Vedas For Dummies — Rigveda structure
This is the third blog post in the series “Vedas For Dummies” focusing on the structure and authorship of the Rigveda. Previous posts discuss the Introduction and Structure of the Vedas.
Rig Veda consists of 1028 hymns (suktas) grouped into ten books (mandalas). Each mandala varies in length though the first and the last one have the same number of suktas — 191 each.
There are 10462 stanzas in total, with each hymn having an average of 10 stanzas. The shortest hymn (1, 99) has just one stanza while the longest one (9, 97) has fifty-eight.
Each mandala is sub-divided as shown in the figure below:
The ten mandalas are divided in ‘eighths’ (astaka) of equal length. Each of these astaka are further divided into eight ‘lessons’ (adhyaya), which are again subdivided into ‘groups’ (varga) of five or six stanzas. Besides, the mandalas are for practical purposes also mechanically divided into ‘recitations’ (anuvaka).
Mandalas II — VII as considered as the core of the Rig Veda and they are largely homogeneous in character. Each of these six mandalas are considered to be composed by or are being seen through the family lineage of six ‘seers’ (rishis) as listed below:
Mandalas I, VIII and X were not composed by distinct family of rishis, but consist of group of hymns based on identity of authorship. The authors include Savya, Nodhas, Parasara, Gotama, Kutsa, Kaksivat, Parucchepa,
Dirghatamas, Kanva, and Agastya.
Mandala IX comprises 114 hymns and are ascribed to over 60 poets. It consists entirely of hymns addressed to Soma while its juice is in process of clarifying (soma pavamana).
The suktas are addressed to different Gods, with the first group invariably being addressed to Agni followed by Indra and then other Gods.
