Vedas , livre ebook

Penguin Books Ltd - Roshen Dalal

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

338 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Your essential guide to the Vedas When were the Vedas written, and why? Who were the people who composed them? Where did they come from, how did they live? Questions, conjectures and debates go hand in hand with the Vedas, the sacred keystone texts of Hinduism. Now, noted historian Roshen Dalal sifts through centuries of information and research to present, in a straightforward and succinct manner, an account of the Vedas that is authoritative yet accessible, thus appealing to both scholars and lay readers. In this book, key insights into the Vedas are complemented by a celebration of the poetry that lies within the texts. Using socio-economic data and archaeological and linguistic research, the author introduces us to the Vedic era, enabling us to understand the culture and philosophy that produced these ancient and sublime texts. Based on original research and numerous authoritative sources, including auxiliary texts and early commentaries Appendices featuring selected hymns from all four Vedas, and listing all the hymns that make up the Rig Veda Conveniently cross-referenced with a wealth of information

Sujets

Reference work

Informations

Publié par	Penguin Books Ltd
Date de parution	15 avril 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184757637
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Roshen Dalal

The Vedas
An Introduction to Hinduism s Sacred Texts
Contents
About the Author
Also by Roshen Dalal
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter   1: Vedic Literature: The Four Samhitas
Chapter   2: Related Literature
Chapter   3: The Origins: The Indo-Europeans
Chapter   4: The Iranian Connection
Chapter   5: The Indo-Iranian Homeland
Chapter   6: The Rig Veda
Chapter   7: The Tribes and Clans
Chapter   8: The Archaeological Setting
Chapter   9: Religion
Chapter 10: Ritual and Sacrifice
Chapter 11: The Beginnings of Medicine
Chapter 12: Two Spiritual Interpretations
Conclusion
Appendix I
Appendix II: A Selection of Hymns from the Four Vedas
Select Bibliography
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
The Vedas
Roshen Dalal was born in Mussoorie and studied in various schools across the country. After a BA (Hons) in History from the university of Bombay, she completed an MA and PhD in ancient Indian history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has taught at both school and university, and been involved in research in the fields of history, religion and philosophy, and education. Apart from books, she has written numerous articles and book reviews. After working for many years as an editor, she is now a full-time writer, living in Dehradun.
Also by Roshen Dalal
The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths
Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide
The Illustrated Timeline History of the World
The Puffin History of India, Vols 1 and 2
The Puffin History of the World, Vol. 1
For Shahnaz Arni
Introduction
The Vedas are the most sacred books of Hinduism and, perhaps, the most controversial. There is no agreement on the nature and purpose of the texts, their date, or the origin of the people who composed them.
The controversies began almost as soon as the Vedas were translated and became known in the West. In the early 20th century, the great scholar Maurice Winternitz wrote, regarding the Rig Veda:
In view of the very great divergence in the opinions of the specialists, it is not enough, even in a book intended for the general reader, merely to give some approximate date, for even the general reader must have an idea of the circumstances supporting the various opinions on the greater or lesser antiquity of the Vedas.
( History of Indian Literature , vol. 1, A hymn to Soma )
The same principle holds true today both for controversies regarding the date and for other aspects of the texts. One of the most important points of dispute is the question of the homeland of the Vedic people. The other is the question of the region of composition of the Vedas. These two points are also related to the date of the texts.
There are four Vedas or Vedic Samhitas: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. There are also numerous related texts and commentaries. Based on both language and content, the Rig Veda is usually considered the earliest of the four Samhitas, which makes it the earliest known text in India.
This book begins with an overview of the contents of the four Vedas, and the different approaches used to understand them. This is followed by a summary of the related texts and commentaries. Among the important related texts are the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads. Special texts that throw light on the Vedas include the padapathas (word texts) and anukramanis (indices). The Vedangas are a further group of early texts, which help in understanding the Vedas. These include texts on grammar and metre.
Where were the Vedas composed? And what was the origin of the Vedic people? Linguistics and archaeology are believed to provide the keys to answering these crucial questions. Since the late 18th century, it became clear that Sanskrit was related to several European languages including Greek and Latin. An assumption was then made that there must have been an earlier single language from which these languages later diverged. This hypothetical language has been termed Indo-European and its early form, Proto-Indo-European. If there was a single language, it is presumed that there was also a single homeland, from where all the groups speaking this language migrated and diverged, spreading across parts of Europe and Asia. Further, looking at the very close similarities between Rig Vedic Sanskrit and Old Avestan (earliest known language of Iran), it was presumed that one of the early divergent groups consisted of people speaking a language termed Indo-Iranian, which later diverged into the two languages referred to above. In addition, similarities were noticed in religion, myth and culture among the various Indo-European groups, and particularly between the two Indo-Iranian groups. Based on the linguistic theories, archaeologists began searching for an archaeological culture that would represent the early homeland, and various other such cultures that would represent the movements of the groups from the original homeland. In this book, the different Indo-European theories as well as theories regarding language change and diffusion are examined in detail, along with views that oppose or deny these theories. This is followed by a look at the Iranian material, which is essential for understanding the context of the Rig Veda. Despite the similarities in language, myth and ritual, the earliest Iranian texts, known today as the Gathas, provide an account of a very different monotheistic religion, later called Zoroastrianism. It is therefore important to understand the differences as well as the similarities in the Vedic and Avestan materials.
Against this background, what sort of information does the Rig Veda itself provide? What is the internal evidence of its date and origin? Can the Rig Veda and Later Vedic texts be equated with archaeological cultures and, if so, which ones? Is it possible, as many have claimed, that the Rig Veda belongs to the period of the Harappan civilization? An overview of the archaeological cultures in early India helps to situate the Vedas while an in-depth study of the texts provides some indications. The study includes a detailed analysis of peoples (tribes or clans), places and rivers mentioned, and their probable locations, as well as the likely identification of the numerous plants, trees and animals mentioned in the texts.
Apart from questions of location and origin, there is much of interest in the Vedas. There are beautiful prayers and hymns to deities, references to people, to wars and battles and to daily life, to nature, to crops and agriculture, and to wild and domestic animals. Among the deities are Indra, Vayu, Agni, Usha, Ratri, and many more. There are even some philosophical concepts. Early aspects of music are revealed in the Sama Veda and associated songbooks. Rituals are described in the Yajur Veda and associated texts, while the earliest account of medicine and healing occurs in the Atharva Veda.
The Vedas thus are rich texts, full of information of various kinds, written in a poetic and beautiful form. Yet there is a strange paradox: while the Vedas are considered eternal, supreme, and the most sacred of all texts of Hinduism, the contents are often mundane, or related to ritual.
This brings us to the question of translation. A single word in the Rig Veda can have multiple and divergent meanings. Can we be sure that the Rig Veda and other Vedas have been translated correctly? Among the earlier translators were H.H. Wilson, R.T.H. Griffith, A.B. Keith, Rudolf Roth, H. Grassman, Alfred Ludwig, and J. Stevenson. Newer translations include, among others, those of selected hymns of the Rig Veda by Wendy Doniger and of sections of the Atharva Veda by Arlo Griffiths. The newer translations have an easier and more modern style but, at the same time, are not wholly different.
It is instead the spiritual translators who provide a totally different meaning of the original hymns. Could they be correct and could all other interpretations be wrong? In Chapter 12 of this book, we look at the work of two spiritual leaders and scholars, who have interpreted the Rig Veda in a spiritual context. Another new translation that deserves mention is the complete Hindi translation by Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya.
To summarize, this book presents an understanding of the texts both for the scholar and for the layperson. It ends with some unbiased and very tentative conclusions on their date and homeland based on a detailed analysis. The two appendices provide a list of hymns of the Rig Veda, and a selection of hymns from the four Vedas.
This book is based on my own original research, particularly on the Ganga-Yamuna Doab and surrounding areas, as well as on numerous other sources. Apart from the texts themselves, along with auxiliary texts and early commentaries, there are literally hundreds of books, and an even larger number of articles, on the Vedas, the so-called Aryans , the Indo-Europeans, the Indo-Iranians, and the relationship of the Vedic people with an archaeological culture.
A select bibliography provides a list of the main sources.
A NOTE ON SPELLINGS
Numerous Sanskrit words are used in this book. A standard system of spelling has been used, based on Monier-Williams s A Sanskrit-English Dictionary , though without diacritical marks.
Chapter 1
Vedic Literature: The Four Samhitas
Vedic literature is very vast and is broadly divided into two parts: (1) the four Vedic Samhitas and (2) the related texts, including the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. Apart from these, there are three categories of texts known as Kalpa Sutras. There are also commentaries and anukramanis (indices) and associated literature-the Vedangas. All early texts and commentaries were composed in Sanskrit, though later interpretations use various languages.
THE SAMHITAS
The four Vedic Samhitas-Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda-are considered the most sacred texts of Hindus. The w