Journeys into Vedic Thought
Long-form, researched essays on the deities, language, ritual and history of the Rig Veda. All free to read.
No articles match your search. Clear →
Mitra: The Contract God and the Oldest Dated Witness to a Vedic Name
Mitra owns exactly one hymn in the Rigveda, yet his name is the earliest dated trace of any Vedic deity, scratched into a Hittite treaty around 1380 BCE. This is the story of a god who binds, and what a clay tablet in Anatolia tells us about when the Veda was young.
Pūṣan, Lord of the Paths: The Gruel-Eating God Who May Be Greek Pan's Cousin
Pūṣan is the Rigveda's god of roads, lost cattle, weddings and the road of the dead. A toothless herdsman who rides a goat-cart and eats porridge, he also sits at the centre of one of comparative mythology's oldest and most stubborn puzzles: is he a cousin of the Greek god Pan?
Varuna: The Watchful God and the Invention of Cosmic Guilt
Varuna is the only Rigvedic god who makes his worshippers feel guilty. A close reading of his hymns, his thousand-eyed surveillance network, his noose, and the strange arc from supreme cosmic sovereign to minor water deity.