The Indra Hymns of the Rgveda.

• Author: Insler, Stanley

This work is not a translation and commentary but rather an attempt to analyze the form and contents of the Indra hymns of the RV. As such the book does not succeed because it is marred by the late Prof. Gonda's characteristically discursive style that mistakes paraphrase for analysis and pays little attention to organizational principles of inquiry and presentation.

After a brief introduction on the RV and the reason for choosing the Indra hymns to discuss (pp. 1-5), chapter two (pp. 8-25) treats the initial stanzas, chapter three (pp. 26-76) the final stanzas of these hymns. In truth, both chapters consist of little more than prolix paraphrases of every initial and final stanza of the Indra hymns, vaguely arranged according to very general topics. We are told some hymns begin with requests to come to the poets' praises, others with supplications to come to the Soma drinks, still others with the announcement of the god's heroic deeds. The chapter on concluding verses mentions the very same notions. Yet nowhere is the important question discussed how initial and final stanzas function together. Are they exclusionary or do they reformulate the same theme(s) in the manner of a ring composition, etc.? Moreover, Gonda nowhere attempts to discuss how the framing verses of Indra hymns differ, if at all, with those found in hymns to other gods.

Chapter four (pp. 77-137) is entitled "The Main Subjects Dealt With," but would be better called "The Thematic Development of the Hymns," since this is its underlying goal. After a belabored discussion of praise, petition, and prayer, Gonda articulates the view (p. 85f.) that a proper hymn should be arranged according to the scheme of invocation, praise, offering, petition, but notes that such hymns are comparatively rare. A few Indra hymns are then analyzed/paraphrased as normal or aberrant examples of the expected structures, but there is no summary of relative numbers and no reference at all to differences between younger and older Indra hymns or their bardic affiliations. Gonda typically treats his material as a vast, undifferentiated continuum.

Chapter five, "Other Subjects" (pp. 138-51), aims at discussing other topics incorporated in the hymns, but I find little that is notably different from the themes treated in the previous chapters.

Chapter six, "The Dramatic Element" (pp. 152-85), could have been the most interesting part of the book in that G. examines the vexing problem of why very many Vedic...