Rigveda

The oldest of The Vedas, composed about 1400 BCE in the Late Bronze Age.

• It is written in Vedic Sanskrit

Layered text:

• Samhita

  - consists of 10 books with 1028 hymns (suktas - meaning “well said”) in 10600 verses (each verse is called “ric”, hence Rigveda)¶

• Brahmanas
• Aranyakas
• Upanishads

Important Gods of the Rigveda

• Agni - the god of fire
• Indra - the warrior god
• Soma - The plant from which a special drink was prepared

The composers of the Rigveda called their enemies dasyus or dasas. Later this term came to be meant slave, as these enemies were often captured and enslaved.