|Part of a series on| The Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, a
compound of ṛc "praise, verse" and veda "knowledge") is an
ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is
counted among the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of
Hinduism known as the Vedas. Some of its verses are still
recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other
occasions, putting these among the world's oldest religious
texts in continued use. The Rigveda contains several
mythological and poetical accounts of the origin of the world,
hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life,
prosperity, etc. It is one of the oldest extant texts in any
Indo-European language. Philological and linguistic evidence
indicate that the Rigveda was composed in the north-western
region of the Indian subcontinent, roughly between 1700–1100 BC
(the early Vedic period). There are strong linguistic and
cultural similarities with the early Iranian Avesta, deriving
from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the
early A