cosmology, rites required to earn the favour of the gods, as well as praise them. The more recent books (Books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions, virtues such as dana (charity) in society, questions about the origin of the universe and the nature of the divine, and other metaphysical issues in their hymns.

The hymns of the Rigveda are notably similar to the most archaic poems of the Iranian