The Rig-veda (Sanskrit: , a tatpurusha compound of "praise, verse" and "knowledge") is an ancient Hindu religious book from the Indian subcontinent, that is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to Rigvedic deities. It is counted among the four Hindu sacred texts (shruti) known as the Vedas. Based on internal evidence (philological and linguistic), the Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent,India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge by F.