☼ Religion during the Rig Vedic Period:
• During the Rigvedic time the gods worshipped were generally the personified powers of Nature.
• It was believed that divine powers were capable of conferring both boons and punishments on man.
• Fire was sacred as it was regarded to be the intermediary between man and God.
• There were nearly 33 gods. Later day tradition classified them into 3 categories— (i) Terrestrial (prithvisthana), (ii) Aerial or intermediate (antarikshasthana) and (iii) Celestial (dyusthana) god.
(i) Terrestrial (Prithvisthaniya): were Prithivi, Agni, Soma, Brihaspati and rivers.
(ii) Aerial or Intermediate (Antarikshasthaniya) were Indra, Rudra, Vayu-Vata, Parjanya.
(iii) Celestial (Dyusthaniya) were Daus, Surya, Varuna, Aditi, Usha and Asvin.
• Surya was In five forms— (a) Surya, (b) Savitri, (c) Mitra, (d) Pushan, (e) Vishnu.
• Indra, Agni and Varuna were the most popular deities of Rigvedic Aryans.
• Indra or Purandara (destroyer of fort) was the most important god. 250 Rigvedic hymns are devoted to God Indra. Indra or Purandara played the role of warlord and was considered to be the rain god.
• Agni was the second most important god . 200 Rigvedic hymns are devoted to God Agni. The God Agni, the fire god was considered to be the intermediary between the gods and the people.
• Varuna: Personified water; was supposed to uphold 'Rita' or the natural order ('Ritasyagopa').
• Surya (Sun) was worshiped in five forms— (a) Surya, (b) Savitri, (c) Mitra, (d) Pushan, (e) Vishnu.
(a) Surya (Sun) was the God who used to drive daily across the sky in his chariot driven by seven horses.
(b) Savitri was the god of light . The famous Gayatri Mantra is addressed to her.
(c) Mitra was a solar god.
(d) Pushan was the god of marriage. The main function of the god are guarding of roads, herdsmen and straying cattle.
(e) Vishnu was a god which covered earth in three steps (Upakrama).
• Soma : Originally a plant producing a potent drink during courses of Agnishtoma sacrifice, could be hemp / bhang, called king of plants; identified later with the moon.
• The 9th mandala of Rig Veda, which contains 114 hymns, is attributed to the Soma. That's why it is called 'the Soma Mandala'.
◘ Other Gods / Goddesses:
• Rudra is the god of animals.
• Dyaus is the oldest god and called the father of the world.
• Yama is the god of death.
• Ashwin / Nastya is the god of health, youth and immortality.
• Aditi is the great mother of gods.
• Sindhu is the river goddess.
• Sometimes gods were visualised as animals but there was no animal worship.
• The nature of Rigvedic religion was Henotheism i.e. a belief in many gods but each god standing out in turns as the highest.
• Their religion primarily consisted of the worship of gods with a simple ceremonial known as Yajna or sacrifice. Sacrifices consisted of offerings of milk, ghee, grain, flesh and soma.
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