Strong Arms and Drinking Strength

Jarrod L. Whitaker examines the ritualized poetic construction of male identity in the Rgveda, India''s oldest Sanskrit text, arguing that an important aspect of early Vedic life was the sustained promotion and embodiment of what it means to be a true man. The Rgveda contains over a thousand hymns, addressed primarily to three gods: the deified ritual Fire, Agni; the war god, Indra; and Soma, who ...