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 God Inside the Slaughtered Horse: Reading the Aśvamedha Hymns (RV 1.162–1.163)
Two Rigvedic hymns, RV 1.162 and 1.163, narrate the killing of a horse and then insist the horse does not die. Read together, they open onto an Indo-European ritual older than India, a royal theater of sovereignty, and a quiet anatomy lesson hidden in a sacred poem.
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.
Metallurgy in the Mantras: Gold, Bronze, and the Material World of the Rigvedic Poets
The Rigveda names metals, describes chariots, catalogues ornaments, and treats gold as the substance closest to the divine. Reading the metallurgical vocabulary alongside the archaeology of the late Bronze Age Punjab recovers the material world the poets actually inhabited: a world of copper-alloy tools, gold exchange, spoked-wheel vehicles, and no iron.