The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.2

v1.c17.2

THE earliest documents which throw light upon the history of India are the hymns of the Rigveda. In the text which has come down to us this *saṃhitā* or 'collection' consists of 1017 hymns divided into ten books of unequal size. The motive of those to whom the collection is due must apparently have been the desire to preserve the body of religious tradition current among the priests; and, early as was the redaction, there are clear signs that already part of the material had ceased to be fully understood by those who made use of it in their worship. The artificial character of the arrangement is clearly indicated by the fact that the first and tenth books have precisely the same number of hymns, 191 each. The collection seems however to have been some time in the making. The nucleus is formed by books II–VII, each of which is attributed to a different priestly family. To this were prefixed the groups of hymns by other families which form the second part (51–191) of book I; and still later were added the first part of book I and book VIII attributed to the family of Kaṇva. Book IX was then formed by taking out from the collections of hymns which made up the first eight books the hymns addressed to Soma Pavamāna, 'the clearly flowing Soma'; and to these nine books was added a tenth, containing, besides hymns of the same hieratic stamp as those of the older books, a certain number of a different type, cosmogonic and philosophical poems, spells and incantations, verses intended for the rites of wedding and burial and other miscellaneous matters. The tenth book also displays, both in metrical form and linguistic details, signs of more recent origin than the bulk of the collection; and the author of one set of hymns (X, 20–26) has emphasised his dependence on earlier tradition by prefixing to his own group the opening words of the first hymn of the first book.