Devdutt Pattanaik9 hours ago
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Vyas Cave situated in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. It is believed that sage Ved Vyas wrote the Mahabharata here five thousand years ago and re-compiled some hymns of the Rig Veda.
Rigveda contains more than a thousand excellent hymns composed in ancient Sanskrit and compiled in chapters called mandalas. Many of the verses in each Sukta praise gods such as Indra, Agni and Soma, gods with whom we are not so familiar today.
The mythological Indra rides on a white horse called Airavata and lives in fear that he will no longer be the king of the gods. On the other hand, if we look at Vedic Indra, he was a warrior who freed water from the grip of the fierce Vritra. He liked Somaras, which Vedic devotees offered to him through yagya.
These Suktas were composed before 1000 BC mainly in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent. It is clear from them that Vedic ideas were moving away from the plains of Indus and Saraswati rivers towards the plains of Ganga.
We can say that the present form of Rigveda is its second version. This is because someone deliberately compiled his verses into hymns. Traditionally it is attributed to Veda Vyas. There are exactly 191 hymns in the first and last mandala and study of the language of these hymns shows that the hymns of these two mandalas were composed after the other hymns. Probably this reorganization was done by the warriors of Bharat Kul. This is a historical reason why India is called ‘Bharat’.
These Suktas were an important part of the Yagya ritual. It was believed that the ritual of Yagya was a ‘chariot’, which was ‘constructed’ by reciting the Suktas precisely. We could connect Adhyatman i.e. the world of humans with Adhidaiva i.e. the world of gods through Yagya. Thus, by performing yajna we could attain the knowledge of cows hidden in the cave of ignorance.
We find this in the very first verse of the Rigveda, which is addressed to Agnidev. In this he is given the best place by calling him the deity and priest of this ritual. According to this Richa, he bestows wealth and is praised by the priests of ancient and present times. Through Agnidev, the gods accept the offerings of the host and in return the host becomes prosperous. He has been credited with lighting the night and brightening the mind with insight. The host hopes that just as a father helps his son, Agnidev will also help the host and make him happy.
The last hymn of the Rigveda, which is in its tenth mandala, is clearly prescriptive. An attempt has been made to unite different people through it. From this we can understand that the Kuru clan organized the second edition of the Rigveda with the aim of uniting the people after a period of tension and discord. This sukta is also addressed to Agnidev and requests the various people to unite, just as the gods forget their differences and distribute the offerings made in the yagya among themselves.
Both suktas describe the most basic human needs – the first expresses a strong desire to be enriched and helped by a higher power, and the last sukta expresses a desire to stop fighting among friends and extended family. In the first Sukta, a higher power is praised and celebrated, as we do even today. In the second Sukta, a demand has been made for people to unite, as is the case even today.
Both the hymns talk about worldly matters in simple language. It is clear from this that those who composed, compiled and chanted these hymns 3,000 years ago were similar to the people of modern times. In this way, this ancient scripture is also based on the needs of humans.
Looking beyond the codes and metaphors of the Rigveda, its hymns reveal how early Hindus responded to the unknown. Theists will say that the unknown is a divine power, while atheists will say that the unknown are the minds of other humans, friends and enemies and strangers. From these interpretations we can learn less about the Rig Veda and more about these people.
