Rigveda
Rigveda | |
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Devanāgarī, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction (śrīgaṇéśāyanamaḥ oṁ), the first line has the first pada, RV 1.1.1a (agniṃ iḷe puraḥ-hitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvijaṃ). The pitch-accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red. | |
Information | |
Religion | Hinduism |
Language | Vedic Sanskrit |
Period | c. 1500–1000 BCE[note 1] |
Chapters | 10 mandalas |
Verses | 10,552 mantras[1] |
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Hindu scriptures and texts |
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The Rigveda or Rig Veda (
The Rigveda is the oldest known
The text is layered, consisting of the Samhita, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads.[note 3] The Rigveda Samhita is the core text and is a collection of 10 books (maṇḍalas) with 1,028 hymns (sūktas) in about 10,600 verses (called ṛc, eponymous of the name Rigveda). In the eight books – Books 2 through 9 – that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, rites required to earn the favour of the gods,[17] and rituals, as well as praise deities.[18][19] The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions,[19] virtues such as dāna (charity) in society,[20] questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine,[21][22] and other metaphysical issues in their hymns.[23]
Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu prayer and celebration of
Dating and historical context
Dating
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.
The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late
Historical and societal context
The Rigveda is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For this reason, it was in the center of attention of
The Rigveda offers no direct evidence of social or political systems in the Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite.
The Rigvedic hymns mention
Some of the names of
The earliest texts were composed in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, and the more philosophical later texts were most likely composed in or around the region that is the modern era state of Haryana.[42]
Text
Composition
The "family books" (2–7) 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 Bharata and Pūru kings.[49]
Tradition associates a rishi (the composer) with each ṛc (verse) of the Rigveda. Most sūktas are attributed to single composers;[note 5] for each of them the Rigveda includes a lineage-specific āprī hymn (a special sūkta of rigidly formulaic structure, used for rituals). In all, 10 families of rishis account for more than 95 per cent of the ṛcs.
Book | Clan | Region[49] |
---|---|---|
Mandala 2 | Gṛtsamāda | NW, Punjab |
Mandala 3 | Viśvāmitra |
Punjab, Sarasvatī |
Mandala 4 | Vāmadeva | NW, Punjab |
Mandala 5 | Atri | NW → Punjab → Yamunā |
Mandala 6 | Bharadvāja | NW, Punjab, Sarasvati; → Gaṅgā |
Mandala 7 | Vasiṣṭha |
Punjab, Sarasvati; → Yamunā |
Mandala 8 | Kaṇva and Āṅgirasa |
NW, Punjab |
Collection and organisation
The codification of the Rigveda took place late in the Rigvedic or rather in the early post-Rigvedic period at c. 1200 BCE, by members of the early
The fixing of the Vedic chant (by enforcing regular application of sandhi) and of the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi out of the earlier metrical text), occurred during the later Brahmana period, in roughly the 6th century BCE.[55]
The surviving form of the Rigveda is based on an early
(termed orthoepische Diaskeuase by Oldenberg, 1888).Organisation
Mandalas
The text is organized in ten "books", or maṇḍalas ("circles"), of varying age and length.[56] The "family books", mandalas 2–7, 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.[57][58]
The hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a particular deity: Agni comes first, Indra comes second, and so on. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi (sage) and his family of students.[59] 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.[60][61] The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format.[57]
The
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. 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.[62] 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.[57]
Hymns and prosody
Each mandala consists of hymns or sūktas (.
The sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc ("praise", pl. ṛcas), which are further analysed into units of verse called
The hymns of the Rigveda are in different poetic metres in Vedic Sanskrit. The
Meter[note 8] | Rigvedic verses[66] |
---|---|
Gayatri | 2451 |
Ushnih | 341 |
Anushtubh | 855 |
Brihati | 181 |
Pankti | 312 |
Trishtubh | 4253 |
Jagati | 1348 |
Atigagati | 17 |
Sakvari | 19 |
Atisakvari | 9 |
Ashti | 6 |
Atyashti | 84 |
Dhriti | 2 |
Atidhriti | 1 |
Ekapada | 6 |
Dvipada | 17 |
Pragatha Barhata | 388 |
Pragatha Kakubha | 110 |
Mahabarhata | 2 |
Total | 10402 |
Transmission
As with the other Vedas, the redacted text has been handed down in several versions, including the
The Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the text's true meaning,
It is unclear as to when the Rigveda was first written down. The oldest surviving manuscripts have been discovered in Nepal and date to c. 1040 CE.[3][68] According to Witzel, the Paippalada Samhita tradition points to written manuscripts c. 800–1000 CE.[69] The Upanishads were likely in the written form earlier, about mid-1st millennium CE (Gupta Empire period).[28][70] Attempts to write the Vedas may have been made "towards the end of the 1st millennium BCE". The early attempts may have been unsuccessful given the Smriti rules that forbade the writing down the Vedas, states Witzel.[28] The oral tradition continued as a means of transmission until modern times.[71]
Recensions
Several shakhas (from skt. śākhā f. "branch", i. e. "recension") of the Rig Veda are known to have existed in the past. Of these, Śākala Śākhā (named after the scholar Śākalya) is the only one to have survived in its entirety. Another śākhā that may have survived is the Bāṣkala, although this is uncertain.[72][73][74]
The surviving padapāṭha version of the Rigveda text is ascribed to Śākalya.
In the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, the 1028 hymns of the Rigveda contain a total of 10,552 ṛcs, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives the number of syllables to be 432,000,[80] 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
- 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 Pratisakhya. Very similar to Śākala, with a few additional verses; might have derived from or merged with it.
Shakha | Samhita | Brahmana | Aranyaka | Upanishad |
---|---|---|---|---|
Shaakala | Shaakala Samhita | Aitareya Brahmana | Aitareya Aranyaka | Aitareya Upanishad |
Baashkala | Kaushitaki Samhita | Kaushitaki Brahmana | Manuscript exists | Kaushitaki Upanishad |
Shankhayana | Sankhayana Samhita | Shankhayana Brahmana | Shankhyana Aranyaka | edited as a part of the Aranyaka |
Manuscripts
The Rigveda hymns were composed and preserved by
Versions
There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of Rigveda at the
Of these thirty manuscripts, nine contain the samhita text, five have the
Müller used 24 manuscripts then available to him in Europe, while the 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.[86][full citation needed]
Scripts
Rigveda manuscripts in paper, palm leaves and birch bark form, either in full or in portions, have been discovered in the following Indic scripts:
- Devanagari (Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal)[87][88][89]
- Grantha (Tamil Nadu)[90][91]
- Malayalam (Kerala)[92]
- Nandinagari (South India)[93]
- Sharada (Kashmir)[94][95]
Comparison
The various 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 eighth mandala, for a total of 1028 metrical hymns. The Bāṣakala version of 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 have about 10,600 verses, organized into ten Books (Mandalas).[96][97] 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.[97]
The first mandala is the largest, with 191 hymns and 2006 verses, and it was added to the text after Books 2 through 9. The last, or the 10th Book, also has 191 hymns but 1754 verses, making it the second largest. The language analytics suggest the 10th Book, chronologically, was composed and added last.[97] The content of the 10th Book also suggest that the authors knew and relied on the contents of the first nine books.[97]
The Rigveda is the largest of the four Vedas, and many of its verses appear in the other Vedas.[98] Almost all of the 1875 verses found in Samaveda are taken from different parts of the Rigveda, either once or as repetition, and rewritten in a chant song form. Books 8 and 9 of the Rigveda are by far the largest source of verses for Sama Veda. Book 10 contributes the largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda, or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text.[97] A bulk of 1875 ritual-focussed verses of Yajurveda, in its numerous versions, also borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.[98][99]
Contents
Altogether the Rigveda consists of:
- the Samhita (hymns to the deities, the oldest part of the Rigveda)
- the Brahmanas, commentaries on the hymns
- the Aranyakas or "forest books"
- the Upanishads
In western usage, "Rigveda" usually refers to the Rigveda Samhita, while the Brahmanas are referred to as the "Rigveda Brahmanas" (etc.). Technically speaking, however, "the Rigveda" refers to the entire body of texts transmitted along with the Samhita portion. Different bodies of commentary were transmitted in the different shakhas or "schools". Only a small portion of these texts has been preserved: The texts of only two out of five shakhas mentioned by the Rigveda Pratishakhya have survived. The late (15th or 16th century) Shri Guru Charitra even claims the existence of twelve Rigvedic shakhas. The two surviving Rigvedic corpora are those of the Śākala and the Bāṣkala shakhas.
Hymns
The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are
- 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, 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 is dated to have been added to the Rigveda after Mandala 2 through 9, and includes the philosophical Riddle Hymn 1.164, which inspires chapters in later Upanishads such as the Mundaka.[19][100][101]
- Mandala 2 comprises 43 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. It is chiefly attributed to the Rishi gṛtsamada śaunahotra.[citation needed]
- Mandala 3 comprises 62 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra and the Vishvedevas. The verse 3.62.10 has great importance in Hinduism as the Gayatri Mantra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to viśvāmitra gāthinaḥ.[citation needed]
- Mandala 4 comprises 58 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra as well as the Rbhus, Ashvins, Brhaspati, Vayu, Usas, etc. Most hymns in this book are attributed to vāmadeva gautama.[citation needed]
- Asvins. Two hymns each are dedicated to Ushas (the dawn) and to Savitr. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the atri clan.[citation needed]
- Angirasas.[citation needed]
- Sarasvati (ancient river/goddess of learning) and Vishnu, and to others. Most hymns in this book are attributed to vasiṣṭha maitravaruṇi.[citation needed]
- Mandala 8 comprises 103 hymns to various gods. Hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are the apocryphal vālakhilya. Hymns 1–48 and 60–66 are attributed to the kāṇva clan, the rest to other (Angirasa) poets.[citation needed]
- Mandala 9 comprises 114 hymns, entirely devoted to Soma Pavamana, the cleansing of the sacred potion of the Vedic religion.[citation needed]
- Grhyarituals.
Rigveda Brahmanas
Of the Brahmanas 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, namely those of the Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The
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 30 chapters (adhyaya); while the Aitareya has 40, divided into eight books (or pentads, pancaka), of five chapters each. The last 10 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 (c. 5th century BCE), if, as seems probable, one of his grammatical sutras, regulating the formation of the names of Brahmanas, consisting of 30 and 40 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.[citation needed]
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 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 of Sankhayana (composed) in accordance with the views of Kaushitaki.[citation needed]
Rigveda Aranyakas and Upanishads
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 Aitareya Upanishad,[103] 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 first, fifth, and third books of the Aitareyaranyaka, respectively, whilst the four adhyayas usually inserted between them constitute the highly interesting Kaushitaki (Brahmana-) Upanishad,[104] 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.
Significance
The text is a highly stylized poetical Vedic Sanskrit with praise addressed to the Vedic gods and chieftains. Most hymns, according to Witzel, were intended to be recited at the annual New Year Soma ritual.[105] The text also includes some nonritual poetry,[105] fragments of mythology, archaic formulas, and a number of hymns with early philosophical speculations.[106] Composed by the poets of different clans, including famed Vedic rishis (sages) such as Vishvamitra and Vasishtha, these signify the power of prestige therewith to vac (speech, sound), a tradition set in place.[105] The text introduced the prized concepts such as Rta (active realization of truth, cosmic harmony) which inspired the later Hindu concept of Dharma. The Rigvedic verses formulate this Rta as effected by Brahman, a significant and non-self-evident truth.[105] The text also contains hymns of "highly poetical value" – some in dialogue form, along with love stories that likely inspired later Epic and classical poets of Hinduism, states Witzel.[106]
According to Nadkarni, several hymns of the Rigveda embed cherished virtues and ethical statements. For example, verses 5.82.7, 6.44.8, 9.113.4, 10.133.6 and 10.190.1 mention truthful speech, truthful action, self-discipline and righteousness.[107][108] Hymn 10.117 presents the significance of charity and of generosity between human beings, how helping someone in need is ultimately in the self-interest of the helper, its importance to an individual and the society.[20][109] According to Jamison and Brereton, hymns 9.112 and 9.113 poetically state, "what everyone [humans and all living beings] really want is gain or an easy life", even a water drop has a goal – namely, "simply to seek Indra". These hymns present the imagery of being in heaven as "freedom, joy and satisfaction", a theme that appears in the Hindu Upanishads to characterize their teachings of self-realization.[110]
Monism debate
While the older hymns of the Rigveda reflect sacrificial ritual typical of polytheism,[111] its younger parts, specifically mandalas 1 and 10, have been noted as containing monistic or henotheistic speculations.[111]
Nasadiya Sukta (10.129):
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 10.129 (Abridged, Tr: Kramer / Christian)[21] This hymn is one of the roots of Hindu philosophy.[112]
A widely cited example of such speculations is hymn 1.164.46:
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.
Max Müller notably introduced the term "henotheism" for the philosophy expressed here, avoiding the connotations of "monotheism" in Judeo-Christian tradition.[114][115] Other widely cited examples of monistic tendencies include hymns 1.164, 8.36 and 10.31,[116][117] Other scholars state that the Rigveda includes an emerging diversity of thought, including monotheism, polytheism, henotheism and pantheism, the choice left to the preference of the worshipper.[118] and the Nasadiya Sukta (10.129), one of the most widely cited Rigvedic hymns in popular western presentations.
Ruse (2015) commented on the old discussion of "monotheism" vs. "henotheism" vs. "monism" by noting an "atheistic streak" in hymns such as 10.130.[119]
Examples from Mandala 1 adduced to illustrate the "metaphysical" nature of the contents of the younger hymns include: 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?"; 1.164.34: "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"; 1.164.5: "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods live?"; 1.164.6: "What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?"; 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.".[23]
Reception in Hinduism
Shruti
The Vedas as a whole are classed as "
The authors of the
Sanskrit grammarians
Medieval Hindu scholarship
By the period of
According to the Puranic tradition, Ved Vyasa compiled all the four Vedas, along with the Mahabharata and the Puranas. Vyasa then taught the Rigveda samhita to Paila, who started the oral tradition.[127] An alternate version states that Shakala compiled the Rigveda from the teachings of Vedic rishis, and one of the manuscript recensions mentions Shakala.[127]
A number of other commentaries (bhāṣyas) were written during the medieval period, including the commentaries by Skandasvamin (pre-Sayana, roughly of the
Some notable commentaries from Medieval period include:
Title | Commentary | Year | Language | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rig Bhashyam | Madhvacharya | 1285 | Sanskrit | Commentary on the first 40 hymns of the Rigveda. The original book has been translated into English by Prof.K.T. Pandurangi accessible here |
Rigveda Samhita | Sāyaṇācārya | 1360 | Sanskrit | 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. |
Arya Samaj and Aurobindo movements
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, reformers like
According to Dayananda and Aurobindo the Vedic scholars had a monotheistic conception.[130] Sri Aurobindo gave commentaries, general interpretation guidelines, and a partial translation in The secret of Veda (1946).[note 11] Sri Aurobindo finds Sayana's interpretation to be ritualistic in nature, and too often having inconsistent interpretations of Vedic terms, trying to fit the meaning to a narrow mold. According to Aurobindo, if Sayana's interpretation were to be accepted, it would seem as if the Rig Veda belongs to an unquestioning tradition of faith, starting from an original error.[131] Aurobindo attempted to interpret hymns to Agni in the Rigveda as mystical.[130] 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.[130]
Contemporary Hinduism
The 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
According to Axel Michaels, "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text."[136] 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".[134] 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.[134]
Hindu nationalism
The Rig Veda plays a role in the modern construction of a Hindu identity, portraying Hindus as the original inhabitants of India. The Rigveda has been referred to in the "
Translations
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.[142][143] 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."[144][120] Another issue is technical terms such as mandala, conventionally translated "book", but more literally rendered "cycle".[120][145] Karen Thomson, author of a series of revisionary word studies[146] and editor of the Metrically Restored Text Online at the University of Texas at Austin, argues, as linguists in the nineteenth century had done (Friedrich Max Müller, Rudolf von Roth, William Dwight Whitney, Theodor Benfey, 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.[147][148]
The first published translation of any portion of the Rigveda in any European language was into Latin, by
Translations have since been made in several languages, including French and Russian.[149] Karl Friedrich Geldner completed the first scholarly translation in the 1920s, which was published after his death.[149] 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.[149] 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 and meaning.[153][154]
Some notable translations of the Rig Veda include:
Title | Commentary/Translation | Year | Language | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rigvedae specimen | Friedrich August Rosen[149] | 1830 | Latin | Partial translation with 121 hymns (London, 1830). Also known as Rigveda Sanhita, Liber Primus, Sanskrite Et Latine ( ISBN 978-1-275-45323-4). Based on manuscripts brought back from India by Henry Thomas Colebrooke .
|
Rig-Veda, oder die heiligen Lieder der Brahmanen | Max Müller[149] | 1849 | German | Partial translation published by W. H. Allen and Co., London, and later F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig. In 1873, Müller published an editio princeps titled The Hymns of the Rig-Veda in the Samhita Text. He also translated a few hymns in English (Nasadiya Sukta). |
Ṛig-Veda-Sanhitā: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Hymns | H. H. Wilson[149] | 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 Deva Vidya Martanda (1974). |
The Hymns of the Rig Veda | Ralph T.H. Griffith[149]
|
1889–92 | English | Revised as The Rig Veda in 1896. Revised by J. L. Shastri in 1973. Griffith's philology was outdated even in the 19th-century and questioned by scholars.[149] |
Der Rigveda in Auswahl | Karl Friedrich Geldner[149] | 1907 | German | Published by ISBN 0-674-01226-7 .
|
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[149] | 1940s–1960s | English | Partial translation (Mandala 2, 5, 7 and 8). Later published as independent volumes. |
Rig Veda – Hymns to the Mystic Fire Archived 8 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine | Sri Aurobindo | 1946 | English | Partial translation published by N. K. Gupta, Pondicherry. Later republished several times ( ISBN 978-0-914955-22-1 )
|
RigVeda Samhita | Pandit H.P. Venkat Rao, LaxmanAcharya and a couple of other Pandits | 1947 | Kannada | Sources from Saayana Bhashya, SkandaSvami Bhashya, Taittareya Samhita, Maitrayini Samhita and other Samhitas. The Kannada translation work was commissioned by Maharaja of Mysore Jayachama Rajendra Wodeyar. The translations were compiled into 11 volumes. |
Rig Veda | Ramgovind Trivedi | 1954 | Hindi | |
Études védiques et pāṇinéennes | Louis Renou[149] | 1955–69 | French | Appears in a series of publications, organized by the deities. Covers most of the Rigveda, but leaves out significant hymns, including the ones dedicated to Indra and the Asvins. |
ऋग्वेद संहिता | Shriram Sharma | 1950s | Hindi | |
Hymns from the Rig-Veda | Naoshiro Tsuji | 1970 | Japanese | Partial translation |
Rigveda: Izbrannye Gimny | Tatyana Elizarenkova[149] | 1972 | Russian | Partial translation, extended to a full translation published during 1989–1999. |
Rigveda Parichaya | Nag Sharan Singh | 1977 | English / Hindi | Extension of Wilson's translation. Republished by Nag, Delhi in 1990 ( ISBN 978-81-7081-217-3 ).
|
Rig Veda Archived 8 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine | M. R. Jambunathan | 1978–80 | Tamil | Two volumes, both released posthumously. |
Rigvéda – Teremtéshimnuszok (Creation 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 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 appears as an Appendix.
|
Rigved Subodh Bhasya | Pandit Shripad Damodar Satwalekar | 1985 | Hindi, Marathi | Given meaning of each word/words, then gave the bhava-arth. Published by Swadhyay Mandal. |
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 978-0-8364-2778-3 ). The work is in verse form, without reference to the original hymns or mandalas. Part of Great Epics of India: Veda series, also published as The Holy Vedas.
|
The Holy Vedas: A Golden Treasury | Pandit Satyakam Vidyalankar | 1983 | English | |
Ṛgveda Saṃhitā | H. H. 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 text in Devanagari script, along with a critical 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 ).
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ऋग्वेद | Govind Chandra Pande | 2008 | Hindi | Partial translation (Mandala 3 and 5). Published by Lokbharti, Allahabad |
The 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.[155]
|
Rigveda Samhita | Prasanna Chandra Gautam | 2014, 2016 | English, Hindi | Sanskrit Text with Word To Word Meaning and English Translation and Hindi Translation (with Mahesh Chandra Gautam). Also contains Essence of a verse. |
See also
- Keśin – Ascetic wanderer with mystical powers described in the Vedic Sanskrit hymns
- Mayabheda – Sanskrit word meaning the breaching or removal of Avidya (ignorance)
Notes
- ^ Indo-Iranianseparation of c. 2000 BCE and probably that of the relevant Mitanni documents of c. 1400 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."[156]
- The EIEC (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives 1500–1000 BCE.
- Flood and Witzel both mention c. 1500–1200 BCE.[6][157]
- Anthony mentions c. 1500–1300 BCE.[7]
- Thomas Oberlies (Die Religion des Rgveda, 1998, p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets a wide range of 1700–1100 BCE.[15] Oberlies 1998, p. 155 gives an estimate of 1100 BCE for the youngest hymns in book 10.[158]
- Witzel 1995, p. 4 mentions c. 1500–1200 BCE. According to Witzel 1997, p. 263, the whole Rig Vedic period may have lasted from c. 1900 BCE to c. 1200 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 B.C. (at the utmost, the time of collapse of the Indus civilization), up to c. 1200 B.C., the time of the introduction of iron which is first mentioned in the clearly post-gvedic hymns of the Atharvaveda."
- ^ According to Edgar Polomé, the Hittite language Anitta text from the 17th century BCE is older. This text is about the conquest of Kanesh city of Anatolia. Other Hittite texts mention gods which Polomé identifies as being analogous to those mentioned in the Rigveda, such as Tarḫunna being similar to the Vedic Indra.[11]
- Kaushitaki-brahmana) Aranyakas (Aitareya-aranyaka and Kaushitaki-aranyaka), and Upanishads (partly excerpted from the Aranyakas: Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad, Aitareya-upanishad, Samhita-upanishad, Kaushitaki-upanishad).
- Tadorna ferruginea) are some birds mentioned in the Rigveda.
- ^ Semi-myphical divinely inspired maharishis are believed to have composed the Rigvedic hymns. The main contributors were Angiras, Kanva, Vasishtha, and Vishvamitra. Among the other celebrated authors are Atri, Bhrigu, Kashyapa, Gritsamada, Agastya, Bharadvaja, as well as female sages Lopamudra and Ghosha. In a few cases, more than one rishi is given, signifying lack of certainty.
- ^ 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.[52]
- ^ 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."[54]
- ^ The total number of verses and meter counts show minor variations with the manuscript.[66]
- ^ See Rig Bhashyam.
- ^ See Rigveda Samhita.
- ^ See [1]
- ^ The birch bark text from which Müller produced his translation is held at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, India.[151]
- ^ See Rigveda Samhita.
References
- ^ "Construction of the Vedas". VedicGranth.Org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- Monier-Williamstranslates Rigveda as "a Veda of Praise or Hymn-Veda".
- ^ a b c Witzel 1997, pp. 259–264.
- ISBN 978-0-595-26925-9, p. 273
- ^ a b H. Oldenberg, Prolegomena,1888, Engl. transl. New Delhi: Motilal 2004
- ^ a b c Flood 1996, p. 37.
- ^ a b c Anthony 2007, p. 454.
- ^ a b c Witzel 2019, p. 11: "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."
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 3.
- ISBN 978-1-4299-9598-6. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ISBN 978-3-11-163373-2. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Wood 2007.
- ^ Hexam 2011, p. chapter 8.
- ^ Dwyer 2013.
- ^ a b Oberlies 1998, p. 158.
- ^ Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman (2014). Science and Religion: One Planet, Many Possibilities. Routledge. p. 179.
- ISBN 978-0-393-05974-8.
- ISBN 0-7007-1049-3.
- ^ a b c Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 4, 7–9.
- ^ a b C Chatterjee (1995), Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview, Journal of Human Values, Vol 1, No 1, pp. 3–12;
Original text translated in English: The Rig Veda, Mandala 10, Hymn 117, Ralph T. H. Griffith (Translator); - ^ a b c *Original Sanskrit: Rigveda 10.129 Archived 25 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine Wikisource;
- Translation 1: F. Max Müller (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 978-0-8091-2781-8.
- 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.
- ^ Examples:
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?"
Verse 1.164.34, "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"
Verse 1.164.5, "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods live?"
Verse 1.164.6, "What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?";
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.";
Rigveda Book 1, Hymn 164 Wikisource;
See translations of these verses: Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) (2014) - ^ ISBN 978-3-447-01603-2, pp. 134–135.
- ISBN 978-0-88920-158-3. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-4833-7412-3, p. 64, Quote: "The 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda are recited at initiations, weddings and funerals...."
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Mallory 1989.
- ^ a b c d e Witzel 2003, pp. 68–69. "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 BCE. 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 have been written down only during the early second millennium CE, while some sections such as a collection of the Upanishads were perhaps written down at the middle of the first millennium, while some early, unsuccessful attempts (indicated by certain Smriti rules forbidding to write down the Vedas) may have been made around the end of the first millennium BCE".
- ^ "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 Archived 5 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 81-250-1384-9
- ^ Rigveda and River Saraswati: class.uidaho.edu Archived 5 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-19-022693-0.
- ^ 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."
- ^ 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 as Indo-Iranian is commonly accepted by scholars."
- ^ a b c d e f g Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 57–59.
- ^ a b Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 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 W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 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 must date to the late second millennium at the earliest.
- ^ a b Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 5.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 744.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 50–57.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-309986-4. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ISBN 978-3-11-042330-3.
- ^ Among others, Macdonell and Keith, and Talageri 2000, Lal 2005
- ISBN 978-3-11-081643-3., Quote (p. 99): "Although the Middle/Late Vedic periods are the earliest for which we can reconstruct a linguistic map, the situation even at the time of the Indua Civilisation and certainly during the time of the earliest texts of the Rigveda, cannot have been very different. There are clear indications that the speakers of Rigvedic Sanskrit knew, and interacted with, Dravidian and Munda speakers."
- ^ a b Witzel 1997, p. 262.
- ^ Witzel 1997, p. 261.
- ^ Witzel 1997, pp. 261–266.
- ^ a b Witzel 1997, p. 263.
- ^ Witzel 1997, p. 263-264.
- ^ Witzel 1997, p. 265.
- ^ Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1920). Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 44.
- ^ George Erdosy 1995, pp. 68–69.
- ^ from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 10–11.
- 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.
- ISBN 978-81-208-0889-8.
- ^ A history of Sanskrit Literature, Arthur MacDonell, Oxford University Press/Appleton & Co, p. 56
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 74.
- ^ a b F. Max Müller (1891). Physical Religion. Longmans & Green. pp. 373–379. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ISBN 978-81-208-1885-9.
- Benares Sanskrit Universityhas a Rigveda manuscript of the 14th century. Older palm leaf manuscripts are rare.
- ^ Witzel 1997, p. 259, footnote 7.
- ^ Wilhelm Rau (1955), Zur Textkritik der Brhadaranyakopanisad, ZDMG, 105(2), p. 58
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 18.
- ^ Witzel 2003, p. 69. "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."
- ^ Maurice Winternitz (History of 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 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 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 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 eighth 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 Rigveda (and are included in the Poone edition).
- uttaravedi: the number is motivated numerologically rather than based on an actual syllable count.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, p. 16.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 13–14.
- ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7. Archivedfrom the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-101-01469-1. Archivedfrom the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "Rigveda". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014.
- ^ cf. Editorial notes in various volumes of Pune Edition, see references.
- ^ John Collinson Nesfield (1893). A Catalogue of Sanscrit MSS.: Existing in Oudh Discovered Oct.-Dec. 1874, Jan.-Sept. 1875, 1876, 1877, 1879–1885, 1887–1890. pp. 1–27. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ Rigvedasamhita, Rigvedasamhita-Padapatha and Rigvedasamhitabhashya Archived 13 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, 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."
- OCLC 492009385.
- ^ Arthur Coke Burnell (1869). Catalogue of a Collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts. Trübner. pp. 5–8.
- 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. Ṛgveda Saṃhitā (MS Or.2366) Archived 7 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, University of Cambridge, UK
- ^ A B Keith (1920). Rigveda Brahmanas, Harvard Oriental Series, Vol 25. Harvard University Press. p. 103. Archived from the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ Colin Mackenzie; Horace Hayman Wilson (1828). Mackenzie Collection: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts and Other Articles Illustrative of the Literature, History, Statistics and Antiquities of the South of India. Asiatic Press. pp. 1–3.
- ^ Witzel 1997, p. 284.
- ^ Rigvedasamhita, Rigvedasamhita-Padapatha and Rigvedasamhitabhashya Archived 13 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, 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)."
- ^ Avari 2007, p. 77.
- ^ a b c d e James Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics at Google Books, Vol. 7, Harvard Divinity School, TT Clark, pp. 51–56
- ^ ISBN 978-0-595-26925-9, pp. 273–274
- ^ Edmund Gosse, Short histories of the literatures of the world, p. 181, at Google Books, New York: Appleton, p. 181
- ^ Robert Hume, Mundaka Upanishad, Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pp. 374–375
- ^ F. Max Müller (1884), The Upanishads, Part 2, Mundaka Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pp. 38–40
- ^ 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).
- ISBN 978-81-208-1468-4, pp. 7–14
- ISBN 978-81-208-1468-4, pp. 21–23
- ^ a b c d Witzel 2003, pp. 69–70.
- ^ a b Witzel 2003, p. 71.
- ISBN 978-0-19-908935-2. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-19-807386-4.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 1586–1587.
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 1363–1366.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-898723-93-6, pp. 38–45
- ISBN 978-0-691-60441-1, pp. 5–6, 109–110, 180
- ^ "The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 164 – Wikisource, the free online library". En.wikisource.org. 14 April 2012. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-231-14485-8, p. 401
- ISBN 978-1-932705-51-5, pp. 60–61
- ISBN 978-88-7652-155-3, pp. 229–232 with footnote 133
- ISBN 978-81-208-1149-2, pp. 11–12
- ISBN 978-1-931541-03-9, pp. 16–19
- ISBN 978-0-19-933458-2, p. 185.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-309986-4, pp. xv–xvi
- ISBN 978-0-231-13399-9, pp. 196–197
- ISBN 978-0-19-538496-3, p. 290
- ^ a b c Harold G. Coward 1990, p. 106.
- ^ Frederick M. Smith (1994), "Purāņaveda", in Laurie L. Patton (ed.), Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation, Archived 7 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine SUNY Press p. 99.
- ^ Arthur Llewellyn Basham (1989), in Kenneth G. Zysk, The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism, Archived 7 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine Oxford University Press, p. 7
- ^ Ram Gopal (1983), The History and Principles of Vedic Interpretation, Archived 7 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine Concept Publishing Company, ch.2 pp. 7–20
- ^ ISBN 978-81-8475-763-7. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ edited in 8 volumes by Vishva Bandhu, 1963–1966.
- ISBN 978-0-88920-419-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-208-0686-3
- ^ Sri Aurobindo 1998, p. 20-21.
- ^ N Singh (1992), The Vivaha (Marriage) Samskara as a Paradigm for Religio-cultural Integration in Hinduism Archived 24 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 31–40
- ISBN 9788178231808. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-63503-5, pp. 31–32
- ISBN 978-0-415-60029-3, p. 80
- ^ Axel Michaels (2004), Hinduism: Past and Present, Princeton University Press, p.18 Archived 4 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine; see also Julius Lipner (2012), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Routledge, p.77 Archived 4 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine; and Brian K. Smith (2008), Hinduism, p.101 Archived 13 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine, in Jacob Neusner (ed.), Sacred Texts and Authority, Wipf and Stock Publishers.
- ^ Kazanas, N. (2002), "Indigenous Indo-Aryans and the Rigveda", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 275–289;
Kazanas, N. (2000), "A new date for the Rgveda", in Pande, G. C. (ed.), Chronology and Indian Philosophy, special issue of the JICPR, Delhi;
Kazanas, N. D. (2001), "Indo-European Deities and the Rgveda", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 257–264,
Kazanas, ND (2003), "Final Reply", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 31, pp. 187–189 - ISBN 978-0-19-516947-8
- ISBN 978-1-4365-5691-0.
- ^ Agrawal, D. P. (2002), "Comments on 'Indigenous IndoAryans'", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 129–135;
Parpola, A. (2002), "Comments on 'Indigenous Indo-Aryans'", Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 187–191 - ISBN 978-0-7007-1463-6
- ^ Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 3, 76.
- ISBN 978-0-19-870136-1. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-14-309986-4, p. 107
- ISBN 978-81-206-0570-1, p. 15
- ^ Thomson, Karen. "The Decipherable Rigveda". Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- ^ Karen Thomson (2016). "Speak for itself: how the long history of guesswork and commentary on a unique corpus of poetry has rendered it incomprehensible" (PDF). Times Literary Supplement. Jan 8: 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.(review of Jamison and Brereton, The Rigveda. The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. OUP 2014)
- ^ Karen Thomson (2009). "A still undeciphered text: how the scientific approach to the Rigveda would open up Indo-European studies" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 37: 1–47. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.) & Joel P. Brereton (tr.) 2014, pp. 19–20.
- ^ "Rig – Veda – Sanhita – Vol.1". Dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080. 21 March 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ "Collection Items – Rig-veda-Sanhita". British Library. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ Wilson, H. H. Ṛig-Veda-Sanhitā: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Hymns. 6 vols. (London, 1850–88); reprint: Cosmo Publications (1977)
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- ^ 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 Archived 4 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ Witzel 1995, p. 4.
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Bibliography
Editions
- The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Vol. 1–3. Translated by Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton. New York: Oxford University Press. 2014. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4.
- Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.); Joel P. Brereton (tr.) (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. 3-volume set. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-937018-4. Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.); Joel P. Brereton (tr.) (2014a). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-972078-1.
- Stephanie W. Jamison (tr.); Joel P. Brereton (tr.) (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. 3-volume set. Oxford University Press.
- editio princeps: 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 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 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 based on over 60 manuscripts).
- Sri Aurobindo (1998), The Secret of veda (PDF), Sri Aurobindo Ashram press, archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2020, retrieved 27 July 2020
- ISBN 0-914955-22-5 Rig Veda – Hymns to the Mystic Fire – Sri Aurobindo – INDEX Archived 6 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Raimundo Pannikar (1972), The Vedic Experience, University of California Press
Philology
- Harold G. Coward (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians, in Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies Volume 5 (Editor: Karl Potter). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-81-208-0426-5.
- Vashishtha Narayan Jha, A Linguistic Analysis of the Rgveda-Padapatha Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi (1992).
- Bjorn Merker, Rig Veda Riddles In Nomad Perspective, Mongolian Studies, Journal of the Mongolian Society XI, 1988.
- Oberlies, Thomas (1998). Die Religion des Rgveda. Wien.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Oldenberg, Hermann (1894). Hymnen des Rigveda. 1. Teil: Metrische und textgeschichtliche Prolegomena. Berlin 1888. (please add), Wiesbaden 1982.
- —Die Religion des Veda. Berlin 1894; Stuttgart 1917; Stuttgart 1927; Darmstadt 1977
- —Vedic Hymns, The Friedrich Max Müller, Oxford 1897
- Adolf Kaegi, The Rigveda: The Oldest Literature of the Indians (trans. R. Arrowsmith), Boston, Ginn and Co. (1886), 2004 reprint: ISBN 978-1-4179-8205-9.
- Mallory, J.P.; et al. (1989). Indo-Iranian Languages in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn (published 1997).
Historical
- Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
- Avari, Burjor (2007), India: The Ancient Past, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-35616-9
- ISBN 978-0-19-513777-4.
- Dwyer, Rachel (2013), What Do Hindus Believe?, Granta Books, ISBN 978-1-84708-940-3
- Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
- George Erdosy (1995). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-014447-5.
- Hexam, Irving (2011), Understanding World Religions: An Interdisciplinary Approach, ISBN 978-0-310-31448-6
- Gregory Possehl; Michael Witzel (2002). "Vedic". In Peter N. Peregrine; Melvin Ember (eds.). 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.
- ISBN 81-7742-010-0
- Witzel, Michael (1995), "Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state" (PDF), EJVS, vol. 1, no. 4, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2012
- Witzel, Michael (1997), "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu" (PDF), in Michael Witzel (ed.), Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora, vol. 2, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 257–348, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2020, retrieved 22 September 2015
- ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
- ISBN 978-93-88292-38-2.
- Wood, Michael (2007), The Story of India Hardcover, ISBN 978-0-563-53915-5
External links
Text
- The Rig Veda The complete Rig Veda in English translation at holybooks.com
- Devanagari and transliteration experimental online text at: sacred-texts.com
- ITRANS, Devanagari, transliteration online text and PDF, several versions prepared by Detlef Eichler
- Transliteration, metrically restored Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine online text, at: Linguistics Research Center, Univ. of Texas
- The 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 at Internet Archive
Dictionary
- Rigvedic Dictionary by Hermann Grassmann (online database, uni-koeln.de)