This being the general character of these four Vedas, a few remarks must here suf dee to convey some idea of their special contents.
On the religious ideas expressed in the a general account is given in the 'Miele INDIA, see. Religion; • see also, besides the deities mentioned there, and the articles to them, VARDN'A, VIYII, and YAMA, and J. Muir's " Contributions to a Knowl Mge of :Vedic Theogony and Mythology," in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1864. The social condition of the.Hinclus, as reflected from the hymns of this Veda, Is not that of a pastoral or nomadic as is sometimes supposed, but, on the con trary, betrays an advanced stage of civilization. Frequent allusion is made in them to towns and cities, to mighty kings, and their prodigious wealth. Besides agriculture, they mention various useful arts which were practiced by the people, as the art of weav ing, of melting precious metals, of fabricating cars, golden and iron mail, and golden ornaments. The employment of the needle and the use of musical instruments, are known to them. They also prove that the Hindus of that period were not only familiar with the ocean, but sometimes must have engaged in naval expeditions. They had some knowledge of medicine, and must have made some advance in astronomical computation, Its mention is made of the adoption of an intercalary month, for the purpose of adjust ing the solar and lunar years. Nor were they unacquainted with the vices of civiliza tion, for we read in these hymns of common women, of secret births. of gamblers and thieves. There is also a curious hymn, from which it would follow that even the com plicated law of inheritance, which is one of the peculiarities of the existing Hindu law, was to some extent already in use at one of the periods of the Rigveda hymns. The Institution of caste, however, seems at that time to have been unknown, for there is no evidence to prove that the names which at a later period were current for the distinc tion of caste. were employed iu the same sense by the poets of these h'mns,—See Wil son's Ingveda, vol. i., re-edited by F. E. Hall, vols. ii., iii.; and vol. iv., edited by E. 13. Cowell (Loud. 1850-66).
The only recension in which the Sanhitil of the R'igveda has been preserved to us, is that of the Saban school; and the hymns themselves are arranged according to two methods, the one chiefly considering the material bulk, the other the authorship of the hymns. Both divisions, however, run parallel. According to the former, the whole
Sanhit5 consists of eight Axlit'alcas, or eights; these, again, are divided into 64 Adhydyas, or lessons; these into 2,006 Vargas, or sections; and the Vargas into Ridis, or verses, the actual number of which is 10,417, but, according to the statement of native authori ties, seems at some other time to have amounted to 10,616 or 10,622.—According to the other method, the Sanhitil, is divided into 10 Man'd'alas, or "circles;" the Man'd'alas into 85 Anurakas, or "sections;" these into 1017, and 11 additional, i.e., into 1028 Suit as, or "hymns," and the hymns into Ras, or verses, the number of which coin cides, of course, with that of the former arrangement. The number of padas, or words, in this Sanbit5 is stated as being 153,826.
In eight out of the ten Man'd'alas, the first hymn or hymns are addressed to Agni; the next hymn or hymns generally to India; and after these come hymns to the Vis'we Dmis—the deities collectively—or hymns to other special deities. The eighth Man'd'ala begins with hymns to Indra, and the ninth is chiefly devoted to Soma.
As for the authorship of the hymns, the second Man'd'ala belongs chiefly to that of Gtr'itmlnada, the third chiefly to that of ViVicanzitra, and the fourth chiefly to that of Viimadeva. The fifth was composed chiefly by Atri, and members of his family; the sixth by Rha'radthja and members of his family; the seventh by Timis/dila and his kin; the first, eighth, ninth, and tenth by various R'ishis.—The text of the Sanhitd has been edited in Roman characters by prof. Th. Aufrecht (Berlin, 1861); and the text, with a commentary of Slyan'a, is published by prof. Max Muller, there having already appeared vols. i.–vi. of this edition (Loud. 1849-74). Of translations, the first volume of one by Max Mailer appeared in 1869; that by the late prof. H. H. Wilson, which was loft by hint completed in manuscript, follows the commentary of Sayan'a, based on Hindu tradition; that begun by prof. Benfey in the Journal Orient und Occident, vols. i. caul ii. (Gott, 1862-64), is essentially speculative.