Rigvedian deities

The Rig Veda consists of 1,028 hymns, most of which are dedicated to a deity .

Some hymns are dedicated to pairs of deities, for example, Indre-Agni, Miter-Varuna, Soma-Rudra, even less often - three or more, for example, Rigveda 1.30 - the hymn is dedicated to Indra, Ashwins and Ushas. The main gods of the Rig Veda are Agni (the sacrificial flame), Indra (the heroic god praised for the murder of his enemy Vritra ) and Soma (the personification of the sacred drink and the plant from which it is made). Other prominent gods are Mithra , Varuna , Ushas (dawn) and Ashvins . Also called are Savitar , Vishnu , Rudra , Pushan , Brihaspati , Brahmanaspati , Dyaus Pitar (sky), Prithivi (earth), Surya (sun), Vayu (wind), Apas (water), Parjanya (rain), Vach (word), Maruts , Adityas , Ribhu , Vishvedevs (all gods at once), many rivers (especially Sapta-sindhu (seven streams) and Sarasvati ), as well as various lesser gods, persons, concepts, phenomena and objects. The Rigveda also contains fragmentary references to possible historical events, especially the struggle between the Aryans and their enemies, dasas .

Content

List of Deities

List of deities by the number of hymns dedicated to them ^[1] :

Indra 243
Agni 196
Soma 118 (most of them in the Soma Mandala )
All-Gods ( Vishvedevs ) 61
Ashvins 53
Maruty 33
Miter 28
Ushas 18
Varuna 9
Ribhu 9
Pushan 8
Savitar 8
Brihaspati 7
Aditya 6
Dyaus and Prithivi 6
Surya 6
Apas 4
Brahmanaspati 4
Vishnu 3
Dadhikra 3
Parjanya 3
Rudra 3
Saraswati 3
Vayu 2
Visvakarman 2
Manyu 2
Pit 2
Aditi 1
Apam Napat 1
Vastoshpati 1
Vach 1
Purusha 1
Tarkshya 1

Pair of gods

Mithra and Varuna 22
Indra and Agni 11
Indra and Varuna 6
Indra and Vayu 6

Notes

↑ Anthems dedicated to several gods at once were not taken into account.

Literature

Ralph TH Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda (1888).
Rigveda (translation by T. Ya. Elizarenkova )
- Rigveda. Mandalas I — IV. / Prep. ed. T. I. Yelizarenkova . - M .: Nauka , 1999 .-- S. 665.
- Rigveda. Mandalas V — VIII. / Prep. ed. T. I. Yelizarenkova . - M .: Nauka , 1999 .-- S. 733.
- Rigveda. Mandalas IX — X. / Prep. ed. T. I. Yelizarenkova . - M .: Nauka , 1999 .-- S. 262.

[1] Anthems dedicated to several gods at once were not taken into account.