Emerging Religions as a Response to Social and Cultural Environment

Session 3

Hinduism, it’s rise and development

As we enter the area of the course where we will look at religions recognizable to us today, I am going to slightly alter my approach. In addition to origins, I will look at evolution of particular religions as time allows. So from here on in the course will be part origins and part comparative religion since we may not all be familiar with the beliefs of the major world traditions.

When I speak of evolution I mean very specifically the changes in a culture or a religion over time. I do not use the word to indicate progress or approval, only to note the changes. As the old Chinese story states whenever a new event happens, the old man says, “I do not know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

In our last session I described how basic prehistoric religion could have arisen 50- 75,000 years ago. A shared theology would have to wait until the development of speech. Complex theology might also have to wait for written language. I outlined a probable pattern of development looking at more recent Hunter-Gatherer tribes: Animism, Afterlife

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belief, Shamanism, Ancestor Worship and High God worship.

This session, we look at Hinduism, currently the third largest world religion with some 900 million followers. 80% of them live in India. We will also see how the religion of nomads shifted and solidified as the people settled into agrarian village life.

The purpose of life is to recognize the essential oneness of existence, the higher aspect of the individual self (known as the Atman) which is a part of everyone else's self as well as the Over Soul/Mind and, through adherence to one's duty in life (dharma) performed with the proper action (karma), to slip the bonds of physical existence and escape from the cycle of rebirth and death (samsara). Once the individual has done so, the Atman joins with Brahman and one has returned home to the primordial oneness. That which keeps one from realizing this oneness is the illusion of duality – the belief that one is separate from others and from one's Creator – but this misconception (known as maya), encouraged by one's experience in the physical world, may be overcome by recognizing the essential unity of all existence – how alike one is to others and, finally, to the divine – and attaining the enlightened state of self-actualization.(Joshua Mark,World History Encyclopedia)

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So when Hinduism begin? As one commentator suggests,

Because the religion has no specific founder it is difficult to trace its origins and history. Hinduism is unique in that it is not a single religion but a compilation of many traditions and philosophies. (history.com)

I suggest that it evolved from nomadic traditions and found its form in agrarian societies that flourished along the Indus river in northern Pakistan. Indeed, Hinduism was named after the river long after it had begun. And it was named by people outside the faith, the Persians and later the English. Historian Joshua Mark writes:

Adherents of the faith know it as Sanatan Dharma (“eternal order” or “eternal path”) and understand the precepts, as set down in the scriptures known as the Vedas, as having always existed just as Brahman, the Supreme Over Soul from whom all of creation emerges, has always been. Brahman is the First Cause which sets all else in motion but is also that which is in motion, that which guides the course of creation, and creation itself.

It is worth noting that linguists comparing the grammatical structure of Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas – the Hindu Scriptures- find it similar to Latin

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and Greek. They surmise the earliest peoples, called the Aryans may well have migrated in from southeastern Europe bringing language forms with them. That’s a critical piece of evidence in the debate between theories outline below.

With Hinduism we can see the clearest links to ancient prehistoric roots among any of the major faiths. Naturally there would be no temples built in nomadic times, but then, as today, rivers were powerful symbols and gathering places. They had religious significance, as did the elements.

The first rituals evolved as ‘carry on your back’ practices, something we will see again in the Hebrew faith next session. There were probably small clay figurines that could easily be packed and unpacked in a portable shrine. There is ample archaeological evidence for that. Religion was personal, or at least contained within very small groups. That idea of personal practice or puja remains strong today. Similarly, prayer and ritual began as spoken hymns, what we would call rhythmic chants more or less easily memorized. That too would become the lasting core of temple practice even today.

Finally, because the tribes and later the villages were small and separated, the philosophies, practices and even the preference in gods varied. But unlike later founder-based religions, there was never a serious

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attempt to force all of these into one particular practice. Again, next session we will see how the Hebrew religion charted a different course in this matter. Hinduism is one tradition where the concept of religion arising from culture was respected and left mostly alone.

So Hinduism emerged from the prehistoric animist proto-religions. And though a pantheon of high gods would develop, the tradition has never lost its animistic roots nor the influence of shamanism.

While the Vedic tradition might have begun in nomadic culture, it took form and shape in agrarian times. The Indus river sits in an alluvial plain made with rich farming soil. People settled. Culture developed as did writing. It may be that the desire to secure the teachings of the early hymns (vedas) led to the invention of written Sanskrit some 5,000 years ago. And while it fell out of use as a spoken language around 500 BCE, it is still the language of ritual in Hinduism. I should remark that these early Vedic hymns contained no historical references or cultural stories. They are devotional texts only, so we have no written record of life in the Indus Valley.

So what did the emergence of Hinduism look like?

Before 2000 BCE: The Indus Valley Civilization 1500–500 BCE: The Vedic Period

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500 BCE–500 CE: The Epic, Puranic and Classical Age 500 CE–1500 CE: Medieval Period 1500–1757 CE: Pre-Modern Period 1757–1947 CE: British Period 1947 CE–the present: Independent India

Origination Theories

There are two major theories of how the Indus Valley culture began to develop

The first and most popular is the Aryan migration thesis. In this approach, the first (theoretically)

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peoples called themselves 'Aryans' (noble ones).

!

The second cultural transformation thesis suggests that Aryan culture is an isolated and natural development of the Indus Valley culture. In this view there were no Aryan migrations valley culture was an Aryan or Vedic culture. But then why would Sanskrit have western European roots, and why would Mesopotamian iconography appear? So far the migration theory has far more support.

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Two major cities have been uncovered from the Vedic age, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which has given us the alternative name of Harappan culture.

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Mohenjo-daro: tower Remains of a stupalike stone tower, Mohenjo-daro, Sindh province, southeastern Pakistan. © Top Photo Group/Thinkstock These cities housed about 40,000 people who enjoyed quite a high standard of living with sophisticated water systems; most houses having drainage systems, wells, and rubbish chutes. Grain was the basis of the economy and large grain stores apparently collected grain as tax. The civilization was extensive, from the eastern foothills of the Himalayas

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to the Gujarat coast and east to near the Iranian border. But again there is little written record.

Before 2000 BCE: The Indus Valley Civilization We know little for certain of the religion, social structure or politics of this early civilization and we do not know the spoken language. Clay seals have been discovered, but the inscriptions have not yet been deciphered. Some scholars now question whether it is in fact a script.

We know a little more about practices. Religion in the Indus valley seems to have involved temple rituals and ritual bathing in the 'great bath' found at Mohenjo-Daro.

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There may be continuities between the Indus Valley civilization and later Hinduism as suggested by the apparent emphasis on ritual bathing. And you have probably seen pictures and scenes of ashes scattered on sacred rivers.

A number of terracotta figurines have been found, perhaps goddess images,

and a seal depicting a seated figure surrounded thought to be a prototype of the god Shiva. Others have disputed this, pointing out that it bears a close resemblance to Elamite seals depicting carved on soapstone

(steatite), depicts a figure battling with lions which is reminiscent of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh myth.

There are two sources of knowledge about this ancient period - language and archaeology. Culture was Vedic Sanskrit, which is related to other languages in the Indo-European language group. This suggests that Indo-European origin known by scholars as Proto-Indo-European.

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1500–500 BCE: The Vedic Period The 'Vedic Period' to refers to the period when the Vedas were composed and written down. The Vedas are hymns that are chanted in a rhythmic way. Since we later see many examples where chanting is used to induce a meditative if not trance-like state, I think it is safe to suggest that might have been part of their early purpose as well. Historian Gavin Flood says that early Vedic religion centred around the common meal ‘shared’ with the many gods (devas). The term 'sacrifice' (homa, yajna) is not confined to offering animals but refers feeding the sacred fire with other gifts such as milk and clarified butter (ghee). Where western religions have coffee hour and the occasional potlucks, most Hindu temples still include a full meal as part of devotion and community.

Some of the Vedic rituals were very elaborate and continue to the present day. Sacrifice was offered to different gods (devas) who ruled a hierarchical universe divided into three broad realms: earth, atmosphere and sky. Note how this differs from the honouring of the four elements of earth, air, water and fire found in other pre-historic and modern day cultures and philosophies.

Earth contains the plant god Soma, the fire god Agni, and the god of priestly power, Brhaspati. The

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Atmosphere contains the warrior Indra, or Maruts and the terrible Rudra. The Sky contains the sky god Dyaus (from the same root as Zeus), the Lord of cosmic law (or rta) Varuna, Mitra, the nourisher Pushan, and the pervader Vishnu.

The complex Vedic ceremonies, for which the hymns of the Rigveda were composed, centred on the ritual sacrifice of animals and the drinking of a sacred, mind-altering liquor pressed from a plant called soma. I would note that in shamanistic cultures worldwide there are ample examples of the use of hallucinogens as well as sweat lodges, quests involving heavy fasting to the point of hallucination. It would seem that such rituals were designed to foster connection to the spirit world, however that culture perceived it.

The basic Vedic rite was performed by offering those to a sacred fire, which was itself deified as Agni and which carried the oblations to the gods of the Vedic pantheon.

The priests who officiated at that worship were drawn from the Brahman social class. Apparently the social class structure of India is very old, though its specific origins cannot be proven as fact.

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Written Word

The development of Sanskrit allowed the collecting of the first religious texts still in use. The Rig Veda is a collection of 1028 hymns distributed through 10 books. A hymn usually consists of three sections: an exhortation; a main part comprising praise of the deity, prayers, and petition, with frequent references to the deity’s mythology; and a specific request. These are considerably longer than the hymns we might know (20-35 minutes) and take more the form of plain chant than a melodic work. The creation of texts provided a platform for spreading the tradition. Though there would be additional vedas devised later on, these original texts provide a starting place that invited a degree of structure and shared identity.

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Effect of culture and geographic expansion

Gavin Flood writes: Although there is an emphasis on personal spirituality, Hinduism's history is closely linked with social and political developments, such as the rise and fall of different kingdoms and empires. The early history of Hinduism is difficult to date and Hindus themselves tend to be more concerned with the substance of a story or text rather than its date.

Hindus in general believe that time is cyclical, much like the four seasons, and eternal rather than linear and bounded. Texts refer to successive respectively as golden, silver, copper and iron.

During the golden age people were pious and adhered to dharma (law, duty, truth) but its power diminishes over time until it has to be intervention. With each successive age, good qualities diminish, until we reach the current iron or dark age (kali yuga) marked by cruelty, hypocrisy, and selfishness that challenge the widespread, linear view that humans are inevitably progressing.

As a side observation, I wonder if the determination of the category of the present age is determined by the elders. In that case, I would suggest we are perpetually in the dark age. My Dad certainly thought my generation was taking us there, and I am

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beginning to suspect the same of my children’s generation as I age. :)

Epic, Puranic and Classical Age (c.500 BCE–500 CE) This age saw the composition of further texts, the Dharma Sutras and Shastras, the two Epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and subsequently the Puranas containing many of the stories still popular today. The famous Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata. These are some of the stories we might know with an abundance of newer gods like my friend Ganesha the elephant god.

Wendy Deniger describes him as: (One who is) worshipped before any major enterprise and is the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. His name means both “Lord of the People” (gana means the common people) and “Lord of the Ganas” (Ganesha is the chief of the ganas, the goblin hosts of Shiva)

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These books serve the purpose of other religious scriptures from around the world. They set down laws, offer morality stories like the Christian parables and generally teach right living.

Gavin Flood writes: The idea of dharma (law, duty, truth) which is central to Hinduism was expressed in a genre of texts known as Dharma Sutras and Shastras. The Dharma Sutras recognize three sources of dharma: revelation (i.e. the Veda), tradition (smrti), and good custom. The Laws of Manu adds 'what is pleasing’.

During this period the vedic fire sacrifice became minimized with the development of devotional worship (puja) to images of deities in temples.

Empire (320-500 CE) saw the development of the great traditions of Vaishnavism (focussed on Vishnu), Shaivism (focussed on Shiva) From this period we can recognize many elements in present day Hinduism, such as bhakti (devotion) and temple worship. This period saw literature. These texts were composed in Sanskrit, which became the most important element in a shared culture.

Medieval Period (500 CE–1500 CE)

During this time the writings began to appear in languages other than Sanskrit. It was an age of poet-

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saints. Most notable are the twelve Vaishnava Alvars (6th–9th centuries), including one famous female poet-saint called Andal, and (8th–10th centuries).

The Tantras became revered as a revelation that fulfilled or superseded the Veda. Some of these texts advocated ritually polluting practices and ritualized sex to ferocious deities but most of these texts are simply concerned with daily and occasional rituals, temple building, cosmology

It is worth noting that between 600 and 800 ce, competition arose as offshoot religions like Jainism with its strict rules against animal sacrifice and consumption, and Buddhism with its focus on personal spirituality and the quest for your own enlightenment came into being. In any tradition a perceived assault on orthodoxy is perceived with suspicion and often hostility. Key thinkers acharyas or gurus consolidated the teachings and formulated new theologies.

Many took to the road seeking out Buddhist and Jain scholars who had set up seats of learning around the year 800 ce. Shankar was quite successful and re-established the authority of the Vedic canon, propagated and laid development of the tradition known as the Vedanta.

Later scholars refocused the theologies onto the worship of either Vishnu (Vaishnavism) or Shiva

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(Shaivism) as supreme deities only second to Brahman who is perceived as distant. Vishnu and Shiva are high gods who participate in human life.

Essentially these became major sects - which still exist today. I am sure you already know, but we will see in later sessions, that the division into sects is quire common. Sometimes there is tremendous ongoing strife and violence as we see in the sunni-shia split in Islam and the religious wars of the Christian Reformation. This does not appear to be the case in India, perhaps because that subcontinent was divided into smaller, isolated principalities at this time. Theologies and rituals differed in degrees too subtle for me to discuss in detail…ok too subtle for me to actually understand well enough to discuss. For our purposes it is enough to note that the geography and cultural differences within the huge subcontinent allowed a diversity of belief to develop. I should also note that the need for orthodoxy was not felt as urgently by the people. Those debates belonged to the scholars, but in a tradition with so

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much personal spirituality and devotion, the impact on the populace was not huge.

The Pre-Modern Period (c.1500–1757 CE) That said, a major shift in the religious landscape occurred in the pre-modern period. The rise of Islam in the North as a religious and political force in India would have a significant impact. The new religion of Islam reached Indian shores around the 8th century, via traders plying the Arabian Sea and the Muslim armies which conquered the northwest provinces. A few pockets of Muslim believers developed around the coast, but it was not significant. Muslim political power began with the Turkish Sultanate around 1200 ce. Like the first Aryans, they came across the land through Afghanistan and into modern day Pakistan. The incursion would culminate in the founding of the Mughul Empire (from 1526). Akbar (1542–allowed Hindus to practice freely. However, his great grandson, Aurangzeb (1618–

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1707), destroyed many temples and restricted Hindu practice.

The religion had to go underground in many places, but again with such a strong tradition of ‘religion on your back’ it never was completely suppressed even in places where it was oppressed.

During this period we have further developments in home based devotional religion (bhakti). And the founding of the Sant tradition another great example of syncretism. This new, looser form combined elements of bhakti, meditation or yoga, and Islamic mysticism. The combination is not hard to understand. Islam is also based on personal devotion (prayer five times a day) so the merger with bhakti was nearly effortless. Physical forms of devotion like you would not have been perceived as problematic either. Even today the poetry of the princess Mirabai, Tukaram, Surdas and Dadu are popular.

British Period (1757–1947 CE) The British would arrive in Surat in 1608 and secured permission to set up a spice factory. The spice trade was hugely important to European economies. The trade incursion would grow and intake become a political incursion as the Brits realized that India, even under the Mughal Emperor was still a collection of small kingdoms.

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Robert Clive's victory at the Battle of Plassey (1757) heralded the end of the Mughul Empire and the rise of British supremacy in India.

Professor Gavin Flood (Britannica)notes: At first, the British did not interfere with the religion and culture of the Indian people, allowing Hindus to practice their religion unimpeded. Later, however, missionaries arrived preaching Christianity. Shortly after, the first British (and Christian) scholars stepped ashore, and though initially sympathetic, were often motivated by a desire to westernize the local population. Chairs of Indology were established at Oxford and other European universities (Sound familiar?).

Aside from mission attempts, the British took no legal action to suppress Hinduism. With the defeat of the Mughuls the time was ripe for a 'Hindu Renaissance’. Not surprisingly, some reformers wanted to incorporate the intellectual and philosophical advances of the time, with Enlightenment ideas coming from Europe and America. Another major branch of reform wanted a return to traditionalism.

The European enlightenment influenced some reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833). You began presenting Hinduism as a rational, ethical even humanistic religion and founded the Brahmo Samaj to promote these ideas. (As a bit of a ‘homer’ I have to

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note that the Bhramo Samaj had a long historical alignment with Unitarianism and that Roy was heavily influenced by the writings of R.W. Emerson). The Unitarian groups I visited 10 years ago grew out of Bhramo Samaj.

Another reformer, Dayananda Sarasvati (1824–83), advocated a return to vedic religion which emphasized

an eternal, omnipotent and impersonal God. He wanted to return to the 'eternal law' or sanatana dharma of Hinduism before the Puranas and Epics through his society, the Arya Samaj.

Both of these reformers wished to rid Hinduism of what they regarded as superstition. These groups were instrumental in sowing the seeds Hindu missionary movements that later journeyed to the West.

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Gavin Flood comments:

Another important figure was Paramahamsa Ramakrishna (1836-86), who declared the unity of all religions. His disciple Vivekananda (1863–and linked them to a political vision of a united India.

These ideas were developed by Gandhi (1869–1948), who was instrumental in establishing an independent India. Gandhi helped negotiate independence, but was bitterly disappointed by the partition of his country. Gandhi drew much of his strength teachings, such as the notion of propounded a patriotism that was magnanimous.

Hindutva During the resistance to colonial rule, the term 'Hindu' became charged with cultural and political meaning. One central idea was hindutva Savarkar to refer to a socio-political force that could unite Hindus against 'threatening others’.

Cultural organisations such as the RSS (Rashtriya Svayam-Sevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) have embraced and developed expression in the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). These sectarian ideas continued after independence.

Independent India (1947 CE–present)

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The partition of India in 1947 (into India and Pakistan (later Bangladesh), and the resultant bloodshed reinforced nationalistic tendencies and specifically notions of India as 'a Hindu country', and of Hinduism as 'an Indian religion'.

These tendencies have continued and, since then, communal violence has frequently erupted. In 1992, Hindus were incited to tear down the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, which they believe was deliberately and provocatively built over the site of Rama's birth.

Tensions have been exacerbated by attempts to covert Hindus to other religions and reactions by the continuing hindutva identity in the Hindu diaspora However, the post-war Hindu movements imported into the west, and wide migration of Hindus, raised questions about the exact nature onwards, many Indians migrated to Britain and Northern America. Gurus travelled to the West to nurture the fledgling Hindu communities, movements that attracted Western interest.

In the late 1960s, Transcendental Meditation achieved worldwide popularity, attracting the attention of celebrities such as the Beatles. Perhaps the Hare Krishna movement became the most noticeable, with male followers sported shaved heads and saffron robes.

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Hinduism has become part of our culture both with the popular influence of varieties of meditation practices and with physical practices such as the many styles of yoga. Though Hinduism has a presence in Canada (500,000) and in Alberta (37,000) it is very much a secondary faith. Still with those above mentioned practices we can easily see how it has had an impact on Canadian culture.

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