Everything about Historical Vedic Religion totally explained
» 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) 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.
Rituals
Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others:
- The Soma cult, frequently referred to in the Rigveda and descended from a common Indo-Iranian practice.
- Fire rituals:
- The Agnistoma or Soma sacrifice
- The New and Full Moon as well as the Seasonal (Cāturmāsya) sacrifices
- The royal consecration (Rajasuya) sacrifice
- The Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice
- The Purushamedha or sacrifice of a man, imitating that of the cosmic Purusha, cf. Purusha Sukta as well as the Ashvamedha.
- The rituals referred to 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 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 shouldn't be killed) may refer to poetry, it's 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're attested from early times in the
Cemetery H culture, there's 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
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,
»
"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:
»
"He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or didn't 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 "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
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 :
Shramana traditions (nastika):
- Jainism, from the 6th century BC
- Buddhism, from ca. 500 BC; declined in India over the 8th to 12th centuries in favour of Puranic Hinduism.
Hinduism is an umbrella term for astika traditions in India (see History of Hinduism)
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