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 Price of Praise: The Dānastuti and the Gift Economy of the Rigveda
At the end of dozens of Rigvedic hymns the poets stop praising gods and start counting cattle. These 'praise of the gift' verses record what a patron paid for a song, and they are among the most revealing lines in the whole collection.
The Gambler's Lament: Reading RV 10.34, the Rigveda's One Hymn About Addiction
One Rigvedic hymn has no god to praise and no ritual to serve. It is the monologue of a man ruined by dice, and it hides a working model of an ancient game played with the nuts of a forest tree. Here is what the poem says, how the game worked, and why scholars still argue about it.
Tvaṣṭṛ and the Ṛbhus: Divine Craft and the Artisan Theology of the Rigveda
The Rigveda's artisan deities, Tvaṣṭṛ the divine fashioner and the three mortal Ṛbhus who won immortality through craft, reveal a Vedic theology where making rivals praying. Their myths encode real tensions about skill, authority, and who gets to be a god.
Dasas, Dasyus, and the Question of the Other: Who Were the Rigveda's Enemies?
The Rigveda names its opponents Dasas and Dasyus, but who were they? This article traces the textual evidence, the linguistic cognates, and 150 years of scholarly debate to show what we actually know and where the gaps remain.