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The Rigveda is a monumental text in both world religion and world literature, yet outside a small band of specialists it is little known. Composed in the latter half of the second millennium BCE, it stands as the foundational text of what would later be called Hinduism. This concise guide from two of
the Rigveda's leading English-language scholars introduces the text and breaks down its large range of topics--from meditations on cosmic enigmas to penetrating reflections on the ability of mortals to make contact with and affect the divine and cosmic realms through sacrifice and praise--for a wider audience.
List of contents
- I. Introduction
- A. What is the Rgveda: A Brief Overview
- B. A significant moment
- C. World literature and religion
- II. Historical Context
- A. Migration
- B. Indo-Iranian background
- II. Dating and Authorship
- A. Dating
- B. Oral tradition and composition
- C. Poets and poetic lineages
- IV. Structure of the Text
- A. Collection and ordering of the hymns
- B. The transmission of the text and the state of the transmitted text
- C. Structure of the text
- V. Social and Political Context
- A. Way of life
- B. Social organization
- C. Kingship
- D. Mundane daily life and the depiction of women
- VI. Ritual
- A. Overview
- B. The Soma Sacrifice in later Vedic texts
- C. Changes between Rgvedic ritual and middle Vedic ritual
- D. Pre-Rgvedic ritual
- E. The Rgvedic ritual model
- F. Other types of ritual in the Rgveda
- VII. The Gods
- A. Overview
- B. The major gods
- VIII. Eschatology
- IX. Rgvedic Poetry and Poetics
- A. The purpose of Rgvedic poetry: the power of the word
- B. The poet
- C. The status of the poet
- D. Homologies, semantic webs, secret names, and riddles
- E. Praise and request in the R?gvedic praise hymn
- F. Structures and types of R?gvedic hymns: Some organizing
- principles
- G. Imagery, metaphors, similes
- H. Language
- I. Meter
- X. Canonical Status and the Reception of the R?gveda
- A. The Rgveda in the srauta tradition
- B. Rgvedic Schools
- C. Transmission
- D. Interpretation
- E. Reception
- F. Publication
- G. Text and Translation
- Selection of Rgvedic Hymns
- Bibliography
About the author
Stephanie Jamison is Distinguished Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and of Indo-European Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of many books and articles, including The Ravenous Hyenas and the Wounded Sun: Myth and Ritual in Ancient India and her monumental 2014 translation, with Joel Brereton, of The Rigveda for Oxford University Press.
Joel Brereton is Professor of Asian Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Rgvedic Adityas and the translator, with Stephanie Jamison, of The Rigveda for Oxford University Press.
