Explanation:

 The most important sources for the study of Vedic Religion are the Vedas and Upanishads. We gain good knowledge of the Vedic Religion from the Vedas. The Vedic literature known as the Vedas, are basically religious books which the Hindus have considered as their sacred scripture.

The term Veda is derived from the term ‘Vid’ which means knowledge. There are four Vedas as follows:

•           Rig Veda,

•           Atharva Veda,

•           Sama Veda, and

•           Yajur Veda

Apart from the Vedas, all the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads were written sometimes between 1000 to 600 B.C.

Rig Veda (oldest Veda): The oldest Veda is the Rig Veda, which is rather the oldest religious book of the world. It was completed approximately by four thousand B.C. Probably between the period of 1500 to 1000 B.C. It contains 1028 hymns that speak much of the religious ideas and outlooks of the early Aryan people in India, man’s environment and his surroundings induced him to discover his religion.

Nature worship in Vedas: The Vedic religion of Rig Vedic age revealed a close affinity between the human being and the nature surrounding him. The Vedic people used to worship various forms of natural phenomenon. The early Vedic aryan looked with awe and curiosity to the natural events around him like the fire, storm, thunder or even the scorching sun-rays. They didn’t know to control them, neither could understand why they happen. Naturally they imposed some divine characters on these natural events and began to call them gods. They worshipped these gods which were both male and female though the number of male gods was much more than those of the goddesses.

Simple religion: The religion of Rig Veda was essentially simple, though there were many gods, because the hymns were the product of a long period of priestly efforts and also represented the deities of various tribes. Most of the devotional objects were personified natural phenomena.