Mandala 2
Encyclopedia
The second Mandala of the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

has 43 hymns, mainly to Agni
Agni
Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...

 and Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

 chiefly attributed to the Rishi . It is one of the "family books" (mandalas 2-7), the oldest core of the Rigveda.

Witzel (1995) on the basis of internal evidence suggested that the second Mandala contains the oldest hymns of the Rigveda, but changed his opinion in 2001, dating it with the "mid-level" texts.. In circumvedic tradition, rishi Grtsamada of Mandala 2 is a descendant of Sunahotra Bharadvaja (of Mandala 6), which would suggests a younger age of Mandala 2 than that of Mandala 6, favoured by Talageri (2000) as the earliest.
There is no generally accepted relative sequence among the family books in terms of age: Being books preserved by individual families preceding the final redaction of the Rigveda into shakha
Shakha
A shakha , is a Hindu theological school that specializes in learning certain Vedic texts, or else the traditional texts followed by such a school. An individual follower of a particular school or recension is called a ...

s, they are all accepted to date to the earliest Vedic period, but considered themselves to be the parallel product of several generations.

List of incipits

The dedication as given by Griffith is in square brackets

2.1 (192) [ Agni
Agni
Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...

.] .
2.2 (193) [Agni.]
2.3 (194) [ Apris
Apris
Apri in Sanskrit means "conciliation, propitiation" and refers to special invocations spoken previous to the offering of oblations. RV 1.13 is known as the Apri-hymn of the Kanvas, and Sayana in the context of this hymn enumerates twelve Apris propitiating twelve deities, also known as Apris...

.]
2.4 (195) [Agni.]
2.5 (196) [Agni.]
2.6 (197) [Agni.]
2.7 (198) [Agni.]
2.8 (199) [Agni.]
2.9 (200) [Agni.]
2.10 (201) [Agni.]
2.11 (202) [ Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...

.]
2.12 (203) [Indra.]
2.13 (204) [Indra.]
2.14 (205) [Indra.]
2.15 (206) [Indra.]
2.16 (207) [Indra.]
2.17 (208) [Indra.]
2.18 (209) [Indra.]
2.19 (210) [Indra.]
2.20 (211) [ Asvins.]
2.21 (212)
2.22 (213) [Indra.]
2.23 (214) [ Brahmanaspati.]
2.24 (215) [Brahmanaspati.]
2.25 (216) [Brahmanaspati.]
2.26 (217) [Brahmanaspati.]
2.27 (218) [ Adityas
Ādityas
In Hinduism, Āditya , meaning "of or related to Aditi", refers to the offsprings of Aditi. Adityas are solar class deities. In later Hinduism, Aditya is used in the singular to mean the sun.-Vedas:...

.]
2.28 (219) [ Varuna
Varuna
In Vedic religion, Varuna is a god of the sky, of water and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld...

.]
2.29 (220) [ Visvedevas
Visvedevas
The Visvedevas are the various Vedic gods taken together as a whole. In the Rigveda a number of hymns are addressed to them, including 1.89,3.54-56,4.55,5.41-51,6.49-52,7.34-37, 39, 40, 42, 43,8.27-30, 58, 83...

.]
2.30 (221) [Indra and Others.]
2.31 (222) [Visvedevas.]
2.32 (223) [Various Deities.]
2.33 (224) [ Rudra
Rudra
' is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", or "The Howler"....

.]
2.34 (225) [ Maruts
Maruts
In Hinduism the Marutas , also known as the Marutagana and sometimes identified with Rudras, are storm deities and sons of Rudra and Diti and attendants of Indra. The number of Maruts varies from two to sixty . They are very violent and aggressive, described as armed with golden weapons i.e...

.]
2.35 (226) [ Son of Waters
Ap (water)
Ap is the Vedic Sanskrit term for "water", in Classical Sanskrit occurring only in the plural, , whence Hindi . The term is from PIE hxap "water"....

.]
2.36 (227) [Various Gods.]
2.37 (228) [Various Gods.]
2.38 (229) [ Savitar
Savitar
Savitar may refer to:*Savitr, a Vedic Hindu Solar deity of Aditya class*Savitar , a supervillain published by DC Comics*Savitar, a character from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series...

.]
2.39 (230)
2.40 (231) [ Soma
Soma
Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...

 and Pusan.]
2.41 (232) [Various Deities.]
2.42 (233) [ Kapinjala.]
2.43 (234) [Kapinjala.]
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