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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Apām Napāt, the Child of the Waters: A God of Fire Born from the Flood
One Rigvedic hymn, RV 2.35, praises a golden god who shines without fuel at the bottom of the waters. Apām Napāt is the strangest figure in the Vedic pantheon, and the key to a fire-in-water myth older than India itself.
The Impeller's Verse: How a Stanza to Savitṛ Became the Gāyatrī
The most recited verse in Hinduism began as an ordinary stanza to a second-rank god. The story of how RV 3.62.10 became the Gāyatrī is a study in how meter, deity, and goddess collapsed into one another.
Ushas: Goddess of Dawn and the Most Beautiful Poetry of the Rig Veda
The dawn-hymns of the Rig Veda are widely considered the corpus's finest poetry. Ushas — Uṣas — is praised in twenty hymns of unusual lyricism. A reading of the dawn-cycle and what makes it the high-water mark of Vedic verse.
Agni in the Rig Veda: The Fire God Who Carries Prayers to Heaven
Agni — the divine fire — is the first deity invoked in the Rig Veda and the priest of every Vedic sacrifice. Why does the entire corpus open with him, and what does he mean?