Mandala 4
The fourth Mandala of the Rigveda has 58 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. It is one of the "family books" (mandalas 2-7), the oldest core of the Rigveda.
In Book 4, Sahadeva and his son Somaka (the descendants of Sudās) take the battle as far west as Afghanistan, fighting the Vārṣāgira battle on the banks of the Sarayu (IV.30.18).[1]
Book 4 concerns the period of Sudās' descendant Sahadeva's expansion into the northwest beyond the Sindhu and the battle with the proto-Iranians on the Sarayu in Afghanistan[2]
Talageri writes, Book 4 pertains to the period of Sudās' descendants Sahadeva and (his son) Somaka, who are mentioned in IV.15.7,8,9,10 and IV.15.9 respectively. . Book 4, of the period of Sudās' descendant Sahadeva and his son Somaka, takes the expansion deep into the west: the two central rivers it mentions are the Vipāś (IV.30.11) and Paruṣṇī (IV.22.2), clearly harking back to the early ancestral days of the beginnings of the expansion westwards. One of these two hymns describes the culmination of this expansion in the battle on the banks of the western river Sarayu (IV.30.18), the Harirud (Herat) river to the west of the Sindhu (IV.30.12). This book does not mention any eastern river, not even the Sarasvatī, which is prominent in every other Book of the Rigveda, but it mentions western rivers in other hymns as well: the Rasā (IV.43.6) and the Sindhu (IV.54.6; 55.3). The completely western river names in Book 4 contrast sharply with the fact that the near-contemporary book 2 mentions only one river, the eastern Sarasvatī: II.1.11; 3.8; 30.8; 32.8; 41.16,17,18. This may indicates two areas of composition in the later Old period: hymns from the expanding Pūru in the western areas in Book 4, and hymns from the home area east of the Sarasvatī in Book 2. The non-riverine references in both Books 4 and 2 are completely eastern and emphatically non-western: Nābhā Pṛthivyāh (II.3.7); Iḷaspada (II.10.1); ibha/hastin, elephant (IV.4.1; 16.14); mahiṣa, buffalo (II.18.11); gaura, Indian bison (IV.21.8; 58.2); pṛṣatī, chital (II.34.3,4; 36.2). There is, however, one new western factor appearing in Book 4: a reference to Afghan sheep: avi (IV.2.5), otherwise found only in the New Books 5,1 and 10.[1] [archive]
The Rigveda Anukramani attributes all hymns in this book to Vāmadeva Gautama, except for hymns 43 and 44, attributed to Purumīḍha Sauhotra and Ajamīḍha Sauhotra.
Book 4 which represents the westernmost thrust of Indo-Aryan expansion during the period of Sudās' descendants Sahadeva and Somaka and the battle "beyond the Sarayu" (IV.30.18) in Afghanistan.[2] [archive]
Later additions
IV.42.8-10 and IV.38.1 may be a late interpolation/addtion. (Talageri 2008). Griffith : "Grassmann banishes stanzas 8, 9 and 10 to the appendix as late additions to the hymn".
IV.39 may be Redacted Hymns on metrical grounds[3]
Old Rigveda (280 hymns, 2368 verses) IV. 1-14, 16-29, 33-36, 38-47, 49, 51-54 (47 hymns, 456 verses).
Redacted Hymns (62 hymns, 873 verses) IV. 15, 30-32, 37, 48, 50, 55-58 (11 hymns, 133 verses).
Animals
ibha/hastin, elephant (IV.4.1; 16.14); gaura, Indian bison (IV.21.8; 58.2). There is, however, one new western factor appearing in Book 4: a reference to Afghan sheep: avi (IV.2.5), otherwise found only in the New Books 5,1 and 10.[4]
Rivers and Places
The only western references before the Non-family Books are the references to sheep (avi) in IV.2.5, and the references to the western rivers Sindhu (IV.30.12; 4.6; 55.3; V.53.9), Sarayu (IV.30.18; V.53.9), Rasā (IV.43.6; V.41.15; 53.9), and Kubhā , Krumu and Anitabhā (all in V.53.9).[5]
Eastern regions in Book 4: 4. ibha-1. 16. hastin-14. 18. mahiṣa-11. 21. gaura-8. 58. gaura-2.
Western: Book 4: 30. Sindhu-12, Sarayu-18. 43. Rasā-6. 54. Sindhu-6. 55. Sindhu-3.
- Book 4 alone (in Early and Middle RV), names three Western rivers in four hymns, two of which, ironically, have been classified by Oldenberg as late hymns in this Book) (Talageri 2008)
Central rivers: 22. Paruṣṇī-2. 28. (sapta+sindhu-1). 30. Vipāś-11.
Source:Talageri 2008
Text
- ↑ https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-grtsamadas-of-book-ii-of-rigveda.html [archive]
- ↑ https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/08/final-version-of-chronological-gulf.html [archive]
- ↑ https://talageri.blogspot.com/2019/10/dravidian-connections-with-harappan.html [archive]
- ↑ https://talageri.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-full-out-of-india-case-in-short.html [archive]
- ↑ https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/08/final-version-of-chronological-gulf.html [archive]