Rig Veda

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The seers or rishis that composed the Rig Veda were grouped into different priestly lineages. They were responsible for composing new hymns to commemorate special occasions, like a tribal chief’s successful cattle raid, as well as transmitting and preserving their clan’s lore and sacred knowledge. Different parts of the Veda were ascribed to different priestly clans, but eventually they were all compiled to create the Rig Vedic canon.

There are two kinds of Vedic rites: the domestic, which were small and performed privately in one’s own household, and the solemn, which were performed publicly and sometimes took days or weeks to complete. One of the most sacred rituals was the pressing of the soma plant to make a ceremonial drink. The rishis often composed their hymns after they had imbibed the drink. Soma is mentioned many times in the Rig Veda and is described as a plant whose stalks are pressed to make a sacred drink that is offered to the gods as part of the solemn sacrificial rites. This soma is the favorite beverage of Indra, king of the gods, but Soma is also mentioned as a god himself. The identity of the soma plant has been lost, but most scholars think it was related either to the psychedelic psilocybin mushroom, which causes the user to hallucinate, or to the plant ephedra, which acts as a stimulant. Either way, the soma drink caused the rishis to enter an ecstatic state in which to compose their hymns.

By the time they invested the Vedas with absolute authority, the Brahmin priests of the Vedic religion began to hold that the hymns were not “composed” at all but instead “seen” by the divinely inspired rishis. The Brahmins considered the Vedas beyond human authorship, and they also taught that they were not even written by the gods but were instead eternal and unchanging revelation.