Journeys into Vedic Thought
Long-form, researched essays on the deities, language, ritual and history of the Rig Veda. All free to read.
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The Twins on the Treaty Tablet: The Aśvins and the Indo-European Divine Horsemen
A clay tablet from northern Syria, written around 1350 BCE, swears an oath by gods named Mitra, Varuṇa, Indra, and the Nāsatya. The last pair are the Aśvins, the Rigveda's horse-riding twin rescuers, and they are also the best surviving witness to a myth Indo-Europeans told before any of these languages existed.
How Old Is the Rigveda? Three Thousand Years of Dating Debates
Scholars have proposed dates for the Rigveda ranging from 6000 BCE to 1000 BCE. The gap between the earliest and latest serious proposals spans five millennia. This article traces every major approach, from Max Muller's backward arithmetic to ancient DNA, and is honest about what each one can and cannot prove.
In the Beginning Was Music: How a 3,400-Year-Old Syrian Hymn Revealed the Rigveda's Oldest Footprint Outside India
A computational study finds that nearly one in five Rigvedic verses share their closing cadence with the Hymn to Nikkal, a 3,400-year-old song inscribed on a clay tablet in ancient Syria. The statistical match, tested against a thousand randomized Rigvedas, points to the Mitanni kingdom as the cultural bridge that carried Vedic musical forms to the Mediterranean Bronze Age.