Rig Veda
The Rig Veda is a group of poems that were first sung
and recited for hundreds of years and then written down in Sanskrit
about 1000 BC. It is one of the most sacred
texts of Hinduism.
The Rig Veda tells the story of Prajapati, the first god who created the world. Prajapati means “Lord of Creatures”. Prajapati was sacrificed to himself by the younger gods Indra, Agni, and Varuna, and out of his body the whole universe was made. The Rig Veda says that each of Prajapati’s other parts turned into a different group of people, so that Indian people thought of themselves as belonging to one of four castes, or groups. This idea of caste seems to be an Aryan idea.
This is a video of women dancing to a chant from the Rig Veda:
