<center><b>Preface</b></center><p>
The Chhandasvati Vak is a selection of about four hundred Mantras from forty Hymns of the Rig-Veda. The Suktas have been taken for their lyrical beauty as in the case of Ushas and Parjanya Hymns, for the religious invocations as in the case of Hymns to Agni, Indra, Soma, Varuņa, Brihaspati, Vishņu, Dyava-Prithivī, Surya, etc., and some Hymns for the metaphysical ideas of the Vedic cosmologists (Bhava-Vrittam), e.g. the Nasadīya-Sukta, Hiranyagarbha-Sukta, Purusha-Sukta, Vagambhriņi-Sukta, Viśvakarma-Sukta, Dakshayaṇī-Sukta, Yajna-Prajapatya-Sukta. The Jnana-Sukta placed in the beginning indicates the high ideals of Truth and Wisdom of the Vedic Rishis meeting in assemblies, holding conferences and exchanging ideas to test the validity of their thoughts, fashioned by the power of mind and flights of intuition (hrida tashțeshu manaso javeshu). The Samjnana-Sukta placed at the end of the collection shows the spirit of sympathetic understanding and harmony which inspired the poets and which they wanted to spread as the atmosphere of true concord and amity in the political counsels (samana mantra) and assemblies (samanī samiti).
PROBLEM OF VEDIC MEANING<P>
The meaning of the Mantras of the Rig-Veda is a theme which has engaged the attention of scholars in the east and the west. There is hardly much to differ with respect to the literal translation and therefore, I have accepted the poetical renderings of Macdonell and Griffith. But the real problem
of Vedic meaning begins after the translation is understood, the text remaining unexplained. I have recently dwelt on this problem in a detailed form in my commentary on the Asya-Vamiya-Sūkta of the Rig-Veda (1.164.1-52) published under the title: 'Vision in Long Darkness', Volume One of the general Series: The Thousand-Syllabled Speech (Sahsrāksharā Vāk). The sum and substance of it is that the Rishis of the Rig-Veda have employed the language of symbolism to convey their meaning. Agni, Sürya, Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Ushas, Soma, and the rest of the deities are but symbols of divine powers becoming manifest in matter. The Vedic deities are purposive as demonstrating the cosmic working on several levels, viz. in the cosmos and in the individual. The truth of this view finds its root in the traditional approach to Vedic interpretation as given in the Brāhmaņas and Aranyaka literature.<P>
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