"There are many conflicting views among the commentators and translators about the meaning of the hymns of the Rgveda. The readers and researchers very often get confused to know what is the actual purport of the mantras. It is, therefore, a desideratum that all the interpretations put forward by the commentators and modern exponents be comparatively studied and if possible reconciled.

"Sayana himself interprets some words differently in different contexts. As the first step of the comparative study, it is proposed to examine critically his Rgveda-bhasya in comparison with other interpretations in order to arrive at certain conclusions.

"India is a vast country of multilinear traditions where dissents from one ideology to another have been a process of change and continuity. Every tradition has been sustained in its own way. Many schools of interpretation were in vogue during Yaska’s time and they have maintained their continuity with certain changes in later periods too.

"Therefore, whatever has been possible within the limited time and means, everything has been taken in to account in this humble attempt. Internal and external evidences, Grammar, Nirukta, philology, lexicons, etc. have come to much help here. It is believed that this humble but sincere effort, by a very eminent Vedic scholar, will open some new avenues in the field of the Rgvedic studies and hopefully will add something new in the method of historical interpretations." (jacket)