Historical Vedic religion

Map of northern India in the late Vedic period. The location of Vedic shakhas is labelled in green.

The religion of the Vedic period (1500 BC to 500 BC[1]) (also known as Vedism or Vedic Brahmanism or, in a context of Indian antiquity, simply Brahmanism[2]) is a historical predecessor of Hinduism.[3] Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites. This mode of worship is largely unchanged today within Hinduism; however, only a small fraction of conservative Śrautins continue the tradition of oral recitation of hymns learned solely through the oral tradition.

Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, but the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and some of the older Upanishads (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana) are also placed in this period. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, who were considered to be seers or "hearers" (Śruti means "what is heard") of the Veda, rather than "authors". In addition the Vedas are said to be "apaurashaya", a Sanskrit word meaning "uncreated by man" and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status.

The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra, chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. The priests performed the solemn rituals for the noblemen (Kshatriyas) and wealthy Vaishyas. People prayed for abundance of children, rain, cattle (wealth), long life and an afterlife in the heavenly world of the ancestors. This mode of worship has been preserved even today in Hinduism, which involves recitations from the Vedas by a purohita (priest), for prosperity, wealth and general well-being. However, the primacy of Vedic deities has been seconded to the deities of Puranic literature.

Elements of Vedic religion reach back to a Proto-Indo-Iranian religion and an earlier Proto-Indo-European religion. The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BC, Vedic religion gradually metamorphosizing into the various schools of Hinduism, which further evolved into Puranic Hinduism.[4] However aspects of the historical Vedic religion survived in corners of the Indian subcontinent, such as Kerala where the Nambudiri Brahmins continue the ancient Śrauta rituals, which are considered extinct in all other parts.

Rituals

Main articles: Yajurveda and yajna
A Śrauta yajna being performed.[dubious – discuss]

Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others:

The Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) has parallels in the 2nd millennium BC Sintashta and Andronovo culture as well as in Rome (the October Horse), medieval Ireland, and beyond in Central and East Asia. Although in the Rigveda, the cow's description as aghnya (that which should not be killed) may refer to poetry,[5] it may be reflective of some of the social practices, as were other practices like rituals and deity worship.[6]

The Hindu rites of cremation are seen since the Rigvedic period; while they are attested from early times in the Cemetery H culture, there is a late Rigvedic reference in RV 10.15.14, invoking forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)".

Pantheon

Main article: Rigvedic deities

The Vedic pantheon, similar to its Greek, Slavic or Germanic counterparts, comprises clans of anthropomorphic deities as well as deified natural phenomena, and like the Germanic Vanir and Aesir it knows two classes, Devas and Asuras. The Devas (Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga, Amsa, etc.) are deities of cosmic and social order, from the universe and kingdoms down to the individual. The Rigveda is a collection of hymns to various deities, most notably heroic Indra, Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods, and Soma, the deified sacred drink of the Indo-Iranians. Also prominent is Varuna (often paired with Mitra) and the group of "All-gods", the Vishvadevas.

Philosophy

Vedic philosophy primarily begins with the later part of Rig Veda, which was compiled before 1100 BCE.[7] Most of philosophy of the Rig Veda is contained in the sections Purusha sukta and Nasadiya Sukta.

The Purusha Sukta gives a description of the spiritual unity of the cosmos. It espouses Panentheism by presenting nature of reality as both immanent and transcendent.[8] From this reality the sukta holds that original creative will (later identified with Brahma, Hiranyagarbha or Prajapati) proceeds, by which this vast universe is projected in space and time.[9] The Purusha Sukta, in the seventh verse, proclaims the organic inseparability of the constituents of society. The Nasadiya sukta is thought to be the earliest account of skepticism in India.[10] It holds the Absolute to be both existence and non-existence[11] and beyond all conception. The Śatarudrīya of Yajurveda shatters the extra-cosmic notion of Absolute (Rudra) and identifies it with both the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the right and the wrong, the positive and the negative, the high and the low, the conceivable and the inconceivable, the mortal and the immortal, existence and non-existence.[12]

Ethics in the Vedas are based on the concepts of Satya and Rta. Satya is the principle of integration rooted in the Absolute.[13] Whereas, Ṛta is the expression of Satya, which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it.[14] Conformity with Ṛta would enable progress whereas its violation would lead to punishment. Concept of Yajna or sacrifice is also enunciated in the Purusha sukta where reaching Absolute itself is considered a transcendent sacrifice when viewed from the point of view of the individual.[8]

Vedic people believed in the transmigration of the soul and the peepul tree and cow were sanctified by the time of the Atharva Veda.[15] Many of the concepts of Indian philosophy espoused later like Dharma, Karma etc. trace their root to the Vedas. Major Philosophers of this era were Rishi Narayana, Kanva, Rishaba, Vamadeva, and Angiras. (See also philosophers of Vedic age)

Interpretations of Vedic Mantras

Mimamsa philosophers argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a god to validate the rituals.[16] Mimamsa argues that the gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the mantras that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of gods.[17]

However, Arya Samaj holds the view that the Vedic mantras tend to monotheism. Even the earlier Mandalas of Rig Veda (books 1 and 9) contains hymns for monotheistic thought. They however, need to be interpreted in the context of the individual hymns, where the 'monotheistic' trend is visible. For instance, in the often quoted isolated padas 1.164.46,

Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan"(trans. Griffith) monotheism is visible.

Moreover, the verses 10.129 and 10.130, deal with the one being (Ékam sát), especially verse 10.129.7:

iyám vísṛṣṭiḥ yátaḥ ābabhūva / yádi vā dadhé yádi vā ná / yáḥ asya ádhyakṣaḥ paramé vyóman / sáḥ aṅgá veda yádi vā ná véda
"He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not, He who surveys it all from his highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps even he does not" (trans. Griffith)

Adi Shankara's interpretations of Vedas were non-dualistic and he influenced monotheistic sects of contemporary Hinduism like Vaishnavism and Shaivism.

Post-Vedic religions

An article related to
Hinduism
HinduismOm.svg

Hindu • History
Deities
Philosophy
Scriptures
Practices
Philosophers
Other topics
Portal:HinduismHinduSwastika.svg

Hinduism Portal
Hindu Mythology Portal
Main articles: Indian religions and History of Hinduism

Vedic religion was followed by Upanishads which gradually evolved into Vedanta, which is regarded by some as the primary institution of Hinduism. Vedanta considers itself the 'essence' of the Vedas. The Vedic pantheon was interpreted by a unitary view of the universe with Brahman seen as immanent and transcendent, since the Middle Upanishads also in personal forms of the deity as Ishvara, Bhagavan, or Paramatma. There are also conservative schools which continue portions of the historical Vedic religion largely unchanged until today (see Śrauta, Nambudiri).

During the formative centuries of Vedanta, traditions that supported it and which opposed the same, emerged. These were the Āstika and nāstika.

Vedic Brahmanism of Iron Age India is believed by some to have co-existed, at least in eastern North India, and closely interacted with the non-Vedic (nastika) Śramana traditions.[19][20][21][22] These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but movements with mutual influences with Brahmanical traditions.[19] Following are the religions that evolved out of the Sramana tradition:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ INITIATION OF RELIGIONS IN INDIA
  2. ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica of 2005 uses all of "Vedism", "Vedic Brahmanism" and "Brahmanism", but reserves "Vedism" for the earliest stage, predating the Brahmana period, and defines "Brahmanism" as "religion of ancient India that evolved out of Vedism. It takes its name both from the predominant position of its priestly class, the Brahmans, and from the increasing speculation about, and importance given to, Brahman, the supreme power."
  3. ^ Stephanie W. Jamison and Michael Witzel in Arvind Sharma, editor, The Study of Hinduism. University of South Carolina Press, 2003, page 65: "... to call this period Vedic Hinduism is a contradiction in terms since Vedic religion is very different from what we generally call Hindu religion - at least as much as Old Hebrew religion is from medieval and modern Christian religion. However, Vedic religion is treatable as a predecessor of Hinduism."
  4. ^ Krishnananda. Swami. A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India, Divine Life Society. p. 42
  5. ^ J. Narten, Acta Orientalia Neerlandica, Leiden 1971, 120-134
  6. ^ Karel Werner, ed., Curzon Press, 1989, page 34. "Rahurkar speaks of them as belonging to two distinct 'cultural strands' ... Wayman also found evidence for two distinct approaches to the spiritual dimension in ancient India and calls them the traditions of 'truth and silence.' He traces them particularly in the older Upanishads, in early Buddhism, and in some later literature."
  7. ^ Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book 10. Estimates for a terminus post quem of the earliest hymns are more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100
  8. ^ a b The Purusha Sukta in Daily Invocations by Swami Krishnananda
  9. ^ Krishnananda. Swami. A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India, Divine Life Society. p. 19.
  10. ^ Patri, Umesh and Prativa Devi. "Progress of Atheism in India: A Historical Perspective". Atheist Centre 1940-1990 Golden Jubilee. Vijayawada, February 1990. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
  11. ^ Nasadiya Sukta translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith.
  12. ^ The significance of Satarudriya in Daily Invocations by Swami Krishnananda
  13. ^ Krishnananda. Swami. A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India, Divine Life Society. p. 21
  14. ^ Holdrege (2004:215). Panikkar (2001:350-351) remarks: "Ṛta is the ultimate foundation of everything; it is "the supreme", although this is not to be understood in a static sense. [...] It is the expression of the primordial dynamism that is inherent in everything...."
  15. ^ Singhal, K. C; Gupta, Roshan. The Ancient History of India, Vedic Period: A New Interpretation. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 8126902868. P. 150-151.
  16. ^ Neville, Robert. Religious ruth. p. 51. http://books.google.com/books?id=ThLR13JpCWsC. 
  17. ^ Coward, Harold. The perfectibility of human nature in eastern and western thought. p. 114. http://books.google.com/books?id=LkE_8uch5P0C. 
  18. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica s.v. Hindu philosophy: "The great epic Mahabharata represents the attempt of Vedic Brahmanism to adjust itself to the new circumstances reflected in the process of the aryanization (integration of Aryan beliefs, practices, and institutions) of the various non-Aryan communities."
  19. ^ a b S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West (1972): "Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan shramanic culture with its roots going back to prehistoric times."
  20. ^ Y. Masih (2000) In : A Comparative Study of Religions, Motilal Banarsidass Publ : Delhi, ISBN 81-208-0815-0 Page 18. "There is no evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever subscribed to vedic sacrifices, vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native religions of India and have contributed to much to the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present times."
  21. ^ Dr. Kalghatgi, T. G. 1988 In: Study of Jainism, Prakrit Bharti Academy, Jaipur
  22. ^ P.S. Jaini, (1979), The Jaina Path to Purification, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, p. 169 "Jainas themselves have no memory of a time when they fell within the Vedic fold. Any theory that attempts to link the two traditions, moreover fails to appreciate rather distinctive and very non-vedic character of Jaina cosmology, soul theory, karmic doctrine and atheism"