Category: RigVeda Simplified
Rigveda Chapter 1: Anuvaka 1: Verses 1-2
Chapter 1
This hymns are recited by Rishi Madhuchanda . Who is this Rishi? This Rishi is the son of one of the most popular rishi in the Vedic times Rishi Vishwamitra whose meditation was disturbed by lady Menka.
Anuvaka 1
1)Agnim Ile purohita yajnasya deva m ritvijam
Hotaram Ratna dhatamam
Sage Madhuchanda is praising fire here. He is performing a ritual, where he is calling upon the fire. Rishi says Agni is pure and glowing; fire is a messenger from God. Here fire is compared to the holder of wealth and fire is praised as a strong force. Of course, the sage is doing a yoga and he needs fire to start the rituals. Fire is a purifier and it is so strong. It is a great force in the universe like air and water. Rishi is worshipping the fire. Of course, they are people who lived closer with nature, so they could enjoy the life in the earth more than we enjoy. How can people live in flats who cook in gas stoves and induction cooker can enjoy the beauty of the burning fire?
Here rishi is requesting the presence of Agni aka fire in the entire yaga process.
2)agni purvebhirrsibhiridyo nutanairuta
sa devaneha vaksati
In this verse, Rishi Madhuchanda says, rishis in the ancient ages!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazing for me I feel Rigveda and other Vedas are written anyway near to 1 lakh years back. (I don’t trust this western run Wikipedia carbon dating results) A rishi who lived in that era says about sages are there who lived much before him! It is quite amazing. They also praised and adored Fire. Agni aka fire is praised by young and old generation. They believed that fire will go up to the heaven meet the God and brings back his message to the earth.
What a noble and inspired thought. As a monotheist, I just see the respect for the forces of the universe. Here human is competing for each other to pollute the earth and resources; there was a community who worshiped them because they respected the forces. They knew once they get stopped we also will die.
Rig Veda An Introduction
An Overview of Rigveda
It is my desire to translate Rigveda and the other Vedas for ordinary people like me. I searched a lot for a teacher or school to teach me Vedas, but I could not find any near me. So I myself start reading it and I found these ancient texts are so valuable and exiting.
If you have to understand Rigveda , then you should first of all know Sanskrit, The divine Language. I am looking for a Sanskrit teacher, but for the time being I am depended on Sanskrit dictionaries.
So, RigVeda is the collection of Hymns. These hymns are dedicated for worshiping and praising deities.
The term RigVeda is coined from Rucha and Veda
Rucha = Sacred verse
Rc= collection of sacred Verses
Veda= Sacred Knowledge or Knowledge
So Rigveda is a collection of Sacred Verses.
Samhita =collection of verses
Rigveda Samhita is the collection of mantras to please deities. When we go through the entire text, we can see how these sages trying to please deities to bring prosperity on them
These deities are
- Maruth –air
- Indra: god of thunder and lightening
- Varuna: Water
- Usha: morning light
- Surya :sun
- Bhumi :earth, prithvi
- Soma : magical drug
- Agni : fire
This book is divided in a very complicated manner. It is very difficult to understand how it should be classified.
There are 10000 plus mantras and they are divided into ten books. These Books are known as Mandalas.
Mandala= Zone/division
There are 10 Mandalas.
These 10 Mandalas are again divided into Anuvaka
Anuvaka = Section
The number of Anuvakas = 85
Each Anuvaka has many verses to praise deities. These verses are called Suktas.
Sukta=hymn
Suktas have many sentences/verses. Each verse is called Rcs or Rucha
Number of Suktas=1028
Rucha = Sacred verse
Rc= collection of sacred Verses
Each Mandala is done by one particular Rishi . Each Rishi is praising each deity. These Rishis are known to be the owners of each Mandala.
Chandas: The Poetic Meter
Chapter 1
Anuvaka 1
Rishi Madhu Chanda – Devta Agni- Chandas Gayathri
What is Chandas
- Gayathri: 3 padas of 8 syllables containing 24 syllables in each stanza.
It is a kind of measurement. It is a poetic meter. Since Vedas are recited by the rishis, they recite it in a particular mode. When we go to temples we can see a particular mode of recitation. These mode of recitation is called Chandas. There are 7 type of Chandas. They are.
Various hymns have various mode of reciting it. There will be high pitch and low pitch, end note and start note, I think this is something based on the Hertz system.
- Gayatri: 3 padas of 8 syllables containing 24 syllables in each stanza.
- Ushnuk : 4 padas of 7 syllables containing 28 syllables in each stanza.
- Anustubh: 4 padas of 8 syllables containing 32 syllables in each stanza. This is the typicalshlokaof classical Sanskrit poetry
- Brihati : 4 padas (8 + 8 + 12 + 8) containing 36 syllables in each stanza.
- Pankti : 4 padas (sometimes 5 padas) containing 40 syllables in each stanza.
- Tristubh: 4 padas of 11 syllables containing 44 syllabes in each stanza
- Jagati: 4 padas of 12 syllables containing 48 syllables in each stanza.
Frequency of each Chandas is different. Maybe rishis used to influence the forces of nature s through various frequencies of sound. Like Tansen created rain through his music. The ancient world is not like us, they are very nature friendly, and they love the nature, the treat the nature with respect. So the nature also will listen to them.
Rishis are reciting this from their divine knowledge, they are getting the hymns from the Akashic records.
Rigveda An Introduction
Praise and admiration goes to those sages who brought these divine words down to the Prithvi From Akasha
I bow infront all these great sages
Maducchanda, Medhatithi,Gotama,Gritasamada, Vishvamitra , Vamadeva , Atri, Bhardvaja, Vashistha, Kanva, Angira ,Soma Devata,Vimada, Indra, Shachi and many other sages are the ones who created this beautiful and strong verses.
Thanks My Lord for giving me a chance to translate this divine scriptures to my brothers and sisters.
I have tried my level best to give you an idea about what this hly texts are. If any mistake you see pls inform