instructions to officials, omen texts, oracles, and a limited number of
mythological narratives. The myths, however, mostly seem to be taken over
from other, non-Indo-European peoples of the region (Hattics, Hurrians,
Babylonians, Canaanites), and have little to offer for the present enterprise.
The ritual texts sometimes contain embedded hymns, prayers, or incanta-
tions, which may be more relevant. The vocabulary of the languages
themselves can throw valuable lights.
Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions continue into the first millennium, being
most frequent in the first quarter. From later centuries we have inscriptions
in other languages of Asia Minor that belong to the Anatolian family, such
as Lydian, Lycian, Carian, and Sidetic. They have little to offer in terms of
content, but I shall have occasion to mention some of them in the section on
metre in Chapter 1.
Of comparable antiquity to the Hittite and Luwian material, and of much
richer interest for our purpose, is the Indic. Of prime importance are the
1028 hymns of the Rigveda (RV), thought to have been composed in the
Punjab in the period between 1500 and 1000 . The collection is arranged
in ten books, of which 2–7 are the oldest: these are the so-called Family
Books, attributed to poets from half a dozen specific families. Books 1 and
10 are the latest. A second large collection, the Atharvaveda (AV), probably
overlaps in time with the later parts of the Rigveda, from which much
material is repeated. It is more magical in character, consisting largely of
curses, blessings, and charms for various purposes. It exists in two recensions.
The better known is that of the S ́aunaka school, which contains 581 hymns.
The other is that of the Paippala ̄das (AV Paipp.), only parts of which have so
far been edited. A later Vedic text that I have occasionally cited is the Black
Yajurveda in the recension of the Taittirı ̄yas (Taittirı ̄ya Sam
̇
hita ̄= TS). Later
still is the Br
̇
haddevata ̄, an index of the deities of the Rigveda, of interest for
the myths that it relates about them.
Apart from this Vedic and para-Vedic literature, India’s two great epics, the
Maha ̄bha ̄rata and the Ra ̄ma ̄yan
̇
a, are of some significance. Although later in
language and versification than the Vedas and certainly composed at a later
time –– they grew over a long period, conventionally put between about 400
and 400 –– they clearly continue traditions of narrative poetry going
back many centuries.^34
(^34) The subject of the first, the war of the Bha ̄ratas, should have taken place (if it was a
historical event) around the ninth century . For an account of the epics see Puhvel (1987),
68–81 and 89–92, and in general Brockington (1998). He reviews Indo-Europeanists’ efforts
with the Maha ̄bha ̄rata on pp. 67–81.
Introduction 13