Book Reviewed: The History and Principles of Vedic Interpretation, By Ram Gopal

The Vedas: A Review of Various Interpretations of the Sacred Hymns

The interpretation of Rig-Veda has been a problem since the sacred hymns were being interpreted by ancient seers, and later by modern academics. The subject of Vedic interpretation is highly technical requiring a specialized knowledge of the language of the Vedas and the vast Vedic and post-Vedic literature. The study must include the grammatical, religious, cultural, philosophical, philological, lexicographical, mythological and historical studies associated with it. The early Vedic scholars interpreted from ritualistic, mythological, mystical, and natural perspectives, but the modern scholars have largely focused on linguistic, historical and cultural interpretations. Professor Ram Gopal of Punjab University has made an exhaustive literature review of the existing commentaries and evaluates the scopes and limitations of ancient Veda-bhasyas and modern exegetical studies. Despite centuries of scholarly work, the true meaning of the sacred scriptures is still being debated.

There are several chapters in this book I found very interesting, especially chapter 5, The Nairukta School of Vedic Interpretation; and chapter 6, entitled “The other ancient schools of Vedic interpretations.” Both presents a good discussion of Vedic scholarship. The mystical and philosophical interpretation of Rig-Veda is also fascinating despite the fact that this is not acknowledged by the Western Vedic scholars. The Yajnika school of Vedic exegesis puts the ritualistic interpretations on the Vedas as the most ancient and predominant among all the existing schools of Vedic interpretation. This interpretation occupy primal position in the commentaries of Sayana, Uvata, and Mahidhara on the Yajurveda; and the commentaries of Skandasvamin, Udgitha, Venkatamadhava and Sayana on Rig-Veda. The Brahmanas, Kalpa-Sutras, and Paddhatis had major impact on the ancient scholars, which account for the prominence of ritualistic interpretation in Vedic exegesis. Professor Gopal also discusses ancient and medieval bhasyakaras and their work (Chapter 7), and provides an interesting account of modern scholarship in Vedic exegesis since Henry Thomas Colebrook’s work in 1805.

Readers interested in Vedic exegesis and ancient history of Hinduism would find this book interesting.