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Culture Documents
BCE). Both groups were rooted in the Andronovoculture[24] in the Bactria-Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan,[23] and related to the Indo-Iranians,
from which they split o around 1800-1600 BCE.[25]
Their roots go back further to the Sintashta culture, with
funeral sacrices which show close parallels to the sacricial funeral rites of the Rig Veda.[26]
The immigrations consisted probably of small groups of
people.[14] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer notes that there is
no archaeological or biological evidence for invasions or
mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of
the Harappan phase, about 1900 B.C. and the beginning
of the Early Historic period around 600 B.C.[27]
For an overview of the current relevant research, see:
Shereen Ratnagar (2008), The Aryan homeland debate in India, in Kohl, PL, M Kozelsky and N BenYehuda (Eds) Selective remembrances: archaeology
in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts, pp 349-378
Suraj Bhan (2002), Aryanization of the Indus Civilization in Panikkar, KN, Byres, TJ and Patnaik,
U (Eds), The Making of History, pp 41-55.
Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel
And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From
the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World,
Princeton University Press[note 7]
Origins
3
Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god
of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became
the central deity of the developing Old Indic
culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns,
a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a
stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra)
probably borrowed from the BMAC religion.
His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of
the Old Indic speakers.[23]
CHARACTERISTICS
3.1 Rituals
Main articles: Yajurveda and yajna
The mode of worship was worship of the elements like
Textual history
Characteristics
3
The Hindu rites of cremation are seen since the Rigvedic
period; while they are attested from early times in the
Cemetery H culture, there is a late Rigvedic reference
invoking forefathers both cremated (agnidagdh-) and
uncremated (nagnidagdha-)".(RV 10.15.14)[50][51]
3.2
Pantheon
3.3
Philosophy
See also philosophers of Vedic age
scriptures. Asha (aa) is the Avestan language term (corresponding to Vedic language ta) for a concept of cardinal importance[61] to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine.
Conformity with ta would enable progress whereas its
violation would lead to punishment. The term Dharma
was already used in Brahmanical thought, where it was
conceived as an aspect of Rta.[62]
The concept of Yajna or sacrice is also enunciated in
the Purusha sukta where reaching the Absolute itself is
considered a transcendent sacrice when viewed from the
point of view of the individual.[63]
4 Post-Vedic religions
Main articles: Indian religions and History of Hinduism
The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BC.
The period after the Vedic religion, between 800 BCE
and 200 BCE, is the formative period for Hinduism,
Jainism and Buddhism.[2][3][4][64] According to Michaels,
the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of
ascetic reformism.[65][note 8] Muesse discerns a longer
period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200
BCE, which he calls the Classical Period":
...this was a time when traditional religious
practices and beliefs were reassessed. The
brahmins and the rituals they performed no
longer enjoyed the same prestige they had in
the Vedic pariod.[67]
3.4
Indian philosophers came to regard the human as an immortal soul encased in a perishable body and bound by action, or karma, to a
cycle of endless existences.[69]
5 SEE ALSO
...go back to a hoary antiquity. The Vedas,
the Brahmanas, the Grhyasutras, the Dharmasutras, the Smritis and other treatises describe
the rites, ceremonies and customs.[71]
Vedanta
Vedic religion was followed by Upanishads which gradually evolved into Vedanta, which is regarded by some
iym vsi yta babhva / ydi v dadh
as the primary institution of Hinduism. Vedanta considydi v n / y asya dhyaka param vyers itself the purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas.[73]
man / s ag veda ydi v n vda
The philosophy of Vedanta (lit. The end of the Vedas),
He, the rst origin of this creation, whether he
transformed the Vedic worldview to monistic one. This
formed it all or did not, He who surveys it all
led to the development of tantric metaphysics and gave
from his highest heaven, he verily knows it, or
rise to new forms of yoga, such as jnana yoga and bhakti
perhaps even he does not
[74]
yoga. There are some conservative schools which continue portions of the historical Vedic religion largely unchanged. (see rauta, Nambudiri).[75]
4.2 Sramana tradition
Of the continuation of the Vedic tradition in a newer
Main articles: Sramana, Jainism and Buddhism
sense, Jeaneane D. Fowler writes the following:
4.1.2
Bhakti
5 See also
Ahimsa
Vedas
Vedic priesthood
5
Vedic period
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
Proto-Indo-European religion
Vedic mythology
Iranian mythology
Yoga
Ajivika
Zoroastrianism
Notes
7 References
[1] Stietencron 2005, p. 231.
[2] Smart 2003.
[6] The Four Vedas. About dot Com. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
REFERENCES
[8] Pletcher, Kenneth (2010). The History of India. Britannica Educational Publishing. p. 60.
[47] Prasoon, (Prof.) Shrikant. Indian Scriptures. Pustak Mahal (11 August 2010). Ch.2, Vedang, Kalp. ISBN 97881-223-1007-8.
[84] S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West
(1972)
8 Sources
8.1 Published sources
Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel
And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From
the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World,
Princeton University Press
Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (1989), The Origins and
Development of Classical Hinduism, Oxford University Press
Bryant, Edwin (2001), The Quest for the Origins of
Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate,
oxford University Press
Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie, eds. (2005), IndoAryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, Routledge
[83] Macdonell, Arthur Anthony. Vedic Mythology. Forgotten Books (23 May 2012). P. 17. ISBN 1440094365.
8 SOURCES
Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kita- 8.2 Web-sources
gawa, The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion,
[1] Encyclopedia Britannica, yaksha
History, and Culture, Routledge
Hiltebeitel, Alf (2007), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion,
History, and Culture. Digital printing 2007, Routledge
Jamison, Stephanie W. (2006). The Indo-Aryan
controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian
history (Book review)" (PDF). Journal of IndoEuropean Studies 34: 255261.
Kak, Subhash (2005), Vedic astronomy and early
Indian chronology, in Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie, Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, Routledge
King, Richard (1999), Orientalism and Religion:
Post-Colonial Theory, India and The Mystic East,
Routledge
Mallory; Adams (2006), The Oxford Introduction to
Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European
World, Oxford University Press
Melton, Gordon J.; Baumann, Martin (2010), Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia
of Beliefs and Practices (6 volumes), ABC-CLIO
Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present,
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Muesse, Mark William (2003), Great World Religions: Hinduism
Samuel, Georey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and
Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century,
Cambridge University Press
Singh, Upinder (2008), A History of Ancient and
Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the
12th Century, Pearson Education India, ISBN 97881-317-1120-0
Smart, Ninian (2003), Godsdiensten van de wereld
(The Worlds religions), Kampen: Uitgeverij Kok
Von Stietencron, Heinrich (2005), Hindu Myth,
Hindu History: Religion, Art, and Politics, Orient
Blackswan
White, David Gordon (2006), Kiss of the Yogini:
Tantric Sex in its South Asian Contexts, University
of Chicago Press
Witzel, Michael (1995), Early Sanskritization:
Origin and Development of the Kuru state (PDF),
EJVS vol. 1 no. 4 (1995)
Zimmer, Heinrich (1989), Pholosophies of India,
Princeton University Press
9.1
Text
9.2
Images
9.3
Content license