Rig Veda Date Components Details

The Rig Veda is the oldest among the four Vedas , the Scared Scriptures of the Hindus.

The Rig Veda, as is known now, is the oldest among the Four, the other three being Yajur, Sama and Atharva.

Date of The Rig Veda varies, by modern perception , ranging between 2000 BC to 1000 BC.

The Hindu tradition has it that the Vedas are self-sustaining and they are without  a beginning.

One view,

‘It is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Philological and linguistic evidence indicate that the Rigveda was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent, roughly between 1700–1100 BC^[5] (the early Vedic period). There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities with the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the early Andronovo and Sintashta-Petrovka cultures of c. 2200 – 1600 BC.”

It is the oldest book in any Indo-European language and contains the earliest form of all Sanskrit mantras that date back to 1500 B.C. – 1000 B.C. Some scholars date the Rig Veda as early as 12000 BC – 4000 B.C. The Rig-Vedic ‘samhita’ or collection of mantras consists of 1,017 hymns or ‘suktas’, covering about 10,600 stanzas, divided into eight ‘astakas’ each having eight ‘adhayayas’ or chapters, which are sub-divided into various groups. The hymns are the work of many authors or seers called ‘rishis’. There are seven primary seers identified: Atri, Kanwa,Vashistha, Vishwamitra, Jamadagni, Gotama and Bharadwaja. The rig Veda accounts in detail the social, religious, political and economic background of the Rig-Vedic civilization. Even though monotheism characterizes some of the hymns of Rig Veda, naturalistic polytheism and monism can be discerned in the religion of the hymns of Rig Veda’

The Rig Veda Text Translation , Click the Link right below.

Click for Text of Rig Veda

The Rig Veda starts with the Mantra,

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवं रत्वीजम |
होतारं रत्नधातमम || Rig Veda 1.001.01

aghnimīḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvījam |
hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam || Rig Veda 1.001.01

* Translation by Griffith in 1896
I Laud Agni, the chosen Priest, God, minister of sacrifice,
The hotar, lavishest of wealth.

* Translation by Sa_yan.a and Wilson
1.001.01 I glorify Agni, the high priest of the sacrifice, the divine, the ministrant, who presents the oblation (to the gods), and is the possessor of great wealth. [Agni = purohita, the priest who superintends family rites; or, he is one of the sacred fires in which oblations are first (pura) offered (hita); deva: a god, the bright, shining, radiant; fr. div, to shine; or, one who abides in the sky or heaven (dyusha_na); or, liberal, donor (in the sense of giving); r.tvij = a ministering priest, he is also the hota_ (Aitareya Bra_hman.a 3.14), the priest who presents the oblation or who invokes or summons the deities to the ceremony; fr. hu, to sacrifice; or, fr. have, to call; ratnadha_tama: lit. holder of jewels; ratna = wealth in general; figuratively, reward of religious rites].’_Agni Sukta.

This is recited even today as the first Mantra in Brahma Yagnam, which is performed by the Brahmins daily.

The Rig Veda is organised into Mandalas,Ten in Number.

Mandals are ‘Family Books’

The First Mandala is the Invocation of Agni-quoted above.

The primary Deity of the Brahmin is Agni.

Agni is presumed to reside the right palm of the Brahmins  who have practiced the Vedas.

It is ordained that Brahmins are expected to Bless the others with their left palm and not the right palm, and that too without touching the one who is being blessed.

There is an anecdote of recent origin.

Sadasiva Brahmendra, a Vedic scholar and a Yogi lived in Kumbakonam,Tamil Nadu, India, in the eighteenth century.

King Thondaman of Pudukkottai was close to him.

Envious of this, some courtiers informed the king that Sadasiva Brahmendra was insulting the king by Blessing him  with his left hand.

When Sadasiva Brahmendra met the king the next time, Sadasiva touched the seat near him with his palm downwards; the chair flared up in flames and Sadasiva Brahmendra smiled at the King and blessed him with his left hand.

Manadalas 2 to  7  are the oldest and the longest.

For more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda#Organization

http://hinduism.about.com/cs/vedasvedanta/a/aa120103a_2.htm

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