Rig Veda API reference

This API fetches metadata of the hymns in Rig Veda. The JSON response contains information on poets, gods, and meters.

The following table is a snapshot of the available endpoints and the questions they answer.

Endpoint Question that’s answered by the default mode Question that’s answered by the expanded mode
/mandal/{n} How many hymns are there in this mandal? -
/mandal/{n}/meters What meters occur in this mandal, and how many times? -
/mandal/{n}/sungfor Which gods are praised in this mandal, and how many hymns are for each? -
/mandal/{n}/sungby Which poets composed hymns in this mandal, and how many hymns did each compose? -
/sungfor/{god}/mandals In which mandals is this god praised, and how many hymns in each mandal? Which specific hymns (mandal+sukta) are sung for this god?
/sungfor/{god}/meters What meters are used in hymns for this god, and how often? Which specific hymns for this god use which meter?
/sungfor/{god}/sungby Which poets sang for this god, and how many hymns did each compose? For each poet who sang for this god, what metrical distribution do their hymns have?
/sungby/{poet}/mandals In which mandals does this poet appear, and how many hymns in each mandal? Which specific hymns (mandal+sukta) were composed by this poet?
/sungby/{poet}/meters What meters does this poet use, and how often? Which specific hymns by this poet use which meter, and for whom were they sung?
/sungby/{poet}/sungfor Which gods does this poet sing for, and how many hymns for each? Which specific hymns by this poet are addressed to which god, and in what meter?
/meters What meters exist in the corpus, and how often does each occur? -
/sungforcategories What god-categories exist in the corpus, and how many hymns belong to each? Which specific hymns belong to each god-category?
/sungbycategories What poet-categories exist in the corpus, and how many hymns belong to each? Which specific hymns belong to each poet-category?
/hymns Which hymns match the given filters? -
/pairs/{god}/{poet} - Which hymns represent this sungfor + sungby pair, and in what meter?
/pairs/{godcategory}/{poetcategory} - Which hymns match this sungforcategory + sungbycategory pair?
/monologues Which hymns are self-addressed ? -
/conversations Which hymns contain overlapping speakers and addressees? -
/godlist Who are all distinct gods in the corpus? -
/poetlist Who are all distinct poets in the corpus? -
/meterlist What are all distinct meters in the corpus? -
/godcategorieslist What are all valid god categories? -
/poetcategorieslist What are all valid poet categories? -

On this page

Context

An explanation of the various elements in Rig Veda (and this API) is contained in About the Rig Veda API.

Base URL

https://indica-1hwj.onrender.com/rv/v3

The request URL is formed by appending an endpoint to the base URL.

Methods

Only GET calls are supported.

Example request

For the request parameters, see Endpoints.

    curl -X 'GET' \
        'https://indica-1hwj.onrender.com/rv/v3/meters' \
        -H 'accept: application/json'

Example response

For the response parameters, see Response parameters.

{
  "meters": {
    "Abhisarini": 2,
    "Anushtup": 281,
...
    "Virangarupa": 8,
    "Virat": 64
  }
}

Status codes

Code Explanation
200 OK
404 Not found
429 Too many requests
500 Internal server error

Endpoints

To form the request URL, the endpoint must be appended to the base URL.

request URL = base URL + endpoint

Some endpoints need a path parameter. Some other don’t, but might need a query parameter.

Some of the endpoints can be expanded for details. If there are more than 27 results, the response is paginated. For such endpoints, the following query parameters are valid: ?expand=true and ?expand=true&page={n}.

/mandal/{n}

Returns the number of verses in the specified mandal. For example, /mandal/4 returns the numer of verses in the 4th book.

{
  "hymns": 58,
  "mandal": 4
}

{n} is an integer parameter. Valid values for this parameter are 1 through 10 (because there are only 10 mandals in Rig Veda).

/mandal/{n}/meters

Returns the counts of all meters in the specified mandal. For example /mandal/4/meters returns the counts of all meters found in the 4th book.

{
  "mandal": 4,
  "meters": {
    "Anushtup": 15,
    "Ashti": 1,
...
  }
}

{n} is an integer parameter. is a string parameter.

/mandal/{n}/sungfor

Returns the count of verses, separately, to all gods in the specified mandal. For example, /mandal/4/sungfor returns all gods in the 4th book along with the count of verses sung to them.

{
  "mandal": 4,
  "sungfor": {
    "Aditya": 1,
    "Agni": 22,
	...

{n} is an integer parameter.

/mandal/{n}/sungby

Returns the count of all verses, separately, by all poets in the specified mandal. For example, /mandal/4/sungby returns all poets in the 4th book along with the count of verses composed by them.

{
  "mandal": 4,
  "sungby": {
    "Aditi": 1,
    "Ajamil Sauhotra": 2,
    "Indra": 1,
    "Purumil Sauhotra": 2,
    "Trasadasyu Paurukutsya": 3,
    "Vamadev Gautam": 107
  }
}

{n} is an integer parameter.

/sungfor/{god}/mandals

Returns the count of verses, separately, in all mandals, to the specified god. For example, /sungfor/agni/mandals returns the count of all hymns to Agni in all the mandals.

...
{
  "mandals": {
    "1": 68,
    "10": 55,
    "2": 13,
...

{god} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get the mandals and suktas of these hymns:

...
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 22
    },
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 23
    }
  ],
  "sungfor": "agni",
  "total": 304
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/sungfor/{god}/meters

Returns the count of all meters, separately, used in hymns to the specified god. For example, /sungfor/agni/meters returns the count of all meters used in all hymns to Agni.

...
{
  "meters": {
    "Anushtup": 48,
    "Ashti": 1,
    "Atidhriti": 1,
...

{god} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "meter": "Trishtup",
      "sukta": 79
    },
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "meter": "Ushnik",
      "sukta": 79
    }
  ],
  "sungfor": "agni",
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/sungfor/{god}/sungby

Returns the count of all poets, separately, who’ve composed hymns to the specified god. For example, /sungfor/agni/sungby returns the count of all poets who’ve sung to Agni.

...
{
  "sungby": {
    "Agastya Maitravaruni": 3,
    "Agni": 7,
    "Arun Vaitahavya": 2,
...

{god} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
"results": [
    {
      "meters": {
        "Jagati": 1,
        "Trishtup": 1
      },
      "poet": "Chitramaha Vasishth"
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/sungby/{poet}/mandals

Returns the count of all mandals, separately, that contain hymns of the specified poet. For example, /sungby/Medhatithi Kanv/mandals returns the count of all hymns by Medhatithi Kanv in all mandals separately.

...
{
  "mandals": {
    "1": 12,
    "8": 5,
    "9": 3
  },
  "sungby": "Medhatithi Kanv"
}
...

{poet} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 20
    },
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 21
    }
  ],
  "sungby": "Medhatithi Kanv",
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/sungby/{poet}/meters

Returns the count of all meters, separately, employed by the specified poet. For example, /sungby/Dirghatamas Auchathya/meters returns the count of all meters used by Medhatithi Kanv.

...
{
  "meters": {
    "Anushtup": 16,
    "Jagati": 19,
...

{poet} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "meter": "Anushtup",
      "sukta": 142,
      "sungfor": "Ila"
    },
  ],
  "sungby": "Dirghatamas Auchathya",
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/sungby/{poet}/sungfor

Returns the count of all gods, separately, that the specified poet has composed hymns for. For example, /sungby/Medhatithi Kanv/sungfor returns the count of all gods sung to by Medhatithi Kanv.

...
"sungfor": {
    "Aditya": 1,
    "Agnayi": 1,
    "Agni": 9,
    "Apah": 3,
...

{poet} is a string parameter.

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "meter": "Gayatri",
      "sukta": 13,
      "sungfor": "Usha"
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/meters

Returns the counts of all meters used in all verses of the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any path parameters.

{
  "meters": {
    "Abhisarini": 2,
    "Anushtup": 281,
    "Ashti": 6,
    "Atidhriti": 1,
...

/sungforcategories

Returns the counts of hymns to the categories, separately, of all the gods in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any path parameters.

...
"sungforcategories": {
    "abstract": 36,
    "animal": 35,
    "demon male": 1,
...

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 6,
      "sungforcategory": "divine male"
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/poetcategories

Returns the counts of hymns by the categories, separately, of all the poets in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any path parameters.

...
 "sungbycategories": {
    "animal": 1,
    "demon male": 1,
...

This endpoint can be queried with ?expand=true to get further details:

...
    {
      "mandal": 10,
      "sukta": 144,
      "sungbycategory": "human male"
    },
    {
      "mandal": 10,
      "sukta": 145,
      "sungbycategory": "divine female"
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/hymns

Returns the count of all hymns that match the specified query parameters. Requires at least one query parameter and can take up to four from among these: sungby, sungfor, mandal, and meter.

For example, /rv/v3/hymns?sungfor=agni&meter=gayatri returns all hymns to Agni in the Gayatri meter, like this:

{
  "count": 18,
  "hymns": [
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 1
    },
    {
      "mandal": 1,
      "sukta": 12
    },
...
 ],
  "mandal": 1,
  "meter": "gayatri",
  "sungfor": "agni"
}

/pairs/{god}/{poet}

Returns all mandal and suktas that contains hymns to the specified god by the specified poet. For example, /pairs/agni/Vishwamitra Gathin returns all hymns (mandals and suktas) to Agni by Dirghatamas Auchathya.

...
    {
      "mandal": 3,
      "meter": "Jagati",
      "sukta": 29
    },
    {
      "mandal": 3,
      "meter": "Trishtup",
      "sukta": 57
    }
  ],
  "sungby": "Vishwamitra Gathin",
  "sungfor": "agni",
...

{god} and {poet} are string parameters.

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/pairs/{godcategory}/{poetcategory}

Returns all mandal and suktas that contains hymns to the specified category of gods by the specified category of poets. For example, /pairs/human male/divine female returns all hymns (mandals and suktas) to human males by divine females.

{
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "results": [
    {
      "mandal": 3,
      "sukta": 33
    },
    {
      "mandal": 4,
      "sukta": 18
    },
    {
      "mandal": 10,
      "sukta": 95
    }
  ],
  "sungbycategory": "divine female",
  "sungforcategory": "human male",
  "total": 3
}

{godcategory} and {poetcategory} are string parameters.

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/monologues

Returns all hymns where the poet is singing to their own self. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

...
    {
      "mandal": 4,
      "sukta": 42,
      "sungby": "Trasadasyu Paurukutsya",
      "sungbycategory": "human male"
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/conversations

Returns all hymns where the poets and gods are singing to each other. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

...
    {
      "mandal": 3,
      "participants": [
        {
          "participant": "Vishwamitra Gathin",
          "participantcategory": "human male",
          "role": "sungby"
        },
        {
          "participant": "Rivers",
          "participantcategory": "divine female",
          "role": "sungfor"
        },
        {
          "participant": "Rivers",
          "participantcategory": "divine female",
          "role": "sungby"
        },
        {
          "participant": "Vishwamitra Gathin",
          "participantcategory": "human male",
          "role": "sungfor"
        }
      ],
      "sukta": 33
    },
...

If the result runs into several pages, use the ?expand=true&page={n} query parameter.

/godlist

Returns a list of all gods in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

/poetlist

Returns a list of all poets in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

/meterlist

Returns a list of all meters in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

/godcategorieslist

Returns a list of all categories of gods in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

/poetcategorieslist

Returns a list of all categories of poets in the Rig Veda. This endpoint does not take any parameters.

Response parameters

Depending on the endpoint, the response can contain the following parameters:

Live sandbox

See Rig Veda API: Try it out.

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