Jarrod Whitaker's Strong Arms and Drinking Strength: Masculinity, Violence, and the Body in Ancient India is an in-depth examination of ideas about manhood, masculinity, and martial potency in the representation of the Ṛgvedic person (both divine and human). Whitaker's work here is closely circumscribed, limited to the evidence of the Ṛgveda Saṃhitā (the earliest text we possess from ancient India), and focused on the expression of notions of manhood found in the Ṛgvedic poets' lexicon. These limits notwithstanding, Whitaker brings great acumen to his study, employing throughout careful and extensive textual analysis, with references to or direct translations of more than a thousand Ṛgvedic verses (the whole of the Ṛgveda Saṃhitā exceeds ten thousand verses).
The Ṛgveda Saṃhitā (ca. 1500–1200 BCE, a date that is not entirely certain) is a collection of celebratory verses largely directed to the Vedic gods. It is ancient India's best known and most celebrated text;...
