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The Rigveda
8Various Vedic poets
GBM Assessment (Score: 8/10)
The Rigveda is the oldest Hindu religious text and the foundation of Indian civilization. Comprising 1,028 hymns dedicated to the gods of the Vedic pantheon, it established the spiritual, philosophical, and literary traditions that would shape the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years.
Composed by various Vedic poets in Vedic Sanskrit, the Rigveda stands as the oldest continuously used religious text in the world. Its hymns laid the groundwork for Hindu philosophy, ritual practice, and cosmological thought. The collection was recognized as a UNESCO Memory of the World document in 2007, affirming its enduring significance to human cultural heritage.
Vedic India, c. 1500 BC
Indo-Aryan peoples settle northern India with an oral tradition of extraordinary sophistication. The Late Bronze Age connects Egypt (New Kingdom), the Hittite Empire, Kassite Babylon, and Mycenaean Greece in trade and diplomacy. The Trojan War, if historical, lies two centuries ahead.
Awards & Adaptations
UNESCO (2007). Oldest continuously used religious text.
Recommended Edition
R.T.H. Griffith trans. (1896)