STANZAS OF PRAISE

Indian tradition believes that Rig Veda was not created by any human nor conceived by any deity, but pre-existed from eternity and was arranged in its present shape by Vyasa.

What the books contain

The oldest of the Vedic Samhitas Rig Veda consists of hymns, and these hymns are ascribed to various rishis or seers, and addressed to a variety of devatas or gods. The Samhita served purely utilitarian purposes – these ancient hymns was propitiating the gods by praise accompanying the offering of melted butter placed on the sacrificial grass. It is in fact a prayer book whose explanation ought not to be undertaken without reference to definite occasion and definite practice that is why for many centuries it was orally translated from generation to generation by means of elaborate and complicated mnemonic devices. The main body of the Rig Veda collection, the family books, represents in all probability the prayer of different priestly families on the same or similar occasion or in connection with the same or similar sacrifice, i.e. the hymns ‘are the sacrifice to the gods treated in a poetic manner.’ By far the greatest number of hymns in the Rig Veda collection are devoted to Indira; King of the gods, a deity connected with storms and rain who holds the thunderbolt and Agni; the god of fire. The rest of the hymns are devoted to an array of gods like Mitra, Varuna, Savitri, Soma and Ashvins. A number of goddess are mentioned in the Rig Veda, most frequent being Usha; goddess of the dawn, and Aditi; the mother of the gods.

Mistaken notion corrected

There was a time when some scholars erroneously believed that – ‘the poets of the Rig Veda were supposed to be simple sons of nature – awe struck and reverent, they were supposed to be pondering, without ulterior motive of any kind, the meaning of day and night; of dawn, sun and moon; of sky, thunder and lightning; of atmosphere and wind; of earth and fire. This gathering of more than a thousand hymns was viewed as a historical collection. In actual fact the language of Rig Veda is a priestly, very high literary speech. And is based upon a very old popular dialect, into which the poets, to serve their own needs, have introduced many new words and speech form. For instance, the great liking of the hieratic language for verbs derived from nouns, called denominative or denominal verbs, surrounds the style of Rig Veda Samhita with an air of archaic, for example, a poet refers to say ’give battle’ rather than ‘fight’ or ‘cultivate the gods’ rather than ‘be pious’ or ‘show a kind disposition’ rather than ‘be friendly’ etc.

External arrangement

The Rig veda Samhita consists of 1,017 hymns or if counting eleven other of the Eighth Book, the total stands at 1,028 hymns, which contains a total of about 10,600 stanzas – the shortest hymn has only one stanza, while the longest has fifty eight stanzas. There are two ways of dividing the contents of the Rig Veda: one into Ashtakas, Adhyayas and Vargas, and the other into Mandalas, Anuvakas and Suktas. In the first type of division – Rig Veda Samhita is divided into eight Ashtakas, each Ashtakas consists  of eight Adhyayas and each Adhyaya consists of several Vargas; a Vargas being usually made up of five verses; sometimes more or less. This division is mechanical and comparatively modern. The other division – has ten Mandalas: ‘the first Mandala contain twenty four Anuvakas or sections, the second Mandala contain four Anuvakas, the third and the fourth Mandala contains of five Anuvakas each, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh Mandala contains six Mandalas each, the eighth Mandala contain ten Anuvakas, the ninth Mandala contain seven Anuvakas, and the tenth Mandala contain twelve Anuvakas. Further each Anuvakas consist of a number of hymns, not the same for all and each hymns is made up of a number of verses. It is important to remember that each sukta has a seer, a deity and a metre without the knowledge of which neither the meaning of a hymn can be properly understood nor can the hymn be efficiently applied. The Mandala from two to seven is homogenous in character and arrangement: each of them ascribed to one Rishi or one family of Rishis, and a definite principle prevailing in the sequence of the hymns, i.e. as a rule, the first group of hymns in each of these Mandalas is addressed to Agni, and the second is addressed to Indra, and then the rest of miscellaneous deities. There is also the arrangement of the hymns in each of the groups proceeds on the principle that every following hymn has a less number of verses than the preceding one; with a very few exceptions of hymns about whose character there is some doubt.’ The individual Mandalas namely one, eight, nine and ten have different principles underlying them: ‘the Kanva family predominates amongst its Rishis in Mandala eight. In the ninth Mandala all the hymns are addressed to one deity; Pavamana Soma. The Rishis of Mandala eight and that of Mandalas two and seven are the same, so it may be probable that all the Soma hymns of the Rishis of books two and seven were taken out and collected together into one separate book. In regards to metre: the hymns 1-67 are in Gayatri metre, 68-86 in Jagati metre, 87-87 in Trishtup metre and the rest 98-144 in other metres. The tenth Mandala is an aggregate of supplementary hymns showing their familiarity with the first nine books. The only unity which connects the different hymns of the Mandala is chronological, i.e. we find a series of collection arranged in the descending order of the number of hymns in each. The Mandala one contain fourteen groups each ascribed to one common Rishi, and having hymns arranged with regard to the deities, their showing the same principles of arrangement as characterizes Mandala two to seven.’              

Gods

The gods stated in the Rig Veda collection; thirty three in numbers, are divided into three groups of eleven distributed in earth, air and heaven. The celestial gods are Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra, Surya, Savitr, Pusan, Ashvins and the goddess Usha, Dawn and Ratri. The atmospheric gods are Indra, Apam napat, Rudra, Maruts, Vayu, Parjanya and the Waters. And the terrestrial gods are Prthivi, Agni and Soma. There gods were conceived as human in appearance: their body parts are in many instances simply figurative illustrations of the phenomena of nature represented by them - so the arms of the Sun are his rays, the tongue and the limbs of Agni are his flames. Some of the gods appear equipped as warriors, especially Indra, while others like Agni and Brhaspati are described as priests. The gods of the Rig Veda Samhita regulate the order of nature and vanquish the potent power of evil and hold sway over all creatures; no one can thwart their ordinance or live beyond the time they are appointed and the fulfillment of desires is dependent on them. The gods are benevolent beings who bestow prosperity on mankind; with the exception of Rudra. There gods are described as ‘true,’ ‘not deceitful,’ ‘being friend’ and ‘protectors’ of the honest and righteous, but punishing sin and guilt. Goddess play a significant part in the Rig Veda, the important ones are Usha, Sarasvati and Aranyani; the goddess of forest. The Demons often mentioned in the hymns of the Rig Veda Samhita are of two kinds: higher or more powerful and lower class of demons. The higher demons are the aerial foes of gods and the conflict is regularly one between a single god and a single demon, for example, Indra and Vrtra. Another important demon is Vala; the personified cave of the cows, which he guards and which are set free by Indra and his allies; the Angirases. Other adversaries of Indra are Arbuda, described as a beast, whose cows Indra drove out. And the second and lower class of demons are terrestrial goblins, enemies of men, called Raksas.             

People thoughts and living conditions

The Rig Veda Samhita contains hymns that throw light on the earliest thought and civilization of India, the note worthy mentions: long wedding hymns, and the five funeral hymns, in which four of the hymns concerns of the future life and the last gives information about the funeral customs.  The hymns contains may mythological dialogues between divine beings, in some case, the two speakers are humans, for example, a dialogue between a mortal lover Puraravas and the celestial nymph Urvasi, who is on the verge of forsaking him. There are also hymns in which ‘a gambler laments the misery he has brought on himself and his home by his inability to resist the attraction of the dice.’ Other hymns describe ways in which men follow gain or praise wise speech or the value of good deeds. About half a dozen consists of speculation on the origin of the world through the agency of a creator, called by many names, as distinct from any of the ordinary gods – is the starting point of the evolution philosophy. From the geographical stand point Rig Veda Samhita mentions numerous rivers. There are hymns that narrates of many wars and mentions many victories over their foes; aborigines. The hymns further gives information  - that they were still moving forward  as conquers and also mentions of various obstacles that fall along the way.’ The Samhita says ‘people though divided into many tribes, they are consciousness of religious and racial unity, contrasting the aborigines with themselves by calling them non sacrificers and unbelievers, as well as black skins and the Dasa colour as opposed to the Aryan colour.’ Regarding family structure Rig Veda collection mentions ‘with the father as its head, and was also the basis of society, and that women held a free and more honored position; than the later Vedic period.’ Hymns also mention various crimes like robbery; especially of cattle and debt; especially as result of gambling. Clothing consisted of upper and lower garment made of sheep wool, and ornaments like bracelets, anklets, necklaces and earrings are mentioned. Food consists of milk, clarified butter, grain, vegetables and fruit- meat was eaten only when animals were sacrificed: the commonest kind appears to have been beef, as bulls were the chief offerings to the gods. Soma and Sura were the two kinds of liquor; Soma was drunk at religious ceremonies, while Sura was used as ordinary occasions.  One of the chief occupations was warfare, and the ordinary weapons were bows and arrows. Cattle breeding appear to have been the main source of livelihood: cows being the chief object of desire in prayers to the gods. Agriculture was also practiced in some extent with fields being furrowed with a plough drawn by bulls. Wild animals were trapped and snared or hunted with bows and arrows, occasionally with the aid of dogs. Boats propelled by paddles were employed, mainly for the purpose of crossing rivers. Music was also a source of amusement with dancing chiefly practiced by women, and the major musical instrument used were – the drum, the flute; vana and the lute; vina.     

The necessity to study

The study of Rig Veda Samhita is necessary for a right understanding of India and his history – ‘Indian civilization from times of old down to the present day is one homogeneous whole and some elements peculiarly Indian have been so indissolubly associated therewith, that even our ancestors of the Vedic times, were to rise up once more today, they will have many things in us which they may easily recognize.’ If it was asked what that unifying principle is which runs through all the several aspects of Indian life and temperament, we reply, it is the influence the Veda and the Vedic Age which has permeated all strata of India and which is seen in every little act of our – whether it is religion, philosophy, morals, literature or social habits. One more reason for the study of Rig Veda collection is that ‘in addition to the history of India, it is essential for the history of the world.’ The study of the hymns is also important form the point of view if the science of language ‘Sanskrit language has played in the domain of the science of language, as it has been regarded as a language even older and more primitive than Greek and Latin. And Sanskrit enables us to have glimpses into the life and manners of very old generation – the Sanskrit language is today what it was exactly in the days of Panini, without any change of from or of significance of words: the only exception is in the case of Vedic idioms.         

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