Introduction to Vedic Texts - Ministry - http://maxpages.com/globalnetwork/Introduction_to

The Rig Veda is a collection of 1,017 hymns. The hymns were written by unknown poets over
hundreds of years. The hymns they wrote seek the answers to philosophical questions. The Rig
Veda is the source of Indian practices and philosophies and many scholars believe that it must be
studied in order to understand Indian thought.

The Rig Veda is the earliest of the the four Vedas, which include the Yajur Veda, which deals
with sacrificial formulas, the Sama Veda, which refers to melodies, and the Atharva Veda, which
describes spells and incantations for such things as the healing of diseases and long life, and is
considered to be the basis of Indian medical science. The Rig Veda, as well as the other three,
contains four sections. The first is Samhita: it is a collection of hymns, prayers, benedictions,
sacrificial formulas, and litanies. The second is Brahmanas: this section contains prose discourses
that discuss the significance of sacrificial rites and ceremonies. The third section is Aranyakas,
which are forest texts which are partly included in the Brahmanas and partly independent. The
fourth section is the Upanishads.

It is believed that a long period of time elapsed from the composition and the compilation of the
hymns of the Rig Veda. Evidence has been gathered that indicates the hymns were composed
fifteen centuries before Christ and were in basically the same form as they are in now.

The Rig Veda expresses henotheism, which is one of the aspects of Hinduism. It speaks of several
gods but whenever one particular one is worshipped, it becomes the chief god, the creator,
preserver and destroyer of the universe.

The hymns often deal with more than one topic, so it is not always possible to place the entire
hymn under one topic. One of the main hymns in the Rig Veda is the Hymn of Creation. It alone
deals with three topics. They are the nature of the Absolute, the relation of the Absolute to the
empirical world, and the process of creation itself. There are six topics that are dealt with in the
Rig Veda. The first is hymns to the gods. It represents the first stage of thought of the Rig Veda
and contains worship and the names of many gods and therefore is considered polytheistic. There
are many interpretations of these hymns. Some scholars contend that they are primeval, child-like
prayers while others say they are an allegorical representation of the attributes of the supreme
deity. Still others state that they are sacrificial compositions of a primitive race.

The second topic is monotheistic and monistic tendencies. These hymns represent the second and
third stages of the thought of the Rig Veda - the transition from polytheism to monotheism and
then to the philosophical monism which constitutes the main doctrine of the Veda later to be
carried over into the Upanishads and eventually into the Vedanta, the most highly developed
system of Indian thought. It seemed that the anarchy of many gods become tiresome and the
intellects began to identify one god with another or to put all the gods together. There became a
single great Being. However, this single being did not satisfy and it gave way to philosophical
monism, which is the doctrine of the impersonal, unknowable One.

The third topic is Cosmic Law. Cosmic Law is defined as order, right, and truth. Some of the
hymns address Rta, the recognition of a universal and eternal law. Rta represents the law, unity, or
righteousness that underlies the orderliness of the universe. Found throughout some of the hymns
of the Rig Veda are references to this important concept of Rta.

The fourth topic is ethical principles and social practices. The hymns that fall under this topic state
that in order to obtain a good life, one must practice orderly and consistent conduct. They also
state that the greatest evil is falsehood. Love of fellow men, kindness to all, and obedience to
duties to the gods and men are all stressed as important.

The fifth topic is the hereafter. A belief in personal immortality is characteristic of the Vedic
Indians. It was believed that good men went to the world of Vishnu and the others went to the
world of Yama.

The sixth topic is skepticism of the gods. Later Vedic Indians began to be skeptical of their
accepted beliefs and wandered about the existence of the gods and the possibility of knowing the
ultimate source of things. Often, their doubt turned to ridicule of accepted beliefs and gods.

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