Rig Veda

THE RIG VEDA

I will mention about the Indian's Rig Vedas.Before giving the details of Rig Veda,it would be better giving information about eastern philosophy and also Hinduizm. Firstly I want to explain some basic characteristics of eastern philosophy and the place of Hinduism as a religion entering the side of the philosophy.

Actually if we want to understand the eastern philosophy completely, there is need to know that these philosophies depend on a religious area, like Indian philosophy. The system of eastern philosophy aims to experience the truth in a directly but also in a mystical way, and this experience take the character of religion with it, so why it is inevitable that the eastern philosophy depend on the religious area.

Then we can put Hinduism in eastern tradition entering the side of philosophy. There is a strict relationship between philosophy and religion in Hinduism so that it effects the intellectual life of Indian deeply for hundred years and it formed the cultural and social tradition of this country.

Essentially it is hard to define Hinduism as a religion or a philosophy. It contains so many cultures, philosophical systems that make itself complicated. Besides it has so many Gods and Goddess. We can convey that this state is the reflection of complex society in Indian, people from different races, geographic areas. Whereas it would be seen as a complication, there is a constant ritual with the spiritual of Hinduism.

Ð'' The oldest Scriptures in all of India and the most important are called the Vedas. All Hindus recognize the Vedas as the true origin of their faith because of the spiritual meaning behind them.'2 It is obvious that the Vedas are the main resources of the spiritual of Hinduism. Then we can give some information about Vedas, world's oldest spiritual teachings.

Ð''The Vedas are probably the earliest documents of the human mind, they are the original scriptures of Hindu teachings. Veda means wisdom, knowledge or vision, and it manifests the language of the gods in human speech. The laws of the Vedas regulate the social, legal, domestic and religious customs of the Hindus to the present day.'3

So what gives Vedas this power to regulate these customs of Hindus to the present day. The answer of this question is hidden in the question Ð''Who wrote the Vedas?'. Ð''It is believed that humans did not compose the revered compositions of the Vedas, which were handed down through generations by the word of mouth from time immemorial. The general assumption is that the Vedic hymns were either taught by God to the sages or that they were revealed themselves to the sages who were the seers or mandradasto of the hymns'3

We can see that Vedas take their power from the first possibility of these writings belong to God. And because of this the Vedic rules cannot be changed and it is believed the rules occur the aim of lives.

Ð''The Vedas are four: The Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda, the Rig Veda being the main.'3 Each is divided into two groups: works and knowledge. The first is made of hymns and instructions regarding rights, ceremonies and rules of conduct. The latter is concerned with knowledge of who god is.4

There is the Sama Veda which is the knowledge of chants or a number of basic hymns recited at sacrifices. There is also the Yajur Veda or knowledge of rites which serve basically as a Ð''how to make sacrifices' book. The final Veda is the Athara Veda, this Veda represents the knowledge given by Athara who was a sage.4 And these Vedas were passed for many generations. Firstly they were written in Vedic, an early form of Sanskrit. Then around 300 B.C they were written down in the form we have them today.

I will become dense with Rig Veda which is the main Veda. The Rig Veda was written by the Aryans who entered the Indus Valey toward the end of the Harappan Civilization. They wrote this Veda between 1300 and 1000 BC, during the period of the Aryan Migrations. However, there may be possible Harappan influences on these works. This is because the Vedas were actually being developed before the Aryans arrived around 2000 B.C.Although there are many Vedas written, the most important is the Rig, which contains over 1,000 hymns directed to the gods. The content of these hymns includes praises,