1. MondAY, February 12, 2018 Creation HYMNS IN the rig veda
Vedic fire sacrifice
Michael C. Shapiro, Dept. of Asian Languages and Literature

2. Who were the Aryans?
Migrated into India by middle of 2nd millennium BC
Spoke Indo-European dialects that gradually evolved into Sanskrit and other I-A languages
Their culture and language related to that of other Indo-European peoples
Had a nomadic culture and economy based upon domesticated animals
Composed a rich body of poetic compositions preserved by Indian tradition as the Vedas

3. Arrival in India of Aryans

4. Who were the Aryans?
Placed great importance upon religious rituals involving a fire sacrifice
Worshipped a pantheon of gods, many of whom were personifications of elements of the natural world (e.g. sun, moon, fire, wind, sky)
Many of the Vedic gods and religious practices had analogs in other Indo European languages and cultures

5. The word “Veda”
From Indo-European verbal root vid- ‘to see, behold, perceive’
Note Latin verb, video ‘I see’

6. The four Vedas

7. Form and Structure of Rig Veda
1028 song or “hymns”
Each addressed to particular deity, revealed to different sage (rishi), and a specific meter
Hymns arranged into 10 books (called mandalas); mandalas 1 and 10 are the latest of the ten; earliest poems probably go back to BCE
Each mandala ascribed to a different family (or lineage) of sages
Each poems contains 1-52 stanzas, composed in various meters, regulated according to length of syllables

8. Major Deities in Rig Veda
Indra (war god)
Soma (personification of psychedelic drug)
Agni (god of sacrifice and fir)
Surya/Savitr (personification of the sun)
Varuna (god of celestial sphere; god justice and punishment)
Vak/Vac (personification of speech)
Yama (god of the dead)
Maruts (storm clouds)

9. Some Themes in Rig Veda
Hymns addressed to particular deities (Agni, Soma, Surya, Indra, etc.)
Creation; afterlife
Power of speech
Well-known stories (e.g. Pururavas and Urvashi)
Practical concerns (health; bad dreams, sins, safe pregnancy and birth
Gambling, war, horses and horse racing

10. Indra (289 hymns) Indra wielding a thunder bolt (vajra)
Indra mounted on an elephant

11. Agni (218 hymns) Agni mounted on ram Agni mounted on a ram
Agni with consort Svaha

12. Soma (123 hymns)
Soma being transported on a cart in modern reenactment of Vedic ritual
Soma associated with soaring bird

13. Ashwins (56 hymns) Gemini constellation
Ashwins, twin children of Surya

14. Varuna (46 hymns) Varuna mounted on a crocodile
Sculptural representation of Varuna

15. Maruts (38 hymns)

16. Vishnu (6 hymns)

17. Ushas [dawn] (21 hymns)

18. Vayu [wind] (12 hymns)
Vayu mounted on an antelope

19. Surya (8 hymns)

20. Yama

21. Creator gods: Vishvakarma & Prajapati

22. Nasadiya sukta