Rigveda

The Rigveda stands as the oldest surviving text in any Indo-European language, a vast collection of hymns composed in Vedic Sanskrit. Scholars place its creation between 1500 and 1000 BCE in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, though some estimates stretch back to 1900 BCE. This ancient work belongs to the Śruti category of Hindu scriptures, yet only one branch of the original tradition survives today: the Śakalya Shakha. The rest of the branches remain lost or unavailable to the public. The core text, known as the Samhita, contains 1,028 hymns organized into ten books called maṇḍalas. These roughly 10,600 verses praise deities, describe cosmic origins, and outline rituals for earning divine favor. Later sections explore philosophical questions about charity and the nature of the divine.[edit]