1. RIG VEDA Earliest surviving record of Indian religious thought and the basis of Hinduism

2. RIG VEDA • Collection of 1,028 hymns • Compiled around 1400 BC • Authors were Indo-Europeans, known as Aryans, who migrated from Iran and Afghanistan • Individual authors are unknown. • The Rig Veda is written in Sanskrit, one of the oldest of Indo-European languages.

3. RELIGIOUS BELIEFSOF THE RIG VEDA • Revered nature: nature – sun, moon, rain, night, wind, storms – portrayed as godlike beings. • The gods were praised for their beauty and power and for the benefits brought to mankind. • The gods were invoked for protection and for food. • Reflected an early society that was Agrarian.

4. SACRIFICE AND THE RIG VEDA • Nature – both benevolent and threatening. • Sacrifices offered to the gods to ward off natural catastrophes. • Offerings of food and drink were thought to persuade the gods to intervene with nature on human’s behalf.

5. RIG VEDA AND PRIESTS • Religion evolved to belief that the sacrifice actually controlled the gods and the order of the universe • This belief gave the priests, who supervised the sacrifice, enormous power and influence

6. VEDIC HYMNS • Emphasize importance of gods and nature • Ponder timeless questions • Why are we here? • Written to be chanted • Passed down as oral tradition

7. HYMNS • Some hymns are abstract: “Creation Hymn” • ….and others are concrete: “Night”