Rigveda

• It is a collection of prayers offered to Indra, Agni, Mitra and Varuna.
• Consists of 10 mandals and 1028 suktas.
• Books 2–7, the oldest books of the Rig Veda Samhita, are also known as the family books because their composition is attributed to the families of certain seer-poets Grit-Samada, Vishvamitra, Vamadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja, and Vasishtha.
• Books 1, 8, 9, and 10 seem to be of a later period. The hymns of this Samhita are arranged in a precise pattern. In the family books, they are arranged according to deity, the number of stanzas, and metre.
• The third mandala consists of Gayatri mantra dedicated to the sun god.
• Gayatri Mantra was composed by Vishwamitra.
• It mentions female goddesses such as Usha, Aditi, Surya. Goddess Laxmi is also mentioned.
• Lord Shiva is referred as Rudra.
• Rigveda does not mention Lord Brahma.
• Rig Veda has many things in common with the Avesta, which is the oldest text in the Iranian such language.The two texts use the same names for several gods and even for social classes.
• The Dasrajan War (The Battle of Ten Kings): According to Rig Veda, the famous Dasrajan war was the internecine war of the Aryans. The Dasrajan war gives names of ten kings who participated in a war against Sudas who was Bharata king of the Tritsus family.
  • The battle was fought on the bank of Parushni (Ravi) in which Sudas emerged victorious.
  • The country Bharatavarsha was eventually named after the term Bharata, which appears first in the Rig Veda.

Rigvedic Name and Modern Names of Indian Rivers