Dating of The Rigveda: Period And Area of Its Composition; The Kassites

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This discovery of the Mitanni empire throwbacks the Aryan invasion theory that if the Rigveda was written by Aryans after coming to Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent after 1500 BC, how is it there was an Aryan kingdom in western Asia established in 17th century BC.

The Kassites of Babylon-

Between the period 1531- 1158 BCE, there was a civilization named Kassites in the Babylon, the region of today's Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. The chief Gods of the Kassites were Surias (Surya), Indas (Indra) and Maruttas (Maruts). It is also said that they were first persons who used and introduced the horse and chariot to Mesopotamia. The names of their kings were also like those of the Vedic Aryans.
A legal document by Kassite king
Image courtesy: Wikipedia 

According to famous Indologist and professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University Michael Witzel wrote that-

"The Kassites conquerors of Mesopotamia (1677- 1152 BCE) have a sun god Surias, perhaps also the Marut and may be Bhaga (Bugas) as well as personal names Abiratas ( Abhiratha)..."

WITZEL 2005: 362

Some scholars consider that the Mitanni and Kassites kingdoms were pro vedic, however the names of their kings having suffixes and prefixes like -aswa, -rath, -sena, -bandhu, Abhi-, Uru-, etc. are not present in the older books ( Mandal- 2,3,4,6 and 7) of the Rigveda but those are present in the new books in 108 hymns.

This finding clearly shows that the Mitanni and Kassites belonged to later Rigvedic period at the time of composition of new books (Mandal- 1,5,8,9 and 10).

Historical Significance of the Rigveda-

Although the Rigveda is only prayer to gods, not a book of history, it has great historical significance. In Witzel's words-

"Right from the beginning, in Rigvedic times, elaborate steps were taken to ensure the exact preproduction of the words of the ancient poets. As a result, the Rgveda still has the exact same wording in such distant regions as Kashmir, Kerala and Orissa, even the long extinct musical accents have been preserved. Vedic transmission is thus superior to that of the Hebrew or Greek Bible, or the Greek, Latin and Chinese classics. We can actually regard present day Rgveda recitation as a tape recording of what was composed and recited some 3000 years ago. In addition, unlike the constantly reformulated Epics and Puranas, the Vedic texts contain contemporary materials. They can serve as snapshots of the political and cultural situations of the particular period and area in which they were composed......as they are contemporary and faithfully preserved, these texts are equivalent to inscriptions."

WITZEL 1995a: 91

"They must be regarded as tape recording, made during the Vedic period and transmitted orally, and usually without the change of a single word."

WITZEL 1997b: 258
He also stated that-

"It must be underlined that just like an ancient inscription, these words have not changed since the composition of these hymns c. 1500 BCE, as the Rgveda has been transmitted almost without any change.....The modern oral recitation of the Rgveda is a tape recording of c. 1700- 1200 BCE."

WITZEL- 2000a:8

The Old Versus New Books of Rigveda-

The Rigveda is divided into 10 books or Mandalas, from book 1 to book 10. Witzel classified the Rigveda into two groups-

  • Family books- book 2 to 7.
  • Non family books- book 1, 8 to 10.
According to him, books 2- 4 and 6- 7 were composed first, then book 5 was composed. Afterwards books 1 and 8 were added to it. Book 9 and lastly book 10 was added. 

Further analysis was done by different scholars and analyzed that book 6 is the earliest book. After that books 3, then 7, 4, 2 and 5 were composed. Afterwards books 1, 8 and 9; and lastly book 10 was composed. So the order of composition is-
6》3》7》4》2》5》1》8》9》10.

So the historicity of the events described in the above books follows the same chronological order as its composition.

The difference between old and new books of Rigveda-

  1. The family books are those which were composed by a single family of Vedic seers, while  the non family books were composed by different seers. 
  2. The family books have a specific pattern of stanzas- according to deities, then reducing number of verses in each hymns and then meters of the verses. Non family books don't follow these orders. 
  3. New words and grammatical frames are present in new books, which are not found in the old books. 
  4. The old books contain mainly the meters 'gayatri' and 'anushtubh' while new books also contain 'pankti', 'mahapankti' and 'sakvari' meters besides above two.

The area of composition of the Rigveda-

There are many verses in the Rigveda, which denote its composition in Punjab region of Indian subcontinent. For example in older book 3, there is a verse about its geographical location. 

नि त्वा दधे वर आ पृथिव्या इलायास्पदे सुदिनत्वे अन्हाम।
दृषद्वत्यां मानुष आप्यायां सरस्वत्यां रेवदग्ने दिदीहि।। 
Rigveda 3: 23: 4.
O Agni, you are set in the earth's most lovely place, in Ila's place in the days of fair bright weather. Here you shine in the home of persons on the banks of rivers Drishtavati, Apaya (Ravi) and Saraswati. 

The Sindhu (Indus) and rivers to its west are found in the latter books.
...........to be continued 

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