'''Verse 1.164.34''', "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"<br>'''Verse 1.164.5''', "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods live?"<br>'''Verse 1.164.6''', "What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?";<br>'''Verse 1.164.20''' (a hymn that is widely cited in the 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.";<br>[[s:The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 164|Rigveda Book 1, Hymn 164]] Wikisource;<br>See translations of these verses: {{harvp|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014}}</ref> and other metaphysical issues in their hymns.<ref name=metaphysics>Antonio de Nicholas (2003), ''Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man'', New York: Authors Choice Press, {{ISBN|978-0-595-26925-9}}, pp. 64{{ndash}}69;<br>[[Jan Gonda]] (1975), ''A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Volume 1, Part 1'', Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3-447-01603-2}}, pp. 134{{ndash}}135.</ref>

Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu prayer and celebration of [[sanskara (rite of passage)|rites of passage]] (such as weddings), making it probably the world's oldest [[religious text]] in continued use.<ref>{{cite book |author= Klaus Klostermaier |title= Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=J-1QJMu80UIC&pg=PA6 |year= 1984 |publisher= [[Wilfrid Laurier University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-88920-158-3 |page=6 |author-link= Klaus Klostermaier }}

According to Jamison and Brereton, in their 2014 translation of the ''Rigveda'', the dating of this text "has been and is likely to remain a matter of contention and reconsideration". The dating proposals so far are all inferred from the style and the content within the hymns themselves.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=5{{ndash}}6}} Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium BCE.{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} Being composed in an early [[Old Indo-Aryan|Indo-Aryan]] language, the hymns must post-date the [[Proto-Indo-Iranian|Indo-Iranian]] separation, dated to roughly 2000&nbsp;BCE.{{Sfn|Mallory|1989}} A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the ''Rigveda'' is that of the [[Mitanni]] documents of northern Syria and Iraq ({{Circa|1450}}{{ndash}}1350&nbsp;BCE), which also mention the Vedic gods such as Varuna, Mitra and Indra.<ref name=Witzel2003/><ref>"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)" [http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104a.txt M. Witzel, Early Sanskritization – Origin and development of the Kuru state] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105185651/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104a.txt |date=5 November 2011 |year=1995 }}</ref> Other evidence also points to a composition close to 1400&nbsp;BCE.<ref>The Vedic People: Their History and Geography, Rajesh Kochar, 2000, Orient Longman, {{ISBN|81-250-1384-9}}</ref><ref>Rigveda and River Saraswati: [http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/306/contrasarav.htm class.uidaho.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805172651/http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/306/contrasarav.htm |date=5 August 2009 }}</ref>

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 {{Circa|1500}} and 1000&nbsp;BCE.{{refn|group=note|name="dating"}} According to [[Michael Witzel]], the codification of the ''Rigveda'' took place at the end of the Rigvedic period between {{Circa|1200}} and 1000&nbsp;BCE, in the early [[Kuru (India)|Kuru]] kingdom.{{sfn|Witzel|2019|p=11|ps=: "Incidentally, the Indo-Aryan loanwords in Mitanni confirm the date of the ''Rig Veda'' for ca. 1200–1000 BCE. The ''Rig Veda'' is a late Bronze age text, thus from before 1000 BCE. However, the Mitanni words have a form of Indo-Aryan that is slightly older than that ... Clearly the ''Rig Veda'' cannot be older than ca. 1400, and taking into account a period needed for linguistic change, it may not be much older than ca. 1200 BCE."}} [[Asko Parpola]] argues that the ''Rigveda'' was systematized around 1000&nbsp;BCE, at the time of the Kuru kingdom.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DagXCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT149|title=The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization|author=Asko Parpola|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=149|isbn=978-0-19-022693-0|year=2015}}</ref>

The ''Rigveda'' is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For this reason, it was in the center of attention of [[Western world|Western]] scholarship from the times of [[Max Müller]] and [[Rudolf Roth]] onwards. The ''Rigveda'' records an early stage of [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religion]]. There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities with the [[Early Iranian languages|early Iranian]] [[Avesta]],<ref>{{Harvcolnb|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 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."</ref><ref>{{Harvcolnb|Bryant|2001|pp=130{{ndash}}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."</ref> deriving from the [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] times,<ref>{{Harvcolnb|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..."</ref> often associated with the early [[Andronovo culture]] (or rather, the [[Sintashta culture]] within the early Andronovo horizon) of {{Circa|2000&nbsp;BCE}}.<ref>{{Harvcolnb|Mallory|1989}} "The identification of the Andronovo culture as Indo-Iranian is commonly accepted by scholars."</ref>

The ''Rigveda'' offers no direct evidence of social or political systems in the Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} 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]].{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} Social stratification seems embryonic, then and later a social ideal rather than a social reality.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} The society was semi-nomadic and pastoral with evidence of agriculture since hymns mention plow and celebrate agricultural divinities.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=6{{ndash}}7}} There was division of labor and a complementary relationship between kings and poet-priests but no discussion of a relative status of social classes.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} Women in the ''Rigveda'' appear disproportionately as speakers in dialogue hymns, both as mythical or [[Divinity|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{{ndash}}2), Viśvavārā Ātreyī (RV 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (RV 10.159), Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (RV 8.1.34). The women of the ''Rigveda'' are quite outspoken and appear more sexually confident than men, in the text.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} Elaborate and aesthetic hymns on wedding suggest rites of passage had developed during the Rigvedic period.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=57{{ndash}}59}} There is little evidence of [[dowry]] and no evidence of [[Sati (practice)|sati]] in it or related Vedic texts.<ref>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</ref>

The "family books" (2{{ndash}}7) are associated with various clans and chieftains, containing hymns by members of the same clan in each book; but other clans are also represented in the ''Rigveda''. The family books are associated with specific regions, and mention prominent [[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharata]] and Pūru kings.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=262}}

The codification of the ''Rigveda'' took place late in the Rigvedic or rather in the early post-Rigvedic period at {{Circa|1200&nbsp;BCE}}, by members of the early [[Kuru (India)|Kuru]] tribe, when the center of Vedic culture moved east from the Punjab into what is now [[Uttar Pradesh]].{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=261}} The ''Rigveda'' was codified by compiling the hymns, including the arrangement of the individual hymns in ten books, coeval with the composition of the younger Veda Samhitas.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|pp=261–266}} According to Witzel, the initial collection took place after the Bharata victory in the [[Battle of the Ten Kings]], under king [[Sudas|Sudās]], over other Puru kings. This collection was an effort to reconcile various factions in the clans which were united in the Kuru kingdom under a Bharata king.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=263}}{{refn|group=note|Witzel: "The original collection must have been the result of a strong political effort aiming at the re-alignment of the various factions in the tribes and poets' clans under a post-Sudås Bharata hegemony which included (at least sections of) their former Pūru enemies and some other tribes.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=263}}}} This collection was re-arranged and expanded in the [[Kuru Kingdom]], reflecting the establishment of a new Bharata-Puru lineage and new srauta rituals.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=263-264}}{{refn|group=note|Witzel: "To sum up: as has been discussed in detail elsewhere [''Early Sanskritization''], the new Kuru dynasty of Parik it, living in the Holy Land of Kuruk etra, unified most of the Rigvedic tribes, brought the poets and priests together in the common enterprise of collecting their texts and of "reforming" the ritual."{{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=265}}}}

The surviving form of the ''Rigveda'' is based on an early [[Iron Age India|Iron Age]] collection that established the core 'family books' (mandalas [[Mandala 2|2]]{{ndash}}[[Mandala 7|7]], ordered by author, deity and meter<ref name=":0">H. Oldenberg, Prolegomena,1888, Engl. transl. New Delhi: Motilal 2004</ref>) and a later redaction, coeval with the redaction of the other [[Veda]]s, 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]] such as the [[regularization (linguistics)|regularization]] of [[sandhi]] (termed ''orthoepische Diaskeuase'' by Oldenberg, 1888).

The text is organized in ten "books", or ''[[mandala|maṇḍalas]]'' ("circles"), of varying age and length.{{Sfn|George Erdosy|1995|pp=68{{ndash}}69}} The "family books", mandalas 2{{ndash}}7, are the oldest part of the ''Rigveda'' and the shortest books; they are arranged by length (decreasing length of hymns per book) and account for 38% of the text.<ref name=pincott598>{{cite journal | last=Pincott | first=Frederic | title=The First Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=19 | issue=4 | year=1887 | pages=598{{ndash}}624 | doi=10.1017/s0035869x00019717 | s2cid=163189831 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1428640 | access-date=12 March 2020 | archive-date=6 September 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906164520/https://zenodo.org/record/1428640 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=10{{ndash}}11}}

The [[Mandala 1|first]] and the [[Mandala 10|tenth]] mandalas are the youngest; they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, accounting for 37% of the text. Nevertheless, some of the hymns in mandalas 8, 1 and 10 may still belong to an earlier period and may be as old as the material in the family books.{{Sfn|Bryant|2001|pp=66{{ndash}}67}} The first mandala has a unique arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The first 84 hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different from the remaining hymns in it.<ref name=pincott598/>

| Jagati || 1348

[[Image:Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png|thumb|upright=1.35|Geographical distribution of the Late Vedic Period. Each major region had its own recension of Rig Veda (''Śākhās''), and the versions varied.{{sfn|Witzel|1997|pp=259{{ndash}}264}}]]

The ''Rigveda'' hymns were composed and preserved by [[oral tradition]]. They were memorized and verbally transmitted with "unparalleled fidelity" across generations for many centuries.<ref name=Witzel2003/>{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=13{{ndash}}14}} According to Barbara West, it was probably first written down about the 3rd-century BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara A. West |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC |year=2010 |publisher=Infobase |isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7 |page=282}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Michael McDowell|author2=Nathan Robert Brown|title=World Religions at Your Fingertips|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=urcyCnUurGMC|year=2009|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-101-01469-1|page=208|access-date=12 May 2016|archive-date=20 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120022648/https://books.google.com/books?id=urcyCnUurGMC|url-status=live}}</ref> The manuscripts were made from [[Birch bark manuscript|birch bark]] or [[palm leaf manuscript|palm leaves]], which decompose and therefore were routinely copied over the generations to help preserve the text.

*[[Devanagari]] (Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal)<ref>{{cite book|author=John Collinson Nesfield|title=A Catalogue of Sanscrit MSS.: Existing in Oudh Discovered Oct.-Dec. 1874, Jan.-Sept. 1875, 1876, 1877, 1879-1885, 1887-1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4ooAAAAYAAJ |year=1893|pages=1{{ndash}}27}}</ref><ref>[http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/india_rigveda.pdf Rigvedasamhita, Rigvedasamhita-Padapatha and Rigvedasamhitabhashya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113122721/http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/india_rigveda.pdf |date=13 November 2020 }}, Memory of the World Register, UNESCO (2006), page 2, Quote: "One manuscript written on birch bark is in the ancient Sharada script and the remaining 29 manuscripts are written in the Devanagari script. All the manuscripts are in Sanskrit language."</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Julius Eggeling| title=Vedic manuscripts (Catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the library of the India office: Part 1 of 7)| year= 1887|oclc= 492009385 | publisher = India Office, London|url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.344907/page/n13}}</ref>

*[[Grantha script|Grantha]] (Tamil Nadu)<ref>{{cite book|author=Arthur Coke Burnell|title=Catalogue of a Collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts|url=https://archive.org/details/b30094288|year=1869|publisher=Trübner|pages=[https://archive.org/details/b30094288/page/5 5]{{ndash}}8}}</ref><ref>A copy of the ''Rigveda'' samhita Books 1 to 3 in [[Tamil-Grantha script]] is preserved at the Cambridge University Sanskrit Manuscript Library (MS Or.2366). This ''talapatra'' palm leaf manuscript was likely copied sometime between mid-18th and late-19th-century. [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-OR-02366 Ṛgveda Saṃhitā (MS Or.2366)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007184445/https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-OR-02366 |date=7 October 2019 }}, University of Cambridge, UK</ref>

*[[Sharada script|Sharada]] (Kashmir){{sfn|Witzel|1997|p=284}}<ref>[http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/india_rigveda.pdf Rigvedasamhita, Rigvedasamhita-Padapatha and Rigvedasamhitabhashya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113122721/http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/india_rigveda.pdf |date=13 November 2020 }}, Memory of the World Register, UNESCO (2006), page 3, Quote: "A particularly important manuscript in this collection is the one from Kashmir, written on birch bark, in the Sharada script (No. 5/1875-76)."</ref>

==== Monism debate ====

|source =—''Rigveda'' 10.129 (Abridged, Tr: Kramer / Christian)<ref name=3translations>*Original Sanskrit: [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१२९ Rigveda 10.129] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525145645/https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6%3A_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82_%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A6.%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A8%E0%A5%AF |date=25 May 2017 }} Wikisource;

*'''Translation 1''': {{cite book|author=F. Max Müller|title=A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature|date=1859|publisher=Williams and Norgate, London|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofancient00mluoft#page/564/mode/2up|pages=559{{ndash}}565|author-link=Max Müller |ref=none}}

*'''Translation 2''': {{cite book|author=Kenneth Kramer|title=World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions|url=https://archive.org/details/worldscripturesi0000kram|url-access=registration|date=1986|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-2781-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldscripturesi0000kram/page/21 21] |ref=none}}

*'''Translation 3''': {{cite book|author=David Christian|title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History|url=https://archive.org/details/mapstimeintroduc00chri_515|url-access=limited|date=2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-95067-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mapstimeintroduc00chri_515/page/n45 17]{{ndash}}18 |ref=none}}

*'''Translation 4''': {{cite book |author=Robert N. Bellah |title=Religion in Human Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qTDKxrLRzp8C |year=2011 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-06309-9 |pages=510{{ndash}}511 |ref=none}}</ref> This hymn is one of the roots of [[Hindu philosophy]].<ref>GJ Larson, RS Bhattacharya and K Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-691-60441-1}}, pp. 5{{ndash}}6, 109{{ndash}}110, 180</ref>}}

|Rigveda 1.164.46|Translated by Ralph Griffith<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_1/Hymn_164 |title=The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 164 – Wikisource, the free online library |website=En.wikisource.org |date=14 April 2012 |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-date=6 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506235352/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_1/Hymn_164 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=phillipshenoth/>}}

|Sāyaṇācārya a Sanskrit scholar wrote a treatise on the Vedas in the book Vedartha Prakasha (Meaning of Vedas made as a manifest).  The ''Rigveda'' Samhita is available here. This book was translated from Sanskrit to English by Max Müller in the year 1856.  H.H.Wilson also translated this book into English as ''Rigveda Sanhita'' in the year 1856.

[[File:1500-1200 BCE, Vivaha sukta, Rigveda 10.85.16-27, Sanskrit, Devanagari, manuscript page.jpg|thumb|The hymn 10.85 of the ''Rigveda'' includes the Vivaha-sukta (above). Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals.<ref>N Singh (1992), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24764135 The Vivaha (Marriage) Samskara as a Paradigm for Religio-cultural Integration in Hinduism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024193736/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24764135 |date=24 October 2018 }}, Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 31{{ndash}}40</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Swami Vivekananda|title=Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJjXAAAAMAAJ|year=2005 |publisher= Prabuddha Bharata Press |pages=362, 594|isbn=9788178231808 }}</ref>]]

According to Axel Michaels, "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text."<ref>Axel Michaels (2004), ''Hinduism: Past and Present'', Princeton University Press, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PD-flQMc1ocC&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA18 p.18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504223606/https://books.google.com/books?id=PD-flQMc1ocC&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA18 |date=4 May 2023 }}; see also Julius Lipner (2012), ''Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices'', Routledge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qv3fCgAAQBAJ&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA77 p.77] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504223534/https://books.google.com/books?id=qv3fCgAAQBAJ&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA77 |date=4 May 2023 }}; and Brian K. Smith (2008), ''Hinduism'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=RIZLAwAAQBAJ&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA101 p.101] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513104317/https://books.google.com/books?id=RIZLAwAAQBAJ&dq=vedas+authority+lipservice&pg=PA101 |date=13 May 2023 }}, in Jacob Neusner (ed.), ''Sacred Texts and Authority'', Wipf and Stock Publishers.</ref> According to [[Louis Renou]], the Vedic texts are a distant object, and "even in the most orthodox domains, the reverence to the Vedas has come to be a simple raising of the hat".<ref name=pinkney/> According to Andrea Pinkney, "the social history and context of the Vedic texts are extremely distant from contemporary Hindu religious beliefs and practice", and the reverence for the Vedas in contemporary Hinduism illustrates the respect among the Hindus for their heritage.<ref name=pinkney/>

The ''Rigveda'' is considered particularly difficult to translate, owing to its length, poetic nature, the language itself, and the absence of any close contemporary texts for comparison.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=3, 76}}<ref>{{cite book|author=John J. Lowe|title=Participles in Rigvedic Sanskrit: The Syntax and Semantics of Adjectival Verb Forms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7u6BwAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870136-1|page=329}}</ref><!--Second citation discusses the complexity of the language but I can't find where it specifically says translation is difficult.--> Staal describes it as the most "obscure, distant and difficult for moderns to understand". As a result, he says, it "is often misinterpreted" – with many early translations containing straightforward errors – "or worse: used as a peg on which to hang an idea or a theory."<ref>Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, {{ISBN|978-0-14-309986-4}}, p. 107</ref><ref name=fritsstaal/> Another issue is technical terms such as ''[[mandala]]'', conventionally translated "book", but more literally rendered "cycle".<ref name=fritsstaal/><ref>A.&nbsp;A. MacDonnel (2000 print edition), ''India's Past: A Survey of Her Literatures, Religions, Languages and Antiquities'', Asian Educational Services, {{ISBN|978-81-206-0570-1}}, p. 15</ref> Karen Thomson, author of Ancient Sanskrit Online<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thomson |first1=Karen |last2=Slocum |first2=Jonathan |title=Ancient Sanskrit Online |url=http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/vedol-0-X.html |website=Linguistics Research Center |publisher=University of Texas at Austin |access-date=17 February 2023 |archive-date=16 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716044439/http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/vedol-0-X.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and editor of the Metrically Restored Text Online at the University of Texas at Austin, argues, as linguists in the nineteenth century had done ([[Max Müller|Friedrich Max Müller]], [[Rudolf von Roth]], [[William Dwight Whitney]], [[Theodor Benfey]], [[John Muir (indologist)|John Muir]], Edward Vernon Arnold), that the apparent obscurity derives from the failure to discard a mass of assumptions about ritual meaning inherited from Vedic tradition.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Karen Thomson |title=Speak for itself: how the long history of guesswork and commentary on a unique corpus of poetry has rendered it incomprehensible |journal=Times Literary Supplement |date=2016 |volume=Jan 8 |page=3 |url=http://www.rigveda.co.uk/speak-for-itself.pdf |access-date=29 January 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129154008/http://www.rigveda.co.uk/speak-for-itself.pdf |url-status=live }}(review of Jamison and Brereton, ''The Rigveda. The Earliest Religious Poetry of India''. OUP 2014)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Karen Thomson |title=A still undeciphered text: how the scientific approach to the Rigveda would open up Indo-European studies |url=http://www.rigveda.co.uk/asut1.pdf |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |date=2009 |volume=37 |pages=1–47 |access-date=30 January 2022 |archive-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111133326/http://www.rigveda.co.uk/asut1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Translations have since been made in several languages, including French and Russian.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=19{{ndash}}20}} [[Karl Friedrich Geldner]] completed the first scholarly translation in the 1920s, which was published after his death.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=19{{ndash}}20}} Translations of shorter cherrypicked anthologies have also been published, such as those by [[Wendy Doniger]] in 1981 and Walter Maurer in 1986, although Jamison and Brereton say they "tend to create a distorted view" of the text.{{sfn|Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|2014|pp=19{{ndash}}20}} In 1994, Barend A. van Nooten and Gary B. Holland published the first attempt to restore the entirety of the ''Rigveda'' to its poetic form, systematically identifying and correcting sound changes and [[sandhi]] combinations which had distorted the original [[Metre (poetry)|metre]] and meaning.<ref>B. van Nooten and G. Holland, Rig Veda. A metrically restored text. Cambridge: Harvard Oriental Series 1994</ref><ref>Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum (2006). Online edition of van Nooten and Holland's metrically restored text, University of Texas. https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/rigveda/RV00 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704153945/https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/rigveda/RV00 |date=4 July 2022 }}</ref>

| ''[http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/11/hymns_to_the_mystic_fire_eng.pdf Rig Veda – Hymns to the Mystic Fire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908000134/http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/11/hymns_to_the_mystic_fire_eng.pdf |date=8 September 2014 }}''

|''[https://archive.org/details/RigvedaSamhithaAsthanaMahavidvanHPVenkataRao RigVeda Samhita]''

| ''[http://www.vedicgranth.org/home/the-great-authors/mr-jambunathan/veda Rig Veda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908000106/http://www.vedicgranth.org/home/the-great-authors/mr-jambunathan/veda |date=8 September 2014 }}''

| [[Stephanie W. Jamison]] and Joel P. Brereton

{{refn|group=note|name="dating"|It is certain that the hymns of the Rig Veda post-date [[Proto-Indo-Iranian|Indo-Iranian]] separation of {{Circa|2000&nbsp;BCE}} and probably that of the relevant Mitanni documents of {{circa}} 1400&nbsp;BCE.  Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium:

* [[Max Müller]]: "the hymns of the Rig-Veda are said to date from 1500 B.C."<ref>{{cite book |last=Müller |first=F. Max |date=1883 |title=India: What Can It Teach Us? |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |page=202 |url={{GBurl|DLQIAAAAQAAJ|p=202}} }}</ref>

* {{harvnb|Witzel|1995|p=4}} mentions {{circa}} 1500{{ndash}}1200&nbsp;BCE. According to {{harvnb|Witzel|1997|p=263}}, the whole Rig Vedic period may have lasted from c. 1900&nbsp;BCE to c. 1200&nbsp;BCE: "the bulk of the RV represents only 5 or 6 generations of kings (and of the contemporary poets) of the Pūru and Bharata tribes. It contains little else before and after this "snapshot" view of contemporary Rgvedic history, as reported by these contemporary "tape recordings." On the other hand, the whole Rgvedic period may have lasted even up to 700 years, from the infiltration of the Indo-Aryans into the subcontinent, c. 1900&nbsp;B.C. (at the utmost, the time of collapse of the Indus civilization), up to c. 1200&nbsp;B.C., the time of the introduction of iron which is first mentioned in the clearly post-gvedic hymns of the Atharvaveda."}}

* {{cite book |title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India |translator1=Stephanie W. Jamison |translator2=Joel P. Brereton |url={{Google books|1-PRAwAAQBAJ|plainurl=yes}} |year=2014 |volume=1–3 |place=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-937018-4 }}

** {{cite book|author1=Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|author2=Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India|series=3-volume set|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-937018-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ}}

** {{cite book|author1=Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.)|author2=Joel P. Brereton (tr.)|title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India|volume=1|year=2014a|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972078-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-PRAwAAQBAJ}}

* {{Citation | last =Sri Aurobindo | year =1998 | title =The Secret of veda | publisher =Sri Aurobindo Ashram press | url =https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Secret-Of-The-Veda-Aurobindo.pdf | access-date =27 July 2020 | archive-date =22 September 2020 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200922103348/https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Secret-Of-The-Veda-Aurobindo.pdf | url-status =live }}

* [[Sri Aurobindo]], ''Hymns to the Mystic Fire'' (Commentary on the Rig Veda), Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin {{ISBN|0-914955-22-5}} [http://www.mountainman.com.au/rghmf_00.html Rig Veda - Hymns to the Mystic Fire - Sri Aurobindo - INDEX] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406165021/http://www.mountainman.com.au/rghmf_00.html |date=6 April 2016 }}

*{{cite book| author=Harold G. Coward| title=The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter)| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEj6wRqeRAC| year=1990| publisher=Princeton University Press| isbn=978-81-208-0426-5}}

* {{cite book|author=George Erdosy|title=The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6ZRShEIFwMC|year=1995|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-014447-5}}

* {{Citation |last=Witzel |first=Michael |year=1995 |title=Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state |journal=EJVS |volume=1 |issue=4 |url=http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220153727/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf |archive-date=20 February 2012 }}

* {{citation |last=Witzel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Witzel |chapter=The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu |editor=Michael Witzel |title=Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas |year=1997 |series=Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora |volume=2 |pages=257{{ndash}}348 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |chapter-url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf |access-date=22 September 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804151138/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf |url-status=live }}

* {{cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Witzel|year=2003|title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=978-0-631-21535-6|editor=Flood, Gavin|chapter=Vedas and Upanisads|url=https://archive.org/details/blackwellcompani00floo|url-access=limited}}

 

 

 

 

*[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/GRAScan/2014/web/webtc2/index.php Rigvedic Dictionary by Hermann Grassmann] (online database, uni-koeln.de)