Rig Veda

Glossary

• Aditi: a mother principle identified with mystic speech
• Agni: the deified sacrificial fire and the priest of the gods
• Aryaman: probably another name for Agni
• Asvins: divine twin horsemen and chariot warriors
• beloved grey priest: the fire that receives a sacrificial offering in “The Riddle of Sacrifice”
• Danu: Vrita’s mother
• Dasa: another name for Vritra
• fellies: the rims or sections of the rim of a wheel supported by spokes
• Gayatri foot: a mantra
• Indra: the king of the gods and the god of the storm
• Jagat foot: a metrical unit
• Lord of All Tribes with his seven sons: Agni and the seven priests who perform the sacrificial ritual
• Maruts: a band of demigods that make up Indra’s army
• Matarisvan: a name for Agni or a divine being closely associated with her
• middle brother who is hungry: the southern fire where nothing is offered in “The Riddle of Sacrifice”
• Mitra: one of the gods who, with Varuna, enforces oaths and maintains cosmic order
• Panis: enemies of Indra
• Pushan: the shepherd god to whom a goat is offered in “The Sacrifice of the Horse”
• Rbhus: divine craftsmen
• Sadhyas: the ancient gods
• Sarasvati: a sacred river and a goddess of speech
• Savitr: a beneficent god who acts as protector of all beings
• soma: an unidentified plant that produced a drink that may have had hallucinogenic properties
• Tristubh foot: a metrical unit, the most common in the Rig Veda
• Tvastr: the blacksmith of the gods
• twelve-spoked wheel of Order: the celestial wheel, signifying the months and analogous to the zodiac
• Varuna: one of the gods who, with Mitra, enforces oaths and maintains cosmic order
• Vasatl: literally, “abode,” “house”
• Viraj: possibly a representation of the energy or force that shapes and animates matter
• Vishnu: a minor god in the Rig Veda, conceived as a figure who uses trickery to recover the world from a demon
• Vritra: a monster or dragon
• Yama: the demigod of death