Prominence of the Vaiśvāmitramaṇḍala as the Third Family Book of the Ṛgvedasaṁhitā : A Note

Abstract

The Ṛgvedasaṁhitā is the earliest scripture of the Vedic literature, which is contained with ten Maṇḍalas, i.e. Books. According to the Ṛgvedic contents, the maṇḍalas from 2nd to 7th are homogeneous in character and generally based on an ascending order in the number of hymns, which is known as the Vaṁśamaṇḍalas or Kulamaṇḍalas or Family Books. The third maṇḍala of the Ṛgvedasaṁhitā is called the Vaiśvāmitramaṇḍala, as because ṛṣi Viśvāmitra is the predominant seer and the other seers are belonging to his family. This research paper is a general study on the uniformity and significance of this Vaiśvāmitramaṇḍala, one of the important Family Books of the Ṛgvedasaṁhitā