Historical Vedic religion

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This article discusses the historical religious practices in the Vedic time period; see Hinduism and Indian religions for details of continued religious practices. See Śrauta for the continuing practice of performance of rituals by an oral passing of hymns/chants through generations.

The religion of the Vedic period (also known as Vedism or Vedic Brahmanism or, in a context of Indian antiquity, simply Brahmanism[1]) is the historical predecessor of Hinduism and the other Indian religions. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, that are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites that often involved sacrifices. This mode of worship is largely unchanged today within Hinduism; however, only a small fraction of conservative Shrautins continue the tradition of oral recitation of hymns solely from handovers from repeated hearings.

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 (BAU, ChU, JUB) are also considered Vedic. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 shrauta 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 "hearers" (shruti means "what is heard"), rather than "authors". However, the Rigvedic hymns clearly speak about composing new hymns by individual authors who were in competition with their colleagues and looked for "payment" by local chieftains.

The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra (quite similar to the Greek religion), chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. The priests performed the solemn rituals for the noblemen (Kshsatriya) and some 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 into Proto-Indo-Iranian times. The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BC, Vedic religion gradually metamorphosizing into the historical Indian religions, such as the various schools of Hinduism and Buddhism, the former further evolving into Puranic Hinduism, the latter diversifying into Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, such as Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese and Japanese schools.

Contents

Rituals

Main articles: Yajurveda and yajna

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 (October horse) and medieval Ireland. In India it was allegedly continued until the 4th and even the 18th century CE (Jaya Singh at Jaipur). The practice of vegetarianism may already have arisen in late Vedic times. Although in the Rigveda, the cow's description as aghnya (that which should not be killed) may refer to poetry,[2] it is certain to be reflective of the social practice as were other practices like rituals and deity worship. Incipient change to contemporary vegetarianism is seen as early as the late Brahmanas and Upanishads and may have continued under the influence of Jainism and possibly of Buddhism, which began as a reform-movement of the Vedic religion.

The Hindu rites of cremation are seen since the Rgvedic 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 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 of gods, Devas and Asuras. The Asuras (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.

Monistic tendencies

In the view of some, the Rigveda, in its youngest books (books 1 and 10) contains hymns for monistic thought that however need to be interpreted in the context of the individual hymn. Often quoted are pada 1.164.46c,

ékam sád víprā́ bahudhā́ vadanti
"To what is One, sages give many a title" (trans. Griffith)

and hymns 10.129 and 10.130, dealing with a creator deity, 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 form it, / Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not." (trans. Griffith)

Ékam sát in 1.164.46c means "being one". Such concepts received greater emphasis in classical Hinduism, from the time of Adi Shankara at the latest, and they receive emphasis in contemporary Hinduism from pantheistic sects like Arya Samaj.

Post-Vedic religions

Main article: Indian religions

Vedic religion gradually diversified into the Hindu paths such as early Vedanta that 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).

Religions that have continued from the Vedic religion :

Notes

  1. ^ The Encyclopedia 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."
  2. ^ J. Narten, Acta Orientalia Neerlandica, Leiden 1971, 120-134
  3. ^ These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but counter-movements heavily influenced by Brahmanical traditions. 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."
  4. ^ Encyclopedia 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."

See also