26/08/2024
A Short Introduction to Rigveda
The earliest collection of human knowledge is the Rigveda. The oldest sacred text in India is the Rigveda. Of the four Vedas, it is the oldest and largest, generally regarded to belong to the late Bronze Age.
The Rigveda-Samhita, the entire text, is composed entirely of poems. The Mantras intended to praise the gods are referred to as ‘Rik.’ As a result, the Rigveda-Samhita is a collection of Riks (Samhita).
Only the Shaakala cycle or school (Shakha) of the Rigveda is now available. About 10552 Mantras, divided into ten volumes called Mandalas, are found in the Rigveda Samhita. Anuvakas, several sections, make up each Mandala.
Each Anuvaka is composed of various hymns known as Suktas, and each Sukta is composed of various verses known as risk. A Sukta consists of several Mantras. A Sukta can have any number of Mantras.
There are certain Suktas with a few mantras, while others with many. It’s crucial to remember that each Sukta contains a Rishi (a seer), a Devata, and a Chandas (a metre).
The Rigveda’s Samhita has 10552 Mantras, 10 Mandalas, 85 Anuvakas, and 1028 Suktas. Typically, Anuvaka is not stated when referencing a Rigvedic mantra.
10,600 verses and 1,028 hymns make up this collection. 35% of the hymns and 25% of the Rigveda were written by the Angiras (a family of rishis).
Along with the ancient A***n deities, the Rigveda also contained other significant primary deities. These included the sky God Varuna, the fire God Agni, and the sun God / Suryadev.
The Rigveda attributes Lord Shiva, a Hindu deity, to the mountain and storm God Rudra, also Lord Vishnu. The Rigveda also contains the eminently well-known Gayatri mantra.
The Vedas were compiled by Vyasa, who is credited with organizing the four types of mantras into four Samhitas. One of Vedavyasa’s four disciples, Jaimini, Pila, Vaisampayana, and Sumantha, received the Rigveda from him. The Great Maharshis observed them there with their devoted Thapas.
Pila Maharshi spread the Rigveda. Indrapramithi and Bhashkala were taught the two Ruksamhithas he divided the Rigveda into. Again dividing his portion into four portions, Bhashkala delivered the pieces to Baudhya, Agnimadhara, Yaagnavalkya, and Parashara. A large number of disciples spread these Samhitas.
The current form of this Samhita makes it very evident that the collection is made up of earlier and later components rather than one cohesive piece. This is demonstrated by a number of examples of language, style, and concepts.
This Samhita’s various hymns were written before they were formally organized. Rigveda is far more organic in form and character than other Samhitas.
The Rigveda is the source of all the characteristics of classical Sanskrit poetry. It contains the first indications of Indian philosophy and religion.
The Rigveda should therefore be studied by someone who wishes to comprehend Indian literature and spiritual culture because of both its poetry and its importance in religion and philosophy.
The importance of the Rigveda today is not limited to India because its carefully preserved language and philosophy have aided in a better understanding of literature, languages, and cultures from throughout the globe.
Suktas are offered to various gods, including Indra, Maruta, Varuna, Usha, Surya, Bhumi, Soma, Agni, etc. So, in a nutshell, we may say that Rigveda has a variety of issues that are explained in poetic, philosophical, or religious terms by Vedic seers.
Some of the 1028 Suktas in the Rigveda Samhita are quite well-known and frequently cited by Vedic readers. The important hymns of Rigveda are:
Nasadiya Sukta;
Purusha Sukta;
Aksha Sukta;
Dhana-anna-dana Sukta;
Hiranya-garbha Sukta;
Yama-yami-samvada Sukta;
Duhsvapna-nashna Sukta.
The Vedic deities are names, powers, personalities of universal Godhead and they represent each some essential puissance of the Divine Being. They manifest the cosmos and are manifest in it.
The word derived from the root ‘to shine‘, ‘to gleam‘ etc. suggests that gods are ‘those who play in Light‘. In the proper homes of Gods ‘matter is jyotirmaya‘. Every thing is luminous by its own inherent lustre. Life here is an ordered lila or play.
The outer sacrifice of the Vedic Rishis ‘represent an inner sacrifice of self-giving and communion with the Gods.‘ These Gods are outwardly powers of physical nature and inwardly powers of psychical nature.
For example, Agni outwardly represents the physical principle of fire, but inwardly he is the God of ‘the psychic God-ward Flame, Force, Will, Tapas‘. Surya outwardly represents the solar light.
Inwardly he is the ‘illuminating revelatory knowledge‘. Soma outwardly represents the moon. Inwardly he is the God of ‘the spiritual ecstasy, Ananda‘. The Vedic godhead Vayu is ‘the master of the life-energies‘, Brihaspati is ‘the power of the soul within‘.
Saraswati represents ‘truth audition‘, Ila ‘truth vision‘, and Mahi or Bharati ‘the largeness of the Truth-consciousness‘. Surya represents ‘the illumination of the Ritam rising upon the mind‘, Indra ‘the mind-power‘.
For him Usha is the ‘symbol of new openings of divine illuminations on man‘s physical consciousness‘ and Soma is ‘a figure for the divine Ananda, the very substance of immortality‘; Aditi is ‘Infinite Consciousness‘;
Mitra is ‘the luminous power of love leading to harmony in thought, impulse and action‘; Varuna is ‘the Vast Expanse, the oceanic wideness and unity of infinite Truth‘;
Aryaman is ‘the immortal puissance of clear discerning aspiration leading beyond‘; Ashwins represent the ‘swiftness and effectiveness of action in the great journey to Truth and illumination‘.
Thus when one looks at the Vedic Devatas (Godheads) one learns that the spiritual & psychological science of the transformation of the human into the Divine.
Chandas - the metrical rhythm; poetic measure of the sacred hymns or Mantras – Anuup, Triup, Jagat, Gayatri etc. are treated as symbolic of the rhythms in which the Universal movement of things is cast.
The spirit of creation framed all movements of the world by Chandas, in certain fixed rhythm of the formative word, and it is because they are faithful to the cosmic metres that the basic world movements unchangingly endure.
A balanced harmony maintained by a system of subtle recurrences is the foundation of immortality in created things, and metrical movement is simply creative sound grown conscious of this secret of its own powers..
The seven major Chandas of the Veda are:
1. Gayatri (24 syllables)
2. Uik (28 syllables)
3. Anuup (32 syllables)
4. Bhat (36 syllables)
5. Pakti (40 syllables)
6. Triup (44 syllables)
7. Jagat (48 syllables)
Vedic Symbolism; the language of the Vedas is symbolic. The rich spiritual experiences and realizations of the Vedic Rishis have been recorded here through images and symbols.
But the symbols can be interpreted at the spiritual, cosmic, psychological and physical levels. At the highest spiritual level the Vedas reveal the highest spiritual truth, powers, and laws of the transcendent Reality.
At the cosmic level they reveal laws and processes of the occult or cosmic forces in the play of their interaction and harmony. At the psychological level the Vedas reveal the manifestations and workings of these cosmic forces in the psychological being of the men.
At the physical level it reveals the deeper laws of the physical nature. It all shows that there is in this universe only one essential Law which repeats itself and works itself out differently at each level of the cosmos according to the energy and substance of that level.
For eg. the Rigveda begins with an invocation to Agni. Here Agni has been addressed as hota / the priest, whose will towards action is that of the seer, the guardian of the Truth and so on and so forth.
The Vedic sacrifice is, psychologically, a symbol of cosmic and individual activity become self-conscious, enlightened and aware of its goal. The whole process of the universe is in its very nature a sacrifice, voluntary or involuntary. Self-fulfilment by self-immolation, to grow by giving is the universal law.
That which refuses to give itself, is still the food of the cosmic Powers. ‘The eater eating is eaten‘ is the formula, pregnant and terrible, in which the Upanishad sums up this aspect of the universe, and in another passage men are described as the cattle of the Gods.
It is only when the law is recognised and voluntarily accepted that this kingdom of death can be overpassed and by the works of sacrifice Immortality made possible and attained. All the powers and potentialities of the human life are offered up, in the symbol of a sacrifice, to the divine Life in the Cosmos.
