Image: 1500-1200 BCE, Devi sukta, Rigveda 10.125.1-2, Sanskrit, Devanagari, manuscript page 1735 CE (1792 VS)

Description: The Vedas are scriptures of Hinduism. The Rigveda samhita is dated between 1500 to 1200 BCE, while the others to between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Each Vedic samhita consists of books. These texts are in the archaic Sanskrit language and include four layers of texts, samhita being one layer of the Vedas. They contain hymns that cover a wide mix of topics: benedictions, mythologies, questions and riddles, the methodology for yajna sacrifices, potions and incantations, drama and poems, samskara (rites of passage verses), philosophy and mystical speculations. The hymns are set in the form of dialogues, dramatic play, or pedagogic style. The corpus of Vedic texts, as well all post-Vedic texts, are generally accepted to have been orally transmitted from generation to generation for over a millennium, till about the start of the common era. In Sanskrit, they were written in many Indic scripts. The scripture was written on palm leaf manuscripts, copied for preservation in Hindu temples and monasteries. Later paper and cloth versions were produced, where the page size was similar to the heritage palm leaf-like long pages. The above image is from Mandala 10, Hymn 125, of a northern recension of the Rigveda manuscript. It shows a part of the Devi sukta, the celebrated hymn that is also cited by Devi Mahatmya (a key text of the goddess tradition of Hinduism), and in the Rigveda these are verses 10.125.1 – 10.125.2 (blue arrow, the full Devi sukta is lines 1–8). The text above and below is a bhasya (a traditional Hindu style of analysis and commentary). The text reads: अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुत विश्वदेवैः । अहं मित्रावरुणोभा बिभर्म्यहमिन्द्राग्नी अहमश्विनोभा ॥१॥ अहं सोममाहनसं बिभर्म्यहं त्वष्टारमुत पूषणं भगम् । अहं दधामि द्रविणं हविष्मते सुप्राव्ये यजमानाय सुन्वते ॥२॥ These manuscripts are preserved at the Lalchand Research Library, Ancient Indian Manuscript Collection, DAV College Digital Library Initiative, Chandigarh India, in association with SP Lohia and Indorama Charitable Trust. The text is over 3000 years old, the re-copying into this particular manuscript is a pre-1890 reproduction. The manuscript shows stain marks, decay and damage on the sides and its edges. Language: Sanskrit Script: Devanagari Script style: pre-14th century (Northern / Western) ऋग्वेदसंहिता । The photo above is of a 2D artwork of a text that is over 3,000 years old, from a manuscript that was produced decades before 1923. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.
Title: 1500-1200 BCE, Devi sukta, Rigveda 10.125.1-2, Sanskrit, Devanagari, manuscript page 1735 CE (1792 VS)
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Author: Ms Sarah Welch
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