Early Hinduism arose during what was called the Vedic Age. A group of ancient, nomadic Indo-Europeans called Aryans settled into the Indus Valley around 1500 B.C.E. Their oral tradition, The Vedas, formed the basis of Hindu beliefs and was written in Sanskrit between 800 B.C.E. and 300 B.C.E. The Aryan social structure shows the beginning of a caste system with three distinct social classes. The Brahmins were priests, the rajanyas or kshatriyas were rulers and warriors, and the vaisyas were the common people (Resource on the Vedic Age, pg. 1). During the Vedic Age, the universe was seen as being separated into three realms of existence. The lowest was the earthly realm of humanity. Next was the atmosphere, or visible sky, where birds flew …show more content…
The sutras, or teaching manuals, were compiled into a collection called The Smitri. The Smitri contained sutras on Vedic rites, domestic rites, and The Dharmasutras, or prescriptions for social duty. There were also Puranas, an extensive collection of Hindu folklore (Resource on the Vedantic Age, pgs. 2-3). Besides the immense introduction of doctrine during the Vedantic Age, there is also the emergence of a formalized caste system. This caste system contained the three classes of the Vedic Age and introduced a fourth “non-class”, the sudras. This class was outcast from the rest of society. They were considered unclean and they were occupied primarily with the handling of corpses and dead animals (Resource on Vedantic Age, pg. 6). In summary, the most striking differences between the Vedic Age and Vedantic Age, seemed to be caused by civilization. While the Vedic Age was introduced by nomadic Aryans and was rich with oral tradition, much like primal religions, the Vedic Age brought about a more formalized Hindu Religion. With the development of agriculture, mankind had more time to consider its place in the universe and contemplate the nature of the Divine. As these early priests and ascetics began to write, scriptures become instruction on every aspect of ritual and daily life and ideology as to the nature of God and
“Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma ("eternal spiritual path") began about 4000 years ago in India. It was the religion of an ancient people known as the Aryans ("noble people") whose philosophy, religion, and customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas” (United Religions). Vedas are written in the ancient language of India, called Sanskrit. Vedas means “knowledge” or “sacred lore.” The Vedas gives great intelligence about the variety of Gods from the Vedic period, 2000 to 500 BCE (Molloy,78).
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.
There are five main social classes in Hinduism, they are as follows: the priest, the warrior noble, the merchant, the peasant, and the untouchable. Theses classes are known as “Brahmins, Kshayriyas, Vaisyas,
The Upanishad scriptures suggest that followers exercise their body and mind. These exercises become more important to Hindu practice as time goes by. Through the teachings of Upanishads there is a spiritual essence called “Brahman”. Brahman is a single world soul that is the base of all physical matter, energy, time and space. Brahman is all things on earth and beyond. It is thought that a person’s inner soul known as the “atman”, is part of Brahman and therefore; a person’s innermost soul is part of the single world soul. The meditation associated with the search for perfect knowledge has evolved into a permanent aspect of Hinduism and is known as “Yoga”. During this period Buddhism and Jainism were created as additional ways of reaching enlightenment while denying key teachings and practices.
The caste system has been extremely stable in India for over two thousand years. It is only since the more modern, independent state of India was formed that the system has come under any scrutiny at all. It is presently outlawed, but many of the practices, attitudes and traditions remain ingrained in Hindu society (University of Wyoming, 1997).
Both traditions have almost similar backgrounds. However, Hinduism began earlier as compared to Buddhism. They were both traditions of native Indians. The traditions were therefore influenced and developed by the nature, culture, and surroundings of the Indian people. Hinduism began with the Vedic civilization about 3000 years ago. Scholars believe that the beginning of Hinduism was influenced by fusion of tradition and cultures from all Indian subtribes. The tradition encouraged running life through the gods’ specifications, devotion to different gods and goddesses and finding one’s souls. However, Buddhism was influenced by the life of
As in China, another dominant developing classical civilization, India, (300 B.C.-A.D. 500) focused greatly on philosophy and religious progress. Implanted within Indian divine belief systems, social status dictated all. The caste system, provided order and stability in India. Based out of Hinduism, the caste system clearly determined social status between five different divisions. The top of the caste were Brahmins (priests), followed by the Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas (merchants), underneath merchants were Shudras (peasants and laborers), and the lowest rank were Pariahs (untouchables). Hinduism and Buddhism, the two dominating religions in India share many of the same concepts, as well as some distinct differences. These two religions
The Hinduism belief system holds very little similarities to Confucianism or Daoism. The Aryans had spread the earliest part of Hinduism from northern Europe down to India. Hinduism's earliest beliefs were brought to India by migrating Aryans in 1700 BC. The earliest beliefs of Hinduism are credited to the Vedas. The Vedas are the oldest Indian document to Hinduism.
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
What elements of earlier belief systems do you see integrated into Hinduism? What were the external conditions (environmental/societal/political/economic etc.) which gave rise to the origination of Hinduism? What was it about this time period? Location? Population?
1.) Hinduism has several bodies of literature that illustrate the social and spiritual way of life. Although they are all based on the same religion, each text variates from each other in certain aspects. The oldest known of this list is being the Rig Veda, dated from 1200 to 900 BC. It's also considered one of the most important religious books in Hinduism, this is evident in later literature. Authors of these often borrowed different ideas from the Rig Vedas (Olson, Primary Sources, pg 12). One downfall to this famous work is the lack of diversity. This vedic writing contains the creativities of only the socially elite. The lower classes don’t appear in this book very often, So what you are reading is limited to the perspective of the priests
Imagine a religion so old that it is said to be timeless and has always been there, even before humans set foot on the Earth. It’s mindboggling to think that the knowledge of everything is floating in the space of the universe and the mind is just a way of reaching it. Hinduism is a very complex religion, yet it still sets one ultimate goal for the soul. To deeper understand Hinduism we must reveal its origin, doctrines, customs, and culture.
While examining different religious paths within Hinduism from the perspective of four patterns of transcendence (ancestral, cultural, mythical and experiential) it is interesting to see how each pattern found its dominance over four segments of Hinduism: Vedic sacrifice, the way of action, the way of devotion and the way of knowledge.
Hinduism originated in India over four thousand years ago. The India-based religion lacks an individual founder. In the beginning, the term “Sanatana Dharma” erupted; but Sanatana Dharma soon transformed to “Hindu” after Islamic invasions occurred: “the Muslim invaders pronounced H for I” (Patheos), thus, the inhabitants along the Indus River were called “Hindus” as a result. The primary goal Hindus hope to achieve is to become reincarnated – thus reaching closer and closer to the state of nirvana every Hindu is called to with each transformation after death.
Next come the Smritis. These are books written by the sages. These are subordinate to the Vedanta. The Smritis have varied from time to time. As essential conditions changed, as various circumstances came to have their influence on the race, manners and customs had to be changed, and these Smritis, as mainly regulating the manners and customs of the nation, had also to be changed from time to time. But the basic principles in the Vedanta, like the dynamics of the soul, which are eternal do not change.