Impact Of The Aryans On Early Hinduism

Hindus were divided by their social status, called the caste system. This made Hindus fall under one of the varnas such as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra and the Untouchables (Strayer, 150-168). Priests and teachers were classified as Brahmins, warriors and kings were Kshatriya, merchants and landowners were known as Vaishya, peasants and serfs were classified as Shudras, and those that didn’t have a place on the caste system were defined as the untouchables because they had no social status. Hindus were unable to change their position in the caste system, until after reincarnation (Strayer, 150-168). There are scriptures such as the sacred text, The Vedas, and it leads to the fact that Brahmins empowered and dominated the top of the caste system and played specific roles in the religious lives of the people even from the start of India’s influence. Hindus became adjusted with these scared texts and grew used to it. They learned to follow religious values and traditions to have a better after life.

Our text book tells us that Aryans became dominant in north India. In Sanskrit text the Indo-Aryan developed the caste and the Brahman religion. The Brahman religion developed into Hinduism. (Beck et al.) India’s caste system there is 4 caste or social levels of people. At the top there is the Bhramin which are the priests and teachers. Second is the Kshatryia which are the leaders and warriors. Third is the Vaishya which are the merchants and landowners. Fourth is the Sundra which are commoners, peasants, and servants. Not considered in the caste system is the untouchables which are the outcasts. They held the lowest valued jobs such as street sweepers, latrine cleaners, and slaughter house workers. The caste system in India forbids people from mingling with other levels of castes. What caste level you were born into you were required to stay at that level. There was no

Vedic society was divided into four different classes, Brahmans, nobles, commoners and the serfs. These classes are part of the cosmic hierarchy and were based on purity. This gave way to the caste systems. Castes are arranged in the following order of the polarity of purity; Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and the shudras. With a fifth group called the untouchables at the very bottom. They are the untouchables because they are the most impure. The caste of an individual cannot be removed. Each caste has strict rules on caste endogamy.

Throughout India's long and colorful history, there have been a considerable variety of groups who have left their mark on the land and its people. One of the most influential, however, were the Aryans. In fact, some of the Aryan customs still remain in modern-day India, such as cattle demanding great respect, which stems from the Aryan tradition of using such animals as currency (Chamberlain). The Aryans were mainly pastoral, relying on agriculture to survive (Bentley and Ziegler 94). They did not have any sort of writing system; instead, what is known about them is rooted in oral traditions.. This raises the question of religion. The Aryans believed in various gods and, accordingly, had songs, praises, hymns, and

One significant aspect during the Aryan Civilization, a period where nomadic tribes entered the Hindu Kush, was the conception of sacrifice during the Vedic Age. Sacrifices caught the attention of many Hindus because not only they were popularized when Hinduism was at its highest point, or otherwise largely known as the Golden Age, where the Hindu population amplified significantly. It was “believed” to promise many positive aspects in later generations of the member's household. But most importantly, the practice of sacrifice during the Aryan Civilization showed how arduous the process was in order to please the god(s), even in situations like sacrificing their loved ones. Sacrifice during the Vedic Age pleased Agni, the god of sacrifice and fire, and was highly respected by many Hindus because he was a significant part of their lives, therefore, they would be willing to endure the process.

Exploring the Hindu Religion is an extremely broad one that is open to much interpretation which pulled me to choose this religion for my project and I finally explored it at the Durga Temple in Fairfax, Va. on 27th October, 2015 at 10 am during Aarti Puja. Aarti is one of the most important worship in Hindu faith. My own religion is Islam which is the second largest religion. Islam means total submission to God almighty and so Islam is a monotheistic religion. Although Islam is completely different than Hinduism, both of the religion practiced in the same continent of South Asia (India, Pakistan And Bangladesh) and which can be one reason why I have chosen Hinduism. Particularly I had interest to select Hinduism for this assignment because,

Although we do not know the exact time that Hinduism began, it is believed to be over 4,000 years old. There have been overlapping civilizations in India that may have molded the religion into what it is now (Kinnard 1). Around 2,000 B.C.E., located near the great Indus River, the Indus Valley Civilization, who worshipped many goddesses, may have been the very beginning of the shaping of Hinduism. Near the end of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1,500 B.C.E., a new society surfaced in India. Believed to be brought by the central Asian Aryans, the Vedic religion began (Kinnard). The Aryans’ practices included the sacrifice of animals and other offerings to their gods into a sacred fire. The gods they worshipped were mainly gods of nature such as the fire god and the plant god (flood). This era was the time of the Vedas, which are scriptures describing rituals to please the gods (Kinnard). Later, around 1,000 B.C.E., priests called Brahmins began to reject the materialistic ways of the Vedic tradition and began to adopt practices

Pre-existent cultures were different than that of the Indo-European migrants because the migrants who were known as the Aryans were nomadic and pastoral peoples. Aryans arrived in India around 1500 B.C.E.; upon their arrival, they started a pastoral economy consisting of sheep, horses, cattle, and several other animals. Meanwhile, the pre-existing people of India were farmers. The Aryans skin tone was different than that of the Dravidians. The Aryans form of transportation was rather advanced for their time because they made use of horses to transport themselves along with carts and wagons to transport goods. Religious differences were focused on the fact that the Aryans primarily relied on the memorization of hymns, gods of war, and morality.

Throughout history religion has been used as means to justify actions and to control people. The two earliest examples are Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. The time frames that will be discussed will be the reign of Cyrus, 521 to 486 BCE, and India from 1500 to 500 BCE, before the Persians had a direct effect on India. The Persian religion is thought to be Zoroastrianism or a derivative of it, called Achaemenian. (For this paper the Persian’s religion will be referred to as Zoroastrianism.) However, Cyrus did not strive to spread his religion he introduced his self into other religions as a divine figure. Hinduism is a religion whose origins are unknown but are speculated to have been initiated by the Aryan people. The development of the

Worship of the force of nature: The people of the vedic time was very much amazed by the forces of nature like sun,rain,storm,etc. Sun gave them light and energy, rain

On the other hand, the brāhmaņa (Hindu brahmins) is those who adhere to the teachings of the Brāhmaṇas and Vedas. These people are well verses in the triple Vedas. Not only that, but according to the words of Sonadanda in DN4 (Sonadanda sutta), “A Brahmin is well-born on both the mother’s and father’s side, of pure descent to the seventh generation, … he is a scholar versed in the mantras, … he is handsome, pleasing, … he is virtuous, … he is learned and wise, and is the first or second to hold the sacrificial ladle.”

The Indus Valley Society has left many mysteries for our historian to discover, those treasures are enormous. There is a few key characteristic I would like to mention such as, they have developed the sewage system, which it was a very big deal, and they have created what is like the modern road system. These are some of the most famous developments during the era. The Vedic people have master the skill making perfect brick. There many other groups name continent the name of Veda, these are the people who lived after the die down of the Indus Valley Society, but there only one major group, the Rig Veda. This group focuses the lot more on how to worship their goddess, there are many parts in the book of “The Hindus,” explain the way to worship their gods, and what is the need to be sacrifice during their worship. Brahmanism is actually an early religion in Indian sub-continent, this religion was based on Vedic writing, which is considering a young form of Hinduism. According to “ The Hindus” written by Doniger, “ Hinduism, is like all cultures, is a bricoleur, a rag- and bones man, building new things out of the scraps of other things.” This is also how the early Indian civilization was set up. I firmly believe there is sort of connection between these two societies. I actually believe that the language of these Vedic people is using is past down from the Indus Valley period. In fact, according to the text, “ The Vedic people has master

Following the Dravidians, came in the band of invaders who called themselves Arya(Sinclair, 1884). It was during the 2nd millennium B.C. that these invaders made their way into India via north western borders of India (Emeneau, 1980)(Zograf, 1982). It is this language family that hold the highest position in the linguistic landscape of India. The Indo-Aryan family is a branch out of the Indo-European language family which made its way into the Indian soil (Zograf, 1982). The Aryan impact of the Aryan heritage can be seen substantially in the current Indian culture is a result of its invasion which had lasted for about 100 years (Zograf, 1982). It is during this phase of invasions that the Aryan family had brought into India not a single but rather a collection of related and different languages and dialect (Zograf, 1982). The beginning of the Aryan influence had started with the language India considers to be the language of their Hindu religion and that is the Vedic language (Zograf, 1982). The earliest form of Indian texts in which the religious poetries were written in was known as the Vedas (Zograf, 1982). Slowly came in the next phase of literary development and came in the language which is considered to be the root of all the Indo-Aryan languages, Sanskrit (Zograf, 1982). Sanskrit covered the whole of the Indo-Aryan linguistic domain (Zograf, 1982). Then as the middle of the 1st millennium B.C. came the middle stage of the Indo-Aryan

The Vedic age in India started around 1500 BC with the arrival of Aryans, an Indo-European tribe from central Asia near the Caspian Sea. Aryans settled along the banks of the Indus and its tributaries in the northern part of the subcontinent. Initially, it was a tribal society centered in northwest India and by 1000 BC, it spread along the Gangetic plain with the development of modern agriculture. Aryans dominated the local indigenous population and often ruled over them. Over time, the interbreeding with the local residents led to the emergence of mixed culture. The Vedic age lasted from 1500 BC to 500 BC. Agriculture and cattle rearing were the main occupations of the people. The Vedas and Upanishads were written during this period. The

The Vedic period lasted from c. 1750 to 500 BCE. The Vedic texts were arranged when the Indo-Aryans started to inhabit the Ganges-plain. With this new settlement, it transitioned to an agricultural society, and in the need for organization the society created a hierarchical government. The society had to include older habitants of the Ganges-plain, and incorporated them under the Aryan varnas. They also had to appoint political and religious authority to the Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The Vedas, also called Śruti, center on the worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra, Varuna and Agni, chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. God Indra became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. The philosophy of Vedanta 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 bhankti yoga. 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 since then in Hinduism. However, the primacy of Vedic deities has been seconded to the deities of Puranic literature. According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts like karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation" did not exist in the Vedic religion. Brahman is a very specific conception of the Absolute in Vedas. Brahman is neither