In one (book X, 34) a gambler laments his ill luck at dice and deplores the evil passion that holds him in his grasp. The number of secular hymns are small, but many of them are of particular interest. Goddesses play a small part, only Ushas, the goddess of dawn, has some twenty hymns in her honour these poems are of exceptional literary merit. Only a few hymns sing the praise of Vishnu and of Shiva in his earlier form as Rudra, though these two deities became later the chief gods of the Hindu pantheon. Prayers are also addressed to groups of divinities like the Adityas and the Vishve Devas (all the gods). Other gods invoked are the two Ashins, somewhat resembling the Diocsuri of ancient Greece, the terrible Rudra, Parjanya the rain-god, Vayu the wind-god, Surya the sun-god, Pushan the protector of roads and stray kine. The hymns in his praise are often obscure in thought and turgid in phraseology and abound in allusions to a complicated ritual. Indra was the favourite god of the Vedic Aryans almost one fourth of all the hymns in the Rig-Veda are addressed to him and they are among the best in the collection. Thus Indra personified thunder, Agni fire, Varuna the sea, Surya the sun, Ushas the dawn, the Maruts the storm, and others were of a somewhat similar character. Some of the divinities, especially the higher ones, still exhibit the attributes which enable us to trace their origin to the personification of natural phenomena. Yama (the Avestan Yima), Soma (haoma), Mitra (the later Persian Mithra). Several of the gods go back to the time of Indo-Iranian unity, e.g. The value of the great collection as presenting the earliest record of the mythology of an Indo- European people is apparent. The element of nature- worship is a marked feature in most of the hymns, with are invocations of different deities. Thus, approximately 500 hymns are addressed to two gods alone: Indra, the god of lightning and storms, and Agni, the god of fire. The monotony of the Rig-Veda is due not only to the nature of its mythological content, but also to the fact that hymns to the same deity are usually grouped together. Books II to VII are the oldest, and book X the most recent, in point of origin. The ninth consists exclusively of hymns addressed to Soma, the deified plant, the juice of which was used for the Soma sacrifice. The hymns in books I and X are all composed by different families. Book III is attributed to the family of Vishvamitra, IV to that of Vamadeva, V to that of Vasishtha. Books II to VII inclusive are each the work of a single poet, or rishi (seer), and his descendants hence they are aptly called "family books". The texts themselves show that the collection is the result of the work of generations of poets, extending over many centuries. According to the generally accepted view the oldest of them dates back to 1500 B.C., when the Aryan conquerors spread over the Punjab in Northern India and occupied the land on both sides of the Indus. The poems themselves are of different authorship and date from widely different periods. In its present form it contains 1028 hymns (including eleven supplementary ones in the eighth book), arranged in ten mandalas (cycles), or books, which vary in extent, only the first and tenth being approximately equal. ("Veda of verses" from ric, or before sonants rig, "laudatory stanza") is the oldest and most important of these collections. Though differences exist in the language of the four Vedas, still there is such agreement on cardinal points as against later Sanskrit that the term Vedic, which is in common use for the oldest form of the language of India, is amply justified. In this respect it resembles the later classical Sanskrit, from which it differs considerably in phonology and inflections. The language of the Vedas is an artificial literary language fully perfected, and is not a mere popular dialect. Of these only the first three were originally regarded as canonical the fourth attained to this position after a long struggle. But usually the term veda applies only to the four collections ( Samhitas) of hymns and prayers composed for different ritualistic purposes: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. In its widest sense the term designates not only the sacred texts, but also the voluminous theological and philosophical literature attached thereto, the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, and Sutras (see BRAHMINISM). The Sanskrit word veda means "knowledge", more particularly "sacred book". Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more all for only $19.99.
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