About the Book
The Rig Veda
The Rig-Veda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use. The Rig-Veda contains several mythological and poetical accounts of the origin of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life, prosperity, etc. It is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Philological and linguistic evidence indicate that the Rig-Veda was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, roughly between 1700�1100 BC. This is the Ralph T.H. Griffith English translation of the Rig Veda.
About the Translator
Ralph Griffith
Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith (1826-1906) was a scholar of Indology. he wa a B.A. of Queen's College and was elected to the vacant Sanskrit Scholarship on Nov 24, 1849. He translated the Vedic scriptures into English. He also produced translations of other Sanskrit literature, including a verse version of the Ramayana and the Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa. He held the position of principal at the Benares College in India. His translation of the Rigveda follows the text of Max M�ller's six-volume Sanskrit edition. His readings generally follow the work of the great scholar Sayana who was Prime Minister at the court of the King of Vijaynagar - in what is now the District of Bellary in the Indian state of Karnataka - in the fourteenth century.
