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1. VEDIC RELIGION
meanings appears to be a fruitless exercise. Indology has concluded that the Rigveda is not only uninteresting, "describing fussy and technical ritual procedures"
(Stephanie Jamison On translating the Rig Veda: Three Questions, 1999, p. 3),
but that it is also intentionally indecipherable.
"One feels that the hymns themselves are mischievous translations into a 'foreign' language"
(Wendy O'Flaherty The Rig Veda. An Anthology, Penguin, 1981, p. 16).
GODS OF VEDIC RELIGION
A study of the Rig Veda will reveal the nature of the gods of the Vedic Religion which we now undertake
Vedic Pantheon
The Vedic pantheon, similar to its Greek or Germanic counterparts, comprises clans of anthropomorphic deities as well as deified natural phenomena, and like the Germanic Vanir and Aesir it knows two classes of gods, Devas and Asuras. The Brihadaranyak Upanishad says that there are mainly thirty-three gods which are classified into three groups:
Thus, there are eight Vasus,
twelve Adityas,
eleven Rudras, and
two Ashvins. Indra and Prajâpati.
There are also the Maruts.
These gods belong to the three regions of the earth (prithvi), the heavens (Dyaus) and the intermediate space (Antariksha).
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