Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t3.9

v1.c7.s10.t3.9

The Rigveda is the oldest Vedic text, and some of the oldest hymns can be dated back to about 1500 BCE. It mainly contains hymns used by primitive Indians (supposed by many scholars to be the Aryans) to praise the gods, and these hymns are verses loudly chanted at sacrificial rituals to call the deities. The Rigveda originally was produced and preserved by oral tradition alone, and was not written down until much later. The existing Rigveda includes 10 volumes and a total of 1,017 hymns (if 11 hymns inserted into the volume 8 are included, it will total 1,028). Given their inconsistency and lack of coordination, obviously, these 10 volumes are impossible to have been written by a single person or co-authored by several persons.