Mandala 8

The eighth Mandala of the Rigveda has 103 hymns. Other than the "family books" (Mandalas 2–7, dated as an old part of the RV) and RV 1 and RV 10 (dated as the latest portion of hymns composed shortly before redaction of the Rigveda into shakhas), Mandala 8 cannot straightforwardly be dated as a whole relative to the other books, and its hymns may include both ancient and late specimens. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the kāṇva family. The hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are the apocryphal vālakhilya, the majority of them are devoted to Indra; these are accepted as a recent portion, properly already post-Rigvedic. Quotes We drank soma, we became immortal; we went to the light, we found the gods;how could now affect us distress, O Immortal One, how man’s malevolence? Hymn 8.48.3, quoted from Kazanas, N. (2015). Vedic and IndoEuropean studies. Aditya Prakashan. chapter Shamans, Religion, Soma and the Ṛgveda Repeatedly, Indra is invoked as a bringer or conqueror of horses and cattle together: “Break open for us cattle and horses in their thousands” (8.34.14), “split apart the enclosure of the cow and the horse like a stronghold for your comrades” (8.32.5). quoted in Danino, M. (2019). Demilitarizing the Rigveda: a scrutiny of Vedic horses, chariots and warfare., STUDIES IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Journal of the Inter-University Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences VOL. XXVI, NUMBER 1, SUMMER 2019 Break open for us the thousands of the Cow and the Horse (8.34.14, Sri Aurobindoís translation). M Danino in History of ancient India / editors, Dilip K. Chakrabarti and Makkhan Lal. v. 3. The texts, political history and administration, till c. 200 BC. I.2. The Horse and the Aryan Debate Chitra is King, and only kinglings are the rest, who dwell beside Sarasvatœ. He, like Parjanya with his rain, hath spread himself with thousand, yea, with myriad gifts. RV 8.21.18:(in Lal, B. B. (2005). Can the Vedic people be identified archaeologically?–An approach. IT, 31, 173-194.) External links Category:Rigveda