Mandala 1

Last updated

The first Mandala ("book") of the Rigveda has 191 hymns. Together with Mandala 10, it forms the latest part of the Rigveda. Its composition likely dates to the late Vedic period (1000-500 BCE) or the Early Iron Age (around 1000 BCE). [1]

Contents

Contents

Hymn 1.1 is addressed to Agni, arranged so that the name of this god is the first word of the Rigveda. The remaining hymns are mainly addressed to Agni and Indra. Hymns 1.154 to 1.156 are addressed to Vishnu. Hymn 1.3 is dedicated to the Ashvins. Hymn 1.164.46, part of a hymn to the Vishvadevas, is often quoted as an example of emerging monism or monotheism. It forms the basis for the well-known statement "Truth is one, sages call it by various names":

índram mitráṃ váruṇam agním āhur / átho divyáḥ sá suparṇó garútmān
ékaṃ sád víprā bahudhâ vadanty / agníṃ yamám mātaríśvānam āhuḥ
"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." (trans. Griffith)
Rigveda 1.164.46

Interpretation

Max Muller described the character of the Vedic hymns as a form of henotheism, in which "numerous deities are successively praised as if they were one ultimate God." [2] According to Graham, in the Vedic society it was believed that humans could contact the gods through the spoken utterances of the Vedic seers, and "the One Real" ( ekam sat) in 1.164.46 refers to Vāc, both "speech" and goddess of speech, [3] the "one ultimate, supreme God", and "one supreme Goddess." In later Vedic literature, "Speech or utterance is also identified with the supreme power or transcendent reality," and "equated with Brahman in this sense." [4] Frauwallner states that "many gods are traced back to the one Godhead. The one (ekam) is not meant adjectively as a quality but as a substantive, as the upholding centre of reality." [5]

The Vedic henotheism may have grown out of a growing recognition of a "unitary essence beyond all the deities," [2] in which the deities were conceptualized as pluralistic manifestations of the same divine essence beyond this plurality. [6] [7] The Vedic era conceptualization of the divine or the One, states Jeaneane Fowler, is more abstract than a monotheistic God, it is the Reality behind the phenomenal universe, which it treats as "limitless, indescribable, absolute principle", thus the Vedic divine is something of a panentheism. [8] In late Vedic era, with the start of Upanishadic age (~800-600 BCE), from the henotheistic, panentheistic concepts emerge the concepts which scholars variously call nondualism or monism, as well as forms of non-theism. [8] [9]

Selected hymns

SuktaNameDeityRishiMetreIncipit
1.1 Agni-SuktaAgni Madhushchandhas Vaishvamitra gayatri agním īḷe puróhitaṃ
1.22 Vishnu-SuktaVishnuMedhatithi Kanva gayatriprātaryújā ví bodhaya
1.32 Indra-SuktaIndraHiranyastupa Angirastrishtubhíndrasya nú vīríyāṇi prá vocaṃ
1.89 Shanti-Sukta Vishvedevas Gotama Rahuganajagati (trishtubh)â no bhadrâḥ krátavo yantu viśváto
1.90 Madhu-SuktaVishvedevasGotama Rahuganagayatri (anushtubh)ṛjunītî no váruṇo
1.99 Agni-Durga-SuktaAgniKashyapa Maricatrishtubhjātávedase sunavāma sómam
1.162 Ashvamedha-Sukta The Horse Dīrghatamas Aucathya (trishtubh)mâ no mitró váruṇo aryamâyúr


Publications

The editio princeps of the book is due to Friedrich August Rosen, published posthumously in 1838. It was the earliest edition of a Rigvedic Mandala, predating Max Müller's edition of the entire Rigveda by more than 50 years.

Related Research Articles

Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities that may be worshipped. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854) coined the word, and Friedrich Welcker (1784–1868) used it to depict primitive monotheism among ancient Greeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indra</span> Hindu god of rain, weather, storms, and thunder

Indra is the king of the devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.

Dyaus or Dyauspitr is the Rigvedic sky deity. His consort is Prthvi, the earth goddess, and together they are the archetypal parents in the Rigveda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindu deities</span> Gods and goddesses in Hinduism

Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prajapati</span> Vedic deity identified with Brahma

Prajapati is a Vedic deity of Hinduism.

Savitṛ, in Vedic scriptures is an Aditya of the Vedic primeval mother goddess Aditi. His name in Vedic Sanskrit connotes "impeller, rouser, vivifier."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atri</span> Sage in Hinduism

Atri or Attri is a Vedic sage, who is credited with composing numerous hymns to Agni, Indra, and other Vedic deities of Hinduism. Atri is one of the Saptarishi in the Hindu tradition, and the one most mentioned in its scripture Rigveda.

Samkhya or Sankhya is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, Puruṣa and Prakṛti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ushas</span> Goddess of dawn in Hinduism

Ushas is a Vedic goddess of dawn in Hinduism. She repeatedly appears in the Rigvedic hymns, states David Kinsley, where she is "consistently identified with dawn, revealing herself with the daily coming of light to the world, driving away oppressive darkness, chasing away evil demons, rousing all life, setting all things in motion, sending everyone off to do their duties". She is the life of all living creatures, the impeller of action and breath, the foe of chaos and confusion, the auspicious arouser of cosmic and moral order called the Ṛta in Hinduism.

<i>Deva</i> (Hinduism) Male celestial being in Hinduism

Deva means "shiny", "exalted", "heavenly being", "divine being", "anything of excellence", and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism. Deva is a masculine term; the feminine equivalent is Devi. The word is a cognate with Latin deus ("god") and Greek Zeus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ekam</span> Sanskrit word for "one, single, solitary"

Ekam is the Sanskrit for "one, single, solitary", as a noun meaning "unity". In Ayyavazhi and Hinduism, it refers to a concept of monism akin to that of Brahman in Advaita philosophy and Smarta theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">God and gender in Hinduism</span>

In Hinduism, there are diverse approaches to conceptualizing God and gender. Many Hindus focus upon impersonal Absolute (Brahman) which is genderless. Other Hindu traditions conceive God as bigender, alternatively as either male or female, while cherishing gender henotheism, that is without denying the existence of other gods in either gender.

The fifth Mandala of the Rigveda has 87 hymns. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the Atri family. The mandala is one of the "family books", the oldest core of the Rigveda, which were composed in early vedic period(1500-1000 BCE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vasishtha</span> Ancient Hindu sage

Vasishtha is one of the oldest and revered Vedic rishis or sages, and one of the Saptarishis. Vasishtha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of the Rigveda. Vasishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4, other Rigvedic mandalas and in many Vedic texts. His ideas have been influential and he was called the first sage of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy by Adi Shankara.

Rigvedic deities are deities mentioned in the sacred texts of Rigveda, the principal text of the historical Vedic religion of the Vedic period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">God in Hinduism</span> Hindu conception of God

In Hinduism, the conception of God varies in its diverse religio-philosophical traditions. Hinduism comprises a wide range of beliefs about God and Divinity, such as henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, agnosticism, atheism, and nontheism.

Dirghatamas was an ancient Indian sage well known for his philosophical verses in the Rigveda. He was the author of Suktas (hymns) 140 to 164 in the first mandala (section) of the Rigveda.

Nontheistic religions are traditions of thought within a religious context—some otherwise aligned with theism, others not—in which nontheism informs religious beliefs or practices. Nontheism has been applied and plays significant roles in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. While many approaches to religion exclude nontheism by definition, some inclusive definitions of religion show how religious practice and belief do not depend on the presence of a god or gods. For example, Paul James and Peter Mandaville distinguish between religion and spirituality, but provide a definition of the term that avoids the usual reduction to "religions of the book":

Religion can be defined as a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.

<i>Rigveda</i> First sacred canonical text of Hinduism

The Rigveda or Rig Veda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agni</span> The Hindu fire god

Agni is the Hindu god of fire. As the guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. In the classical cosmology of Hinduism, fire (Agni) is one of the five inert impermanent elements (Pañcabhūtá) along with sky (Ākāśa), water (Apas), air (Vāyu) and earth (Pṛthvī), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakṛti). He is also known or pronounced as Ugnis or Agnish - Agni (Fire) + Ish (Lord) in Indo-European culture.

References

  1. Dahiya, Poonam Dalal (2017-09-15). ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA EBOOK. McGraw-Hill Education. pp. 95, 113. ISBN   978-93-5260-673-3.
  2. 1 2 Taliaferro, Harrison & Goetz 2012, p. 78-79.
  3. Graham 1993, p. 70-71.
  4. William A. Graham (1993). Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion. Cambridge University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN   978-0-521-44820-8.
  5. Frauwallner 1973, p. xvii.
  6. Ilai Alon; Ithamar Gruenwald; Itamar Singer (1994). Concepts of the Other in Near Eastern Religions. BRILL Academic. pp. 370–371. ISBN   978-9004102200.
  7. Erwin Fahlbusch (1999). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 524. ISBN   978-90-04-11695-5.
  8. 1 2 Jeaneane D. Fowler (2002). Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN   978-1-898723-93-6.
  9. James L. Ford (2016). The Divine Quest, East and West: A Comparative Study of Ultimate Realities. State University of New York Press. pp. 308–309. ISBN   978-1-4384-6055-0.

Sources