Ṛgveda
ऋग्वेद
Also written: rigveda · rig veda · oldest veda · nasadiya sukta
The Ṛgveda is the foundation of the entire tradition — 1,028 hymns, 10,552 mantras, arranged in ten maṇḍalas. Maṇḍalas 2 to 7 are the 'family books', each preserved by one ṛṣi lineage; 1, 8, 9 and 10 were arranged around them.
Structure
| Maṇḍala | Character |
|---|---|
| 1 | 191 hymns, many ṛṣis — arranged later as an opening |
| 2–7 | The family books: Gṛtsamada, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bharadvāja, Vasiṣṭha |
| 8 | Kaṇva and Āṅgirasa lineages |
| 9 | Entirely to Soma Pavamāna — the purifying draught |
| 10 | The latest layer: Puruṣa Sūkta, Nāsadīya Sūkta, Devī Sūkta, the funeral and marriage hymns |
The hymn of creation — and its honesty
The Nāsadīya Sūkta is the most remarkable passage in the world's early literature: an account of creation that ends by doubting whether creation can be accounted for at all.
नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत्।
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṁ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat
Then there was neither non-being nor being; neither the realm of space, nor the sky beyond.
को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत्कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः।
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ
Who truly knows? Who here can declare it? Whence was it born, whence this creation? … Perhaps it formed itself, perhaps it did not — He who surveys it from the highest heaven, He alone knows; or perhaps He does not know.
Other great hymns
- Puruṣa Sūkta (10.90) — the cosmic person, and the fourfold division of the social body.
- Devī Sūkta (10.125) — the Goddess speaking in the first person: 'I move with the Rudras and the Vasus'.
- Gāyatrī mantra (3.62.10) — the most recited verse in the tradition, seen by Viśvāmitra.
- Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta (10.121) — the golden germ, and the refrain 'to which god shall we offer?'
- Aghamarṣaṇa, Nāsadīya, and the marriage hymn (10.85) still recited at every Vedic wedding.
The sources of knowledge in Sanātana Dharma
The complete library: Nigama and Āgama, śruti and smṛti, the four Vedas with their four layers, the six Vedāṅg…
Śruti — that which was heard
What apauruṣeya means, how the Veda was preserved syllable-perfect for millennia without writing, and why śrut…
Smṛti — that which was remembered
The vast human-authored body: Vedāṅga, Itihāsa, Purāṇa, Dharma Śāstra, Sūtra, Darśana, Āgama and Kāvya — deriv…
Nigama and Āgama — the two revealed streams
The Vedic and the Tantric revelations: their different forms, their different eligibility rules, why every tem…
The four Vedas
Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda and Atharvaveda — what each contains, the priest each belongs to, its śākhās, and …
Yajurveda
The Veda of the act: the formulae by which the sacrifice is performed, its white and black branches, and the U…
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.