Rigveda

The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from ऋच्, "praise" and वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum.

The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language.}} Most scholars believe that the sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted with precision since the 2nd millennium BCE, through methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, though the dates are not confirmed and remain contentious till concrete evidence surfaces. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the ''Rigveda'' Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent (see Rigvedic rivers), most likely between 1500 and 1000 BCE, although a wider approximation of 1900 - 1200 BCE has also been given.

The text is layered, consisting of the ''Samhita'', ''Brahmanas'', ''Aranyakas'' and ''Upanishads''. and . The school-specific commentaries are known as Brahmanas (''Aitareya-brahmana'' and ''Kaushitaki-brahmana'') Aranyakas (''Aitareya-aranyaka'' and ''Kaushitaki-aranyaka''), and Upanishads (partly excerpted from the Aranyakas: ''Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad'', Aitareya-upanishad, ''Samhita-upanishad'', ''Kaushitaki-upanishad'').}} The ''Rigveda Samhita'' is the core text and is a collection of 10 books ('s) with 1,028 hymns ('s) in about 10,600 verses (called '''', eponymous of the name ''Rigveda''). In the eight booksBooks 2 through 9that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, rites required to earn the favour of the gods, as well as praise them. The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions, virtues such as ''dāna'' (charity) in society, questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine, and other metaphysical issues in their hymns.

The hymns of the Rigveda are notably similar to the most archaic poems of the Iranian and Greek language families, the ''Gathas'' of old Avestan and ''Iliad'' of Homer. The Rigveda's preserved archaic syntax and morphology are of vital importance in the reconstruction of the common ancestor language Proto-Indo-European. Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu prayer and celebration of rites of passage (such as weddings), making it probably the world's oldest religious text in continued use. Provided by Wikipedia