Sunday, November 26, 2017

The VEDAS and VEDIC RELIGION

VEDAS...VEDIC RELIGION


The Vedas (/ˈveɪdəz/;[1] Sanskrit: वेद veda, "knowledge") are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.[2][3] Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means "not of a man, superhuman"[4] and "impersonal, authorless".[5][6][7]
Vedas are also called śruti ("what is heard") literature,[8] distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered"). The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient sages after intense meditation, and texts that have been more carefully preserved since ancient times.[9][10] In the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma.[11] The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.[10][note 1]
There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda.[13][14] Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).[13][15][16] Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship).[17][18]
The various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika).[note 2] Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" (nāstika) schools.[20][21] Despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts.[20]

Etymology and usage

The Sanskrit word véda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". This is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning "see" or "know".[22]
The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek (ϝ)εἶδος "aspect", "form" . Not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek (ϝ)οἶδα (w)oida "I know". Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc., Latin videō "I see", etc.[23]
The Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means "knowledge".[24] The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the Rigveda, means "obtaining or finding wealth, property",[25] while in some others it means "a bunch of grass together" as in a broom or for ritual fire.[26]
A related word Vedena appears in hymn 8.19.5 of the Rigveda.[27] It was translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith as "ritual lore",[28] as "studying the Veda" by the 14th century Indian scholar Sayana, as "bundle of grass" by Max Müller, and as "with the Veda" by H.H. Wilson.[29]
Vedas are called Maṛai or Vaymoli in parts of South India. Marai literally means "hidden, a secret, mystery".[30][31] In some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli.[32]

Chronology

Main article: Vedic period
The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts.[33][34] The Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BC,[35] and the "circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.[36] The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over Northern India which annotated the mantra samhitas with Brahmana discussions of their meaning, and reaches its end in the age of Buddha and Panini and the rise of the Mahajanapadas (archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 to c. 500-400 BC. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BC the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period. He gives 150 BC (Patañjali) as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BC (the early Iron Age) as terminus post quem for the Atharvaveda.[37]
Transmission of texts in the Vedic period was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques. A literary tradition is traceable in post-Vedic times, after the rise of Buddhism in the Maurya period,[note 3] perhaps earliest in the Kanva recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st century BC; however oral tradition of transmission remained active. Witzel suggests the possibility of written Vedic texts towards the end of 1st millennium BCE.[39] Some scholars such as Jack Goody state that "the Vedas are not the product of an oral society", basing this view by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down.[40] However, adds Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it a "parallel products of a literate society".[38][40]
Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years.[41] The Sampurnanand Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript from the 14th century;[42] however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in Nepal that are dated from the 11th century onwards.[43]

Ancient universities

The Vedas, Vedic rituals and its ancillary sciences called the Vedangas, were part of the curriculum at ancient universities such as at Taxila, Nalanda and Vikramashila.[44][45][46][47]

Categories of Vedic texts

Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari
The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:
  1. Texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the Vedic period (Iron Age India)
  2. Any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas"[48]

Vedic Sanskrit corpus

The corpus of Vedic Sanskrit texts includes:
  • The Samhitas (Sanskrit saṃhitā, "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("mantras"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions (śākhā). In some contexts, the term Veda is used to refer to these Samhitas. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, apart from the Rigvedic hymns, which were probably essentially complete by 1200 BC, dating to c. the 12th to 10th centuries BC. The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's Vedic Concordance (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metrical feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.[49]
  • The Brahmanas are prose texts that comment and explain the solemn rituals as well as expound on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions.[50][51] The Brahmanas may either form separate texts or can be partly integrated into the text of the Samhitas. They may also include the Aranyakas and Upanishads.
  • The Aranyakas, "wilderness texts" or "forest treaties", were composed by people who meditated in the woods as recluses and are the third part of the Vedas. The texts contain discussions and interpretations of ceremonies, from ritualistic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view.[52] It is frequently read in secondary literature.
  • Older Mukhya Upanishads (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chandogya, Kaṭha, Kena, Aitareya, and others).[53][54]
The Vedas (sruti) are different from Vedic era texts such as Shrauta Sutras and Gryha Sutras, which are smriti texts. Together, the Vedas and these Sutras form part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.[54][55][56]
While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceased with the end of the Vedic period, additional Upanishads were composed after the end of the Vedic period.[57]
The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads, among other things, interpret and discuss the Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, one of the major trends of later Hinduism. In other parts, they show evolution of ideas, such as from actual sacrifice to symbolic sacrifice, and of spirituality in the Upanishads. This has inspired later Hindu scholars such as Adi Shankara to classify each Veda into karma-kanda (कर्म खण्ड, action/ritual-related sections) and jnana-kanda (ज्ञान खण्ड, knowledge/spirituality-related sections).[17][58]

Shruti literature

Main article: Śruti
The texts considered "Vedic" in the sense of "corollaries of the Vedas" is less clearly defined, and may include numerous post-Vedic texts such as the later Upanishads and the Sutra literature. Texts not considered to be shruti are known as smriti (Sanskrit: smṛti; "the remembered"), or texts of remembered traditions. This indigenous system of categorization was adopted by Max Müller and, while it is subject to some debate, it is still widely used. As Axel Michaels explains:[53]
These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only one collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads ... are sometimes not to be distinguished from Āraṇyakas...; Brāhmaṇas contain older strata of language attributed to the Saṃhitās; there are various dialects and locally prominent traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by Max Müller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic literature."[53]
The Upanishads are largely philosophical works, some in dialogue form. They are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions.[59][60] Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads are at the spiritual core of Hindus.[59][61]

Vedic schools or recensions

Main article: Shakha
The four Vedas were transmitted in various śākhās (branches, schools).[62][63] Each school likely represented an ancient community of a particular area, or kingdom.[63] Each school followed its own canon. Multiple recensions are known for each of the Vedas.[62] Thus, states Witzel as well as Renou, in the 2nd millennium BC, there was likely no canon of one broadly accepted Vedic texts, no Vedic “Scripture”, but only a canon of various texts accepted by each school. Some of these texts have survived, most lost or yet to be found. Rigveda that survives in modern times, for example, is in only one extremely well preserved school of Śåkalya, from a region called Videha, in modern north Bihar, south of Nepal.[64] The Vedic canon in its entirety consists of texts from all the various Vedic schools taken together.[63]
Each of the four Vedas were shared by the numerous schools, but revised, interpolated and adapted locally, in and after the Vedic period, giving rise to various recensions of the text. Some texts were revised into the modern era, raising significant debate on parts of the text which are believed to have been corrupted at a later date.[65][66] The Vedas each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvānukramaṇī.[67][68]
Prodigious energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.[69] For example, memorization of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the jaṭā-pāṭha (literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated in the original order.[70] That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Rigveda, as redacted into a single text during the Brahmana period, without any variant readings within that school.[70]
The Vedas were likely written down for the first time around 500 BC.[71] However, all printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century AD.[72]

Four Vedas

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The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (turīya) viz.,[73]
  1. Rigveda (RV)
  2. Yajurveda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS)
  3. Samaveda (SV)
  4. Atharvaveda (AV)
Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called "trayī vidyā"; that is, "the triple science" of reciting hymns (Rigveda), performing sacrifices (Yajurveda), and chanting songs (Samaveda).[74][75] The Rigveda is the oldest work, which Witzel states are probably from the period of 1900 to 1100 BC. Witzel, also notes that it is the Vedic period itself, where incipient lists divide the Vedic texts into three (trayī) or four branches: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva.[63]
Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies such as newborn baby's rites of passage, coming of age, marriages, retirement and cremation, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).[13][15][16] The Upasanas (short ritual worship-related sections) are considered by some scholars[17][18] as the fifth part. Witzel notes that the rituals, rites and ceremonies described in these ancient texts reconstruct to a large degree the Indo-European marriage rituals observed in a region spanning the Indian subcontinent, Persia and the European area, and some greater details are found in the Vedic era texts such as the Grhya Sūtras.[76]
Only one version of the Rigveda is known to have survived into the modern era.[64] Several different versions of the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda are known, and many different versions of the Yajur Veda have been found in different parts of South Asia.[77]

Rigveda

Main article: Rigveda
Nasadiya Sukta (Hymn of non-Eternity):
Who really knows?
Who can here proclaim it?
Whence, whence this creation sprang?
Gods came later, after the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
He only knows, or perhaps He does not know.
—Rig Veda 10.129.6-7[78]
The Rigveda Samhita is the oldest extant Indic text.[79] It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas).[80] The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.[81]
The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of several centuries from roughly the second half of the 2nd millennium BC (the early Vedic period), starting with the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the northwest Indian subcontinent.[82] The Rigveda is structured based on clear principles – the Veda begins with a small book addressed to Agni, Indra, and other gods, all arranged according to decreasing total number of hymns in each deity collection; for each deity series, the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, but the number of hymns per book increases. Finally, the meter too is systematically arranged from jagati and tristubh to anustubh and gayatri as the text progresses.[63] In terms of substance, the nature of hymns shift from praise of deities in early books to Nasadiya Sukta with questions such as, "what is the origin of the universe?, do even gods know the answer?",[78] the virtue of Dāna (charity) in society,[83] and other metaphysical issues in its hymns.[84]
There are similarities between the mythology, rituals and linguistics in Rigveda and those found in ancient central Asia, Iranian and Hindukush (Afghanistan) regions.[85]

Samaveda

Main article: Samaveda
The Samaveda Samhita[86] consists of 1549 stanzas, taken almost entirely (except for 75 mantras) from the Rigveda.[53][87] The Samaveda samhita has two major parts. The first part includes four melody collections (gāna, गान) and the second part three verse “books” (ārcika, आर्चिक).[87] A melody in the song books corresponds to a verse in the arcika books. Just as in the Rigveda, the early sections of Samaveda typically begin with hymns to Agni and Indra but shift to the abstract. Their meters shift also in a descending order. The songs in the later sections of the Samaveda have the least deviation from the hymns derived from the Rigveda.[87]
In the Samaveda, some of the Rigvedic verses are repeated.[88] Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith.[89] Two major recensions have survived, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya. Its purpose was liturgical, and they were the repertoire of the udgātṛ or "singer" priests.[90]

Yajurveda

Main article: Yajurveda
The Yajurveda Samhita consists of prose mantras.[91] It is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire.[91]
The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.[92] Unlike the Samaveda which is almost entirely based on Rigveda mantras and structured as songs, the Yajurveda samhitas are in prose and linguistically, they are different from earlier Vedic texts.[93] The Yajur Veda has been the primary source of information about sacrifices during Vedic times and associated rituals.[94]
There are two major groups of texts in this Veda: the "Black" (Krishna) and the "White" (Shukla). The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" (well arranged) Yajurveda.[95] The White Yajurveda separates the Samhita from its Brahmana (the Shatapatha Brahmana), the Black Yajurveda intersperses the Samhita with Brahmana commentary. Of the Black Yajurveda, texts from four major schools have survived (Maitrayani, Katha, Kapisthala-Katha, Taittiriya), while of the White Yajurveda, two (Kanva and Madhyandina).[96][97] The youngest layer of Yajurveda text is not related to rituals nor sacrifice, it includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy.[98][99]

Atharvaveda

Main article: Atharvaveda
The Artharvaveda Samhita is the text 'belonging to the Atharvan and Angirasa poets. It has about 760 hymns, and about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rigveda.[100] Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.[100] Two different versions of the text – the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into the modern times.[100][101] The Atharvaveda was not considered as a Veda in the Vedic era, and was accepted as a Veda in late 1st millennium BC.[102][103] It was compiled last,[104] probably around 900 BC, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rigveda,[105] or earlier.[100]
The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of magical formulas",[106] an epithet declared to be incorrect by other scholars.[107] The Samhita layer of the text likely represents a developing 2nd millennium BC tradition of magico-religious rites to address superstitious anxiety, spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by demons, and herbs- and nature-derived potions as medicine.[108][109] The text, states Kenneth Zysk, is one of oldest surviving record of the evolutionary practices in religious medicine and reveals the "earliest forms of folk healing of Indo-European antiquity".[110] Many books of the Atharvaveda Samhita are dedicated to rituals without magic, such as to philosophical speculations and to theosophy.[107]
The Atharva veda has been a primary source for information about Vedic culture, the customs and beliefs, the aspirations and frustrations of everyday Vedic life, as well as those associated with kings and governance. The text also includes hymns dealing with the two major rituals of passage – marriage and cremation. The Atharva Veda also dedicates significant portion of the text asking the meaning of a ritual.[111]

Embedded Vedic texts

Brahmanas

Further information: Brahmanas
The Brahmanas are commentaries, explanation of proper methods and meaning of Vedic Samhita rituals in the four Vedas.[112] They also incorporate myths, legends and in some cases philosophy.[112][51] Each regional Vedic shakha (school) has its own operating manual-like Brahmana text, most of which have been lost.[113] A total of 19 Brahmana texts have survived into modern times: two associated with the Rigveda, six with the Yajurveda, ten with the Samaveda and one with the Atharvaveda. The oldest dated to about 900 BC, while the youngest Brahmanas (such as the Shatapatha Brahmana), were complete by about 700 BC.[114][115] According to Jan Gonda, the final codification of the Brahmanas took place in pre-Buddhist times (ca. 600 BC).[116]
The substance of the Brahmana text varies with each Veda. For example, the first chapter of the Chandogya Brahmana, one of the oldest Brahmanas, includes eight ritual suktas (hymns) for the ceremony of marriage and rituals at the birth of a child.[117][118] The first hymn is a recitation that accompanies offering a Yajna oblation to Agni (fire) on the occasion of a marriage, and the hymn prays for prosperity of the couple getting married.[117][119] The second hymn wishes for their long life, kind relatives, and a numerous progeny.[117] The third hymn is a mutual marriage pledge, between the bride and groom, by which the two bind themselves to each other. The sixth through last hymns of the first chapter in Chandogya Brahmana are ritual celebrations on the birth of a child and wishes for health, wealth, and prosperity with a profusion of cows and artha.[117] However, these verses are incomplete expositions, and their complete context emerges only with the Samhita layer of text.[120]

Aranyakas and Upanishads

Further information: Vedanta, Upanishads, and Aranyakas
The Aranyakas layer of the Vedas include rituals, discussion of symbolic meta-rituals, as well as philosophical speculations.[18][52]
Aranyakas, however, neither are homogeneous in content nor in structure.[52] They are a medley of instructions and ideas, and some include chapters of Upanishads within them. Two theories have been proposed on the origin of the word Aranyakas. One theory holds that these texts were meant to be studied in a forest, while the other holds that the name came from these being the manuals of allegorical interpretation of sacrifices, for those in Vanaprastha (retired, forest-dwelling) stage of their life, according to the historic age-based Ashrama system of human life.[121]
The Upanishads reflect the last composed layer of texts in the Vedas. They are commonly referred to as Vedānta, variously interpreted to mean either the "last chapters, parts of the Vedas" or "the object, the highest purpose of the Veda".[122] The concepts of Brahman (Ultimate Reality) and Ātman (Soul, Self) are central ideas in all the Upanishads,[123][124] and "Know your Ātman" their thematic focus.[124][125] The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions.[59][126] Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads have influenced the diverse traditions of Hinduism.[59][127]
Aranyakas are sometimes identified as karma-kanda (ritualistic section), while the Upanishads are identified as jnana-kanda (spirituality section).[17][128] In an alternate classification, the early part of Vedas are called Samhitas and the commentary are called the Brahmanas which together are identified as the ceremonial karma-kanda, while Aranyakas and Upanishads are referred to as the jnana-kanda.[129]

Post-Vedic literature

Vedanga

Main article: Vedanga
The Vedangas developed towards the end of the vedic period, around or after the middle of the 1st millennium BC. These auxiliary fields of Vedic studies emerged because the language of the Vedas, composed centuries earlier, became too archaic to the people of that time.[130] The Vedangas were sciences that focused on helping understand and interpret the Vedas that had been composed many centuries earlier.[130]
The six subjects of Vedanga are phonetics (Śikṣā), poetic meter (Chandas), grammar (Vyākaraṇa), etymology and linguistics (Nirukta), rituals and rites of passage (Kalpa), time keeping and astronomy (Jyotiṣa).[131][132][133]
Vedangas developed as ancillary studies for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar, linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various schools of Hindu philosophy.[134][135][136] The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras.[130][137]

Parisista

Main article: Parisista
Pariśiṣṭa "supplement, appendix" is the term applied to various ancillary works of Vedic literature, dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of the texts logically and chronologically prior to them: the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Sutras. Naturally classified with the Veda to which each pertains, Parisista works exist for each of the four Vedas. However, only the literature associated with the Atharvaveda is extensive.
  • The Āśvalāyana Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a very late text associated with the Rigveda canon.
  • The Gobhila Gṛhya Pariśiṣṭa is a short metrical text of two chapters, with 113 and 95 verses respectively.
  • The Kātiya Pariśiṣṭas, ascribed to Kātyāyana, consist of 18 works enumerated self-referentially in the fifth of the series (the Caraṇavyūha) and the Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa.
  • The Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda has 3 parisistas The Āpastamba Hautra Pariśiṣṭa, which is also found as the second praśna of the Satyasāḍha Śrauta Sūtra', the Vārāha Śrauta Sūtra Pariśiṣṭa
  • For the Atharvaveda, there are 79 works, collected as 72 distinctly named parisistas.[138]

Upaveda

The term upaveda ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works.[139][140] Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:[141]

"Fifth" and other Vedas

Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra[144] and certain Puranas, refer to themselves as the "fifth Veda".[145] The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad in hymn 7.1.2.[146]
Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art. Thus, from all the Vedas, Brahma framed the Nātya Veda. From the Rig Veda he drew forth the words, from the Sama Veda the melody, from the Yajur Veda gesture, and from the Atharva Veda the sentiment.
— First chapter of Nātyaśāstra, Abhinaya Darpana [147][148]
"Divya Prabandha", for example Tiruvaymoli, is a term for canonical Tamil texts considered as Vernacular Veda by some South Indian Hindus.[31][32]
Other texts such as the Bhagavad Gita or the Vedanta Sutras are considered shruti or "Vedic" by some Hindu denominations but not universally within Hinduism. The Bhakti movement, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism in particular extended the term veda to include the Sanskrit Epics and Vaishnavite devotional texts such as the Pancaratra.[149]

Puranas

Main article: Puranas
The Puranas is a vast genre of encyclopedic Indian literature about a wide range of topics particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore.[150] Several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi.[151][152] There are 18 Maha Puranas (Great Puranas) and 18 Upa Puranas (Minor Puranas), with over 400,000 verses.[150]
The Puranas have been influential in the Hindu culture.[153][154] They are considered Vaidika (congruent with Vedic literature).[155] The Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor.[156][157] The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, and both Dvaita and Advaita scholars have commented on the underlying Vedanta themes in the Maha Puranas.[158]

Western Indology

Further information: Sanskrit in the West
The study of Sanskrit in the West began in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, Arthur Schopenhauer drew attention to Vedic texts, specifically the Upanishads. The importance of Vedic Sanskrit for Indo-European studies was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the Sacred Books of the East series edited by Müller between 1879 and 1910.[159] Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899.
Voltaire regarded Vedas to be exceptional, he remarked that:
The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East.[160][161]
Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007.[162]

See also

Notes

  1. "As a skilled craftsman makes a car, a singer I, Mighty One! this hymn for thee have fashioned.If thou, O Agni, God, accept it gladly, may we obtain thereby the heavenly Waters". – Rigveda 5.2.11, Translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith[12]
  2. Elisa Freschi (2012): The Vedas are not deontic authorities in absolute sense and may be disobeyed, but are recognized as an deontological epistemic authority by a Hindu orthodox school;[19] (Note: This differentiation between epistemic and deontic authority is true for all Indian religions)
  3. The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with the first Pali Canon written many centuries after the death of the Buddha.[38]

References

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  2. see e.g. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68; MacDonell 2004, pp. 29–39; Sanskrit literature (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-08-09
  3. Sanujit Ghose (2011). "Religious Developments in Ancient India" in Ancient History Encyclopedia.
  4. Vaman Shivaram Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, see apauruSeya
  5. D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN , pages 196-197
  6. Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195384963, page 290
  7. Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, ISBN 978-1409466819, page 128
  8. Apte 1965, p. 887
  9. Sheldon Pollock (2011), Boundaries, Dynamics and Construction of Traditions in South Asia (Editor: Federico Squarcini), Anthem, ISBN 978-0857284303, pages 41-58
  10. Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, ISBN 978-9004125568, pages 13-14
  11. Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr̥ṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa in the Mahābhārata Bruce M. Sullivan, Motilal Banarsidass, pages 85-86
  12. "The Rig Veda/Mandala 5/Hymn 2".
  13. Gavin Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521438780, pages 35-39
  14. Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana, (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II.1.b.) Strassburg 1899; Gonda, J. A history of Indian literature: I.1 Vedic literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas); I.2 The Ritual Sutras. Wiesbaden 1975, 1977
  15. A Bhattacharya (2006), Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology, ISBN 978-0595384556, pages 8-14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195332612, page 285
  16. Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032
  17. A Bhattacharya (2006), Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology, ISBN 978-0595384556, pages 8-14
  18. Barbara A. Holdrege (1995), Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791416402, pages 351-357
  19. Elisa Freschi (2012), Duty, Language and Exegesis in Prabhakara Mimamsa, BRILL, ISBN 978-9004222601, page 62
  20. Flood 1996, p. 82
  21. "astika" and "nastika". Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 20 Apr. 2016
  22. Monier-Williams 2006, p. 1015; Apte 1965, p. 856
  23. see e.g. Pokorny's 1959 Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch s.v. u̯(e)id-²; Rix' Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, u̯ei̯d-.
  24. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English dictionary : etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press., page 1015
  25. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English dictionary : etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press., page 1017 (2nd Column)
  26. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899). A Sanskrit-English dictionary : etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press., page 1017 (3rd Column)
  27. Sanskrit: यः समिधा य आहुती यो वेदेन ददाश मर्तो अग्नये । यो नमसा स्वध्वरः ॥५॥, ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं ८.१९, Wikisource
  28. K.F. Geldner, Der Rig-Veda, Harvard Oriental Series 33-37, Cambridge 1951
  29. HH Wilson, Rig-veda Sanhita Sixth Ashtaka, First Adhayaya, Sukta VII (8.19.5), page 291, Trubner London
  30. Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0872499652, pages 194
  31. John Carman (1989), The Tamil Veda: Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226093055, pages 259-261
  32. Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0872499652, pages 43, 117-119
  33. Sagarika Dutt (2006). India in a Globalized World. Manchester University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-84779-607-3.
  34. Gabriel J. Gomes (2012). Discovering World Religions. iUniverse. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-4697-1037-2.
  35. Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman (2014). Science and Religion: One Planet, Many Possibilities. Routledge. p. 179.
  36. Gavin Flood sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was compiled from as early as 1500 BC over a period of several centuries. Flood 1996, p. 37
  37. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
  38. Donald S. Lopez Jr. (1995). "Authority and Orality in the Mahāyāna". Numen. Brill Academic. 42 (1): 21–47. JSTOR 3270278.
  39. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69; For oral composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being written down, see: Avari 2007, p. 76.
  40. Jack Goody (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. pp. 110–121. ISBN 978-0-521-33794-6.
  41. Brodd, Jefferey (2003), World Religions, Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press, ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5
  42. Jamison, Stephanie W.; Brereton, Joel P. (2014). The Rigveda. vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-972078-1.
  43. "Cultural Heritage of Nepal". Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project. University of Hamburg. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  44. Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (2013). The Princeton dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400848058. Entry on "Nālandā".
  45. Frazier, Jessica, ed. (2011). The Continuum companion to Hindu studies. London: Continuum. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8264-9966-0.
  46. Walton, Linda (2015). "Educational institutions" in The Cambridge World History Vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-521-19074-9.
  47. Sukumar Dutt (1988) [First published in 1962]. Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. ISBN 81-208-0498-8. pg. 332-333
  48. according to ISKCON, Hindu Sacred Texts, "Hindus themselves often use the term to describe anything connected to the Vedas and their corollaries (e.g. Vedic culture)".
  49. 37,575 are Rigvedic. Of the remaining, 34,857 appear in the other three Samhitas, and 16,405 are known only from Brahmanas, Upanishads or Sutras
  50. Klaus Klostermaier (1994), A Survey of Hinduism, Second Edition, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791421093, pages 67-69
  51. Brahmana Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
  52. Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032, page 424-426
  53. Michaels 2004, p. 51.
  54. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69.
  55. For a table of all Vedic texts see Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, pp. 100–101.
  56. The Vedic Sanskrit corpus is incorporated in A Vedic Word Concordance (Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa) prepared from 1930 under Vishva Bandhu, and published in five volumes in 1935-1965. Its scope extends to about 400 texts, including the entire Vedic Sanskrit corpus besides some "sub-Vedic" texts. Volume I: Samhitas, Volume II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas, Volume III: Upanishads, Volume IV: Vedangas; A revised edition, extending to about 1800 pages, was published in 1973-1976.
  57. Flood 2003, pp. 100–101
  58. Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad at pages 1-5; Quote - "The Vedas are divided in two parts, the first is the karma-kanda, the ceremonial part, also (called) purva-kanda, and treats on ceremonies; the second part is the jnana kanda, the part which contains knowledge, also named uttara-kanda or posterior part, and unfolds the knowledge of Brahma or the universal soul."
  59. Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226618470, pages 2-3; Quote: "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus."
  60. Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al.), State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791410806, page 39; Quote: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self.";
    Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, ISBN 978-1592578467, pages 208-210
  61. Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195352429, page 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".
  62. Flood 1996, p. 39.
  63. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu", Harvard University, in Witzel 1997, pp. 261–264
  64. Jamison and Witzel (1992), Vedic Hinduism, Harvard University, page 6
  65. J. Muir (1868), Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India - their religion and institutions at Google Books, 2nd Edition, page 12
  66. Albert Friedrich Weber, Indische Studien, herausg. von at Google Books, Volume 10, pp 1-9 with footnotes (in German); For a translation, Original Sanskrit Texts at Google Books, page 14
  67. For an example, see Sarvānukramaṇī Vivaraṇa Univ of Pennsylvania rare texts collection
  68. R̥gveda-sarvānukramaṇī Śaunakakr̥tāʼnuvākānukramaṇī ca, Maharṣi-Kātyayāna-viracitā, OCLC 11549595
  69. (Staal 1986)
  70. (Filliozat 2004, p. 139)
  71. Avari 2007, pp. 69–70
  72. Michael Witzel, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69, Quote: "... almost all printed editions depend on the late manuscripts that are hardly older than 500 years"
  73. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
  74. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, pp. 257–348
  75. MacDonell 2004, pp. 29–39
  76. Jamison and Witzel (1992), Vedic Hinduism, Harvard University, page 21
  77. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, p. 286
  79. see e.g. Avari 2007, p. 77.
  80. For 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses and division into ten mandalas, see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  81. For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, Soma, Surya, etc. see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  82. see e.g. Avari 2007, p. 77 Max Müller gave 1700–1100 BC, Michael Witzel gives 1450-1350 BC as terminus ad quem.
  83. Original text translated in English: The Rig Veda, Mandala 10, Hymn 117, Ralph T. H. Griffith (Translator);
    C Chatterjee (1995), Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview, Journal of Human Values, Vol 1, No 1, pages 3-12
  84. For example,
    Hymn 1.164.34, "What is the ultimate limit of the earth?", "What is the center of the universe?", "What is the semen of the cosmic horse?", "What is the ultimate source of human speech?"
    Hymn 1.164.34, "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?"
    Hymn 1.164.5, "Where does the sun hide in the night?", "Where do gods live?"
    Hymn 1.164.6, "What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?";
    Hymn 1.164.20 (a hymn that is widely cited in the Upanishads as the parable of the Body and the Soul): "Two birds with fair wings, inseparable companions; Have found refuge in the same sheltering tree. One incessantly eats from the fig tree; the other, not eating, just looks on.";
    Sources: (a) Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, pages 64-69;
    Jan Gonda, A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Volume 1, Part 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032, pages 134-135;
    Rigveda Book 1, Hymn 164 Wikisource
  85. Michael Witzel, The Rigvedic religious system and its central Asian and Hindukush antecedents, in The Vedas - Texts, Language and Ritual, Editors: Griffiths and Houben (2004), Brill Academic, ISBN 978-9069801490, pages 581-627
  86. (from sāman, the term for a melody applied to a metrical hymn or a song of praise, Apte 1965, p. 981.
  87. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, pp. 269–270
  88. M Bloomfield, Rig-veda Repetitions, p. 402, at Google Books, pages 402-464
  89. For 1875 total verses, see the numbering given in Ralph T. H. Griffith. Griffith's introduction mentions the recension history for his text. Repetitions may be found by consulting the cross-index in Griffith pp. 491-99.
  90. Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus (2011), Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3110181593, page 381
  91. Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism (Editor: Gavin Flood), Blackwell, ISBN 0-631215352, pages 76-77
  92. Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN 978-0595269259, pages 273-274
  93. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, pp. 270–271
  94. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, pp. 272–274
  95. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, pages 217-219
  96. Michaels 2004, p. 52 Table 3
  97. CL Prabhakar (1972), The Recensions of the Sukla Yajurveda, Archív Orientální, Volume 40, Issue 1, pages 347-353
  98. Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Motilal Banarsidass (2011 Edition), ISBN 978-8120816206, page 23
  99. Patrick Olivelle (1998), Upaniṣhads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-282292-6, pages 1-17
  100. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  101. Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, pages 136-137
  102. Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, page 135
  103. Alex Wayman (1997), Untying the Knots in Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120813212, pages 52-53
  104. "The latest of the four Vedas, the Atharva-Veda, is, as we have seen, largely composed of magical texts and charms, but here and there we find cosmological hymns which anticipate the Upanishads, -- hymns to Skambha, the 'Support', who is seen as the first principle which is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, to Prāna, the 'Breath of Life', to Vāc, the 'Word', and so on." Zaehner 1966, p. vii.
  105. Flood 1996, p. 37.
  106. Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, ISBN 0-415215277, page 38
  107. Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, Vol 1, Fasc. 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032, pages 277-280, Quote: "It would be incorrect to describe the Atharvaveda Samhita as a collection of magical formulas".
  108. Kenneth Zysk (2012), Understanding Mantras (Editor: Harvey Alper), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120807464, pages 123-129
  109. On magic spells and charms, such as those to gain better health: Atharva Veda 2.32 Bhaishagykni, Charm to secure perfect health Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; see also chapters 3.11, 3.31, 4.10, 5.30, 19.26;
    On finding a good husband: Atharva Veda 4.2.36 Strijaratani Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; Atharvaveda dedicates over 30 chapters to love relationships, sexuality and for conceiving a child, see e.g. chapters 1.14, 2.30, 3.25, 6.60, 6.78, 6.82, 6.130-6.132; On peaceful social and family relationships: Atharva Veda 6.3.30 Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press;
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  115. Biswas et al (1989), Cosmic Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521343541, pages 42-43
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  117. Max Müller, Chandogya Upanishad, The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, page LXXXVII with footnote 2
  118. Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814684, page 63
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    Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, ISBN 978-1592578467, pages 208-210
  127. Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195352429, page 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism".
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Bibliography

Further reading

Overviews
  • J. Gonda, Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, A History of Indian literature. Vol. 1, Veda and Upanishads, Wiesnaden: Harrasssowitz (1975), ISBN 978-3-447-01603-2.
  • J. A. Santucci, An Outline of Vedic Literature, Scholars Press for the American Academy of Religion, (1976).
  • S. Shrava, A Comprehensive History of Vedic Literature — Brahmana and Aranyaka Works, Pranava Prakashan (1977).
Concordances
  • M. Bloomfield, A Vedic Concordance (1907)
  • Vishva Bandhu, Bhim Dev, S. Bhaskaran Nair (eds.), Vaidika-Padānukrama-Koṣa: A Vedic Word-Concordance, Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur, 1963–1965, revised edition 1973-1976.
Conference proceedings
  • Griffiths, Arlo and Houben, Jan E. M. (eds.), The Vedas : texts, language & ritual: proceedings of the Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002, Groningen Oriental Studies 20, Groningen : Forsten, (2004), ISBN 90-6980-149-3.

External links


( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion  )
The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedism, Brahmanism, Vedic Brahmanism, and ancient Hinduism[note 1]) was the religion of the Indo-Aryans of northern India during the Vedic period.[5] It is one of the historical elements from which modern Hinduism emerged, although significantly different from it.[note 2]
The Vedic liturgy is conserved in the mantra portion of the four Vedas,[6] which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites.[7] The complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue in coastal Andhra.[8]
Scholars consider the Vedic religion to have been a composite of the religions of the Indo-Aryans, "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",[9] which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[10] from the Bactria–Margiana culture,[10] and the remnants of the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley.[11]

Origins

Main articles: Indo-Aryans, Indo-Aryan migrations, and Vedic period
See also: Indo-European migrations, Proto-Indo-European religion, and Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
The Vedic religion was the religion of the Indo-Aryans,[12][note 3] and existed in northern India from c. 1750–500 BCE.[14][note 4] The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes.[17][note 6][note 7] The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE.[35]
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion,[36] and the Indo-Iranian religion.[37] According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran.[9] It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",[9] which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[10] from the Bactria–Margiana Culture (BMAC).[10] At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma.[38] According to Anthony,
Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.[26]
The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the Rig Veda, are found not in northwestern India and Pakistan, but in northern Syria, the location of the Mitanni kingdom.[39] The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving.[39] The Old Indic term r'ta, meaning "cosmic order and truth", the central concept of the Rig Veda, was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom.[39] Old Indic gods, including Indra, were also known in the Mitanni kingdom.[40][41][42]
The Vedic religion of the later Vedic period co-existed with local religions, such as the Yaksha cults,[5][43][web 1] and was itself the product of "a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations".[44] David Gordon White cites three other mainstream scholars who "have emphatically demonstrated" that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilizations.[11] The religion of the Indo-Aryans was further developed when they migrated into the Ganges Plain after c. 1100 BCE and became settled farmers,[18][45][46] further syncretising with the native cultures of northern India.[5]

Textual history

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 "apauraṣaya", a Sanskrit word meaning "uncreated by man" and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status.

Characteristics

See also: Proto-Indo-Iranian religion

Rituals

Main articles: Yajurveda and yajna
A Śrauta yajna being performed in South India
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 commoners 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.
Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others:[47]
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 invoking forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)".(RV 10.15.14)

Pantheon

Main article: Rigvedic deities
Though a large number of devatas are named in the Rig Veda, only 33 devas are counted, eleven each of earth, space and heaven.[50] The Vedic pantheon 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.[51] Also prominent is Varuna (often paired with Mitra) and the group of "All-gods", the Vishvadevas.[52]

Philosophy

See also philosophers of Vedic age
Vedic philosophy primarily begins with the later part of the Rigveda, which was compiled before 1100 BCE.[53] Most of the philosophy of the Rigveda is contained in the sections Purusha sukta and Nasadiya sukta.[54]
Major philosophers of this era were Rishis Narayana, Kanva, Rishaba, Vamadeva, and Angiras.[55]

Ethics — satya and rta

See also: Asha
Ethics in the Vedas are based on the concepts of satya and ṛta. Satya is the principle of integration rooted in the Absolute,[56] whereas ṛta is the expression of satya, which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it.[57] Panikkar 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...."[58]
The term is inherited from the Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples prior to the earliest Vedic (Indo-Aryan) and Zoroastrian (Iranian) scriptures. Asha[pronunciation?] (aša) is the Avestan language term (corresponding to Vedic Sanskrit ṛta) for a concept of cardinal importance[59] to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine.
Conformity with ṛta would enable progress whereas its violation would lead to punishment. The term Dharma was already used in Brahmanical thought, where it was conceived as an aspect of ṛta.[60]
The concept of yajñā "sacrifice" is also enunciated in the Purusha Sukta, where reaching the Absolute itself is considered a transcendent sacrifice when viewed from the point of view of the individual.[61]

Post-Vedic religions

Main articles: Indian religions and History of Hinduism
The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BC. The period after the Vedic religion, between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is the formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.[2][3][4][62] According to Michaels, the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of "ascetic reformism".[63][note 8] Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, which he calls the "Classical Period":
...this was a time when traditional religious practices and beliefs were reassessed. The brahmins and the rituals they performed no longer enjoyed the same prestige they had in the Vedic period".[65]
According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed between 800 BCE and 200 BCE:[4][note 9]
Indian philosophers came to regard the human as an immortal soul encased in a perishable body and bound by action, or karma, to a cycle of endless existences.[67]
In most areas of South-Central Asia, the Vedic religion gradually metamorphosed into the various schools of Hinduism, which further evolved into Puranic Hinduism.[68] Up to the late 19th century, the Nuristanis of Afghanistan observed a primitive form of Hinduism until they were forcibly converted to Islam under the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan.[69][70][71] However, aspects of the historical Vedic religion survived in other corners of the Indian subcontinent, such as Kerala, where the Nambudiri Brahmins continue the ancient Śrauta rituals. The Kalash people residing in northwest Pakistan also continue to practice a form of ancient Hinduism.[72][73]

Post-Vedic Hinduism

Main articles: Hinduism and History of Hinduism
According to Rajbali Pandey, the Hindu samskaras
...go back to a hoary antiquity. The Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Grhyasutras, the Dharmasutras, the Smritis and other treatises describe the rites, ceremonies and customs.[74]
The worshipping rituals developed in such a way that
A formal distinction was maintained between Śrauta rites (rites using the Vedic hymns), which were necessarily performed by priests, and Griha ("domestic") rites, performed by the Aryan householder himself; but both the latter and the former were subject to priestly influence. Some domestic rites became almost indistinguishable from the priestly Śrauta sacrifices; and, even where older ceremonies were retained, they were usually interwoven with elements of the priestly ritual.[75]

Vedanta

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 purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas."[76] The philosophy of Vedanta (lit. “The end of the Vedas"), transformed the Vedic worldview to monistic one. This led to the development of tantric metaphysics and gave rise to new forms of yoga, such as jnana yoga and bhakti yoga.[77] There are some conservative schools which continue portions of the historical Vedic religion largely unchanged. (see Śrauta, Nambudiri).[78]
Of the continuation of the Vedic tradition in a newer sense, Jeaneane D. Fowler writes the following:

Bhakti

According to German Professor Axel Michaels, the Vedic gods declined but did not disappear, and local cults were assimilated into the Vedic-brahmanic pantheon, which changed into the Hindu pantheon. Deities arose that were not mentioned or barely mentioned in the Vedas, especially Shiva and Vishnu, and gave rise to Shaivism and Vaishnavism.[80]

Interpretations of Vedic Mantras in Hinduism

The various Hindu schools and traditions give various interpretations of the Vedic hymns.
Mīmāṃsā 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.[81] Mīmāṃsā 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.[82]
Adi Shankara, an 8th-century CE philosopher who unified and established the main currents of thought in Hinduism,[83] interpreted Vedas as being nondualist or monist.[84] However, the Arya Samaj New religious movement holds the view that the Vedic mantras tend to monotheism.[85] Even the earlier Mandalas of Rig Veda (books 1 and 9) contains hymns which are thought to resemble monotheism.[86] Often quoted isolated pada 1.164.46 of the Rig Veda states (trans. Griffith):
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".
Moreover, the verses of 10.129 and 10.130, deal with the one being (Ékam sát). The verse 10.129.7 further confirms this (trans. Griffith):
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"

Sramana tradition

Main articles: Śramaṇa, Jainism, and Buddhism
The non-Vedic śramaṇa traditions existed alongside Brahmanism.[87][88][note 10][note 11][note 12] These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but movements with mutual influences with Brahmanical traditions,[87] reflecting "the cosmology and anthropology of a much older, pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India".[89] Jainism and Buddhism evolved out of the Shramana tradition.[90]
There are Jaina references to 22 prehistoric tirthankaras. In this view, Jainism peaked at the time of Mahavira (traditionally put in the 6th Century BCE).[91][92] Buddhism, traditionally put from c. 500 BCE, declined in India over the 5th to 12th centuries in favor of Puranic Hinduism[93] and Islam.[94][95]

See also

Notes

  1. The term ancient Hinduism is also applied, but not appropriate. In the 19th century the term "Hinduism" was restricted to "living Hinduism", with its emphasis on Bhakti.[1] Under the influence of the Neo-Hinduistic reform movements, which emphasised the Vedic heritage, and the growing awareness of the continuity of certain elements, the term "ancient Hinduism" has been applied by some to the Vedic period.[1] Nevertheless, the period between 800 BCE and 200 BCE sees fundamental changes, which result in "Hinduism".[2][3][4] Other incorrect terms are Brahmanism and Vedic Brahmanism. 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."[1]
  2. Stephanie W. Jamison and Michael Witzel, Vedic Hinduism, 1992, "... 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".
  3. Michaels: "They called themselves arya ("Aryans," literally "the hospitable," from the Vedic arya, "homey, the hospitable") but even in the Rgveda, arya denotes a cultural and linguistic boundary and not only a racial one."[13]
  4. There is no exact dating possible for the beginning of the Vedic period. Witzel mentions a range between 1900 and 1400 BCE.[15] Flood mentions 1500 BCE.[16]
  5. The Aryan migration theory has been challenged by some researchers,[13][21] due to a lack of archaeological evidence and signs of cultural continuity,[13] hypothesizing instead a slow process of acculturation[13] or transformation.[19] Nevertheless, linguistic and archaeological data clearly show a cultural change after 1750 BCE,[13] with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion.[22] According to Singh, "The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryans came to the subcontinent as immigrants."[21]
  6. The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists[18] who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization,[13][19][20][note 5] bringing with them their language[23] and religion.[24][25] They were closely related to the Indo-Aryans who founded Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria[26] (c.1500–1300 BCE). Both groups were rooted in the Andronovo-culture[27] in the Bactria-Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan,[26] and related to the Indo-Iranians, from which they split-off around 1800–1600 BCE.[28] Their roots go back further to the Sintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the Rig Veda.[29]
    The immigrations consisted probably of small groups of people.[17] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer notes that "there is no archaeological or biological evidence for invasions or mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of the Harappan phase, about 1900 B.C. and the beginning of the Early Historic period around 600 B.C."[30]

    For an overview of the current relevant research, see:
    • Michael Witzel (2001), "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts", in Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) 7-3, pp 1-93
    • Shereen Ratnagar (2008), “The Aryan homeland debate in India”, in Kohl, PL, M Kozelsky and N Ben-Yehuda (Eds) Selective remembrances: archaeology in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts, pp 349-378
    • Suraj Bhan (2002), “Aryanization of the Indus Civilization” in Panikkar, KN, Byres, TJ and Patnaik, U (Eds), The Making of History, pp 41-55.
    • Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
  7. Some writers and archaeologists have opposed the notion of a migration of Indo-Aryans into India.[31][32] Edwin Bryant used the term "Indo-Aryan Controversy" for an oversight of the Indo-Aryan Migration theory, and some of its opponents.[33] These ideas are outside the academic mainstream. Mallory and Adams note that two types of models "enjoy significant international currency," namely the Anatolian hypothesis, and a migration out of the Eurasian steppes.[34] According to Upinder Singh, "The original homeland of the Indo-Europeans and Indo-Aryans is the subject of continuing debate among philologists, linguists, historians, archaeologists, and others. The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryams came to the subcontinent as immigrants. Another view, advocated mainly by some Indian scholars, is that they were indigenous to the subcontinent."[21]

    An overview of the "Indigenist position" can be obtained from
    * Bryant, Edwin F.; Patton, Laurie L., eds. (2005), The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1463-4

    See also Indigenous Aryans
  8. According to Michaels, the period between 200 BCE and 1100 CE is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".[64]
  9. Although the concept of reincarnation originated during the time of the Shramanic reforms and the composition of the Upanishads,[4] according to Georg Feuerstein the Rig-Vedic rishis believed in reincarnation and karma.[66]
  10. Cromwell: "Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its roots going back to prehistoric times."[87]
  11. 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 [sic] the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present times."
  12. 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"

References

Citations

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  5. Samuel 2010.
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  8. Knipe 2015, p. 1-50.
  9. Anthony 2007, p. 462.
  10. Beckwith 2009, p. 32.
  11. White, David Gordon (2003). Kiss of the Yogini. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-226-89483-5.
  12. Singh 2008, p. 185.
  13. Michaels 2004, p. 33.
  14. Michaels 2004, p. 32-36.
  15. Witzel 1995, p. 3-4.
  16. Flood 1996, p. 21.
  17. Anthony 2007.
  18. Witzel 1995.
  19. Flood 1996, p. 30-35.
  20. Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 5.
  21. Singh 2008, p. 186.
  22. Flood 1996, p. 33.
  23. Samuel 2010, p. 53-56.
  24. Flood 1996, p. 30.
  25. Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 5-7.
  26. Anthony 2007, p. 454.
  27. Anthony 2007, p. 410-411.
  28. Anthony 2007, p. 408.
  29. Anthony 2007, p. 375, 408-411.
  30. Kenoyer, M., 1998. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, p. 174. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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  32. Bryant, Edwin. 2001. The Indo-Aryan Controversy, p. 342
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  34. Mallory & Adams 2006, p. 460-461.
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  40. Anthony 2007, p. 50.
  41. Flood 2008, p. 68.
  42. Melton & Baumann 2010, p. 1412.
  43. Basham 1989, p. 74-75.
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  73. Bezhan, Frud (19 April 2017). "Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans Get Their Due". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 31 July 2017. About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs.
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