RG VEDA:
the most ancient book of HINDUISM which consists of Four collections of VEDIC
HYMNS composed before 900 B.C. and preserved in ORAL TRADITION until they were written
down in the sixteenth century and later by MUSLIMS in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. The hymns were used in SACRIFICIAL RITUALS by BRAHMINS and are treated as
eternally existent. There are 1028 hymns which refer to the GODS; the most important of
which are INDRA, AGNI, VARUA, and SOMA. VISHNU and RUDRA are present but as minor deities.
Many scholars see a tendency towards MONOTHEISM in the hymns. The g Veda was
translated into English by Max MULLER and H. Oldenberg in the 1890s from a language which
predated SANSKRIT.
