Activity: Indo-Aryan Belief Systems

Here are the links that are needed for the worksheet.

Translation from the Rigveda, Book 10
1. Hymn 129
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10129.htm

2. Hymn 130
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10130.htm

3. Hymn 131
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10131.htm

Instructions
1. Visit the Internet Sacred Texts Archive and read a translation from the Rigveda, Book 10, hymn 129 and hymn 130, which gives an account of creation. As you read the passages, approach the task as if you were a detective examining evidence and make notes guided by the following line of questioning:

• What does the text say about the state of the world before the act of creation?
• Who is given credit for creating the world and humans?
• What gods are named in the text?
• What could be the significance of the image of weaving?
• How does this account of creation compare with that given in other religious traditions?

2. Continue your investigation, this time reading Book 10, Hymn 131.

Paying close attention to the objects, animals, practices, and pleas, make a list of five inferences (the act of passing from one proposition, statement, or judgment considered as true to another whose truth is believed to follow from that of the former) you are able of draw about life for the Indo-Aryan people who composed the text.

(Note: kine is an archaic word for "cattle.")

"Indo-Aryan Belief Systems (Activity)." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2010. .