The eighth Mandala of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

has 103 hymns. Other than the "family books" (Mandalas 2–7, dated as an old part of the RV) and RV 1 and RV 10 (dated as the latest portion of hymns composed shortly before redaction of the Rigveda into

shakha A shakha () is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school.V. S. Apte. A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 913, left column.Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-Engli ...

s), Mandala 8 cannot straightforwardly be dated as a whole relative to the other books, and its hymns may include both ancient and late specimens. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the kāṇva family. The hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are the apocryphal vālakhilya, the majority of them are devoted to

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

; these are accepted as a recent portion, properly already post-Rigvedic. The hymns are dedicated to

Agni Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

, the Asvins, the

Maruts In Hinduism, the Maruts (; ), also known as the Marutagana and sometimes identified with Rudras, are storm deities and sons of Rudra and Prisni. The number of Maruts varies from 27 to sixty (three times sixty in RV 8.96.8). They are very viol ...

, the

Adityas In Hinduism, Adityas ( ) refers to a group of major solar deities, who are the offspring of the goddess Aditi. The name ''Aditya'', in the singular, is taken to refer to the sun god Surya. Generally, Adityas are twelve in number and consi ...

Varuna Varuna (; , ) is a Hindu god. He is one of the earliest deities in pantheon, whose role underwent a significant transformation from the Vedic to the Puranic periods. In the early Vedic era, Varuna is seen as the god-sovereign, ruling the sky ...

, Mitra-Varuna, the Vishvadevas, and Soma. 8.100 is dedicated to Indra and Vak (Speech). Of the Valakhilya, six hymns are dedicated to Indra, and one each to the Asvins, the Vishvadevas and Indra-Varuna. 8.55 and 8.56 praise "Praskanva's Gift", the reward given to the

rishi In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "gre ...

by Dasyave-vrka "the wolf of the Dasyus", a hero who in alliance with the Kanvas has won a victory over the Dasyus. According to some scholars, the 8th Mandala has the most striking similarity to the

Avesta The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...

.: it contains allusions to

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

flora and fauna,(RV 8.5; 8.46; 8.56) e.g. to camels (' =

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

''uštra'' (cf. '' Zaraθ-uštra''; RV 8.4.7, 8.5.37, 8.46.22, 8.46.31; elsewhere in the RV only in 1.138.2). The river name ''Suvastu'' in 8.19.37 refers to the

Swat River The Swat River (, ) is a perennial river in the northern region of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. The river's source is in the high glacial valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains, where it then flows into the Kalam Valley before for ...

in Gandhari.

List of incipits

The dedication as given by

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is in the square brackets. 8.1 (621) ndra. 8.2 (622) ndra. 8.3 (623) ndra. 8.4 (624) ndra. 8.5 (625) svins. 8.6 (626) ndra. 8.7 (627) aruts. 8.8 (628) svins. 8.9 (629) svins. 8.10 (630) svins. 8.11 (631) gni. 8.12 (632) ndra. 8.13 (633) ndra. 8.14 (634) ndra. 8.15 (635) ndra. 8.16 (636) ndra. 8.17 (637) ndra. 8.18 (638) dityas. 8.19 (639) gni. 8.20 (640) aruts. 8.21 (641) ndra. 8.22 (642) svins. 8.23 (643) gni. 8.24 (644) ndra. 8.25 (645) itra-Varuna. 8.26 (646) svins. 8.27 (647) isvedevas. 8.28 (648) isvedevas. 8.29 (649) isvedevas. 8.30 (650) isvedevas. 8.31 (651) arious Deities. 8.32 (652) ndra. 8.33 (653) ndra. 8.34 (654) ndra. 8.35 (655) svins. 8.36 (656) ndra. 8.37 (657) ndra. 8.38 (658) ndra-Angi. 8.39 (659) gni. 8.40 (660) ndra-Agni. 8.41 (661) aruna. 8.42 (662) aruna. 8.43 (663) gni. 8.44 (664) gni. 8.45 (665) ndra. 8.46 (666) ndra. 8.47 (667) dityas. 8.48 (668) oma. (vālakhilya) 8.60 (669) gni. 8.61 (670) ndra. 8.62 (671) ndra. 8.63 (672) ndra. 8.64 (673) ndra. 8.65 (674) ndra. 8.66 (675) ndra. 8.67 (676) dityas. 8.68 (677) ndra. 8.69 (678) ndra. 8.70 (679) ndra. 8.71 (680) gni. 8.72 (681) gni. 8.73 (682) svins. 8.74 (683) gni. 8.75 (684) gni. 8.76 (685) ndra. 8.77 (686) ndra. 8.78 (687) ndra. 8.79 (688) oma. 8.80 (689) ndra. 8.81 (690) ndra. 8.82 (691) ndra. 8.83 (692) isvedevas. 8.84 (693) gni. 8.85 (694) svins. 8.86 (695) svins. 8.87 (696) svins. 8.88 (697) ndra. 8.89 (698) ndra. 8.90 (699) ndra. 8.91 (700) ndra. 8.92 (701) ndra. 8.93 (702) ndra. 8.94 (703) aruts. 8.95 (704) ndra. 8.96 (705) ndra. 8.97 (706) ndra. 8.98 (707) ndra. 8.99 (708) ndra. 8.100 (709) ndra. Vak. 8.101 (710) arious. 8.102 (711) gni. 8.103 (712) gni. Vālakhilya: 8.49 (1018) ndra. 8.50 (1019) ndra. 8.51 (1020) ndra. 8.52 (1021) ndra. 8.53 (1022) ndra. 8.54 (1023) ndra. 8.55 (1024) raskanva's Gift. 8.56 (1025) raskanva's Gift. 8.57 (1026) svins. 8.58 (1027) isvedevas. 8.59 (1028) ndra-Varuna.

References

External links

* – English translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith {{Rigveda Rigveda