Gourt Home::Gourt :: Historical Vedic religion
religions]]' for details of contemporary religious practices. See Śrauta for the continuing practice of Vedic rituals.
The religion of the Vedic civilization is the precursor of classical and modern Hinduism and also to Buddhism and Jainism. Its liturgy is reflected in the text of the Vedas. The religion centered on a clergy (the Brahmins) administering sacrificial rites under the officiating Kings and Kshatriyas.
Texts considered to date to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedas, but the Brahmanas, and some of the older Upanishads are also considered Vedic. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the purohitas. To the rishis, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed, and they were considered "hearers" (shruti means "what is heard"), rather than "authors".
The mode of worship was performance of sacrifices and chanting of hymns (see Vedic chant). The priests helped the common man in performing rituals. People prayed for abundance of children, cattle and wealth. This mode of worship is largely intact even today, as is evident in numerous Hindu rituals, which involve recitations from the Vedas for prosperity, wealth and general well-being.
Elements of Vedic religion reach back into Proto-Indo-Iranian times. The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BC, Vedic religion gradually metamorphosizing into the historical Dharmic religions, notably Buddhism and later Vedanta schools and , which evolved into contemporary Hinduism. Hinduism spans surviving conservative traditions (see Śrauta), as well as fundamentally reformed ones (see also Puranas).
Rituals
The Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) has parallels in the 2nd millennium BC Andronovo culture, in India allegedly continued until the 4th century AD. The practice of vegetarianism may already have arisen in late Vedic times: in Panini, the compound gohan is taught to refer to a "receiver of a cow" exclusively, avoiding a literal translation of "cow-slaying", while gohan in the Rig-Veda 7.56.17 appears parallel to nrhan "slaying men" in reference to the weapon vadha of the Maruts,
- 17c "far be your cow-slaying, men-slaying weapon!"
This change of interpretation occurred parallel to the rise of, and possibly under the influence of, Buddhism, which began as a reform-movement of the Vedic religion. In the Rig-Veda, Upanishads and later texts, the cow is often described as aditi and aghnya (that which should not be killed).
The Hindu rites of cremation, developed during the Vedic 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-)", indicating convergence of Aryan (Indo-Iranian) and pre-Aryan traditions.
Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include:
- The Soma cult described in the Rigveda, descended from a common Indo-Iranian practice.
- Fire rituals, also a common Indo-Iranian practice, cf. Zoroastrianism:
- The Agnihotra or oblation to Agni
- The Agnicayana, the sophisticated ritual of piling the fire altar.
- The Agnistoma or fire sacrifice
- The Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice described in the Yajurveda
- The Purushamedha or human sacrifice, probably very early reduced to a symbolic sacrifice.
- The rituals described in the Atharvaveda concerned with demonology and magic.
As for the social divisions of society, initially Vedic tradition was based on merit and also allowed women to study the Vedas. A smritis, or code of conduct composed by sage Atri, one of the Sapta Rishi's and hearers of the Vedas defines the Varna very clearly.
- "By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through realization of supreme spirit (brahmajnana), he becomes a brahmin."
Monistic tendencies
Already the Rigveda, in its youngest books (books 1 and 10) contains evidence for emerging monotheistic thought. Often quoted are pada 1.164.46c,
- "To what is One, sages give many a title" (trans. Griffith)
- "He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, / Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not." (trans. Griffith)
in 1.164.46c means "One Being" or "One Truth". Such concepts received greater emphasis in classical Hinduism, from the time of Adi Shankara at the latest.
These monistic tendencies are reflected in modern sects of Hinduism like the pantheistic Arya Samaj according to which, there is only one creator who encompasses the universe and it is He whom must be striven to be attained by all. This sect does not worship individual dieties such as Ganesha or Lakshmi, as is done today by most Hindus..
Post-Vedic religions
Buddhism
In Buddhism, Buddha is said to be a knower of the Veda (vedajña) or of the Vedanta (vedântajña) (Sa.myutta, i. 168); Sutta Nipâta, 463). Buddha is also called a Dharma Raj and Chakravartin or holy king whose job it was to set the Dharma. In Vedic tradition, it was the Dharma Raj (one who conquers Yama, the lord of death) who set forth the spiritual practices for that age.Buddhism moves away from the false ritualism and corruption of original Vedic teachings practiced by some to the Vedas meditative and inner meaning.
Like the original Vedic system, Buddha firmly rejected hereditary occupations and firmly based his teachings on individual moral conduct and spiritual merit, he also allowed women to pursue the holy life.
- "Just as, O monks, the great rivers Gangâ, Yamunâ, Aciravati, Sarabhû, and Mahi, on reaching the ocean, lose their earlier name and identity and come to be reckoned as the great ocean, similarly, O monks, people of the four castes (vannas) ¼ who leave the household and become homeless recluses under the Doctrine and Discipline declared by the Tathâgata, lose their previous names and identities and are reckoned as recluses who are sons of Sâkya" (Udâna 55).
"Birth makes not a man an outcast, Birth makes not a man a brahmin; Action makes a man an outcast, Action makes a man a brahmin." (Sutta-nipâta, 142)
Buddha rejected the notions of following traditions for the sake of tradition and encouraged inquiry:
- Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by a reflection on reasons, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think: 'The ascetic is our teacher.' But when you know for yourselves, 'These things are unwholesome, these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; these things if undertaken and practiced lead to harm and suffering', then you should abandon them." (Kalama Sutta)
Most of the Sutras in Buddhism would fall in the category of "Shruti" and thus be additions to the traditional four Vedas. Shruti means that which has been heard, and every Buddhist sutra begins with "Evam maya shrutam", or "Thus have I heard".
In Buddhism, texts such as "sutras and shastras" are used as tools to study and for understanding, and not for ritual favors. The practice of the Dharma in accordance with the Eightfold path and living an examined life in Buddhism is held to be supreme and makes one a true dwija or Arya.
Hinduism
Hinduism has maintained almost all of ritualistic form of the Vedic religion, and has evolved over time to be the in the polytheistic, highly diverse and multi-faceted form that we know of today.
Modern Hinduism as we know today considers the four Vedas (Rig-Veda, Atharva-Veda, Sama-Veda and Yajur Veda) and the Upanishads as sacred texts. Of the four vedas, the Rig-Veda has the highest authority. The word 'Hindu' had been nomenclatured by Persians signifying those living on the other side of the river Sindhu relative to them. Otherwise, most scholars believe that Hinduism as known today, is actually Vedanta and its followers as Vedantists. This idea was first mooted by Swami Vivekananda.
Zoroastrianism shares common Indo-Iranian properties with the Vedic religion but it is not a direct descendant.
See also
Notes
"Historical Vedic religion"