The Rigveda (Sanskrit ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, a compound of ṛc "praise, verse" and veda "knowledge") is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods (devas). 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 it among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use.

It is one of the oldest texts of any Indo-European language. In 2007 Rigveda was acknowledged as an ancient documentation from India by UNESCO world heritage. Philological and linguistic evidence indicate that the Rigveda was composed in the Sapta Sindhu (the Punjab), corresponding to the North-Western region of the Indian subcontinent, roughly between 3500–3000 BCE (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 Andronovo (Sintashta-Petrovka) culture of ca. 2200-1600 BCE.

Source: Wikipedia