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  1. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutman. To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.

The monotheistic interpretation (one God is the Antaryami of all the others) of it would be that, although there are many Gods mentioned in Rig Veda, they are all manifestations of a single divinity.

No such identification is made and the Gods that would become the most prominent in later Hinduism - Brahma (Prajapati) Siva (Rudra) and Vishnu are simply missing from this verse.

TheLittleNaruto
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S K
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    What is "rig" tag? – TheLittleNaruto May 19 '22 at 13:17
  • Here we should interpret Vedas per Nirukta. We shouldn't conflate it to forms mentioned in Puranas. Every Devata in Veda can be considered as Supreme Brahman. Given that, this is Surya Mantra; Indra - Indratva and Prakasavta are two meanings and both apply for Surya, similarly for other attributes mentioned. Here one reality Surya is mentioned through different attributes. – The Destroyer May 19 '22 at 16:55
  • "Every Devata in Veda can be considered as Supreme Brahman" - in addition, per advaita, everybody is Brahman - Devas,humans,deities. – S K May 19 '22 at 17:28
  • That's right, this is a R̥g Veda, not the itihāsa text, in the early Vedic period, Brahmā wasn't even a deity, Brahmā is a Purāṇic deity. Rudra and Viṣṇu were just minor deities then compared to Indra and Varuṇa who were like first class deities. An important point to note is that Purāṇic Śiva and Viṣṇu is not the same as the Vedic Rudra and Viṣṇu. Purāṇic deities are evolved forms which developed through various periods and influence from folk culture as well. – Bingming Dec 25 '22 at 19:42
  • In 1.164, poet speaks of One (eka) in verse 6 and again toward the end of the hymn, in verse 46. In verse 6 that which is the One assumes the form of the Sun. At the other end of the poem, in verse 46, the One reappears and, through speech, takes the form not only of the Sun, but also of Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan, and of other deities as well. Also, to know the interpretation of Yāska from Nirukta, check this answer out https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/41021/24460, it also mentions Sāyaṇa's interpretation of this verse. Yāska says one is Agni, while Sāyaṇa says its Surya (Sun) – Bingming Dec 25 '22 at 19:48
  • I think its understandable for Sāyaṇa to consider one in 1.164.46 as Sun because that is referred in 1.164.6 as well. – Bingming Dec 25 '22 at 19:52

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