The Rigveda

The Rigveda is the first of the four Vedas. The others are the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. The word veda means knowledge. A rik is a verse of praise. So the Rigveda is the “knowledge of praise verses”.

What does it hold?

It holds 1,028 hymns. A hymn is called a sukta. The hymns are grouped into ten books. Each book is called a mandala, which means “circle”. The hymns praise the gods. Priests sang them at the Soma ritual, an offering made with the juice of the Soma plant.

When was it composed?

No one can give an exact date. The oldest parts were probably made between about 1500 and 1200 BCE. The Vedas were passed down by mouth for generations before anyone wrote them.

What is the memory hook?

Rigveda: 10 books, 1,028 hymns.

The Rigveda has a tidy plan. Knowing it helps you answer many questions.

What are the units?

• The whole text is the Samhita, or collection.
• It has ten mandalas, or books.
• Each mandala is split into smaller sections called anuvakas.
• Each anuvaka holds suktas, or hymns.
• Each sukta holds verses called riks.

How big is it?

It has about 10,552 verses. A verse here is also called a mantra. Round this to about 10,500 for exams. The books differ a lot in size. Book 2 has only 43 hymns. Book 1 has 191.

What are the verse forms?

The hymns use four metres. A metre is a fixed rhythm for a line of verse. The four are Jagati, Tristubh, Anushtubh and Gayatri.

What is the memory hook?

Book, section, hymn, verse.

Not all ten books were made at the same time. Scholars can tell old from new by style and content.

What are the family books?

Books 2 to 7 are the oldest. They are called the family books. Each is linked to one family of poets. The poets are Gritsamada, Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja and Vasishtha. Inside a family book, hymns are ordered by god, then by length, then by metre.

Which books came later?

Books 1 and 10 are the youngest. Book 8 sits between. The Samaveda borrows much of its verse from book 8. Book 9 is special. All 114 of its hymns praise Soma, the sacred drink.

What makes book 10 different?

It has hymns for weddings and funerals. It has talks between two speakers, and deep questions about how the world began. This is why it feels newer than the family books.

What is the memory hook?

2 to 7 old, 1 and 10 new, 9 is Soma.

Most hymns call on gods who are forces of nature. The people asked them for rain, cattle, victory and long life.

Who are the main gods?

Indra is the warrior god and wields the thunderbolt. Agni is the fire god and carries offerings to the other gods. Mitra and Varuna guard order and promises. Soma is the god of the sacred drink.

Which goddesses appear?

Usha, the dawn, and Aditi are among them. The sun appears as Surya and as Savitr.

What is the Gayatri Mantra?

It is a famous verse in book 3, hymn 62, verse 10. It praises Savitr, the sun as a giver of light. Tradition ties the verse to the sage Vishvamitra.

What is the memory hook?

Indra fights, Agni carries, Savitr shines.

Notes often name a few hymns of book 10. Learn what each one is about.

What is the Purusha Sukta?

It is hymn 10.90. It speaks of a cosmic being called Purusha. The gods offer him in a great sacrifice. Notes treat it as an early source for the idea of the four varnas.

What is the Nasadiya Sukta?

It is hymn 10.129, also called the creation hymn. It asks how the world began. It admits that even the gods may not know.

What is the Surya Sukta?

It is hymn 10.85. It describes the marriage of Surya, the daughter of the sun god, to Soma. Later marriage rites borrow from it.

What other hymns are named?

The portal also lists the Hiranyagarbha Sukta, the Aksha Sukta (the gambler’s hymn) and the Yama–Yami dialogue.

What is the memory hook?

Purusha makes society, Nasadiya asks, Surya weds.

The Rigveda is thousands of years old. Yet the text we read has hardly changed.

How was it kept?

Teachers made students learn the hymns by heart. They stressed exact sounds. The Vedas are called shruti, “what is heard”. This is why the words stayed fixed.

Which version survives?

A recension is a separate version of a text. Many once existed. Only one is left today. It is the Shakala recension, named for the school of Shakala.

What about written copies?

Manuscripts came much later than the hymns. In 2007 UNESCO added 30 Rigveda manuscripts to its Memory of the World Register. They are kept at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune.

What is the memory hook?

Heard first, written later, one version left.

Exams ask which hymn does what. This question asks about book 10.

How do you answer it?

The Surya Sukta describes the wedding of Surya. The Purusha Sukta is about the cosmic being. The Dana Stutis praise gifts to priests. There is no hymn named the Uma Sutra. The answer is (a).

What else do exams ask?

Remember the numbers. There are 10 mandalas and 1,028 hymns. The oldest layer sits in the middle books.

What is the memory hook?

Marriage means Surya.