Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda [Paperback]

Albert Pike (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1992

Nothing has ever so much interested me, as this endeavour to penetrate into the adyta of the ancient Aryan thought, to discover what things, principles or phenomena our remote ancestors worshipped as Gods, what Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, the Acvins, Vayu, Vishnu, Savitri and the others really were, in the conception of the composers of the Vedic hymns. "I found the most profound philosophic or metaphysical ideas, which those of every philosophy and religion have merely developed; and that, so far from being Barbarians or Savages, the old Aryan herdsmen and husbandmen, in the Indus country under the Himalayan Mountains, on the rivers of Bactria, and long before, on the Scythic Steppes where they originated, were men of singularly clear and acute intellects, profound thought and an infinite reverence of the beings whom they worshipped.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 664 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564591832
• ISBN-13: 978-1564591838
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I actually read the book - and loved it!, October 4, 2007

By 

Thorstein Olafson "Thor" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indo-Aryan Deities And Worship - As Contained In The Rig Veda (Paperback)

Unlike the previous reviewer, I actually read Mr. Pike's book and was impressed with it from page 1 to page 650. This is a monumental work which Pike in his brilliance declares is "...a study, and not as a teaching - for myself and not for others." Pike relies upon several translations of the Rig Veda by other authors, but his considerable knowledge of Sanksrit and the content of the vedic works (Rig Veda and the other vedas) as well as his analysis of the meanings of the sanskrit is suprising. He lists the deities as in an encyclopedia with most of the important hymns about each deity contained within each chapter in both english and in sanksrit. The work centers around Agni and Indra just as the Rig Veda centers around these two deities, however, this is a huge book - 650 pages and he covers all the deities in it. Pike astounds with his astrological knowledge and his speculations about deity and star associations are also very interesting, especially considering the time at which this book was written (1872). I didn't see any attempted justification of an "ideal white man" or ideal race in it as the reviewer who didn't read the book suggests. Pike simply uses his considerable knowledge of language and his intellect to analyze an important work that had recently (for his time) become available in several translations from the original sanskrit into English. Pike displays his industriousness in the sheer size of the book and his insights are quite valuable. Just having a ready resource that catalogues the Indo-Aryan (or Indo-European as they are now called) deities alphabetically is extremely helpful if your interest is in comparative mythology. The addition to this of most of the important passages from the Rig Veda that concern that deity only further adds to its usefulness. Although this is a work with a great deal of speculations that I am sure have been proved or disproved by Indo-European researchers of our time, it preserves the sense of a new discovery that Pike wanted to dig his intellectual muscles into. I am quite glad I bought the book.

9 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost Certainly a Fallacy and at Least Biased, December 31, 2001

By 

Mustega (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda (Paperback)

Having sampled briefly from some of Pike's work, I have concluded that the man is most certainly biased in his views and accounts. Pike is a Scottish Freemason and, in my suspicion, a white supremacist (please don't construe my words as a statement against all Freemasons, merely Pike). Pike belonged to an intellectual institution which asserted many "facts" about the Aryans and their origins which are not verified by other institutions and are, indeed, found to be quite dubious by some. In his Lectures on the Arya (a seperate work, not the work under review), he makes the claim that the Aryans were of a white skin which is of course not agreed upon at all by the institutions of the world neither is it verifiable through any legitimate historical accounts. He makes many assertions on the geographical origins of the Arya which are also not verified or corroborated by other intellectual institutions. He goes on to proclaim that the Aryans were the race which gave rise to the Celts, the Saxons, the Angles, and Europeans as a whole and I shouldn't have to point out that this is utter speculation on the part of Pike and his intellectual predecessors.

In his Lecture on the Arya, it seems to me that Pike was attempting to construct a history in which his ideal white man is an original being completely uninfluenced by the Semites or any other peoples in the fields of spirituality, linguistics, and culture as a whole.

While I have yet to read Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda by Albert Pike, I am certain it is full of his bias. The appearance of the phrase "Indo-Aryan" in the title is further evidence of his slant; the "Indo-Aryans" are an "ethnic group" whose very existence is uncomfirmable.

Do not be mislead by the words in the book's description which read, "I found the most profound philosophic or metaphysical ideas, which those of every philosophy and religion have merely developed; and that, so far from being Barbarians or Savages, the old Aryan herdsmen and husbandmen, in the Indus country under the Himalayan Mountains, on the rivers of Bactria, and long before, on the Scythic Steppes where they originated, were men of singularly clear and acute intellects, profound thought and an infinite reverence of the beings whom they worshipped." The statements about the geographical home(s) of the Arya as well as their movements are purely speculatory to say nothing of the origins of the aforementioned "philosophic or metaphysical ideas."

While I am not in a position to judge it as so, I suspect that Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship As Contained in the Rig-Veda
by Albert Pike is little more than a continuation of the author's endeavor to create a mythology of the ideal white man and his "influence" on world culture. The aspect which Pike's works display the most paucity in is that of concrete evidence; his conclusions are drawn in the absence of absolute proof of the assumptions. This book may not be valuable for it's historical accuracy, but as a piece which reveals the suppositions and fallacies of an intellectual institution, it might be interesting.