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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many shafts does the chariot have in "The Boy and the Chariot"?

2. What is the name of the sacrificial drink pressed from a plant?

3. What is the sky divided into in "A Spell to Turn Back the Departing Spirit"?

4. Who are the 'ancient ones' in "The Boy and the Chariot"?

5. Which word in the Rig Veda means 'to sprinkle'?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the role of the goat in "The Sacrifice of the Horse" and for whom does it do this?

2. What are the meanings of the recurrent epithet, "Knower of creatures"?

3. In the hymn "The Child of the Waters", what do the three women give to the deity, and why?

4. Who are the Asuras in the beginning of the Vedas, as opposed to their role toward the end?

5. What is the back story about the priest of the oblation's getting angry in "The Birth of Agni", and what does the priest do that is mentioned in this hymn?

6. What is the function of the "Royal Consecration" hymn, and what would accompany it?

7. What are the first ritual laws called, and what is their purpose?

8. Who are the three brothers in "The Riddle of the Sacrifice" and with whom are they associated in the text?

9. What is the distinction between food that is for the gods and food that is for the dead fathers?

10. Who are the Angirases and with whom are they often linked?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the Maruts known for? Whom do they serve? Why does Agastya have to apologize to them?

Essay Topic 2

How is Parjanya personified? What is paradoxical about the way he is personified in "Parjanya, the Cow'?

Essay Topic 3

Who are the demons in the Rig Veda? Where do they live? Why do they live there? How do they interact with the gods? What is Sarama's role in relation to the demons?

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