Historical Vedic religion: Difference between revisions

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This article discusses the historical religious practices in the Vedic time period; see Hinduism and Dharmic 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^[1]) is the historical predecessor of Hinduism and the other Dharmic religions. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering sacrificial rites. A small fraction of conservative Shrautins continue this tradition today within contemporary Hinduism.

Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, but the Brahmanas, 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 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.

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 helped the common man in performing rituals. 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 involve recitations from the Vedas by a purohit (priest), 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, among them the Vedanta school of Hinduism and Buddhism, the former further evolving into Puranic Hinduism, the latter diversifying into Chinese and Japanese schools. Jainism also arose sometime after Buddhism as a protestant offshoot of Vedic religion.

Rituals

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, a sun charm,
- The Agnicayana, the sophisticated ritual of piling the fire altar.
- The Agnistoma or Soma sacrifice
The Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice
The Purushamedha, or sacrifice of a man, imitating that of the the cosmic Purusha, cf. Purusha Sukta
The rituals described in the Atharvaveda concerned with medicine and healing practises, as well as black and white magic.

The Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) has parallels in the 2nd millennium BC Sintashta and Andronovo culture, in India 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 diety worship. The overall metamorphosis into contemporary vegeteranism is seen as early as the late Brahmanas and Upanishads and may have continued under the influence of the nascent Vedanta reform and possibly Buddhism, which began as a reform-movement of the Vedic religion.

The Hindu rites of cremation were 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-)".

Pantheon

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

Already 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 ābabhûva / 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 "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 deities such as Ganesha or Lakshmi, as is done today by most Hindus.

Offshoot religions

Vedic religion gradually diversified into the Hindu paths of Yoga and Vedanta, a religious path considering itself the 'essence' of the Vedas. The Vedic pantheon was interpreted as a unitary view of the universe with God seen as immanent and transcendent in the forms of Ishvara (God's Personal Feature), Paramatma (God's localised feature) and Brahman (God's Impersonal Energies). 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 :

Out of these, Hinduism has maintained almost all of original form of the Vedic religion, and has evolved over time to be the in the highly diverse and multi-faceted henotheistic, 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. According to most scholars, Hinduism as known today is Vedanta and its followers, Vedantists. This is supported by the absence of any rupture between Hinduism and its Vedic roots, but rather a gradual evolution. This idea was first mooted by Swami Vivekananda.

Zoroastrianism shares common Indo-Iranian properties with the Vedic religion but it is not a descendant, rather a sibling, descended from a common ancestor, Indo-Iranian religion.

Notes

^ Encyclopedia Britannica 2007
^ J. Narten, Acta Orientalia Neerlandica, Leiden 1971, 120-134

[1] Encyclopedia Britannica 2007

[2] J. Narten, Acta Orientalia Neerlandica, Leiden 1971, 120-134

[1]

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 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), [[patha|chanting of hymns]] and performance of sacrifices. The [[Vedic priesthood|priests]] helped the common man in performing rituals. 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 involve recitations from the [[Veda]]s by a purohit (priest), 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]], among them the [[Vedanta]] school of [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]], the former further evolving into [[Puranas|Puranic]] [[Hinduism]], the latter diversifying into [[Chinese Buddhism|Chinese]] and [[Japanese Buddhism|Japanese]] schools.
 ==Rituals==