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A Detailed Study of Hindu Religious Traditions

BD III, 4 Credit hours, College Paper

Objectives
* To critically study the development of Hinduism in India over different periods of
time and their contexts up to 1800 AD.
* To cultivate an informed understanding of Hinduism, particularly discerning the
liberative resources in Hinduism over against oppressive forces in religion, culture and
society.

Methodology
* Historical, Sociological, Philosophical, Theological and Religio-Phenomenological
Approaches would be used as when applicable.
* The different sections of the course would include critical reflections from the
perspectives of women, dalits, tribals and the poor. Responses would also be made from
Christian insights and concerns for interfaith relations.
* Students would be expected to visit temples (as many different Hindu traditions as
possible), and observe performance of rituals and smaskaras (if possible), as well as
celebration of festivals. Audio-visual aids could also be used particularly where practical
exposure is difficult. Visits to homes of Hindus and seeking their views on their beliefs and
practices could also be done. A lecture or lectures exposures would have to be written by the
students.
* Students would also be expected to study prescribed texts.
* Certain sections of the syllabus may be assigned to students for self-study and
presentation.

Section I

1. Introduction
Pre-Vedic traditions, traces of which seem to be incorporated in Hinduism (e.g., Indus Valley
Civilization, Deccan Neolithic Culture, etc.)

2. Vedic Period (2000 to 600 BC)

2.1 The Samhitas

The Samhits (Rig, Sam, Yajur, Atharva Vedas)
Insights about religion, culture and society from the Rig Veda
Insights about religion, culture and society form the Atharva Veda
2.2 The Brahmanas
The message of the texts
Insights about religion, culture and society form the Brahmanas
2.3 Beginnings of Vedic Speculation
Philosophical hymns in the Rig Veda
Speculative ideas in other Vedas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas
2.4 The Upanishads
A Brief survey of the texts in different periods
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The main teachings

2.5 The Understanding about Sruti and Smriti
2.6 The Four Asramas and Varna Dharma
2.7 The Purushartha

3. The Period of Reaction to Vedic Hinduism (600 BC to AD 300)

3.1 The Sutra Literature: The Context and The Teaching of the Texts (Sauta, Grihya and
Dharma Sutras)
3.2 The rise of Buddhism, Jainism, and Carvaka: their Reaction to the Hindu Religion
3.3 The Itihasas (The Ramayana and the Mahabharata): their formation, their message,
and their significance
3.4 The Bhagavad-Gita: its formation and message

4. The Philosophical, Pauranic and Early Bhakti Period (AD 300 to AD 1200)
4.1 The philosophical systems (sad-darsanas)
4.1.1 A brief survey of the texts of the schools and their messages
4.1.2 Special study of Sankara, and Ramanuja
4.2 The Puranas
4.2.1 Their formation, classification and their message
4.2.2 Insights about religion, culture and society
4.3 The early Bhakti movements
4.3.1 Siva Bhakti in Tamilnadu
4.3.2 Vaisnava Bhakti in Tamilnadu
4.3.3 Vaisnava, Saiva and Sakta: their texts, faith and practices

5. The Bhakti Movement Periods (AD 1200 to AD 1800)

5.1 The political and social context of India
5.2 North India: Ramananda, Kabir, Rulsidas, Mira Bai, Guru Nanak
5.3. The West: Jnaneswara, Namdeva, Tukaram and Ramdas
5.4. The East and Northeast: Caitanya, Sankardeva
5.5 The South: Vallabha

6. Some Features of Popular Hinduism

6.1 Rituals and Worship
6.2 Samskaras
6.3 Pilgrimages and holy leaders
6.4 Festivals

Section II

1. Some Important Issues of Hinduism

1.1 The caste system and dalits and tribals
1.2 Patriarchy and women
1.3 Creation/nature, cosmogonies and ecological concerns
1.4 Pluralistic openness and communalism
1.5 Popular beliefs and practices and fundamentalism
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1.6 Globalisation and economic justice

2. Conclusion
Discern important features of Hinduism and its impact on Indian society, and Christian
reflections on Hinduism.

Section III

Texts for Detailed Studies

1. The Kenoupanishad
2. The Bhagavad-Gita, chapters XII and XVIII

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HINDUISM

Is Hinduism a religion or conglomeration of many religions?

1. Derivation and definition of the term “Hindu”: The term “Hindu” had originally a
geographical significance. The Persians who invaded India through the north-western passes
of the Himalayas gave the name Sindhu to the region watered by the river Indus; and the
word “Hindu” is only a corrupt form of “Sindhu” – the word ‘India’ too is derived from
Sindhu and means the land of the Indus.

Hinduism meant the faith of the people of the Indus-land. Hinduism also became the
religion of its colonies like Java, Malaya and Borneo. The indigenous names by which
Hinduism is known are Sanatana-dharma and Vaidika-dharma. Sanatana-dharma means
eternal religion and is expressive of the truth that religion as such knows no age. Vaidika-
dharma means the religion of the Vedas. The Vedas are the foundational scriptures of the
Hindus; and they imply not merely the four Vedas – Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva – but all
words that speak of God. “Veda” is a significant name, meaning God-knowledge of God-
science. Hinduism regards as its authority the religious experience of the ancient sages of
India. It does not owe its origin to any historical personage or prophet. No date or founder
can be cited as marking the beginning of Hinduism. Hence it is called Sanatana and Vaidika,
ancient and revealed religion.

Pre-Vedic Period
The Sindhu (Indus) Valley Civilization

Until about 95 years ago we had no such direct and positive evidence of the history and
culture of India before the advent of the Aryans. Their literary works, known as the Vedas,
gave us for the first time a comprehensive picture of the social and religious ideas as well as
political and economic condition of India. It was inevitable in these circumstances that the
history of India should have begun for all practical purposes from this event, and the Aryan
culture should have been regarded as the starting point in the delineation of Indian
civilization. All this has been changed by an epoch-making discovery in 1922-23 AD. In that
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year began the excavations of the ruins at Mohenjo-Daro, a big mound situated in the
Larkana district in Sindh, which is course of time revealed the remains of successive cities,
the earliest of which can be approximately dated about 2700 years before Christ. Further
excavations at Harappa in the Montgomery District, Pakistan and various sites in Sindh and
Baluchistan have proved the existence of a great civilization in this region which may be
described as chalcolithic (Gk. Chalcos = copper), i.e., combining the characteristics of both
Neolithic and Copper Age. This is now generally called the Sindhu (Indus) Valley
Civilization, for though it spread far beyond that valley, its most extensive remains have been
found at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, both in the Sindhu Valley, and largest number of sites,
containing traces of it, are also in the same region. The discovery of this civilization has
almost revolutionized our conception Indian history.

Streets and Drainage Systems in Mohenjo-Daro

The ruins of Mohenjo-Daro show remarkable skill in town-planning. The streets,

varying in width from 9 to 34ft., were regularly aligned, sometimes running straight for half a
mile. The principal streets were duly oriented to the points of the compass and intersected at
right angles, dividing the city into square or rectangular blocks, each of which was divided
lengthwise and crosswise by a number of lanes. In the earlier cities the buildings never
encroached on these streets and lanes, almost each of which had a public well and lamp-posts
at intervals. The city had an elaborate drainage system which opened into great culverts
emptying in the river.

The Great Bath in the Mohenjo-Daro

Of the larger buildings, other than dwelling houses, the most remarkable is the Great
Bath measuring 180ft. by 108ft. The bathing pool, 39ft long, 23ft wide, and 8ft deep,
occupies the centre of a quadrangle, surrounded by verandas with rooms and galleries behind
them. Near the great bath was a big granary originally 150 ft by 75 ft with massive
construction and provisions of loading-facilities.

The Great Granary in Harappa

The largest building at Harappa has been named Great Granary. It measures 169 ft by
135 ft and is divided into two blocks, with a passage, 23 ft wide, between them, each block
having six halls with five intervening corridors.

Food and Dresses

Specimens of wheat and barley found in the ruins prove that they were not of the wild
species and were regularly cultivated. Rice was probably also grown, and the date-palm
cultivation is proved by the stones found. In addition to these, the general diet consisted of
other fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, and flesh of various animals, including beef, mutton, pork,
and poultry.
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To judge from the sculptured figures, the usual dress of both men and women
consisted of two pieces of cloth; oone resembling a dhoti covering the lower part, and an
upper garment worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, so as to leave it free.

Both men and women used various ornaments made of gold, silver, copper and other
well-known metals, shells, faience with beads of semi-precious stones such as carnelian,
steatite, agate, chalcedony, jasper, amazon, lapis lazuli, turquoise, amethyst etc. These were
marked by a variety of designs and high technical skill.

Human and animal figures

Large numbers of human and animal figures have been found. Some of the animal
figures, and especially those engraved on the numerous seals, show a high degree of technical
skill and artistic ability. The seals usually made of ivory, faience, and steatite. Some of the
steatite seals are engraved with figures and some designs which must have been a sort of
pictorial writing. Similar inscriptions are found engraved on copper-tablets with human and
animal figures. Unfortunately, this pictographic script still remains undeciphered, though we
have nearly four hundred distinct signs. It is certain, however, that the art of writing was
known, though in a rudimentary stage. The writing was generally from right to left, but in a
few cases in the opposite direction. Where there was more than one line the direction is
boustrophedon.

The figures on the seals are mostly those of animals such as unicorn, bull, elephant,
tiger, rhinoceros, the gharial and the antelope. The commonest animal is the unicorn with a
single protruding horn. There were besides mythical animals of composite nature, trees, and
human figures, both male and female.

Religious Significance of the Seals

There can be hardly any doubt, however, that some of these seals had a religious
significance. Though, in the absence of written texts, we cannot say much of the religious
ideas, beliefs, and practices of the people, the seals, images, and the figures enable us to
throw some light on the subject.

The worship of female energy in the shape of Mother goddess is proved by the
discovery of a number of semi-nude female figures, with elaborate head-dress and collar
(sometimes with a necklace and cheek-cones), but wearing only a girdle or band round the
loins.

Among the male gods the most remarkable figure is that of a deity, seated on a
throne with legs crossed in the fashion of a yogi. He wears a horned head-dress a pectoral
round the neck, a number of bangles. He has three faces though there may be the idea of
fourth, which is, of course, invisible. He sits, with penis erectus, surrounded by a number of
animals such as tiger, buffalo, and rhinoceros, with a deer under the seat. Many scholars
regard him as a representation of God Siva, for the latter is described as trimukha (three-
faced), pasupati (lord of animals), and mahayogin (the great ascetic). They further urge that
this god, originally unknown to the Aryans, was later borrowed by them from the people they
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met in India, a view also held on other grounds long before the discovery of Mohenjo-Daro.
This view is not, however, shared by all.

The cult of Siva is proved not only by other seals, with figures of this god, but also by
the discovery of a large number of conical and cylindrical stones which can only be regarded
as phallic symbols or lingas, as some of them are only too realistic representations of the
same. The worship of yoni, or the female symbol of generation, has also been inferred from a
number of small stone representations, though the cult seems to have been less popular than
that of the linga.

There are unmistakable representations of the worship of both animals and trees (or
the spirit dwelling therein), the unicorn and the papal tree being regarded as the most sacred.
Some have inferred the prevalence of the worship of fire and water also, but the evidence in
support of it is very meagre. The representations of svastika and the wheel on some seals
have been taken to refer to the worship of the sun whose symbols they are supposed to be.
The figure of a deity with a hooded cobra over the head shows the prevalence of the Naga
cult.

Its Influence on the latter development Hindu culture

There is enough evidence to indicate that some of the fundamental conceptions of

Hinduism are derived from this culture, and it is not unlikely the Indian script and punch-
marked coins, as well as many arts and crafts in later India, are greatly indebted to the same
source. On the whole it is now being fradually realized that the present civilization of India is
not merely a development of the Aryan civilization, as has so long been generally held, but
that it is a composite product resulting from the fusion of several cultures in which the
contribution of the Sindhu Valley Civilization must be regarded as an important factor.

2. General Characteristics of Hinduism through different periods: Pre-Vedic, Vedic,

brahmanic, classical sectarian, Medieval, modern and contemporary.

“The greatest feature of Hinduism, which is at once unique and lofty, is its catholicity
[universality],” says T. M. P. Mahadevan in The Outlines of Hinduism. According to
Radhakrishnan, Hinduism is not dogmatic. It is a rational synthesis, which goes on gathering
into itself new conceptions as philosophy progresses. It is experimental and provisional in its
nature, attempting to keep pace with the progress of thought.

The greatest feature of Hinduism, which is at once unique and lofty, is its catholicity.
Hinduism allows the widest freedom in matters of faith and worship. There are almost
unending variations in creed that are found in Hinduism. “But these variations are an
ornament (bhusana) to the faith and do not import into it any defect (dusana)”, says
Mahadevan. The fundamental tenet of Hinduism is: as many minds, so many faiths. Krishna,
in the Gita iv.11, says, “Howsoever men approach me, even so do I accept them; for, on all
sides, whatever path they may choose is mine.” According to Sri Ramakrishna “… the
different faiths are like the ghats that to the same Ganges.” Mahatma Gandhi observed: “It
must be the daily prayer of every adherent of the Hindu faith that every known religion of the
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world should grow from day to day and should serve the whole of humanity. “This the
tradition of Hinduism – reviling no religion and honouring truth, wherever it may come from
and whatever it may wear.

There are various cults in Hinduism and a variety of creeds. But conflict among them
is avoided by the twin doctrines of adhikara and istha. Adhikara means eligibility. And it is
his eligibility that determines his istha or ideal. Hinduism prescribes to each according to
these needs. Hence it is not to be considered as a single creed or cult, but as a league of
religions, a fellowship of faiths.

The Spirit of Hinduism:

The richness, beauty and greatness of Hinduism lie, no doubt, in its spirit of
accommodation. But that does not mean that Hinduism is a medley of ill-assorted creeds,
with no cohesion, no common purpose, and no unified understanding. The very fact that it
has survived to this day in spite of the vicissitudes of history, and does not show any great
sign of decay, proves that there is a soul to it, which holds together its different limbs in an
indissoluble unity. Hinduism gathered round it, with the march of time, certain encumbrances
and inessentials. But there, appeared great reformers – seers of the truth – from time to time,
whose especial mission was to reorganize the people’s faith, and infuse in them a sense of
unity and purpose.

One Scripture:

It is notable that all Hindus agree in their allegiance to the Vedas. Even the Tantric
cults recognize the authority of the Vedas. Many of the latter-day rituals and practices are
based on the teachings of the Tantra, and cannot be traced to the Vedas. Yet the common
belief is that the Tantras derived their teachings from certain texts of the Vedas, now lost to
us. Whether there were such texts or not, it is not clear that, in the view of the Hindus, the
Vedas constitute the primary source of Hinduism. The Hindu belief and practices,
philosophies and faiths are, thus, held to have the sanction of the Vedas behind them.

The Spirit of Accommodation

In the Rig-Veda we come across strange utterances of incantations and spells, charms
and witchcrafts, hymns to inanimate things, devils and demons, etc. There are the charms of
the robbers to lull the dwellers in a house to sleep, spells to prevent evil spirits causing
women to miscarry, and charms to expel diseases. Though sorcery and magic prevailed in the
times of the Rig-Veda, the Vedic seers, in the view of T M P Mahadevan, did not encourage
or recognize them. The stray references have the appearance of an external addition, while in
the Atharva-Veda they are main theme.

The weird religion that the Atharva-Veda represents is doubtless older than that of the
Rig-Veda, though the Atharva-Veda collection is a later one. The Vedic Aryans as they
advanced into India came across uncivilized tribes, wild and barbarous, and worshipping
snakes and serpents, stocks and stones. No society can hope to continue in a state of
progressive civilization in the midst of uncivilized and half-civilized tribes, if it does not meet
and overcome the new situation by either completely conquering them or imparting to them
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elements of its own culture. The spirit of accommodation naturally elevated the religion of
the primitive tribes but degraded the Vedic religion by introducing into its sorcery and
witchcraft. The worship of spirits and stars, trees and mountains and other superstitions of
jungle tribes crept into the Vedic religion. From the beginning the Aryan religion was
expansive, self-developing and tolerant. It went on accommodating itself to the new forces it
met with in its growth. In this can be discerned a refined sense of true humility and
sympathetic understanding.

Divinities of Original Aryan Pantheon:

The original Aryan divinities were a vast number of petty spirits, each supposed to
have only a single function; but they learned rather later to revere a number of the greater
phenomena of nature. They worshipped these heavenly powers by means of sacrifice and
prayer and with the aid of priests. They also laid great stress on the worship of their
ancestors; and this ritual formed the foundation on which the institutions of the Aryan family
were built.

Clearly considerable advance had been made in conceiving the heavenly gods; for
there is now quite a group of personalized divinities with definite names and lofty functions.
It seems clear that the following at least were fully recognized: Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman,
Bhaga, and Indra, and along with them Yama and Soma. Theology had made a good deal of
progress; for the gods are thought of as spiritual beings, and the natural phenomena from
which they originally sprang are now but the medium of their manifestation.

We find the religious poets in the Veda groping their way towards the Eternal Spirit,
now marching, now receding, now triumphant and now dissatisfied, and leaving behind them
a trial of broken idols, overthrown divinities and abandoned faiths. Nothing mattered to them
except a resolute search for unity. The gods of popular belief, being only half-personified
natural phenomena, gave them the clue. One god shaded away into another. The same
epithets had been applied to describe more than one god. When there was so much of
overlapping among these divinities it was inferred that they must all be one in essence.
Hence, the habit of the Vedic poets, while extolling a god, was to make him supreme for a
moment ignoring the claims of others. Max Muller called this habit Henothism and thought it
was a stage on the way to monotheism.

Polytheism, Henotheism and Monotheism

The invention of too many gods and goddesses did not satisfy the inner being of the
Vedic people. So, a tendency to identify one god with another or throw all gods to the three
spheres of the earth, the air and the sky. Sometimes these gods are said to be 33 or 333, or
other combination of three in number. The gods are invoked in pairs when they fulfil
identical functions. They are sometimes thrown together in one large concept of a Visva
devah, or pantheon. This tendency of systematization had its natural end in monotheism,
which is simpler and more logical than the anarchy of a crowd of gods and goddesses
thwarting each other.
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Monotheism is inevitable with any true conception of God. The Supreme can only be
one. We cannot have two supreme and unlimited beings. Everywhere a question was asked
whether a god was himself the creation of another. A created god is no god at all. With the
growing insights into the workings of the world and the nature of godhead the many gods
tended to melt into one. The perception of unity is realized in the idea of Rita worked in
support of monotheism. Trust in natural law means faith in one God. The advance of this
conception implies the paralysis of superstition. An orderly system of nature has no room for
miraculous interference in which alone superstition and confused thought find the signs of
polytheism. In the worship of Varuna we have the nearest approach to monotheism. Varuna is
the God to whom human and nature, this world and the other all belong. He cares not only for
external conduct but also for inner purity of life. The implicit demand of the religious
consciousness for one supreme God made itself manifest in what is characterized as the
henotheism of the Vedas. It is, according to Max Muller, who coined the term, the
worshipping of each divinity in turn, as if it were the greatest and even the only god.
Henotheism is an unconscious groping towards monotheism. The Vedic Aryan mind felt
keenly the mystery of the ultimate and the inadequacy of the prevailing conceptions. The
gods worshipped as supreme stand side by side, though for the moment only one holds the
highest position. The one god is not the denial of the other gods. Even minor gods sometimes
assume the highest rank. Sometimes Agni represents all the gods. Sometimes Indra is greater
than all other gods. For the moment each god seems to become a composite photograph of all
others. Thus, henotheism seems to be the result of the logic of religion.

But in henotheism one does not get a crystallized conception of a supreme God, as
required in monotheism in the ordinary acceptation of the term. It aims rather at the
discovery, not of one god who is above all other gods, but of the common power that works
behind them all. “What is but one, wise people call by different names as Agni, Yama and
Matarisvan.” The conception of the supreme God in the later Vedic period may be said to be
more philosophic than religious. Omnipotence, a characteristic of all gods, becomes
personified as the highest under the name of Visvakarman (all-doer). The most prominent
among the supreme God is that of Prajapati or Father-god. He is the father of all beings. He is
the lord of all creatures. But “lord of all creatures” is an attribute of various other gods. But
later this title ceased to represent an aspect of the divinity merely, and acquires an
independent status. In a hymn of the Rig-Veda a question is asked: “To what God shall we
offer oblation?” The answer is Prajapati, who is the one lord of all created things. Prajapati is
elsewhere portrayed as born of Rita, the moral principle that governs the universe.

Monism
Monotheism too failed to satisfy the later Vedic thinkers, because the God that
possesses more qualities and more grandeur was not installed as the supreme reality.
Moreover, the mind of human was not satisfied with anthropomorphic deity. The
anthropomorphic ideas only provide substitute for God, but not the true living God. God
should be one, beginningless, infinite, all-embracing and omnipotent reality, wherefrom
everything that we find in this universe is derived and wherein will ultimately return.
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Hence, they applied to the central principle the neuter term Sat, to show that it is
above sex. They were convinced that there is something real of which Agni, Indra, Varuna,
etc., were only the forms or names. That reality is one, impersonal, and ruling “over all that is
unmoving and that moves, that walks or flies, being differently born”. “The real is one, the
learned call it by various names, Agni, Yama and Matarisvan.” This characterization of
reality may also be called monotheistic rather than monistic. Monotheism aims at unity of
godhead. But there is a higher conception of unity, which is called monism, which traces the
whole of existence to a single source. The monistic thought has two distinct shades, one of
which is pantheism that identifies the universe with God. In a passage of Rig-Veda, goddess
Aditi (the boundless) is identified with all gods, humans and everything that we find in the
universe. But, though the object of this view is to establish unity, it seems to retain both the
notions of God and nature. Hence, it fails to satisfy the mind of those enlightened people who
were in search of true unity. The conception true unity is found in the Nasadiya Sukta of the
Rig-Veda. The hymns talk about an indeterminate absolute reality that is “neither being nor
non-being”. In regard to the process of creation it says: “There was then neither what is nor
what is not, there was no sky, nor the heaven which is beyond”. This hymn traces the whole
universe to a single source. The sensible universe is the spontaneous development of this
primordial source. This ultimate reality is impersonal, indeterminate and free from
mythological elements. The ultimate reality is one and indeterminate is suggested by the
epithets “That One” (Tad Ekam). This hymn seems like the threshold of the Upanishadic
monism.

Belief on the Universal Moral Order or Rita:

Another important development in the Age of the Mantras is the conception of Rita or
Cosmic Order from which are derived in later times the characteristically Indian Ideals of
Dharma and Law of Karma. Rita was originally the order of natural events such as the
succession of seasons or the harvest of the crops. But soon it came to mean not only the
cosmic order but also the moral order. The gods were extolled as the guardians of both,
especially Varuna, the god of righteousness and moral order. The order of the Universe was
supposed to be maintained by sacrifices. In fact, according to the famous Purusha-sukta, the
universe itself is the result of a sacrifice performed by the gods. Thus, yajna or sacrifice
became the means, the Rita the end.

Prominence of Sacrifice:

Meanwhile, sacrifices rose so much in importance and became so complex and varied
that in the Age of the Brahmanas sacrificial religion of mechanical and soulless kind began to
prevail. In the age of Brahmanas the idea that men owed debt to the Gods, the Rishis, the
Pitris, and men and animals developed. It was again in this age that the four ashramas were
organized along with the four varnas, which were first mentioned in the later portion of the
Rig-Veda, and idea of varna-ashrama-dharma began to take shape in the minds of the people.

The sacrifice had been greatly elaborated. A ritual had been established, and hymns as
well as prayers accompanied the stated acts. The home of the gods being now believed to be
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in heaven, it was common practice to send the sacrifice to them on the flames and smoke of
the altar fire called Agni. The drink of the gods offered in sacrifice was the juice of a plant
called Soma in Sanskrit, Haoma in Zend, the language of the Avesta. A special ritual for the
offering of this divine drink had appeared and the drink itself had undergone apotheosis.
Soma was already a god. The priests, too, had far fuller functions than before and were called
by special names.

The belief about the dead had also made considerable progress. Burning had almost
universally taken the place of burying, probably from a wish to release the soul as completely
as possible from the body and to bear it away on the flame of the pyre to heavenly regions.
When men die, they are believed to go to heaven, where they join the company of glorified
ancestors and enjoy immortality with the gods. They are invited to the sacrifice in the same
way as the gods. They are believed to be very powerful.

Doctrine of Karma and Rebirth:

When the Aryans were engaged in the imperial work of bringing all the peoples of
North India under their political and intellectual domination, the great doctrine of Karma and
rebirth took shape. On the surface it appears to be essentially a doctrine of life and death; but
we shall not be able to understand it unless we see that it is at bottom a theory of morality.

1. The outer elements of the situation are not very clear. We can see that the time was
the period of Aryan expansion over North India; and it seems certain that it was in the great
intellectual activity provoked by the intercourse of the living Aryan mind with the many
varied peoples of North India that the great theory was formed; but the few scraps of
evidence which the literature affords us are not nearly sufficient to show how the conceptions
were built up nor whence the various elements came.

The inner elements that went to the creation of the belief may be partly made out, but
even they are far from clear. The fundamental thought clearly is the common human
conviction that the heart of the world is just, that our lives are subject to moral law and that
both good and evil actions will receive a perfectly just recompense. The form, which this
conviction takes in the doctrine, is that all the good and all the evil actions done in one life
will be recompensed with an equivalent amount of happiness or misery in a later life; but how
the Indo-Aryans reached this particular combination of ideas, we do not know. It is easy to
conjecture that the original form of the belief was that each man receives in this life the
exactly measured recompense of his good and bad deeds in happiness and misery.

A Brief Definition of Karma:

The doctrine of transmigration is that souls are emanations of the divine spirit, sparks from
the central fire, drops from the ocean of divinity; that each soul is incarnated in a body time
and again without number. The same soul may be in one life a god, in another a man, in a
third an animal, or even a plant, and that the series of births and deaths goes on in never
ending cycle, the soul finding no rest nor relief from suffering, unless it finds some means of
release from the necessity of rebirth and returns to the divine source where it came.
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1. The word Karma literally means an action, but in the Karma doctrine it means the
inevitable working out of action in new life. The idea is that the human body, character,
capacities, and temperament, one’s birth, wealth, and station, and the whole of human
experience in life (whether of happiness or of sorrow) together from the just recompense for
one’s deeds (good and bad) done in past existences. Every act necessarily works itself out in
retribution in another birth. The expiation works itself out not only in the human’s passive
experience (bhoktritvam) but in his actions also (kartritvam). Then these new actions form
new karma, which must necessarily be expiated in another existence, so that, as fast as the
clock of retribution runs down it winds itself up again, as Deussen remarks. The soul is also
affected by its own acts. Every good action ennobles it in some degree and helps to loosen the
grip of the sense-world, while every bad action degrades it and gives the world a greater hold;
so that the man who persists in right action makes steady progress towards perfection, while
continued vice plunges the soul in corruption ever deeper. No man reaches complete soul-
health until he has spent many lives in strenuous well-doing.

2. To the careful student the most interesting aspect of this doctrine is the altogether
immeasurable influence it has exercised on both the beliefs and the practices of Hinduism. It
is not only the theory of the life of the soul, and the standing rule for the elucidation of every
calamity, but is the explanation of all the phenomena of the natural world, the justification of
the caste system, and the reason why men obey the laws of caste, the family and religion.
Above all, it was the source of the pessimism of India; and that, in turn created the whole
philosophic movement. We shall probably understand its bearing on the religion best if we
consider it in connection with the world, souls, and God.

A) The World is the Realm of Karma: The unending procession of unnumbered

souls constantly passing through birth and death as plants, animals, men, demons or gods, is
held to be not only the explanation of human sorrow, joy, and character, but of all that
happens in the material world. Everything that is visible is the outworking of the action of the
whole vast assembly of visible souls. Karma is the law of the phenomenal world. Several
results necessarily arise out of it.

i) As every occurrence in the world is the effect of foregoing action, and as every
action is followed by its retributive expression, it is clear that the process could have no
beginning and will have no end. Samsara, as the process is called, is eternal. Hence the world
is eternal, a constant concomitant of God. Human life, it is believed, with all its sorrow and
sin, will go on forever. Other elements of the system fit well into this idea. As karma is the
moral system, it is necessarily conceived as eternal. As in each life a person’s character and
condition are the outcome of previous action, while his/her actions will inevitably lead to new
life, the process could have no beginning and will have no end. The soul is thus eternal, as
eternal as God.

ii) The world, though eternal, is completely dominated by karma. It is thus in every
aspect transitory, and ever filled with birth and death, sorrow and suffering. Every soul in the
universe is in bonds, chained by karma to birth and death, to pleasure and pain.
 13

iii) The process of retribution is so exhausting and the action of souls so disturbing
that the world steadily degenerates. The age of full virtue (Krita Yuga) inevitably passes into
the age of three-fourths of good (Treta Yuga), that into the half-and-half (Dvapara Yuga), and
that into the age when only one-fourth of good survives (Kali Yuga). Thus, decline is the only
possibility in worldly affairs. Progress is forever impossible. Hence, humanity is in the last
evil age, hastening on to hopeless depravity.

iv) The Hindu belief in the periodic dissolution and re-formation of the world is a
reflection of the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul. The idea is that the whole
phenomenal universe, after having degenerated through the four ages, passes into a formless,
invisible, elemental state; souls leave their bodies; and elemental matters and souls repose in
peace until the moment comes for a new manifestation. The period between formation and
dissolution is called a kalpa, the period of repose a pralaya.

v) The Hindu believes that one’s past life determines his/her caste. Each person is
born into that caste for which his/her former actions have prepared him/her. Thus, each Hindu
is believed to bring with him/her into the world a certain accumulated store of spirituality
which is the sole reason for one’s having been born into the caste to which one belongs.
One’s caste standing in future lives will then depend upon his/her behavior during one’s
present life.

vi) As all of joy or sorrow that happens to a person is the outcome of one’s karma,
every calamity is set down as the direct result of some evil action in a former life. Thus, when
through the machination of Kaikeyi, Rama, the eldest son of Dasaratha, was exiled into the
forest, he thought of his mother Kausalya’s grief and said: “sure in some antenatal time were
children by Kausalya’s crime torn from their mother’s arms away; and hence she mourns this
evil day.”

vii) Since the world is the realm of karma and the gods are under its sway, as fully as
man, and since Brahman is in no way connected with karma, the system is not under the
control of any divine being, but is self-acting.

B. Souls: All souls are eternal, as we have seen. Whether they be in gods, demons, humans,
animals, or plants, souls are under karma in consequence of their former deeds, good and bad;
but there is this distinction between them and the phenomenal world, that for souls escape
from karma is possible.

C. Brahman: The unknowable One, the Source of the universe, is conceived as absolutely
free from karma and rebirth. He is constantly spoken of as unborn and as free. The contrast
between Him and the world in this matter is frequently emphasized. Since all actions,
whether good or bad, necessarily create karma, Brahman is conceived as altogether inactive.
Had he been thought of as engaging in any kind of action, he would inevitably have come
under the dominion of karma. So he is said to be without any desire or purpose that could stir
him to action. He is altogether at peace, altogether indifferent, and altogether passionless.
This great thought that Brahman is action-less has produced very deep results upon Hindu
theology. It cut Brahman away from morality and from every form of worship; it made it
 14

impossible to conceive him as a purposeful Creator; and it strengthened the tendency to think
of him as impersonal.

Law of Karma

The law of karma is the counter-part in the moral world of the physical law of
uniformity. It is the law of the conservation of moral energy. The vision of the law and order
is revealed in the Rita of the Rig-veda According to the principle of karma there is nothing
uncertain or unpredictable in the moral world. One reaps what one sows. The good seed
brings a harvest of good, the evil of evil. Every little action has its effect on character.
Therefore everybody is advised to will the good and do the good. In Chhandogya Upanishad,
III.i.10, it is written, “Whatever world he covets by his mind, he gains those worlds and those
objects; therefore, let him who long for bhuti, manifested power, worship him who knows the
Atman.” The requital of action makes samsara with birth and death, beginning-less and
endless. The karma theory embraces in its sweep humans and gods, animals and plants.

Karma has a cosmic as well as a psychological aspect. Every deed must produce its
natural effect in the world; at the same time, it leaves an impression on or forms a tendency in
the mind of human. It is this tendency or samskara or vasana that inclines one to repeat the
deed one has once done. So, all deeds bear their fruits in the world and effects on the mind.
So far as the former are concerned one cannot escape them, however much one may try. But
in regard to mental tendencies one can control them. One’s future conduct holds all
possibilities. By self-discipline one can strengthen the good impulses and weaken the bad
ones.

The actions of humans are capable of prediction and pre-calculation. It seems to be

rational that they will show certain properties: one shall detect in them an inward coherence,
an unselfish purpose, and so on. But from that one cannot assume that the acts are determined
in any mechanical sense. Every living soul is potentially free. One’s acts are not a mere
unwinding of the thread from a reel. Human being possesses freedom, which is the focus of
spiritual life. God has not granted him/her freedom from outside. He/she possesses freedom
because he/she is rooted in God. The more one realizes one’s true divine nature, the freer
he/she is.

It is sometimes argued that the law of karma is inconsistent with theism. Karma is a
blind unconscious principle governing the whole universe. It is not subject to the control even
of God. One does not require judge to administer a mechanical law. The principle of karma is
not inconsistent with the reality of the Absolute Brahman. The moral law of karma is the
expression of the nature of the absolute. Anthropomorphically one can say a divine power
controls the process. Rita is the law in the Vedas. Varuna is the lord of Rita. Karma refers to
the unchanging action of the gods. It is an expression of the nature of reality. It renders
impossible any arbitrary interference with moral evolution.

Karma doctrine teaches that, whatever happens to one in this life one has to submit in
meek resignation, for it is the result of one’s past doings; yet the future is in one’s power, and
one can work with hope and confidence. Karma inspires hope for the future and resignation
 15

to the past. It makes humans feel that the things of the world, its fortunes and failures, do not
touch the dignity of the soul. Virtue alone is good, not rank or riches, not race or nationality.
Nothing but goodness is good.

Moksa (Liberation/Release)
The highest goal of life is the attainment of release (moksa) from the empirical state
of samsara or the recurrent round of birth and death. It is becoming Brahman or, what comes
to the same thing, the realization of one’s own nature. In accordance with the double view of
the ultimate reality found in the Upanishads, this is conceived in two ways. It is a condition,
according to some like Sankara, in which the self remains by itself – part-less and peaceful;
and according to others like Bhartrprapanca, it is a condition in which only the sense of
diversity as ultimate disappears and an all-comprehensive reality is experienced as identical
with oneself. In either case, it is a state of moral and intellectual perfection, transcending the
distinctions we commonly make between the self and the not-self, and between good and
evil. That this goal is achievable in the present life seems to be the teaching of the
Upanishads, taken as a whole. It is known as jivanamukti or “liberation while still alive”.
“When all desires lodged in the heart disappear”, says the Katha Upanishad, “then man
becomes immortal and (even) here attains Brahman”. Here, for instance, is a distinct mention
of it. In the condition of jivanamukti, the diversity of the world – even according to those who
believe it to be false – does not cease to appear; but the belief in its ultimacy is once for all
destroyed. This conception of release marks a great advance on the earlier Vedic belief that
the final ideal of human can be attained only hereafter. Socrates is stated to have brought
philosophy down from heaven to earth; the seers of the Upanishads, we may say, discovered
that heaven itself is on the earth, could one but realize it. When in the end a person that has
reached this stage is dissociated from his physical accompaniments, he/she becomes Brahman
itself. That is final release (videha-mukti).

The above stated mukti is restricted to the persons who succeed in killing every
passion to acquire complete enlightenment in this life. But their number must necessarily be
very small. Of the others, who form the large majority, the Upanishads may be said to make
two broad divisions – those that pursue the right path of life, though they are not able to
acquire full enlightenment in this life, and those that yield to natural impulses, because they
lack self-control. The former is the second-best progress from one state of existence to a
higher without returning to the world of mortals, until at last they find release from the cycle
of births and deaths. This progressive realization (karma-mukti) of the ideal of life is what
some Vedantins consider to be the sole form of release taught in the Upanishads. It
corresponds to the eschatological view of the goal of human, as it was understood in the
earlier stages of the Vedic period. Only the result is conceived here as absolute liberation
from the conditions of worldly existence, and not as a sublimated life of joy in the world of
gods. The latter classes of people, on the other hand, the self-indulgent who fail to bridle their
desires, are born again and again, their condition in any particular life being determined by
“the nature of their deeds and the nature of their thoughts” in the past.
 16

Punarjanma
The idea of rebirth or punarjanma is prominent in the Upanishads. The earliest form
of this idea occurs in the Satpatha Brahmana, where the notion of being born again after
death and dying repeatedly is coupled with that of retribution. It is said that those who have
right knowledge and perform their duties are born again after death for immortality, while
those who do not have such knowledge and neglect their duties are reborn again and again,
becoming the prey of death. The Brahmana assumes births and deaths only in the next world.
In the Upanishads the belief is transformed into the doctrine of rebirth in the world. Good
and evil actions experience a two-fold retribution once in the other world and again by a
renewed life on earth. It is said that the soul, after it has journeyed to heaven in radiant form
on the burning of the corpse, returns thence immediately through the three regions to a new
existence. There are evidences that the belief in rebirth was only being matured in the time of
the Upanishads, since some passages of the Upanishads are not familiar with it. The earliest
passages incorporating the belief of rebirth are Chandogya, v.3.10, and Brhadaranyaka, vi.2.

That the highest kind of immortality is becoming one with Brahman is clearly
enunciated in the Upanishads. When gods were the supreme realities, freedom lay in union
with them. Now Brahman is the first principle of things and the ultimate basis of the world.
So life eternal is union with Brahman. When we fall short of our highest freedom, we are
bound down in the sphere of time and are hurried from one state of being into another. The
undelivered soul is subject to the law of birth and death, and has to work out its destiny by
lives on earth. While true immortality is for the liberated, survival in time is for the bound.
We hear the prayer, “May I never go to the white, toothless, devouring abode”. The kind of
birth depends on the nature of the work done. It is called heaven when the individual lifts
oneself unto a higher life, and hell when one throws oneself down oneself into a lower one.
This existence in samsara is not true existence of the soul. One has to bear the servitude of
samsara so long as the finite elements cling to the one. With the finite one can never reach
the absolute, however near one come to it. Progress is a ceaseless growth or perpetual
approximation. When the finite element is completely given up, then oneness with God is
realized, and there is no return to samsara. Samsara is intended to discipline the spirit.

The Scriptures: Indian literature is predominantly religious. The Hindu seers and
writers have used their talents in expounding the faith of the Hindu race. In Sanskrit as well
as in the popular languages there are innumerable treatises on religion and philosophy. Many
of the old books are lost. But even those that are still available are legion.

i) The Vedas: The Vedas are the fundamental scriptures of the Hindus. They are
usually designated “Sruti”, while all the other scriptural texts go under the omnibus term
“Smriti”. The authority of the Sruti is primary, while that of the Smriti is secondary. Sruti
literally means what is heard, and Smriti means what is remembered. Sruti is revelation, and
Smriti is tradition. As between the two, Sruti is primary because it is a form of direct
experience; whereas Smriti is secondary, since it is a recollection of that experience.
 17

The Vedic Age

The Period extending from about 1500 B.C. to 560 B.C. is generally called the Vedic period.
Modern scholars divide it into (1) the Age of the Mantras, (2) the Age of the Brahmanas and
(3) the Age of the Upanishads. This is a convenient division, provided we understand that
these ages are not strictly successive but that they considerably overlap one another. The
Mantras or hymns are the creations of poets, the Brahmanas, which are elaborate ritualistic
treatises, are the works of priests and the Upanishads, which consist of secret teachings, are
the revelations of mystics. One can say that the history of Hinduism Practically begins in the
dim past with the composition of the hymns recorded in the Rig Veda.

Sruti Texts
Veda Brahmana Aranayaka Upanishad Priest

(1)Rik 1. Aitareya(B) 1. Aitareya(A) 1. Aitareya(U) Hotri

2. Kaushitaki(B) 2. Kaushitaki(A) 2. Kaushitaki(U) Hotri

(2)Saman1. Panchavimsa(B) 1.Chhandogya(A) Udgatri

2. (Chhandogya)(B) 2. Kena(A) Udgatri

(3)Yajus
(1)Black Yajus 1. Taittiriya(B) 1. Taittiriya(A)1. Taittiriya(U) Adharyu
(Mahanarayana)
2. Katha(U) Adharyu
3. Maitrayaniya(U) Adharyu
4. Svetasvatara(U) Adharyu

(2)White Yajus 1. Satpatha(B) 1. Brihat(A) 1. Brihadaranyaka(U) Adharyu

2. Isa(U) Adharyu

(4)Atharvan 1. Gopatha(B) 1. Mundaka(U) Purohita

2. Prasna(U)
3. Mandukya(U)

The Vedic Period

Three well-defined literary strata are to be distinguished in the Vedic period. The
lower limit of the second Vedic stratum cannot, however, be fixed later that 500 BC, because
its latest doctrines are presupposed by Buddhism, and the date of the death of Buddha has
been with a high degree of probability calculated, from the recorded dates of the various
Buddhist councils, to be 480 BC. With regard to the commencement of the Vedic age, there
seems to have been a decided tendency among Sanskrit scholars to place it too high. 2000 BC
is commonly represented as its starting point. Supposing this to be correct, the truly vast
period of 1500 years is required to account for a development of language and thought hardly
greater than that between the Homeric and the Attic age of Greece. Professor Max Muller’s
earlier estimate of 1200 BC, formed forty years ago, appears to be much nearer the mark. A
lapse of three centuries, say from 1300-1000 BC, would amply account for the difference
 18

between what is oldest and newest in Vedic hymn poetry. Considering that the affinity of the
oldest form of the Avestan language with the dialect of the Vedas is already so great that, b
the mere application phonetic laws, whole Avestan stanzas may be translated word for word
into Vedic, so as to produce verses correct not only in form but in poetic spirit.

The First Stage of the Vedic Literature – The Four Vedas

Firstly, the four Vedas, the outcome of a creative and poetic age in which hymns and
prayers were composed chiefly to accompany the pressing and offering of the Soma juice or
the oblation of melted butter (ghrita) to the gods. The four Vedas are the collections or
samhita of hymns and prayers made for different ritual purposes. They are of varying age and
significance.

The first three Vedas alone were at first recognized as canonical scriptures, being in
the next stage of Vedic literature comprehensively spoken of as “the threefold knowledge”
(trayi Vidya).

1. The Rig-Veda

The Rig-Veda that consists of verses (from rich – a laudatory stanza) is the most
important and the oldest and is very foundation of all Vedic literature. It consists entirely of
lyrics, mainly in praise of different gods. Therefore, it is described as the book of hymns or
psalms.

The earliest religious life of the Panjab Arya and its outer forms, as they can still
faintly be traced here and there through the later complications of the Rig-Veda, are
beautifully simple – almost entirely family worship. The head of the household is also its
spiritual representative and leader; he lights the flame of the daily sacrifice, which he feeds
with the simple offering of melted butter and cakes, singing the appropriate hymns.

The number of hymns comprised in the Rig-Veda, in the only recension which has
been preserved, that of the Sakala School, is 1017, or if the eleven supplementary hymns
(called Valakhilya) which are inserted in the middle of the eighth book are added, 1028.

The oldest known manuscripts of the Rig-Veda do not date back much earlier than
1500 A.D. Yet, two thousand years before that, about 600 B.C., the study of it, exclusively
pursued in several theological schools, by the simple but arduous process of memorizing.

According T. Burrow in A.L. Basham (A Cultural History of India), “The classical

civilization of India developed from the earlier Vedic civilization, and the Vedic civilization
was the creation of the Aryans, an invading people, whose first arrival in the subcontinent is
probably to be dated about 1500 BC. Perhaps some 200 years after this estimated date there
began to come into being a collection religious hymns which were eventually organized as
the Rig-Veda, the final redaction of which probably antedates 1000 BC.

2. The Sama-Veda
 19

The Sama-Veda has practically no independent value, for it consists entirely of

stanzas (excepting only 75) taken from the Rig-Veda and arranged solely with reference to
their place in the Soma sacrifice. It meant to be sung to certain fixed melodies, so it may be
called the book of chants (saman).

3. The Yajur-Veda

The Yajur-Veda differs in one essential respect from the Sama-Veda. It consists not
only of stanzas (rich), mostly borrowed from the Rig-Veda, but also of original prose
formulas. It resembles the Sama-Veda, however, in having its contents arranged in the order
in which it was actually employed in various sacrifices. Therefore, it is a book of sacrificial
prayers (Yajus).

The matter of this Veda has been handed down in two forms. In the one, the sacrificial
formulas only are given; in the other, these are to a certain extent intermingled with their
explanations.

4. The Atharva-Veda

The fourth collection, the Atharva-Veda, attained to this position only after a long
struggle. Judged both by its language and by that portion of its matter which is analogous to
the contents of the Rig-Veda, the Atharva-Veda came into existence considerably later than
that Veda. In form it is similar to the Rig-Veda, consisting for the most part of metrical
hymns, many of which are taken from the last book of the older collection. In spirit, however,
it is not only entirely different from the Rig-Veda, but represents a much more primitive stage
of thought. While the Rig-Veda deals almost exclusively with the higher gods as conceived
by a comparatively with the higher gods as conceived by a comparatively advanced and
refined sacerdotal class, the Atharva-Veda is, in the main, a book of spells and incantations
appealing to the demon world, and teems with notions about witchcraft current among the
lower graders of the population, and derived from an immemorial antiquity.

Second Stage of the Vedic Literature – End of the Production of Poetry

Having ceased to produce poetry, the priesthood transferred their creative energies to
the elaboration of the sacrificial ceremonial. The result was a ritual system far surpassing in
complexity of detail anything the world has elsewhere known. The main importance of the
old Vedic hymns and formulas now came to be their application to the innumerable details of
the sacrifice. Around this combination of sacred verse and rite a new body of doctrine grew
up in sacerdotal tradition, and finally assumed definite shape in the guise of distinct
theological treatises entitled Brahmanas, “books dealing with devotion or prayer” (Brahman).

The Brahmanas

The Brahmanas are written in prose throughout, and are in some cases accented, like
the Vedas themselves. They are thus notable as representing the oldest prose writing of the
Indo-European family. Their style is, indeed, cumbrous, rambling, and disjointed, but distinct
progress towards greater facility is observable within this literary period.
 20

The chief purpose of the Brahmanas is to explain the mutual relation of the sacred
text and the ceremonial, as well as their symbolical meaning with reference to each other.
With the exception of the occasional legends and striking thoughts which occur in them, they
cannot be said to be at all attractive as literary productions.

The Vedas are poetical in matter and form; the Brahmanas are prosaic and written in
prose. The thought of the Vedas is on the whole natural and concrete; that of the Brhamanas
artificial and abstract. The chief significance of the Vedas lies in their mythology, that of the
Brahmanas in their ritual.

The period of the Brahmanas is a very important one in the history of Indian society.
For in it the system of the four castes assumed definite shape, furnishing the frame within
which the highly complex network of the castes of to-day has been developed. In that system
the priesthood, who even in the first Vedic period had occupied an influential position,
secured for themselves the dominant power which they have maintained ever since.

The Third Stage of the Vedic Literature – the Sutras

The Sutras are the third and last stage of the Vedic literature. These are compendious
treatises dealing with Vedic ritual on the one hand, and with customary law on the other. The
rise of this class of writings was due to the need of reducing the vast and growing mass of
details in ritual and custom, preserved in the Brahmanas and in floating tradition, to a
systematic shape, and of compressing them within a compass which did not impose too great
a burden on the memory, the vehicle of all teaching and learning. The main object of the
Sutras is, therefore, to supply a short survey of the sum of these scattered details.

The very name of this class of literature, sutra, “thread” or “clue” (from siv, “to Sew),
points to its main characteristic and chief object – extreme conciseness. The prose in which
these works are composed is so compressed that the wording of the most laconic telegram
would often appear diffuse compared with it. Some of the Sutras attain to an almost algebraic
mode of expression, the formulas of which cannot be understood without the help of detailed
commentaries.

Research has so far failed to arrive at any definite result as to the date of their
composition. Linguistic investigations, however, tend to show that the Sutras are closely
connected in time with the grammarian Panini, some of them appearing to be considerably
anterior to him. Therefore, we should not go very far wrong in assigning 500 and 200 B.C. as
the chronological limits within which the Sutra literature was developed.

Division of Sutras – Srauta Sutras

The tradition of the Vedic ritual was handed down in two forms. The one class, called
Srauta Sutras, because based on Sruti or revelation (by which in this case the Brahmanas are
chiefly meant), deal with the ritual of the greater sacrifices, for the performance of which
three or more sacred fires, as well as the ministrations of priests are necessary.

Smriti/Smarta Sutras
 21

The other division of the ritual Sutras is based on smriti or tradition. These are the
Grihya Sutras (house aphorisms), which deal with the household ceremonies, or the rites to
be performed with the domestic fire in daily life. As a rule, these rites are not performed by a
priest, but by the householder himself in company with his wife.

The Dharma Sutras

The second class of Sutras, which deal with social and legal usage, is, like the Grihya
Sutas, also based on smriti or tradition. These are the Dharma Sutras, which are in general
the oldest sources of Indian law. As is implied by the term dharma, “religion and morality,”
their point of view is chiefly a religious one. They are closely connected with the Veda,
which they quote, and which the later law-books regard as the first and highest source of
dharma.

Importance of the Sutras

They are of great importance for the history of religious institutions. But the Sutras
have a further value. For, as the life of the Hindu, more than that of any other nation, was,
even in the Vedic age, surrounded with a network of religious forms, both in its daily course
and in its more important divisions, the domestic ritual as well as the legal Sutras are our
most important sources for the study of the social conditions of ancient India. They are the
oldest Indian records of all that is included under custom.

Sutra Period Produced Other Literatures

Besides these ritual and legal compendia, the Sutra period produced several classes of
works composed in this style, which, though not religious in character, had a religious origin.
They arose from the study of the Vedas, which was prompted by the increasing difficulty of
understanding the hymns, and of reciting them correctly, in consequence of the changes
undergone by the language. Their chief object was to ensure the right recitation and
interpretation of the sacred text. One of the most important classes of this ancillary literature
comprises the Pratisakhya Sutras, which, dealing with accentuation, pronunciation, metre,
and other matters, are chiefly concerned with the phonetic changes undergone by Vedic
words when combined in a sentence.

Though belonging probably to the middle of the Sutra period, Panini must be
regarded as the starting-point of the Sanskrit age, the literature of which is almost entirely
dominated by the linguistic standard stereotyped by him.

In the Sutra period also arose a class of works specially designed for preserving the
text of the Vedas from loss or change. These are the Anukramanis or “Indices”, which quote
the first words o each hymn, its author, the deity celebrated in it, the number of verses it
contains, and the metre in which it is composed. One of them states the total number of
hymns, verses, words, and even syllables, contained in the Rig-Veda, besides supplying other
details.

Development of Vedic Teachings

 22

1. Natural forces like fire, wind, rain, etc., are personified or deified.
2. The religious poets in the Veda grope their way towards the eternal spirit, now
marching, now receding, now triumphant and now dissatisfied, and leaving behind them a
trail of broken idols, overthrown divinities and abandoned faiths.
3. Resolute search for unity.
4. One god shaded away with another.
5. The same epithets had been employed to describe more than one god.
6. All be one essence.
7. Henotheism : Extolling one god, of making him supreme for the moment and
ignoring the claims of others.
8. No monotheism: Indra, god of power, or Varuna, god of righteousness, rose to the
supreme state.
9. An attempt to get behind these powerful gods and grasp the power of which they
were manifestations.
10. The creative power common to a number of gods is taken and personified and
made into a supreme divinity for a time. In this way we get a series of divinities who hold the
scepter for a time – Vishvakarma (maker of everything), Prajapati (Lord of all),
Brahmanaspati (Lord of devotion), Prana (life), Kala (time), etc.
11. Not only gods but also men and all things are included in this speculative range.
12. All are the children of the goddess Aditi, the boundless one.
13. No longer monotheism, but monism: no longer the worship of a Supreme God
who is separate from the world, but the contemplation of a spirit in and beyond the world,
which is only its partial manifestation.
14. Another important development in the Age of the Mantras is the conception of
Rita or cosmic order from which are derived Indian ideals of Dharma and the Law of Karma.
Rita was originally the order of natural events such as succession of seasons or the
harvest of crops. But soon it came to mean not only the cosmic order but also the moral order.
The gods were extolled as the guardians of both, especially Varuna, the god of righteousness.
15. The order of the universe was supposed to be maintained by sacrifices. The universe
(Purusa-sukta) itself is the result of a sacrifice performed by the gods. Thus, yajna or
sacrifice became the means, and Rita the end.

Main Teachings of Upanishads:

The Upanishads form the concluding portions of the Veda, and are therefore called
the Veda-anta, or the end of the Veda. This suggests that the Upanishads contain the essence
of the teaching of the Vedas. All the important philosophies including the Bauddha are rooted
in the Upanishads. Though the Upanishads are not the systematic philosophy, in the intuitive
philosophy they have no parallel.

The word Upanishad is derived from the Sanskrit root upa-ni-sad – upa means ‘near’,
ni means ‘down’ and sad means ‘to sit’. Literally speaking, the word Upanishad means
“sitting down near” the teacher to receive instruction. It gradually came to mean what one
receives from the teacher, a short of secret doctrine or rahasyam. Sometimes it is made to
mean what enables one to destroy error, and approach truth. Sankara says: “Knowledge of
Brahman is called Upanishad.”

The master conceptions of the age of Upanishads are Brahman, Atman, Moksha,
Samasara, Karma, Upasana and Jnana. The gods recede into the background, the priests are
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subordinated, sacrifices are looked down upon, contemplation takes the place of worship and
the acquisition of divine knowledge takes precedence over the performance of rites and
ceremonies. It is a mistake to say, as some western critics do, that the robust optimism of the
earlier age of the Vedic hymns given place to pessimism in this age. It would be truer to say
that the childish delight in the possession of cattle and crops and victory over the enemy gives
place to true spiritual manhood, which sees that the everlasting happiness of man consists not
in the possessions of this world but in the possession of the soul. The seers of the Upanishads
say, “What shall we do with offspring we who have this Self and this world of Brahman?”
And having risen above the desire for sons, wealth and new worlds, they wander about as
mendicants. They do not long for death, they long for infinite life. They teach that sacrifices
lead only to a temporary heaven after death, where as true knowledge leads to immortal bliss
even here. Thus, in the age of Upanishads, jnana takes the place of Yajna. And the Absolute
Brahman, with which identified Atman or the Spirit in human, takes the place of Prajapati.
Karma is given a wider meaning than ritual and is connected with the idea of rebirth. The
twin doctrines of the Law of Karma and the process of Samsara become the fundamental
basis not only of the school of Hinduism but also of all schools of Buddhism and Jainism.
And liberation from the cycles of births and deaths are to be sought only through Jnana or
realization of the identity of Brahman and Atman the Spirit of the universe and the spirit of
human. In the universal religion Brahman is the goal and Jnana is the means of reaching it.
These two come to occupy the foreground of religious life. All other things become
subsidiary. Varna and ashrama, like the gods and the sacrifices, are pushed into the
background. Even Yoga and tapas, which figure so largely in the religious life of later ages,
are not very prominent in this age. And in place of bhakti, which is the characteristic feature
of the religious life of Medieval India, we have Upasana and meditation, which lead only to
conditioned Brahman. We have as yet to temples or images. No congregational sacrifices.
The religion of the Upanishads is exclusively individualistic. From its very nature it could
only be the religion of the few.

Sutra Texts

Srauta Sutra Grihya Sutra Brahma Sutra

1. Asvalayana 1. Asvalayana Vasistha

2. Sankhayana 2. Sankhayana

Sambavya

I. Masaka I. Gobhila 1. Gautama

Drahayana Khadira

Latayana

I. Baudhayana I Budhayana I Baudhayana

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Apastambha Apastambha Apastambha

Hiranyakesin Hiranyakesin Hiranyakesin

Bharadvaja Bharadvaja

2. Kathaka [3 Manava]

3. Manava 3. Manava

1. Katyana 1. Paraskara

Vaitana Kausika Kausika

2 THE GRIHYA SUTRAS

As the domestic ritual is almost entirely excluded from the Brahmanas, the authors of the
Grihya Sutras had only the authority of popular tradition to rely on when they systematised
the observances of daily life. As a type, the Grihya manuals must be somewhat later than the
Srauta, for they regularly presuppose knowledge of the Srauta Sutras.

2.1 Grihya Sutras give the rules for the numerous ceremonies applicable to domestic life
The Sutras give the rules for the numerous ceremonies applicable to the domestic life
of a man and his family from birth to the grave. For the performance of their ritual only the
domestic (avasathya or vaivahika) fire was required, as contrasted with the three sacrificial
fires of the Srauta Sutras. They describe forty consecrations or sacraments (samskaras)
which are performed at various important epochs in the life of the individual. The first
eighteen, extending from conception to marriage, are called “bodily sacraments”. The
remaining twenty-two are sacrifices. Eight of these, the five daily sacrifices (mahayajna) and
some other “baked offerings” (pakayajna), form part of the Grihya ceremonies, the rest
belonging to the Srauta ritual.
About twelve of these Samskaras are still practised in India.

2.1.1 Sacraments
Pumsavana: ceremony aiming at the obtainment of a son.
Jata-karma: the birth-rite
Nama-karana: the ceremony of giving the child its name (two names). Minute
directions are given as to the quality of the name; for instance, that it should contain an even
number of syllables, begin with a soft letter, and have a semi-vowel in the middle; that for a
Brahman it should end in –sarman, for a Kshatriya in –varman, and a Vaisya in –gupta.
Chuda-karana: ceremony of tonsure, usually at third of a boy.
Go-dana: saving the beard at the age of sixteen.
Upanayana: initiation (Brahmin between eighth to sixteenth year, few years latter for
Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. On this occasion the youth receives a staff, a garment, a girdle, and a
cord worn over one shoulder and under the other arm. In this ceremony the teacher (acharya)
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who initiates the young Brahman is regarded as his spiritual father, and the Savitri as his
mother.
At the end of Brahmacharya, which lasted for twelve years or till the pupil mastered
his Veda, the pupil performed the rite of return (Samvartana), the principal part of which is a
bath, with which he symbolically washes off his apprenticeship. He is now a snataka (“one
who has bathed”).
Vivaha: It is a marriage ceremony – the only one in which girls have a share.
Among the most important duties of the new house-holder Pancamaha-yajna: (1)
brahma-yajna – sacrifice to the Veda or Vedic recitation; (2) deva-yajna – offering to the
gods of melted butter in fire (homa); (3) pitri-yajna – libation (tarpana) to the Manes; (4)
bhuta-yajna – offerings (called bali) deposited in various places on the ground to spirits and
all beings; and (5) manushya-yajna – sacrifice to men ( hospitality to Brhamanas and others).
The firs one is regarded as by far the highest; the recitation of the Savitri, in particular, at
morning and evening worship is as meritorious as having studied the Veda.
Antyeshti: One of the most interesting subjects with which the Grihya Sutras deal is
that of funeral rites and worship of the Pitris. All but children under two years of age are to
be cremated. Before being burnt the corpse is laid on black antelope skin. In the case of a
Kshatriya, his bow (in that of a Brhman his staff, of a Vaisya his goad) is taken from his
hand, broken and cast on the pyre, while a cow or a goat is burnt with the corpse.
A death is followed by a period of impurity, generally lasting three days, during
which the relatives are required, among other things, to sleep on the ground refrain from
eating flesh. On the night after the death a cake is offered to the deceased, a libation of water
is poured out; a vessel with milk and water is also placed in the open air, and the dead man is
called upon to bathe in it. Generally after tenth day the bones are collected and placed in an
urn, which is buried to the accompaniment of the Rigvedic verse “Approach they mother
earth” (X. 18, 10).
A sraddha (offering given with faith), of which it is the special object (ekoddhishta),
is presented to the dead spirit in the preta or ghost state. Before the expiry of a year the spirit
is admitted to the circle of the Manes by a rite which makes it their sapinda (united by the
funeral cake).

2.2 Grihya Sutras of the Rig-Veda

Sankhayana, Sambhavya and Asvalayan (which connected with the Aitareya Brahmana)
belong to the Reg-Veda.
Sankhayana has six books, but oly the first four form the original portion.
Sambhavya is closely connected with Sankhayana and also belongs to the
Kaushitakins.

Grihya Sutra of Asvalayana is connected with the Aitareya Brahmana. The first
aphorism gives us the understanding that it is the continuation of the author’s Srauta Sutra. It
consists of four books.

2.3 Grihya Sutras of the Samaveda

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The chief Grihya Sutra of the Samaveda is that of Gobhila, which is one of the oldest, most
complete, and most interesting works of this class. Besides text of the Samaveda it
presupposes the Mantra Brahmana.
The Grihya Sutra of Khadira, belonging to the Drahyayana school and used by the
Ranayaniya branch of the Samaveda, is little more than Gobhila remodelled in a more
succinct form.

2.4 Grihya Sutra of the White Yajurveda

Paraskara, also known as the Katiya or Vajasaneya, Grihya Sutra belongs to the
White Yajurveda. It is also closely connected with the Srauta Sutra of Katyayana, that it is
often quoted under the name of that author. The later law-book of Yajnavalkya bears
evidence of the influence of Paraskara’s work.

2.6 Grihya Sutras of the Black Yajurveda

Of the seven Grihya Sutras of the Black Yajurveda only three have as yet been
published.
The Grihya of Apastamba forms two books (26-27) of his Kalpa Sutra. The first of
these two books is the Mantrapatha, which is a collection of the formulas accompanying
ceremony. Books XIX and XX of Hiranyakecin’s Kalpa Sutra form his Grihya Sutra.
Baudhayana’s Grihya in known much, still less about that of Bharadvaja.
The Manava Grihya Sutra is closely connected with the Srauta, repeating many of
the statements of the latter verbally. It is interesting as containing a ceremony unknown to
other Grihya Sutras, the worship of the Vinayakas. The passage reappears in a vesified form
in Yajnavalkya’s law-book, where the four Vinayakas are transformed into the one Vinayaka,
the god Ganesa.
The Vaikhanasa Grihya Sutra is an extensive work bearing traces of a late origin.

2.7 Grihya Sutra of the Atharva-Veda

The important Kausika Sutra belongs to the Atharva-Veda. It is not a mere Grihya
Sutra, for besides giving the more important rules of the domestic ritual, it deals with the
magical and other practices specially connected with its Veda. In combination with the
Atharva-Veda it supplies an almost complete picture of the ordinary life of the Vedic Indian.

3 Dharma Sutras
The second branch of the Sutra literature, based on tradition or Smriti, is the Dharma Sutras,
which deal with the customs of everyday life (samayacharika). They are the earliest Indian
works on law, treating fully of its religious, but only partially and briefly of its secular,
aspect. In strict sense, the term Dharma Sutra is applied to those collections of legal
aphorisms which form part of the body of Sutras belonging to a particular branch (sakha) of
the Veda. In this sense only three have been preserved, all of them attached to the Taitiriya
division of the Black Yajuveda.
3.1 The Apastamba Dharma Sutra has been the best preserved and has remained free
from the influence of sectarians of modern editors. This Dharma Sutra chiefly deals with the
duties of the Vedic student and of the householder, with forbidden food, purifications, and
 27

penances, while, on the secular side, it touches upon the law of marriage, inheritance, and
crime only. According Buhler this Dharma Sutra came into existence in about 400 BC.
3.2 The Dharma Sutra of Hiranyakesin is very closely connected with Apastamba.
The lower limit for the separation from the Apastambas is about AD 500.
3.3 The Baudhayana Dharma Sutra is the third Dharma Sutra, generally styled a
dharmasastra in the MSS. Its subject-matter, When compared to that of Apastamba’s
Dharma Sutra, indicates that it is the older of the two, just as the more archaic and awkward
style of Baudhayana’s Grihya Sutra shows the latter to be earlier than the corresponding
work of Apastamba. The subjects dealt with in this Dharma Sutra are multifarious, including
the duties of the four religious orders, the mixed castes, various kinds of sacrifice,
purification, penance, auspicious ceremonies, duties of kings, criminal justice, examination of
witnesses, law of inheritance and marriage the position of women.
3.4 The law-book of Gautama, which is well preserved, must be classed with the
above stated works. Though it does not form part of a Kalpa Sutra, it must at one time have
been connected with a Vedic school.
Though entitled a Dharma Sastra, it is in style and character a regular Dharma Sutra.
It is composed entirely in prose aphorisms, without any admixture of verse, as in the other
works of this class. Its varied contents resemble and are treated much in the same way as
those of the Dharma Sutra of Baudhayana. The latter has indeed been shown to contain
passages based on or borrowed from Gautama’s work, which is therefore the oldest Dharma
Sutra that has been preserved, or at least published, and can hardly date from later
than about 500 BC.
3.5 The Dharma Sastra of Vasistha, which belongs to the Vedic period, is another
work of the Sutra type. This Dharma Sutra/Sastra, like Apastamba, recognizes only six forms
of marriage instead of the orthodox eight. Vasista’s work must be later than that of Gautama,
and earlier than that of Manu.
3.6 Some Dharma Sutras are known from quotations only, the oldest being those
mentioned in other Dharma Sutras. Particular interest attaches to one of these, the Sutra of
Manu, or the Manavas, because of its relationship to the famous Manava dharma-sastra. Of
the numerous quotations from it in Vasistha, six are found unaltered or but slightly modified
in our text of Manu. One passage cited in Vasishtha is composed partly in prose and partly in
verse, the latter portion recurring in Manu. The metrical quotations show a mixture of
trishtubh and sloka verses, like other Dharma Sutras. These quoted fragments probably
represent a Manava dharma-sutra which supplied the basis of our Manava dharma-sastra or
Code of Manu.
3.7 Fragments of a legal treatise in prose and verse attributed to the brothers
Sankha and Likhita, who became proverbial for justice, have been similarly preserved. This
work, which must have been extensive, and dealt with all branches of law, is already quoted
as authoritative by Prasara. The statement of Kumarila (AD 700) that it was connected with
the Vajasaneyin School of the White Yajurveda is borne out by the quotations from it which
have survived.
3.8 There is a Vaikhanasa dharma-sutra in four prasnas, which, as internal evidence
show, cannot be earlier that the third century AD. It is not a regular Dharma Sutra, for it
contains nothing connected with law in the strict sense, but is only a treatise on domestic law
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(grihya-dharma). It deals with the religious duties of the four orders (asrama), especially
with those of the forest hermit.

4 Vedangas: Siksha, Chhandas, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Kalpa and Jyotisa

The whole body of Vedic works composed in the Sutra style, is according to the
Indian traditional view, divided into six classes called Vedangas (members of the Veda).
These are: Siksa, or phonetics; Chhandas or metre; Vyakarana or grammar; Nirukta or
etymology; Kalpa or religious practice; and Juotisa or astronomy. The first four were meant
as aids to the correct reciting and understanding of the sacred texts; the last two deal with
religious rites or duties and their proper seasons. The last four furnish the beginnings or the
full development of five branches of science that flourished in the post-Vedic period.
4.1 Jyotisa: The Vedic calendar, called Jyotisa, the two recessions of which profess to
belong to the Rigveda and Yajurveda respectively, dates from far on in the post-Vedic age.
4.2 Siksa: The Taittiriya Aranyaka (viii: I) already mentions Siksa or phonetics, a
subject which even then appears to have dealt with letters, accents, quantity, pronunciation,
and euphonic rules. Several works bearing the title of Siksa have been preserved, but they are
only late supplements of Vedic literature.
4.3 Nirukta: The Nirukta, besides being very important from the point of view of
exegesis and grammar, is highly interesting as the earliest specimen of Sanskrit prose of the
classical type, considerably earlier than Panini himself.

5 The Itihasas (Epics)

The Sanskrit literature (which is essentially different from the Vedic age in matter, form and
spirit) developed at the end of the Vedic period. Vedic literature is essentially religious,
whereas, Sanskrit literature, abundantly developed in every other direction, is profane. The
religion itself which now prevails in the Sanskrit literature is very different from that of the
Vedic period. The three great gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the chief objects of
worship. The important deities of the Veda have sunk to a subordinate position, though Indra
is still relatively prominent as the king of heaven. Some new gods – such as Kubera (god of
wealth), Ganesa (god of learning), Karttikeya (god of war), Sri or Lakshmi (goddess of
beauty and fortune), Durga or Parvati (the terrible spouse of Siva), several serpent deities,
demigods, demons – have arisen.

The spirit of Vedic literature, at least in its earlier phase, is optimistic, whereas,
Sanskrit poetry is pervaded by pessimism, resulting from the now universally accepted
doctrine of transmigration.

The fondness for introducing the marvellous and supernatural into the description of
human events goes a tendency to exaggeration. Thus King Visvamitra practised penance for
thousands of years in succession; and the power of asceticism is described as so great as to
cause even the worlds and the gods to tremble. The very bulk of the Mahabharata, consisting
as it does of more than 200,000 lines, is a concrete illustration of this defective sense of
proportion.
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The prose, which was employed in the Yajurvedas and the Brahmanas, almost
disappears in the Sanskrit, because almost every branch of literature being treated in verse.
The only departments almost entirely restricted to the use of prose are grammar and
philosophy.

Sanskrit literature, then, resembles that of the earlier Vedic age in being almost
entirely metrical. But the metres in which it is written, though nearly all based on those of the
Veda, are different. The bulk of the literature is composed in the Sloka, a development of the
Vedic anushtubh stanza of four octosyllabic (containing eight syllables) lines; but while all
four lines ended iambically (a metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable) in the prototype, the first and third line have in the sloka
acquired a trochaic (one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable) rhythm.

Sanskrit epic poetry falls into two main classes. That which comprises old stories goes
by the name of Itihasa, “legend,” Akhyana, “narrative,” or purana, “ancient tale,” while the
other is called Kavya or artificial epic. The Mahabharata is the chief and oldest
representative of the former group, the Ramayana of the latter. Both these great epics are
composed in the same form of the sloka metre as that employed in classical Sanskrit poetry.

The Ramayana is the work of a single poet, homogeneous in plan and execution,
composed in the east of India. The Mahabharata, arising in the western half of the country, is
a congeries of parts, the only unity about which is the connectedness of the epic cycle with
which they deal; its epic kernel, moreover, which forms only about one-fifth of the whole
work, has become so overgrown with didactic matter, that in its final shape it is not an epic at
all, but an encyclopaedia of moral teaching.

5.1 The Mahabharata

The Mahabharata, which in its present form consists of over 100,000 slokas, equal to
about eight times as much as the Iliad and Odyssey put together, is by far the longest poem
known to literary history. It is a conglomerate of epic and didactic matter divided into
eighteen books called parvan, with a nineteenth, the Harivamsa, as a supplement. The books
vary very considerably in length, the twelfth being the longest, with nearly 14,000, the
seventeenth the shortest, with only 312 slokas. All the eighteen books, excepting the eighth
and the last three, are divided into subordinate parvans; each book is also cut up into chapters
(adhyaya).

The epic kernel of the Mahabharata, or the “Great Battle of the descendants of
Bharata,” consisting of about 20,000 slokas, describes the eighteen days’ fight between
Duryodhana, leader of the Kurus, and Yudhisthira, chief of the Pandus, who were cousins,
both descended from King Bharata, son of Sakuntala. Within this narrative frame has come to
be included a vast number of old legends about gods, kings, and sages; accounts of
cosmogony and theogony; disquisitions on philosophy, law, religion, and the duties of the
military caste. The Mahabharata claims to be not only a heroic poem (kavya), but a
compendium teaching, in accordance with the Veda, the fourfold and of human existence
(spiritual merit, wealth, pleasure and salvation), a smriti or work of sacred tradition, which
 30

expounds the whole duty of man, and is intended for the religious instruction of all Hindus.
Thus, in one (I. lxii. 35) of many similar passages, it makes the statement about itself that
“this collection of all sacred texts, in which the greatness of cows and Brahmans is exalted,
must be listened to by virtuous minded men.” Its title, Krishna Veda, or “Veda of Krishna,”
the occurrence of a famous invocation of Narayana and Nara (names of Visnu) at the
beginning of each of its larger sections, and the prevalence of Visnuite doctrines throughout
the work, prove it to have been a smriti of the ancient Visnuite sect of the Bhagavatas.

In Book I we find the direct statements that the poem at one time contained 24,000
slokas before the episodes (upakhyana) were added. It originally consisted of only 8,800
slokas, and that it has three beginnings. It is probable that the epic underwent three stages of
development from the time it first assumed definite shape; and this conclusion is corroborated
by various internal and external arguments.

The historical germ of the epic is to be traced to a very early period, which cannot
well be later than the tenth century BC. In the Yajurveda the Kurus and Pancalas (the
conflicting tribes) already appear united, and in the Kathaka King Dhritarastra Vaicitravirya,
one of the chief figures of the Mahabharata, is mentioned as a well-known person. Old songs
about the ancient feud and the heroes who played a part in it, must have been handed down
by word of mouth and recited in popular assemblies or at great public sacrifices.

The original form of our epic came into being about the fifth century BC. To this
period also belongs the figure of Brahma as the highest god. The evidence of Pali literature
show that Brahma already occupied that position in Buddha’s time. The oldest evidence we
have for the existence of the Mahabharata in some shape or other is to be found in
Asvalayana’s Brihya Sutra, where a Bharata and Mahabharata are mentioned. This would
also point to about the fifth century BC.

Moreover, the Yavanas or Greeks are mentioned in the Mahabharata as allies of the
Kurus, and even the Sakas (Scythians) and Pahlavas (Parthians) are named along with them;
Hindu temples are also referred to as well as Buddhist relic mounds. Thus an extension of the
original epic must have taken place after 300 BC and but the beginning of our era.

The episodes of the Mahabharata are numerous and often extensive, constituting
about four-fifths of the whole poem. Many of them are interesting for various reasons, and
some are distinguished by considerable poetic beauty. One of them, the story of Sakuntala,
supplied Kalidasa with the subject of his famous play. Episodes are specially plentiful in
Book III, being realted to while away the time of the exiled Pandus. Here is found the
Matsyopakhyana, or “Episode of the fish,” being the story of the flood, narrated with more
diffuseness than the simple story told in the Satapatha Brahmana. The fish here declares
itself to be Brahma, Lord of Creatures, and not yet Visnu, as in the Bhagavata Purana. Manu
no longer appears as the progenitor of mankind, but as a creator who produces all beings and
worlds anew by means of his ascetic power.
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Another episode is the history of Rama, interesting in its relation of Valmiki’s

Ramayana, which deals with the same subject at much greater length. The myth of the
descent of the Ganges from heaven to earth, here narrated, is told in the Ramayana also.

In the story of Savitri we have one of the finest of the many ideal femal characters
which the older epic poetry of India has created. Savitri, daughter of Asvapati, kind of Madra,
chooses as her husband Satyavat, the handsome and noble son of a blind and exiled king, who
dwells in a forest hermitage. Though warned by the sage Narada that the price is fated to live
but a single year, she persists in her choice, and after the wedding departs with her husband to
his father’s forest retreat.

5.2 The Ramayana

The Ramayana, in its present form, consists of about 24,000 slokas, and is divided into seven
books. It has been preserved in three distinct recensions, the West Indian (A), the Bengal (B),
and the Bombay (C). About one-third of the slokas in each recension occurs in neither of the
other two. The Bombay recension has in most cases preserved the oldest form of the text.

5.2.1 Kavya or Artificial Epic

The Ramayana was here treated as a regular kavya or artificial epic, a fate which the
Mahabharata escaped because it early lost its original character, and came to be regarded as a
didactic work.

5.2.2 Original Ramayana

Professor Jacobi, after the careful investigations, has shown that the Ramayana
originally consisted of five books, only II to VI. The seventh is undoubtedly a later addition,
for the conclusion of the sixth was evidently at one time the end of the whole poem. Again,
the first book has several passages which conflict with statements in the later books.

5.2.3 Etymological Understanding of Kusilava

We are told in the Ramayana itself that the poem was either recited by professional
minstrels or sung to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, being handed down orally,
in the first place by Rama’s two sons Kusa and Lava. These names are nothing more than the
inventions of popular etymology meant to explain the Sanskrit work kusilava, “bard” or
“actor”. The tribal hero of the former has in the latter been transformed into a national hero,
the moral ideal of the people; and the human hero of the five genuine books has in the first
and last become deified and identified with the god Vishnu, his divine nature in these
additions being always present to the minds of their authors.

5.2.4 Original Place of Its Origin

As to the place of its origin, there is good reason for believing that the Ramayana
arose in Kosala, the country ruled by the race of Ishvaku in Ayodhya (UP). In Ayodhya, then,
there must have been current among the court bards (suta) a number of epic tales narrating
the fortunes of the Ikshvaku hero Rama.

5.2.5 Age of the Ramayana

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The original part of the Ramayana appears to have been completed at a time when the
epic kernel of the Mahabharata had not as yet assumed definite shape. The reason is that the
heroes of the latter are not mentioned in the Ramayana, whereas the story of Rama is often
referred to in the longer epic. Again, in a passage of Book VII of the Mahabharata, which
cannot be regarded as a later addition, two lines are quoted as Valmiki’s that occur unaltered
in Book VI of the Ramayana. In Book III (cantos 277-291) of the latter epic, moreover, there
is a Ramopakhyana or “Episode of Rama”, which seems to be based on the Ramayana, as it
contains several verses agreeing more or less with Valmiki’s lines.

A further question of importance in determining the age of the Ramayana is its

relation to Buddhistic literature. Now, the story of Rama is found in a somewhat altered form
in one of the Pali Birth-Stories, the Dasaratha Jataka. The only mention of Buddha in the
Ramayana occurs in a passage which is evidently interpolated. Hence the balance of the
evidence in relation to Buddhism seems to favour the pre-Buddhistic origin of the genuine
Ramayana.

The question whether the Greeks were known to the author of our epic is, of course,
also of chronological moment. An examination of the poem shows that the Yavanas (Greeks)
are only mentioned twice, once in Book I and once in a canto of Book IV, which Jacobi
thinks to be an interpolation. The only conclusion to be drawn form this is that the additions
to the original poem were made some time after 300 BC.

All the above mentioned points point to the conclusion that the original Ramayana
was composed when the ancient Ayodhya had not yet been deserted, but was still the chief
city of Kosala, when its new name of Saketa was still unknown, and before the seat of
government was transferred to Sravasti.

5.2.6 Political Condition in the Ramayana

The political conditions described in the Ramayana indicate the patriarchal rule of
kings possessing only small territory, and never point to the existence of more complex
states; while the references of the poets of the Mahabharata to the dominions in Eastern India
ruled by a powerful king, Jarasandha, and embracing many lands besides Magadha, reflect
the political conditions of the fourth century BC. The cumulative evidence of the above
arguments makes it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the kernel of the Ramayana was
composed before 500 BC, while the more recent portions were probably not added till the
second century BC and later.

5.2.7 Story of the Ramayana

The story of the Ramayana, as narrated in the five genuine books, consists of two
distinct parts. The first describes the events at the court of King Dasaratha at Ayodhya and
their consequences. Here we have a purely human and natural account of the intrigues of a
queen to set her son upon the throne. For Ikshvaku, Dasaratha, and Rama are the names of
celebrated and mighty kings, mentioned even in the Rigveda, though not here connected with
one another in any way.
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The character of the second part is entirely different Based on a foundation of myths,
it is full of the marvellous and fantastic.

There is much more probability in the opinion of Jacobi, that the Ramayana contains
no allegory at all, but is based on Indian mythology. The foundation of the second part would
thus be a celestial myth of the Veda transformed into a narrative of earthly adventures
according to a not common development. Sita can be traced to the Rigveda, where she
appears as the Furrow personified and invoked as a goddess.

The main story of the Ramayana begins with an account of the city of Ayodhya under
the rule of the mighty king Dasaratha, the sons of whose three wives, Kausalya, Kaikeyi, and
Simitra, are Rama, Bharata, and Lakshmana respectively. Rama is married to Sita, daughter
of Janaka, king of Veideha. Dasaratha, feeling the approach of old age, one day announces in
a great assembly that he desires to make Rama heir-apparent, an announcement received with
general rejoicing because of Rama’s great popularity. Kaikeyi, meanwhile, wishing her son
Bharat to succeed, reminds the king that he had once offered her the choice of two boons, of
which she had as yet not availed herself. When Dasaratha at last promises to fulfil whatever
she may desire, Kaikeyi requests him to appoint Bharata his successor, and to banish Rama
for fourteen years.

The Ramayana contains several interesting episodes, though, of course, far fewer than
the Mahabharata. One of them, a thoroughly Indian story, full of exaggerations and
impossibilities, is the legend, told in Book I, of the descent of the Ganges. It relates how the
sacred river was brought down from heaven to earth in order to purify the remains of the
60,000 sons of king Sagara, who were reduced to as hes by the sage Kapila when his
devotions were disturbed by them.

Another episode (I:52-65) is that of Visvamitra, a powerful king, who comes into
conflict with the great sage Vasistha by endeavouring to take away his miraculous cow by
force. Visvamitra then engages in mighty penances, in which he resists the seductions of
beautiful nymphs, and which extend over thousands of years, till he finally attains
Brahmanhood, and is reconciled with his rival, Vasistha.

THE PURANAS

Closely connected with the Mahabharata is a distinct sectarian in purpose, going by

the name of Purana. The term purana is already found in the Brahmanas designating
cosmogonic inquiries generally. It is also used in the Mahabharata somewhat vaguely to
express “ancient legendary lore,” implying didactic as well as narrative matter, and pointing
to an old collection of epic stories. One passage of the Epic (I.v.i) describes purana as
containing stories of the gods and genealogies of the sages. In Book XVIII., as well as in the
Harivamsa, mention is even made of eighteen Puranas, which, however, have not been
preserved; for those known to us are all, on the whole, later than the Mahabharata, and for
the most part derive their legends of ancient days from the great epic itself.
 34

Besides cosmogony, the puranas deal with mythical descriptions of the earth, the
doctrine of the cosmic ages, the exploits of ancient gods, saints, and heroes, accounts of the
Avataras of Vishnu, the genealogies of the Solar and Lunar races of kings, and enumerations
of the thousand names of Vishnu or of Siva. They also contain rules about the worship of the
gods by means of prayers, fasting, votive offerings, festivals, and pilgrimages.

The Extant Puranas

Extant Puranas are 18 in numbers. They are also called Maha-Puranas to distinguish
them from Upa-Puranas. Maha Purana possess ten characteristics. The Upa-Puranas have
the following pancha Lakshanas:
(i) Sarga (creation), (ii) Pratisarga (recreation), (iii) Vamsa (genealogies of gods
and sages), (iv) Manvantarni (the period of time of Manu), and (v) Vamsanucarita (the
history of the dynasties).
None of the 18 major Puranas are earliest than the Gupta Period (Ad 320-480),
although much of the legendary material is older. The Puranas consist of vast compendia of
ancient legend, religious instructions, folklore, mythology, tales of the gods, cosmogony,
sacred places, rites, astrology and medical practices. This composition is ascribed to Vyasa,
the legendary author of the Mahabharata and the Vedas.
The eighteen Puranas are: Vishnu, Agni, Bhavisya, Bhagavata, Naradiya, Garuda,
Padma, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda, Brahma, Brahmanda,
Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya and Vamana, In some lists the Vayu Purana is substituted
for Agni Purana, in others for the Siva Purana. The Vayu Purana is perhaps the oldest; some
others may be as late as the 15th or 16th century, but all appear to have gone much re-editing.

According to the Padma Purana, the Puranas ar classified into six Saiva, six Vaisnava
and six Brahma Puranas. They are classified according to three gunas:

(1) Saiva Puranas (Taamasa): Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda and Agni.

(2) Vaisnava Puranas (Sattvika): Visnu, Narada, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma and Varaha.

(3) Brahma Puranas (Rajas): Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahmavaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavisya

and Vamana.
The Garuda also gives the classification but with a slight modification. The
Bhagavata, Vishnu, Garuda, Matsya, Kurma, and Vayu are described as sattvika. And of
these six, the Bhagavata, Vishnu and Garuda are extolled as superior, because they are the
object of special favor of the god Hari or Vishnu. It is noteworthy, here, that in the list of the
Sattvika Puaranas the Vayu otherwise known as Siva, is also included, though its rightful
place would be in the category of Tamasa Puranas. The Skanda, Padma, Vamana, Varaha,
Agni and Bhavisya are Rajas, whereas the Brahmanda, Linga, Brahmavivarta, Markandeya,
Brahma and Aditya are described as Tamasa.

Contents and Gathas:

A perusal of the extant Puranic literature shows the varied nature of its contents which
may be analyzed as follows:
i) Gatha and Akhyana or legendary accounts, ii) Vamsa or genealogy of the Vedic
seers and the kings, iii) Mythology, iv) cosmogony, v) Dharmasastra matter, vi) popular
religious beliefs, and vii) Miscellaneous topics.

Genealogy
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The Puranas have preserved the genealogies of solar and Lunar dynasties, as also their
branch lines. The Solar dynasty was founded by Manu’s sons Iksavaku, Nabhogodista,
Sarayati, and others who established their lines repectively in the North, East and West.
Iksavaku founded the main solar line in which great kings Kakustha, Sravasta, Harischandra,
Mandhatri, Sagara, Asamanjas, Raghu, Rama and others were born. From this line there
branched off another line from Nimi, the second son of Iksavaku. This line ruled in the east
and was famous for its philosopher kings.
The Lunar dynasty was founded by Pururavas Aila, the son of Manu’s daughter Ilaa.
Yavati, fourth in descent from the founder, was a very important ruler, whose five sons Yadu,
Turvasa, Anu and Puru originated five lines in different parts of India, Puru, the youngest,
continued the main line, in which were born great kings like Apratiratha, Dusyanta, Bharata,
Vitatha, Bharadvaja and others. Yadu, the eldest, established his line in the south in which
illustrious kings like Mahismat, Kritavirya, Arjuna and others were born.

Authorship:
It is popularly accepted belief that Vyasa, the son of Satyavati, is the author of all
eighteen Puranas. According to the tradition, preserved in the Puranas themselves, Purana
was originally one, as formulated by Krishna Dvaipayana, who arranged Veda into four and
was thus called Veda Vyasa.
Bhagavad Purana

It consists of 12 skandhas (books) and three hundred and thirty-five adhyayas. Though
traditionally described as possessing 18,000 slokas it consists not more than 14,099 verses.

“Bhagavata Purana is a storehouse of religious, philosophical, historical, socio-

cultural and political information of ancient India. It is full of information on subjects like
music, astronomy, astrology, archtecture, economics, geography, etc., of the ancient Indian
society”, writes Ghana Kanta Bhagwati in The Bhagavata Purana: A Socio-Cultural Study,
Allahabad: Anupam bhawan, 1988. P. 24.

Skandha-One commences with the meditation of the Supreme Being and

simultaneously advocates the essence of the Vedantic faith. It further contains the description
of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu (by Suta), narration of the spiritual dissatisfaction of
Vyasa and his meeting with Narada and initiation of the former by the latter to the spiritual
knowledge, description of the pathetic demise of the children of Draupadi and the rescue of
Parikshita in the foetus, Bhisma’s hymn of praise to Krishna, Kunti’s glorification of the Lord
Krishna’s return to Dvaraka, the retirement of Dhritarastra to forest, the advent of Kali and
the curse imposed on the Parikshita. It concludes with the arrival of Sukadeva to the bank of
the Ganges where Parishita was on his fast unto death.

Skandha-Two cantinas the description of the Supreme Being, devotees aftyer death,
the result of worship, Sulas glorification of Vishnu, origin of the universe, enumeration of the
incarnation of Vishnu, short summery of BP and evolution of cosmic form.

Skandha-Three consists the conversation of Vidura and Uddhava on Lord Krishna,

account of the primary creation, the birth of the cosmic Purusa, Brahma’s hymn of praise, the
ten kinds of creation, measurement of time, manifold creation of Brahma, Vishnu in the Boar
incarnation, account of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu, curse on the attendants of Vishnu,
 36

the killing of Hiranyaksha, extraordinary creation of Brahma, the marriage of Kardolama

with Devahuti, the birth of Kapila, Kapila’s Sankhya doctrine, bhaktiyoga, development of
foetus in the mother’s womb, liberation by devotion, Devahuti’s emancipation.

Skandha-Four includes the description of the patriarchs, Daksha legend, killing of

Daksha by Virabhadra, restoration of life of Daksha by Siva, the story of Dhruva, the
misdeeds of king Vina, killing of Vena, incarnation of Vishnu as Prithu, activities and death
of prithu, the allegory of Puranajnana and Narada’s explanation and teaching of Narada to
pracetasas.

Skandha-Five contains the stories of Priyavrata, Agnidhara, Nabhi, Risabha, Bharat,

other descendents of Priyavrata, divisions of Dvipas (Jambu, Plaksha, kusa, Salmali, Kaunca,
Saka and Puskara); position of Moon, planets and the Polar Stars, and the accounts of the
nether-worlds and punishment in hells.

Skandha-Six consists the story of Ajamila, power of devotion to Hari, Daksha’s

eulogy to Bishnu, Narada’s instruction to the sons of Daksha, marriage of the daughters of
Daksha, Indra’s plight for the negligence of his guru Brihaspati, killing of Visvarupa, birth of
Vrittra, making of thunderbolt out of the bones of Dadhici, killing of Vrittra, the legend of
Citraketu, the birth of the Maruts and the Pumsavanavrata.

Skandha-Seven consists the accounts of the impartiality of the Lord Narayana,

remorse of Hiranyakasipu’s oppression of the world, incarnation of Narasimha (man-lion)
and killing of the demon Hiranyakasipu, glorification by Prahlada of the Lord Vishnu, the
discourse of Narada on Dharma, Vranasrama dharma and path of salvation.

Skandha-Eight contains the description of the Manvantaras, story of the elephant

king and the crocodile, Gajendra’s final deliverance, prayer of Brahma to Vishnu to help the
Gods churning of the Ocean for nectar, drinking of poison by Siva, emergence of nectar,
distribution of nectar, war between the gods and the demons, the Mohini episode, later
Manvantara, reign of Vali, Payovrata rite, Lord’s promise to Aditi, the Vamana incarnation,
deception of Vali by Vamana, coronation of Vamana as Upendra, fish incarnation of Vishnu.

Skandha-Nine consists the birth of Ila (the daughter of Sraddha and Manu), other
sons of Vaivasvata Manu, story of Sukanya, conflict of Durvasas and Ambarisa, rescue of
Durvasa by Ambarisa, accounts of the Kakutstha, Mandhata and Subhari, the story of
Harischandra and exilement and his descendents, family of Nimi, accounts of the Lunar
Dynasty, activities of Parasurama, stories of Pururava, Yayati, Dusyanta, Rantideva, accounts
of the Kauravar and the Pandavas and the birth of Balarama and Sri Krishna.

Skandha-Ten includes the marriage of Devaki, the birth of Krishna, different

activities of Krishna and his bravery; Killing of Kamsa, Jarasandha and Sisupala, wedlock of
Arjuna and Sibhadra, the episode of Siva and Vriskasura, the conversation of Narada and
Narauana, etc.

Skadha-Eleven includes the Brahmana’s curse on the Yadavas, teaching of Dharma

to Nimi by the nine yogis, importance of devotion, conversation of Krishna and Uddhava,
 37

knowledge of a Brahmana from various natural sources, Vaidika and Tantriaka systems,
description of Bibhuti of Lord Krishna, Varnasramadharma, jnana and bhakti marga,
Kriyayoga, the Suprme Goal, Uddhava’s departure for the Badarikasrama, annihilation of the
Yadava race, Krishna’s final resort to Vaikunta.

Skandha-Twelve consists the accounts of the royal dynasties of the Kaliyuga, the
advent of Kali, the four Pralayas, death of Pariksita, the serpent sacrifice of Janmejaya,
charactersistics of the Puranas, Markandeya legend, worship of the Lord and his symbol,
book wise synopsis of the BP, and the greatness of the Bhagavad Purana.

There were 81 commentaries on BP in Sanskrit, but some of them are lost.

“Bhagavata-Bhavartha-Dipika” of Ssridhara Svamin (13th C.A.D.) is regarded as the most
popular and oldest among the commentaries.

Smriti

Sastras, Itihasas, Puranas, Agamas, Drsanas and other popular literature belong to this
category. All these writings draw inspiration from the Vedas and accept the Vedas as the final
authority. The Dharma-sastras include the “Law of Manu” (for Krita Yuga), “Law of
Yajnavalkya” (for Treta Yuga), “Sankha’s and Likhita’s Law” (for Dvapara Yuga), and
“Parasara’s Law” (for Kali Yuga), to guide the individuals and the communities. The
Ramayana (the author was Valmiki) and Mahabharata are the Itihasas.
There are eighteen major Puranas and many sub-puranas. The term Purana means old
or ancient. The aim of Puranas is to spread the religious knowledge and to evoke devotion
among the mass through myths, stories, legends and other heroic deeds of the past. Agamas
are the theological treatises and manuals of worship. There are three categories of Agamas,
and those are Saiva Agamas, Vaisnava Agamas and Sakta Agamas. There are six
Philosophical systems, which are known as Darsanas, in India. They are: Nyaya and
Vaisesika; Sankhya and Yoga; and Mimamsa and Vedanta. The popular literatures include
Buddhist, Jain, and Tamil (divya Prabhanda) and some vernacular devotional literatures.

Agamas

Description of Agamas: Agama means to come down. The term is used in contradiction to
Nigama or Vedic texts. In general the term Agama is applied to the scriptures and the
theological manuals of the principal Hindu sects. They contain mythologies, epics, and
ritualistic and spiritual matters.

Numbers of Agamas:

Saivites traditionally list twenty-eight agamas and hundred and eight upagamas
(lesser teachings), which constitute the common source from which all Saivite doctrines are
drawn. The Saktas recognize seventy seven agamas, which are known as the Saktangamas
(Saktamas) or tantras, although this figure does not indicate the number of tantras actually in
existence. The Vaisnavites consider the Pancharatra Agamas to be authoritative, although
they often refer to their scriptures as samhitas.
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The Epics and the Bhagavad Gita:

The Epic Age was a period of great expansion and of a new political outlook.
Memories of the Asokan Empire made the Hindus feel that India, in spite of all its
complexity of races, kingdoms and creeds, was really one. This fundamental unity is enforced
in several passages in the Mahabharata, and its recognition is one of the great landmarks of
our history. The special problem then was, as it is again today, how to bring about unity in a
vast mass of heterogeneous people comprising various races with different levels of culture.
To bring about unity among the heterogeneous people the teaching of the Upanishads was
brought home to the understanding of the common man through the stories, the dialogues and
the ideal characters in the epic. The gates of the temple were thus at last thrown open to all
classes. The knowledge, which had remained the exclusive possession of a small class, was
made available for all. Not only that, there was a great fusion of the Aryan culture with the
Dravidian culture. The principle on which Siva had been identified with the Vedic Rudra and
included among the gods was now extended. The gods and goddesses worshipped by the
common people were given honored places in the Hindu pantheon. As a result we find in this
period the extension of organized sects, the worshippers of Vishnu, of Siva and of Sakti, in
addition to the Smarta, who were the followers of the Vedic tradition. We have frequent
references to such sects in the Mahabharata. Siva and Durga henceforth become as great
deities as Vishnu.

In the epics the Hindu scheme of life which is expressed by the formula of Dharam-
artha-kama-moksha and which had originated in the preceding period was now definitely
fixed and widely taught. The nation builders of the epic age clearly laid down that the
purpose of life was fourfold, namely dharma (duty) artha (wealth), kama (desire) and moksa
(liberation). The first three of these constitute the path of pravritti (active life) and have to be
gained in domestic life. That is, a man has to be a member of society and discharge his duties
as a householder and citizen. He has to acquire wealth, gratify his legitimate desires and at
the same time practice virtue. The final stage of life for which his whole career has been a
preparation is one of nivritti or complete surrender and hence moksha or liberation. Thus the
formula of Dharma-artha-kama-moksha, which indicates the ideal of a complete life, taking
into account all the facts of human nature without doing violence either to the flesh or to the
spirit, was a corrective to the monastic Buddhism of the times. It was proclaimed in a
thousand different ways in all the literature of the Hindu Renaissance – the two Epics the
code of Manu and subsequent Puranas.

In accordance with the scheme of life thus outlined, domestic virtues were glorified
and a philosophy of active life was developed. Ideal types of character representing all stages
of life were clothed in epic grandeur and set before the nation. We have in the epics not only
the ideal sanyasin or hermit, but also the ideal king, the chaste wife, the loyal brothers, the
disciplined student, the virtuous citizen and the faithful servant. The cold and austere
metaphysic was kept in the background and the warm theistic elements in the Upanishads
were developed and emphasis was laid on the personal aspect of the deity. In the place of the
 39

impersonal or supra-personal Absolute, we have now an Ishvara, a personal God who has
created all things, who upholds the order of the universe and who readily responds to the call
of bhakti or devotion. For instance the Bhagavan of the Gita is not only an immanent
principle in the universe, not only the “thread on which the pearls of creation are stung” but
also the friend and saviour of human. He assures that who does good ever treads the path of
woe, that no devotee of his will ever perish and that those who love him “entering their hearts
and dispelling the darkness of ignorance by the shining lamp of wisdom”. He assures that in
times of national decadence he appears on the scene to protect righteous men, that no sin can
really pursue a man who has taken refuge in him and that peace comes to the soul which
recognizes him as “the Lord of all the worlds, the friend of all beings and the Recipient of all
sacrifices and austerities.” Thus he is not only a creator and destroyer, but also a loving
protector. Hence arose in this period the Hindu conception of Trimurti or the threefold form
of God.

But the most noteworthy development in the epic age is the popularization of the
doctrine of Avatara or incarnation. The doctrine of divine incarnation is but a step from that
of Trimurti. It is Vishnu, the protector, himself, that out of his compassion for mankind
comes down from time to time in the shape of a human or an animal. The further logical steps
in the same process are images, temples, processions, pilgrimages – in a word, all the
paraphernalia of a popular religion with which we are well acquainted. In the Age of the
Sutras the sacrificial altar was more important than the temple, in the age of the epics the
temple becomes more important than the altar and image worship takes the place of
sacrifices.

The scripture: Remaining faithful to the Upanishadic tradition re-interprets it and applies it
to the practical life. The Vedantic Absolute is there, but it becomes a personal God. The old
ideal of sanyasa is there, but it is a sanyasa to be practiced in active life. The spirit of
sanyasa should pervade all the activities of a man, whether he is a student or a householder or
a recluse. One should learn to leave in the world without becoming worldly, as a lotus leaf
rests on water without becoming wet. Ones senses should learn to move freely amidst sense-
objects without feeling attraction or repulsion and to act always in obedience to the higher
self. True sanyasa does not consist merely in retiring from the world but in subduing it to the
purposes of the soul. Pravritti and Nivritti need to be two different paths opposed to each
other. On the other hand former should be a preparation for the latter.

The Gita extends the traditional concepts of yoga, karma, Yajna, Varna, and
dharma. Yoga in the Gita is not merely thought-control as in the technical Yoga-shastra, but
the whole of spiritual life, which aims the union with the supreme. Karma in the Gita does
not mean mere obligatory or optional rites as in the ritualistic codes, but all human actions
having any moral or spiritual value. And the status of one’s soul is to be determined ethically
and ritualistically. It is to be judged by standards of moral purity and not of ceremonial
purity. So also yajna in the Gita does not mean animal sacrifices, nor sacrifices of merely
material objects, but all activities of man prompted by a spirit of sacrifice. A life of self-
control is a sacrifice, a life of disinterested scholarship is a sacrifice and even a simple
exercise in breath control for the purification of the mind is a sacrifice in its own way. Lastly,
 40

dharma in the Gita is not simply the caste-duty of popular ethics, but the duty imposed on
man by his own nature and tendencies as well as by his birth and profession, and it has
always to be judged in the light of the end, viz. Yoga, which it has in view. Thus the Gita
follows the old tradition, but everywhere extends it in such a way as to recreate it. It retains
the old Upanishadic ideal of jnana, but balances with karma and bhakti.

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana in their final form mark the end of a great
epoch. For by this time Hinduism had already adopted almost all the main features and
characteristics, with which we are familiar to-day, viz., the conception of the impersonal
Brahman and the personal Isvara, the supreme authority of the Veda, the Law of Karma and
rebirth, the formulas of Varna-ashrama-dharma and Dharma-artha-kama-moksha, the
threefold path of karma, bhakti jnana, the doctrines of trimurti and avatara, of Ishta devata
and Adhikara, the rituals of image and temple worship, the sectarian beliefs and practices of
the Vaishnavas, Saivas and Saktas, faith in pilgrimages, the sanctity of the cow, etc.

Caste System:

The Samaskaras:

The meaning of the word samskara: No correct translation can be given in English.
Ceremony (Lt. Caerimonia) also does not convey the full meaning. Rather it corresponds
with Sanskrit Karman, religious act in general. It does not mean “more outward religious rite,
polite observances, empty form, stately usage, formalities and punctilious behavior”, as
generally understood by some people. It, also, does not mean rites and rituals, alone which
give the understanding of “form of procedure, action required or usual in a religious or
solemn ceremony or observance, or a body of usage characteristic of a church. Sacrament
(English) renders the closer meaning “religious ceremony or act regarded as outward and
visible sign of inward and spiritual grace” (Catholic rites – baptism, confirmation, the
Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders and matrimony). It (sacrament) also means
confirmation of some promise or oath; things of mysterious significance, sacred influence
and symbol. Thus it overlaps many other religious spheres which, in Sanskrit literature, are
covered by suddhi, “purification”, prayaschita, “atonement”, Vratas, “vows”, etc.

There are sixteen major generally accepted samskaras. They are:

1. Garbhadana Samskara (Impregnation Rite): It is that act or ritual in or by which the

impregnation ensured or materialized, seed fluid for conception is established or made firm.
According to ancient Indian tradition the man be of twenty and woman should be of
minimum of sixteen years old, when this sacrament is carried out.

2. Pumsavana Samskara ((procreation rite): This ritual is performed for health and vigour of
the child in the mother’s womb. The time for the ceremony is to be fixed in the second or
third month from the period when it is known that pregnancy is ensured.

3. Simantonayana Samskara (Pregnancy rite): This ritual is performed in the fourth month,
after the time of pregnancy, on the day of moon light when moon is connected with stars,
 41

which has masculine names namely, Punarvasu, Pushya, Anurvdhas, Mula, Sravana, Asvini
and Mrigasiras. This is related to physical and spiritual wellbeing of the pregnant woman.

4. Jatakarma Samskara (Birth Rite): It is a religious ritual which is is to be performed at the

time of birth of a child. Manu says, “Before the naval cord is cut, the birth rite must be
performed for a child; and while sacred mantras are being recited, he must be fed with ghee,
honey and butter.”

5. Namakarana Samskara (Name giving Rite): It is a rite in which child is given a name.
This ritual is to be held on eleventh or twelfth day after the birth or on lucky Luner day,
which is auspicious day. Name of a Brahmin child denote something auspicious, a Kshtriya’s
child be connected with power, a Vaisya’s connected with wealth, but a Sudra’s denote
something contemptible. The name of a girl child should be easy to pronounce, should not
imply anything dreadful, should possess a plain meaning, be pleasing and auspicious, end in
long vowels, and contain a word of benediction.

6. Nishkarman Samskara (Outing Rite): It is to be performed in the fourth month, after the
birth of a child. In this ritual the child is taken out of the house to a place of pure and fresh air
and elevated by parents with Vedic ceremonies.

7. Annaprasanna Samskara (Feeding Rite): This ritual too is carried out with Vedic rite in
the six month. In this ritual the child, for the first time, is fed with anna (solid food).

8. Chudakarma or Mundana Samskara (Tonsure/Tuft Rite): This is a ritual in which male

child’s hair is shaved. It is to be performed in the first or third year of the child by all twice
born people.

9. Karnabheda or Nasika Samskara (Ear Piercing Rite): The ritual of piercing of ear (or
Nose) of a child takes place in the first or third year from his/her birth according to Vedic
rules.

10. Brahmacharya Samskara (Studenship Sacrament): This ritual has two steps: a)
Upanayana Samskara (Sacred Thread Investiture Ritual), and b) Vedarambha Samskara
(Inception of the Veda Study or Commencement of the Veda Study).

This is the most important ritual for the twice born males. This is performed by
chanting of holy mantras in the presence of teachers, priests, parents, relatives and friends of
the students. Upanayana Rite for a Brahmin boy is to be performed between fifth to eighth
year, Kshtriya between sixth to eleventh year and Vaisya between eight to twelfth year of
age. The maximum age for the rite is – for Brahmin sixteenth year, Kshtriya twenty second
year and Vaisya twenty fourth year. After this they become Vratyas (outcastes), excluded
from Savitri (initiation) and despised by the Aryas. Such people if not purified according to
the rule, are discarded by three upper caste people from the society.

(Upanayana Period (earliest Period): Latest

Brahmin – 7th or 8th year 16thyear after which Prayaschita is
Kshtriya – 11th year 22nd year necessary
 42

Vaisya – 12th year 24th year

st
Dvija (twice born): 1 from natural parents,
2nd is from Savitri – Gayatri as mother and Acharya as father.)

Yagyopavitra: Sacred thread (it has three threads – representing Satva, Rajas and Tamas –
Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in one). Its knots represent the Pranava with the ardhmatra and it
is worn with the formula. “It was produced by Brahma sitting on his seat of lotus and from
the threads of the stalk of lotus.”

After the completion of sacred thread giving ceremony, the student is instructed to
observe discipline regarding good habits, dress, rules of study of the Vedas, etc. This is called
Vedarambha Samskara.

11. Samvartana Samskara (Convocation Rite): It is solemnized at the time of leaving

Gurukula after completion of the study of the Vedas. In the celebration Brahmachari
(student) should pay honour to the Acharya, father, uncle and maternal uncle by providing
them appropriate seats and by feeding them with honey mixed curd or ghee-mixed curd. He
has to present his guru with a gift of a cow bought by his own earning.

The Brahmachari is to be received by his parents, near and dear ones when he comes
from his Guru’s home or hut as per the rules laid down by the Law-books or the Vedas. The
parents and relatives praise the guru for imparting knowledge and good behaviour to him.

According to Manu, the period of studentship, during which the Vedas are studied,
under the teacher should be 33 years, or half of that, or a quarter, or unit if he has perfectly
learnt them.

12. Vivaha Samskara (Marriage Rite): After the completion of the Vedic studies the boy has
to marry a girl of same caste according to the Vedic rites or rituals. The girl should not
belong to the Sapinda on the father’s side nor on the mother’s side. She should be endowed
with auspicious marks in the body. According to Manu, Brahmin can marry a woman
belonging to his caste and other lower three castes, so also, a kshtriya can marry a woman of
his caste and two lower castes, a vaisya a woman of his caste and a sudra woman, but a sudra
has to marry only the woman of his caste.

There are eight types of marriages mentioned in the Law-books. They are: I) Brahma
Marriage, ii) Daiva Vivaha, iii) Arsa Vivaha, iv) Prajapatya Vivaha, v) Asura Vivaha, ni)
Gandharva Vivaha, vii) Raksasha Vivaha, and viii) Pisacha Vivaha.

13. Grihasthya Samskara (Household Rite): It is not a ritual but a period of life in which the
husband and wife are instructed to lead their family life according to these rules. The
householder has to observe the set of rules as: conjugal union with the wife, honouring
women, performance of the Vedic rituals, hospitality, ancestor worship, feeding of
Brahmanas, livelihood, condemnation of violence and adharma, eating pure food,
punishment of sinners, protection of women, etc., are to be observed strictly.
 43

The householder has to perform Pancha Maha Yjnas (five great sacrifices or vows):

a) Learning and teaching Vedas (Brahma Yajna), b) Offering Pinda to the ancestors (Pitri
Yajna), c) Offering sacrifices to the Agni (Deva Yajna), d) Giving food, water, etc., to the
animate things (Bhuta Yajna), and e) Feeding and welcoming people (Manava Yajna).

Garhasthya or Family Life: A householder has to pay his debts to the gods, his ancestors,
teachers, fellow men and other beings.
A householder is in duty bound to perform daily five great Yajnas or sacrifices,
namely, the deva-yajna, pitri-yajna, risi-yajna (also called brahma-yajna and veda-yajna),
Nri-yajna or manusya-yajna and bhuta-yajna.
1. Worship to gods in one or another form.
2. Offer oblation (tarpana) to one’s departed forefathers in order to propitiate them and
bring their blessings upon him.
3. Insists upon his daily duty of studying the works of the ancient sages, like the Vedas,
Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita.
4. And 5. It requires him to serve his fellow human beings and even birds, beasts and
insects by performing different acts of charity like giving alms to the poor, excavating wells
and tanks (purta), founding and financing schools and Hospitals and offering some food to
the lower animals – domestic or otherwise.
Man’s Varnasrama dharma is called his svadharma. – Adhikara.
Central virtues in Hindu Ethics:
1. Truthfulness (satya or sunrita),
2. Purity of body and mind (sauca),
3. Self-continence (brahmacharya),
4. Non-violence (ahimasa).
5. Self-control (Samyama).
6. Honesty in thought and deed (asteya).
7. Detachment (aparigraha or anaasakti).
8. Simplicity (arjava).
9. Fortitude and courage (dhriti and abhaya).
10. Study of the Holy Scriptures (svadhayaya).
11. Religious worship (puja), which consists in sincere faith in and devotion to
God.
12. Service to all human or living beings (jiva-seva) as God’s manifestations or
embodiments in the world.)

14. Vanaprastha Samskara (Rite for Forest Dwelling): Those who seek final moksa have to
go to the forest to live a life of a recluse, after their children are grown up and the
responsibility of the family maintenance put upon their eldest son, to devote themselves to
austere practice and performance of Vedic sacrifice. Their food should be fruits, roots and
herbs of the forest. They should not take any cooked food items.

The recluse should live on a strictly vegetarian food, mainly fruits, roots and herbs.
He should not possess more than two pieces of loin clothes. He should sleep on the ground
 44

and should not protect himself from rain and sunshine. He has to undergo all sorts of
hardships in the forest. During summer he has to live in the middle of pancagni and in winter
up to neck deep water.

The recluse has to offer offerings in the fire continuously, and entertain the guests. He
has to take bath thrice a day in the summer months. He has to continuously study Vedas and
meditate upon the Supreme Soul.

15. Sanyasa Samskara (Ascetic/ Mendicant): It is the last stage of life of a person on this
earth. After a period of the life of a hermit the person realizes the “Self”. Once he realizes the
“Self” he identifies himself as “Supreme Self” (Aham Brahmasmi) which is the final
liberation or moksha in Hinduism. A person who is liberated in this life is called Jivana-
mukta (liberated while alive in the body). Such liberated persons are free from joy or sorrow,
love or hatred, pain or pleasure, etc. Such persons do not dwell in a place, because they do
not belong to a locality, area or a country. They go from place to place for the well-being of
the whole human race, and they live a very simple life and survive on begged food.
These sanyasins should be indifferent to friend or foe, good or bad, etc. They should
be completely detached to the world. They should possess the quality of contentment,
forgiveness, self-control, and abstention from unrigteously appropriating anything,
purification, coercion of the organs, wisdom, knowledge, truthfulness and abstention from
anger.

16. Antyasti Samskara (Funeral Rite): It is the final rite, which is performed after the death
of a person. It is believed that if the final rite is not performed according to the Vedic rules
the soul of the person does not attain heaven but remains on the way between heaven and hell
(Story of Jaratkaru in the Mahbharata). Therefore, it is a must to let the soul of dead person
attain heaven. It is performed by sons or nearest male relatives of the deceased person. In
other law-books it is not considered as a ritual.

******

Teachings of Sankara and Ramanuja

The most common question on which the schools of the Vedanta are divided is: What is the
nature of the relation between the self (jiva) and God (Brahman)? Some, like Madhva, hold
that the self and God are two totally different entities; their view is called dualism (dvaita).
Some others, like Sankara, hold that the two are absolutely identical; this view is known as
monism (advaita). Some others, like Ramanuaja, again hold that the two are related like part
and whole; this view may be briefly called qualified monism (visista-advaita). There are
many other views, each specifying a particular type of identity (abheda), difference (bheda)
or identity-in-difference (bheda-abheda) between the self and God. But the best known
among the Vedanta schools are those of Sankara and Ramanuja.
 45

Sankaracharya (AD 788 to Ad 820) was a Malabar Brahman who gave Vedanta philosophy
to India, its final form by means of his brilliant commentaries on the Vedanta Sutras and the
Bhagavad-Gita.

Conception of Self, Bondage and Liberation

We have found already that Sankara believes in unqualified monism. All distinctions
between objects and objects, and the self and God are the illusory creation of maya. He holds
fast to the conception of identity without any real difference and tries to follow it out
logically in every aspect. He accepts, therefore, without any reservation, the identity of the
soul and God that is repeatedly taught in the Upanishads.

Human is apparently composed of the body and the soul. But the body, which we
perceive, like every other material object, is merely an illusory appearance. When this is
realized, the reality that remains is the soul, which is nothing other than God. The saying
“That thou art”, means that there is an unqualified identity between the soul that underlies the
apparently finite human, and God. It is true that if we take the word “thou” in the sense of the
empirical individual limited and conditioned by its body, and the word “that” as the reality
beyond the world, there cannot be an identity between the “thou” and “that”. We have to
understand, therefore, the word “thou” to imply pure consciousness, which forms the essence
of God. Between these two, complete identity exists and is taught by the Vedanta. An identity
judgment like “This is that Devadatta” (which we pass on seeing Devadatta for a second
time) makes the above point clear. The conditions, which the man had the previous day,
cannot be exactly identical with those he has the second day. Therefore, there cannot be any
identity between the man qualified by one set of conditions with the man qualified by another
set. What we mean, therefore, must be that the man, viewed apart from the different
conditions, is the same. Similar is the case with the identity taught between the self and God.
The self, viewed apart from the conditions that differentiate it from pure consciousness, is
identical with God viewed apart from the attributes that differentiate Him from pure
consciousness. Such identity judgment is not tautological and superfluous; because it serves
the purpose of pointing out that what is illusory taken as different is really one. The identity
that is taught between human and God is a real identity between terms that appear as
different. Being identical with God, the soul is in reality what God also really is. It is the
supreme Brahman, the self-luminous, infinite, consciousness. The soul appears as the limited
and finite self because of its association with the body, which is a product of ignorance.
The body is not composed simply of what we perceive through the senses. In addition
to the gross perceptible body, there is also a subtle one, composed of the senses, the motor
organs (these two groups together being called indriyas), vital elements (pranas) and the
internal mechanism of knowledge (antahkarana). While the gross body perishes on death, the
subtle body does not, and it migrates with the soul to the next gross body. Both of these
bodies are the products of maya.

Owing to ignorance, the beginning of which cannot be assigned, the soul erroneously
associates itself with the body, gross and subtle. This is called bondage. In this state it forgets
that it is really Brahman. It behaves like a finite, limited and miserable being, which runs
after transitory worldly objects and is pleased to get them, and feels sorry to miss them. It
identifies itself with a finite body and mind and thinks “I am stout”, “I am lame”, “I am
ignorant”, etc. Thus arises the conception of the self as the “Ego” or “I”. This limited ego
opposes itself to the rest of existence – which is thought to be different from it. The ego is
not, therefore, the real self, but is only an apparent limitation of it.
 46

Consciousness of the self also becomes limited by the conditions of the body. The
senses and the internal organ of knowledge become the instruments through which limited
consciousness of objects takes place. Such empirical finite knowledge is of two kinds,
immediate and mediate. Immediate knowledge of external objects arises when, through any
sense, the antahkarana flows out to the object is modified into the form of the object. In
addition to immediate knowledge (pratyaksa), the advaitins admit five different kinds of
mediate knowledge – inference (anumana), testimony (sabda), comparison (upamana),
postulation (arthapati) and non-cognition (anupalabdhi).
When a person is awake, one thinks one is identified with gross body, as well as with
the internal and external organs. When one falls asleep and dreams, one is still conscious of
objects that arise from memory-impressions, and, therefore, the feeling of one’s limitation as
a subject or knower opposed to objects still persists there. When one has deep, dreamless
sleep, one ceases to have any ideas of objects. In the absence of objects, one ceases to be
knower as well. The polarity of subject and object, the opposition between the knower and
the known, vanishes altogether. One no longer feels that one is confined to and limited by the
body. But yet consciousness does not cease in dreamless sleep; for otherwise how could one
remember at all on awaking from the sleep that one had such a state? How should one report,
“I had peaceful sleep, had no dreams”, if one were not conscious then?
The study of dreamless sleep gives us a glimpse of what the self really is when
dissociated from its feeling of identity with the body. The soul in its intrinsic state is not a
finite, miserable being. It does not separate itself from the rest of existence and does not limit
itself by a feeling of the “I” (aham) opposed to a “thou” or “this” or “that”. It is also free
from all worries that arise from hankerings after objects. The self, really, then is unlimited
consciousness and bliss.
The attempt of Sankara and his followers is to show how the intrinsic, pure condition
of the self can be regained. The fact that the blissful state of dreamless sleep is not permanent
and human once more returns to one’s finite, limited and embodied consciousness on waking
up, shows that there remain even in dreamless sleep, in a latent form, the forces of karma or
avidya which draw human into the world. Unless these forces, accumulated from the past,
can be completely stopped, there is no hope of liberation from the miserable existence, which
the self has in this world.
The study of the Vedanta helps one conquer these deep-rooted effects of long-
standing ignorance. But the study of the truth taught by the Vedanta would have no effect
unless the mind is previously prepared. This initial preparation according to Sankara, is not
the study of the Mimamsa Sutra. The Mimamsa, which teaches the performance of sacrifice
to the various gods, rests on the wrong conception of a distinction between the worshipper
and the worshipped. Its spirit is, therefore, antagonistic to the absolute monism taught by the
Vedanta. Far from preparing the mind for the reception of the monistic truth, it only helps to
perpetuate the illusion of distinctions and plurality from which human already suffers.
The preparation necessary for undertaking the study of the Vedanta is fourfold,
according to Sankara. One should, first, be able to discriminate between what is eternal and
what is not eternal. One should, secondly, be able to give up all desires for enjoyment of
objects here and hereafter. Thirdly, one should control one’s mind and one’s senses and
develop qualities like detachment, patience, and power of concentration. Lastly, one should
have an ardent desire for liberation.
Liberation is nothing but the identity of the self and Brahman, which is always real,
though not always recognized. The attainment of liberation is, therefore, compared by the
Advaitins to the finding of the necklace on the neck by a poerson who forgot its existence
there and searched for it hither and thither. As bondage is due to an illusion, liberation is only
the removal of this illusion.
 47

Liberation is not merely the absence of all misery that arises from the illusory sense of
distinction between the self and God. The Advaitin, conceives it after the Upanishads, as a
state of positive bliss (ananda), because Brahman is bliss and liberation is identity with
Brahman.
Though the liberated soul, being perfect, has no end to achieve, it can work still
without any fear of further bondage. Sankara, following the Gita, holds that work fetters a
man only when it is performed with attachment. But one, who has obtained perfect
knowledge and perfect satisfaction, is free from attachment. He/She can work without any
hope of gain and is not, therefore, affected by success or failure. Sankara attaches great
importance to disinterested work. For one, who has not yet obtained perfect knowledge, such
work is necessary for self-purification, because it is not through inactivity but through the
performance of selfless action that one can gradually free oneself from the yoke of the ego
and its petty interests. Even for one who has obtained perfect knowledge or liberation,
selfless activity is necessary for the good of those who are still in bondage.

Visistadvaita (The Qualified Monism of Ramanuja)

Absolute Reality, Individual Souls and Matter
Ramanuja (c. A.D. 1100), belonged to family of the followers of Azhvars, wrote
commentary on Vedanta Sutras, but explained them in the sense that the supreme is a
personal God, and that man’s spirit is a portion of the divine spirit. As Vedantins, he was
closely connected with the temple of Srirangam at Trichinopoly, and recognized idolatry. A
century later his followers fell into two sects, the northern school (Vadagalai) and the
Suthern school (Tengalai). The chief difference between them lies in the doctrine of the
influece of divine grace on the soul, the northern school teaching that it is ‘co-operative’, the
southern that it is ‘irresistible’. Southern school teaches the doctrine of Prapatti (surrender).
Hence the former school is called monkey school and latter is called cat school.

Ramanuja’s view is Visistadvaita or non-dualism qualified by difference. The

absolute is an organic unity, an identity that is qualified by diversity. It is a concrete whole
(visista), which consists of the related and inter-dependent subordinate elements, which are
called visesanas and the immanent and controlling spirit that is called visesya. Unity means
realization of being a vital member of this organic whole. God or the Absolute is this whole.
He is the immanent inner controller, The Supreme Real who holds together in unity the
dependent matter and the individual souls as His body. Ramanuja recognizes three things as
ultimate and real (tattva-traya). These are matter (achit), souls (chit) and God (Isvara).
Though all are equally real, the first two are absolutely dependent on God. Though they are
substances in themselves, yet in relation to God, they become His attributes. They are the
body of God who is their soul. God is the soul of nature. God is also the soul of souls. Our
souls are souls in relation to our bodies, but in relation to God, they become His body and He
become their soul. The relation between the soul and the body is that of inner inseparability.
This is also the relation between substance and attribute. The Nyaya inherence (samavaya) is
an external relation, which is rejected by Ramanuja because it involves infinite regress.
Inseparability is the relation between the body and the soul, between a substance and its
attributes, between parts and whole, and may be between one substance and another. It is an
inner, inseparable, vital and organic relation. Matter and souls qualify God. They form His
and are inseparable from and utterly dependent on Him. Ramanuja defines a body as that
which is controlled, supported and utilized for its purposes by a soul. Matter and souls are
called attributes (prakara) of God; they are the controlled (niyamya), the supported (dharya),
the parts (amsa) and the accessory means (sesa), while God is their substance (prakari),
 48

controller (niyanta), support (adhara), the whole (amsi) and the principal end (sesi). They are
eternal with God, but not external to Him. God is free from all external differences –
homogeneous (sajatiya) as well as heterogeneous (vijatiya), since there is nothing either
similar or dissimilar which is external to or other than Him. But, He possesses internal
differences (svagata bheda) as His organic body is made of real and diverse elements like
matter and souls. His relation with them is natural (svabhavika) and eternal (sanatana). God
is both the material and the instrumental cause of the world. He is the immanent as well as
the transcendent ground of the world. He is immanent in the whole world as its inner
controller (antaryami) and yet in His essence. He transcends the world. He is a perfect
personality. He is full of all good qualities – Existence, Knowledge and Bliss; Truth,
Goodness and Beauty; Luster, Love and Power.
Ramanuja finds justification for His doctrine of the Absolute as a Triune Unity in
such following Upanishadic passages. The Svetasvatara Upanishad says that there are three
ultimate existences: the eternal and all-knowing and all-powerful God, the eternal powerless
soul and the eternal matter, and these three constitute the Absolute. The same Upanishad
further tells us that these alone need be known and there is nothing else to be known – that
there are three entities, the enjoyer (bhokta), the enjoyed (bhogya) and the mover (prerita),
which constitute the Absolute. If a person knows these three he/she knows Brahman. The
same Upanishad goes on: “The one God who runs through all beings is the Supreme Reality.
There is nothing greater than He, there is nothing external to Him, and He fills the whole
universe”. The Taittiriya Upanishad tells us that all beings arise from, live in and return to
this Brahman. God is the soul of nature and also the soul of the souls. He is immanent yet He
is transcendent also. The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad also describes Him as the running thread
(sutra), which binds together all the worlds and all the souls. He is the immanent inner
controller (antaryami) of all. He is present in matter and yet He is different from matter;
matter does not know Him; matter forms His body; He controls matter from within; He is the
Supreme Soul, the Antaryami, the Immortal. Just as the spokes are bound together within the
wheel, so also all the elements and all the souls are bound together within this Atman. He is
like fire; they are like sparks. They are real; He is their reality. They are true; He is their truth.
Hence He is called the truest of the true.

God
In Ramanuja’s account of God, we notice three points of importance. First, God is
identified with the Absolute. He is Brahman and Brahman must be a savisesa or a qualified
unity. God stands for the whole universe and matter and souls form His body, He being their
soul. As the Absolute, the ultimate unity-in-and-through-trinity, the concrete whole, God may
be viewed from two stages – as cause and as effect. During the state of dissolution (pralaya),
God remains as the cause of subtle matter and unembodied souls forming His body. The
whole universe lies latent in Him. During the state of creation (srsti – pronounced as sristi),
the subtle matter becomes gross and the unembodied souls (except the nitya and mukta souls)
become embodied according to their karmas. In this effect-state the universe become
manifest. The former state is called the causal state of Brahman, while the latter state is the
effect-state of Brahman. Secondly, God is considered as the immanent inner controller, the
qualified substance who is in Himself changeless and is the unmoved Mover of this world-
process. In His essence He does not suffer change, which is said to fall to the lot of His
attributes or modes (prakara). They are absolutely dependent on God and are inseparable
from Him. They are His body and He is their soul. Just as in the case of ordinary individual
only the body undergoes change while the soul is changeless, similarly it is only the body of
God, i.e., the matter and the individual souls, that undergo changes and not himself who is
their soul. Hence God is the unchanging controller of all change and the limitations of matter
 49

as well as the miseries and the imperfections of the finite souls do not affect the essence of
God. Thirdly, God is also transcendent. He is the perfect personality. He has a Divine body.
Embodiment is not the cause of bondage. Hence God, though embodied, is not bound, for He
is the Lord of Karma. The first two about God are derived from the interpretation of the
Upanishads, while the last point, which is theistic in character, is the result of the Bhagavata
influence on Ramanuja. Ramanuja tries to fuse the immanent Upanishadic Absolute with the
transcendent God of the Pancaratra or Bhagavata theism. God, as the perfect personalaity, is
devoid of all demerits and possesses all merits. He has infinite knowledge and bliss. He is
Divine and is the creator, preserver and destroyer of this universe. He has His consort
Laksmi, the symbol of power and mercy. He is called Narayana or Vasudeva. He lives in His
citadel Vaikuntha that is made of pure sattva (suddha sattva) or Nityavibhuti. His qualities
like knowledge, power, mercy, etc., are eternal, infinite, numberless, unlimited, undefiled and
matchless. He is knowledge to the ignorant, power to the powerless, mercy to the guilty,
grace to the afflicted, parental affection to the impure, perennial attachment to those who fear
separation, nearness to those who pine to see Him, and kindness to all. Though One in
Himself, He manifests Himself in five forms in order to help His devotees. 1. As the
immanent soul of the universe, He is antaryami (inner dweller). 2. As the transcendent
personal Lord, Narayana or Vasudeva, He is Para or Supreme. 3. As the creator, preserver
and destroyer, He reveals Himself through four-fold vyuha. His manifestation as the Lord is
called Vasudeva (this should be distinguished from the Para Vasudeva of whom this is the
first manifestation). His manifestation as the ruler of the cognitive aspect of the souls and as
the destroyer of this universe is called Sankarsana. His manifestation of the ruler of the
emotional aspect of the souls and as the preserver of this universe is called Aniruddha. All
these four manifestations are called vyuha and they are the partial and incomplete
manifestations of the Supreme Lord (Para). 4. When God descends down on this earth in the
human or animal form, He is called Vibhava or Avatara (incarnation). He does so in order to
protect the good, punish the wicked and restore the dharma, the Law. Vibhava is of two kinds
– primary (mukhya) when the Lord Himself descends, like Krishna, and secondary (gauna)
when the souls are inspired by the Lord, like Siva, Buddha, and so on. Of these only the
former are to be worshipped by the seekers for liberation. 5. The fifth and last form of God is
when out of His extreme mercy He takes the form of the holy idols (arcavatara) enshrined in
the recognized temples like Srirangam so that His devotees might get opportunities to serve
Him physically.

Creation
Ramanuja takes the Upanishadic accounts of creation, stated previously, in a literal
sense. He holds that God, who is omnipotent, creates the manifold world out of Himself by a
gracious act of will. Within the All-inclusive God (Brahman) there are both conscious matter
(acit) and the finite spirits (cit). The first is the source of the material objects and as such
called Prakrit (i.e., root or origin) after the Svetasvatara-Upanishad, the Puranas or Smritis
whose authority Ramanuja highly values. This prakriti is admitted, as in the Sankhya, to be
an uncreated (aja), eternal reality. But unlike the Sankhaya, Ramanuja believes that it is a
part of God and controlled by God just as the human body is controlled from within by the
human soul. During the state of dissolution (pralaya) this primal unconscious nature of
prakriti remains in a latent, subtle (suksama) and undifferentiated form. God creates out of
this the world of diverse objects in accordance with the deeds of the souls in the world prior
to the last dissolution. Impelled by the omnipotent will of God the undifferentiated subtle
matter gradually becomes transformed into three kinds of subtle elements – fire, water and
 50

earth. These differentiated elements manifest also the three kinds of qualities known as
sattva, rajas and tamas. Gradually the three subtle elements become mixed up together and
give rise to all gross objects, which we perceive, in the material world. In every object in the
world there is a mixture of three elements. This process of triplication is known as
trivritkarana.

Ramanuja holds, therefore, the creation is a fact and the created world is as real as
Brahman. Regarding the Upanishadic texts, which deny the multiplicity of objects and assert
the unity of all things, Ramanuja holds that these texts do not mean to deny the reality of the
many objects, but only teach that in all of them there is the same Brahman, on which all are
dependent for existence, just as all gold articles are dependent on gold. What the Upanishads
deny is the independence of objects, but not their dependent existence.

It is true, Ramanuja admits, that God has been described as wielder of a magical
power (maya), but this only means that the inscrutable power by which God creates the world
is as wonderful as that of a magician. The word maya stands for God’s power of creating
wonderful objects. It also stands sometimes for Prakriti to signify her wonderful creativity.

Ramanuja denies, therefore, that creation and the created world are illusory. To
strengthen this position he further holds that all knowledge is true and that there is no illusory
object anywhere. Even in the case of so called illusory snake in the rope, he points out that
the three elements (fire, water and earth) by the mixture of which rope is made, are also the
elements by the mixture of which a snake is made, so that even in a rope there is something
of a snake and this common element really existing in a rope is perceived when we take it for
snake. No unreal object is perceived then.

Ramanuja’s Conception of the Self, Bondage and Liberation

Ramanuja holds that the identity between God and human taught by the Upanishads is
not really an unqualified one. It is unthinkable that human who is finite can be identical with
God in every respect. Human is different from God in the sense that God pervades and
controls human as well as every other thing in the universe. Just as the existence of a part is
inseparable from the whole, that of a mode or quality from it substance, or a living body from
the soul which controls its life from within, similarly the existence of human is inseparable
from God. Identity cannot be asserted, it is true between two altogether different terms; but it
is also meaningless to assert any identity between exactly identical terms; because it would be
a needless tautology. Identity can be asserted between two forms of the same substance. The
statement, “That is that Devadatta” asserts, for example, identity between the person seen at
present and the person seen in the past. The person can be understood as the same in spite of
different positions, since the position are occupied at different times. The Upanishadic dictum
“that thou art” (Tat tvam asi ), should be understood in a similar way. “That” stands for God,
the omniscient, and omnipotent creator of the universe. “Thou” stands for God existing in the
form of human, the embodied soul. The identity asserted here is, therefore, between God with
certain qualification – identity of the same substance though possessed of different qualities.
Ramanuja’s philosophy is thus called Visistadvaita or identity of the qualified.
 51

According to Ramanuja, in different respects, there are different kinds of relations

between the self and God. In so far as the self is finite and subject to imperfection, and God is
just the opposite in nature, there is difference; in so far as the self is inseparable from God
who is its inner substance (atma) there is identity (abheda); but as the self is part of God,
both identity and difference are tenable.

Human, according to Ramanuja, has a real body and a soul. The body is made of
matter, which is a part of God. It is obviously finite. The soul is, of course, not made; it
eternally exists. It is also a part of God, and cannot, therefore, be finite. The all-pervasive
nature of the soul, which the Upanishads describe, cannot, therefore, be taken, in the literal
sense. The real sense of the pervasiveness of the soul is that the soul is so subtle that it can
penetrate into every conscious material substance. Having denied that the soul is infinite,
Ramanuja has to hold that it is infinitely small (anu). For, if the soul has neither of these two
extreme dimensions, it must be admitted to have the medium one, which things composed by
the combination of parts (such as tables and chairs) have; and then like such objects the soul
also would be liable to destruction. The consciousness of the soul is not accidental to it; it is
not dependent on its connection with the body. Consciousness is not the essence, but an
eternal quality, of the soul and it remains under all conditions. In dreamless sleep and even in
the state of liberation, when the soul is altogether disembodied, the soul remains conscious of
itself as “I am”. Ramanuja, therefore, identified the soul with what we mean by the word “I”
or the “ego” (aham).

The bondage of the soul is due to karma. As the effects of its karma, the soul is
associated with the particular kind of body it deserves. Being embodied, its consciousness is
limited by the conditions of the organs of knowledge, and the body it possesses. Though the
soul is infinitely small, it illumines or renders conscious every part of the body in which it is,
just as a small light illumines the entire room in which it is. It identifies itself with the body
and regards it as itself. Egoism (ahankara) is a name for this identification of the self with the
not-self. Avidya or ignorance consists in this base propensity. Ramanuja also sometimes
identifies karma with this ignorance.

The attainment of liberation must be sought through work and knowledge, because
they pave the way for devotion. By work (karma) he means here the different obligatory
rituals enjoined by the Vedas on persons according to their respective castes and stations in
life (varnasrama). This should be performed life long as bounded duties without any desire
for reward, like heaven. Disinterested performance of such duties destroys the accumulated
effects of the past deeds, which stand in the way of knowledge. For the correct performance
of these rituals it is necessary to study the Mimamsa philosophy. He regards, therefore, the
study of Mimamsa as a necessary pre-requisite to the study of Vedanta. By the study of the
Mimamsa and performance of the duties in its light, one comes to realize also that the
sacrificial rites cannot lead to any permanent good and cannot help one attain salvation. The
Vedanta reveals to one the real nature of the Universe. One comes to know that God is the
creator, sustainer and controller of all beings, and that one’s soul is not identical with the
body, but is really a part of God who controls it from within. One further learns that
 52

liberation can be attained not by “study and reasoning”, but only if God is pleased to choose
one for liberation.

The study of Vedanta produces only book learning and doe not bring about liberation.
But that real knowledge is not verbal knowledge of scriptures, for then every one who reads
from them would be liberated at once. Real knowledge is a steady, and constant remembrance
of God. This is variously described as meditation (dhyana), prayer (upasana), or devotion
(bhakti). Constant meditation on God as the dearest object of love should be practiced
continuously along with the performance of the obligatory rituals, which remove the
obstacles to knowledge. Intense remembrance of God, or devotion thus practiced, ultimately
matures into an immediate knowledge of God. This is, therefore, the final means to liberation.
This brings about the destruction of all ignorance and karmas by which the body is caused.
Therefore, the soul that realizes God is liberated from the body forever, without any chance
of rebirth. One should remember, however, that liberation couldn’t be attained simply by
human efforts. God lifts from bondage and misery the human who flings oneself at the mercy
of God and constantly remembers Him as the only object of love. Such complete self-
surrender is called prapatti.

D. Suddha-advaita
Acarya Vallabha, a Telugu Brahmana, developed Suddha-advaita or Pure Non-
dualism undefiled by Maya. According to Vallabha, Brahman is the independent reality and
is identified with Sri Krishna. His essence is Existence (sat), Knowledge (cit) and bliss
(ananda). Souls and matter are His real manifestations. They are His parts. He is the abode of
all good qualities and includes even the seemingly contradictory qualities. He is smaller than
the smallest and greater than the greatest. He is one as well as many. It is by His will that He
manifests Himself as matter and as souls revealing His tripartite nature of existence,
Knowledge and Bliss in different proportions. Maya or avidya is His power through which
He manifests Himself as many. But this manifestation is neither an error nor an illusion, It is
a real manifestation. Vallabha’s view is neither Vivarta nor Parinama. It is something in
between the two and is called Avikritaparinamavada. The universe is not a Vivarta for it is
real manifestation and not an unreal appearance. But it is also not a Parinama for this
manifestation does not involve any change or transformation. The universe is a natural
emanation from God, which does not involve any notion of change and is, therefore, called
avikritaparinama.

Vallabha distinguishes between jagat or prapanca and samsara. Jagat is the real
manifestation of God, while samsara or the cycle of births and deaths is imagined by the soul
on account of ignorance, which is fivefold: (1) ignorance of the real nature of the soul; (2)
false identification of the body; (3) false identification with the senses; (4) false identification
with the vital breaths; and (5) false identification with the internal organ. When knowledge
dawns ignorance vanishes and with it vanishes the samsara. But the world, the jagat,
continues because it is the real manifestation of God.

For Ramanuja, the soul, though different from God, is essentially identical with Him
as forming His body. For Madhva, the soul, though a dependent part of God, is essentially
 53

different from Him. For Nimbarka, the soul, as limited and dependent, is different from God,
though as the power of God it is identical with God. For Vallabha, the soul, as a part of God,
is identical with Him and appears as different on account of the limited manifestation of some
divine aspects and obscuration of others.

Bhakti, which is defined as fine and all-surpassing affection (sneha) for God with a
full sense of His Greatness is the only means of salvation. It is the “loving service” to God. It
means attachment to God, which presupposes detachment from all other things. It is neither
worship nor knowledge. Affection or prema is its dominant phase. The feeling of oneness
with God is not its culmination. It is gained through the grace of God, which won by the
purity of heart. The Maryada-marga is the Vedic path in which bhakti is attained by karma
and jnana and upasana when through individual efforts sins are destroyed. But in Pusti-
marga, bhakti is attained without any individual effort simply by the grace of God, which
destroys sins forthwith. God, pleased by devotion, takes the devotee within Himself. Or,
when He is highly pleased keeps one near Him to let one enjoy the sweetness of service.

Theism with Detailed study of Shaivism and Vaishnavism:

Saivasiddhanta
From the beginning the cult of Vaisnavism had for its chief rival Saivism, which even
today a very popular creed in South India. While it prevailed in South India even before the
Christian era, it received a great access to strength from its opposition to Buddhism and
Jainism, which it, along with Vaisnavism, overcame about the fifth or the sixth century after
Christ. It elaborated a distinctive philosophy called the Saiva Siddhanta about the eleventh
century A.D. Dr.Pope, who gave much thought to this system, regards it as “the most
elaborate, influential and undoubtedly the most intrinsically valuable of all the religions of
India”. While there are striking similarities between the Siddhanta and the Saivism of
Kashmir, we cannot say that the former owes its general structure or essential doctrines to the
latter. The earliest Tamil works, like Tolkappiam, refer to the Arivars or the seers who
chalked out the path to freedom and bliss. These latter were influenced by the Vedic
conception of Rudra and the Rudra-Siva cult of the Brahmanas, the Mahabharata and the
Svetasvatara Upanishad. Besides these the twenty-eight Saiva Agamas, especially the parts
dealing with jnana or knowledge, the hymns of the Saiva saints, and the works of the later
theologians, form the chief sources of Southern Saivicm.

Saiva Siddhanta calls itself Suddha-advaita, the name which Vallabha’s school bears.
According to Vallabha, the word suddha means, “that which is free from the impurity of
Maya” and the word advaita means, “the non-dual Brahman”. Saiva Siddhanta uses the word
suddha in the sense of “unqualified” and the word advaita in the sense “Dvaita devoid of
duality”, which means that difference is real in existence but inseparable from identity in
consciousness. This means that though matter and souls are real yet they are not opposed to
Siva but are inseparably united with him who is the supreme reality. This suggests the
influence of Aprithaksiddhi of Ramanuja. But whereas Ramanuja makes matter and souls
only the attributes of God, Saiva Siddhanta agrees with Madhva in giving them Substantive
existence.
 54

Siva is the supreme reality and is called Pati or Lord who possesses the eight
attributes - self-existence, essential purity, intuitive wisdom, infinite intelligence, freedom
from all bonds, infinite grace or love, omnipotence, and infinite bliss. Just as the porter is the
first cause, his staff and the wheel is the instrumental cause and clay is the material cause of a
pot, similarly Siva is the first cause, His Sakti is the instrumental cause and Maya is the
material cause of this world. The relation of Siva and sakti is that of identity (tadatmya),
though it is the power of the Lord. This Sakti is conscious, unchanging and eternal energy is
known as Svarupa Sakti. The material cause of pure creation is called Mahamaya or Bindu or
Vidya, while that of defiled creation is called Maya or Asuddha Bindu. Maya and Mahamaya
both are the material powers of the Lord and are called Parigraha Sakti, which is different
from the Svarupa Sakti, which forms the essence of the Lord. The Lord is omnipresent,
omnipotent and omniscient and forms the five functions of creation, preservation and
destruction of the universe and obscuration and liberation of the souls.

The individual souls are called Pashu for like cattle they are bound by the rope of
avidya to this world. The soul is really an all-pervading, eternal and conscious agent and
enjoyer. It has consciousness essence of which is in the act of seeing. It is different from the
gross and the subtle body and the sense organs, etc. The bound souls mistake themselves as
finite and limited in will, thought and action and in liberation are restored to their original
nature.

The fetters which bind the souls are called Pasha and are threefold: Avidya, Karma
and Maya. Avidya is one in all beings and is beginningless. It is also called Anavamala or the
impurity, which consists in the false notion of the soul to regard itself, finite or atomic and
confined to the body and limited in knowledge and power. It is avidya because it makes the
soul ignorant of its inherent greatness and glory. It is Anava because it makes the soul
mistake itself as atomic and finite. It is the bondage (pashutva) of the beast (pashu). Karma is
produced by the deeds of the souls and is subtle and unseen (adrista) and is the cause of the
union of the conscious with the unconscious. Maya is the material cause of this impure world.
The souls are of three kinds according as they are tainted with one or two or three of these
impurities. The highest souls are tainted with the Anavamala only; the next with the
Karmanamala also; and the last with all the three –Anava, Karmana and Mayiya. They are
called respectively Vijnanakala, Pralayakala and Sakala. In order to obtain release the soul
has to get rid of these impurities. And for this, God’s grace is absolutely essential. The Divine
Grace is there for all without the asking for it for the Lord desires that all the souls should
know Him; it is only for humans to avail of it or not.

After the removal of the Pasha, the soul becomes one with Siva. It becomes co-
pervasive with Him and shares His glory and greatness. It is not conscious of its individuality
on account of the experience of Bliss. Meykandar says that just as salt dissolves into water
and becomes co-pervasive with it, similarly the liberated soul merges in God and becomes
co-pervasive with Him. It attains the status of Siva, though the five functions of creation, etc.,
are reserved for the later alone. The essential quality or svarupalaksana of the soul is to
identify itself with its object and become co-pervasive with it, its essence is its co
 55

pervasiveness with the infinite Siva. Thus the bound soul identifies itself with matter and the
liberated soul with Siva and realizes its own pure nature.

F. Vaisnava

Vaisnavism is the creed in which Visnu is worshipped as the supreme God. Visnu is a
Vedic deity. He is represented in the mantras as one of the solar deities and, as such, is
associated with light and life. His essential feature, as depicted in the hymns, is his taking
three strides (tri-vikrama), which in all probability refer to thee rising, culmination, and
setting, of the sun. It was this worship of the sun, “the swift moving luminary”, that gradually
transformed itself into the worship of Visnu (the pervading) as the supreme God. He had
already attained supremacy in the time of the Brahmanas; and in one of the older Upanishads,
the goal of human life is represented as reaching the supreme abode of Visnu. There was also
an allied conception, that of, Narayana, whose origin may be traced in the Rig-Veda, and
which appears in a well-developed form in the Brahmanas. The name signifies “the abode of
resting place of humans” or, more generally “the goal of all beings”. One of the Brahmanas
states that Narayana placed himself in the entire world and in all the gods, and that they were
all placed in him. In a relatively later Upanishad, the Mahanarayana, in which this God
occupies the position, which Siva does in the Svetasvatara Upanishad, his cosmic character,
is thus described: “Whatever in this universe is seen or heard, pervading all that – both inside
and outside – Narayana stands”. He is called in the epic “the son of dharma”, implying that
the conception is not cosmic alone, but also pre-eminently ethical in its character.

There is a third element also which goes to form Vaisnavism, as prevalent in this
period; but, unlike the other two, it is derived from a non-Vedic, though not a non-Aryan,
source. Sometime before Buddha and Mahavira there seems have arisen in the North-West of
India a religious reformer Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, who preached a theistic faith. The
supreme God as conceived in it, who was termed Bhagavan (the worshipful), was of the
Varuna type – a God equally exalted morally and otherwise also equally worthy of worship.
It soon assumed a sectarian complexion in the form of Bhagavata religion; and one stage of it
is found taught in the Bhagavadgita, so far as it is theistic. It was prevalent when
Magasthenes visited India., so that the religion must have originated some considerable time
before. This monotheistic creed came, in course of time, to be combined with the Vedic cult
of Visnu-Narayana; and it was this combination that chiefly contributed to make the God of
Vaisnavism even more personal than that of Saivism. Somewhat later Sri Krishna, The
prophet of the Bhagavata religion, was deified and identified with Visnu-Narayana as an
incarnation of him.

Thus altogether three streams of thought mingle to form Vaisnavism. Like Saivism, it
also contains elements drawn from sources other than the Veda; and the form of worshipping
the supreme, which it commends, is for the most part based on Agamas. There are certain
special features characterizing this creed: to begin with, it is, as just pointed out, more
rigorously monotheistic than Saivism, which sometime shows an impersonal phase. A second
feature is that Visnu assumes different forms or incarnations called avatars. The word
avatara means “descent”, and signifies that God brings himself down in order to present to
 56

humanity a higher ideal of life, and thereby to exalt humans to him. According to Hinduism
generally, progress in the world is not continuous. Things grow worse and worse at times,
when God “intervenes catastrophically to inaugurate a reign of justice and happiness”. This
theory of avatars helps what has all along been a noteworthy feature of Hinduism, viz., its
absorption of other creeds into itself by explaining the gods worship in them as but
manifestations of the one Supreme Being. Another characteristic of Vaisnavism is the great
emphasis it lays on loving devotion (bhakti) as a means to redemption – a feature that we
already noticed in the case of Saivism. The religion also discarded animal sacrifice, evincing
thereby its antagonism to what was, at the time, a conspicuous feature of Vedic religion. A
section of the Mahabharata, speaking of the glory of Vaisnavism, refers to the performance
of a “horse-sacrifice” in which no animal was killed.

A special mark of monotheistic belief, whether Saivism or Vaisnavism, is the

distinction it makes between God, the individual soul, and the world of which he is the
author. The soul is usually conceived as eternal, but as entirely dependent upon God; and it
therefore becomes the first duty of human to make oneself a conscious and willing instrument
in the fulfillment of His purpose. What the conception of the goal of life according to early
Indian theism is cannot be definitely stated, for it is presented in diverse forms. Generally
speaking, it may be taken as reaching the presence of God or becoming godlike. The
predominant means of achieving this end is, besides good conduct (carya), loving devotion
(bhakti) to God, such as will win his grace (prasada).

Socio-Religious Life: Patriachy, the Caste System, the Samskaras and daily observances:

Patriarchy: The father was the family priest, and controlled the worship of the ancestors of
the family in all details. He alone knew the peculiar ritual which was traditional in his family,
and which had to be maintained unchanged, if the favour of the dead was to be retained. He
alone had the power of passing on the rites to his son. As the high priest of the ancestral rites,
he was the acknowledged head of the family. The reverence and the power, which his priestly
position brought him, made him supreme in the home. In this way the patriarchal family took
shape. With the establishment of the ancestor worship the father became supreme.

Only a son could take over the rites from a dying man, the birth of a boy was most
ardently desired; and if marriage failed to provide a son, it was a man’s duty to have recourse
to adoption. In all the ancient Aryan nations, the adopted son held completely the position of
a real son.

Only those who were allowed to share in the family worship and to taste the food
offered to the ancestors were recognized as belonging to the family. If, for any reason, a man
was interdicted from the feast in honour of the dead, he was counted an outcaste. Only those
who shared in the worship of the ancestors of the family could share in the division of
property on the death of the head of the house.

Amongst the Indo-Aryan’s in the Punjab, as we find in the Rig Veda, the blessed dead
were spoken of as the “fathers” (pitris). Their descendants honoured them at the funeral feast:
they were invited to come and eat the food laid out on the sacrificial straw, and to drink the
 57

Soma prepared for them. Thus, ancestor-worship was fully organized amongst the Indo-
Aryans, as amongst the other Aryan peoples; and the family was patriarchal in its
organization. The system, however, was not yet far developed. The state of affairs was very
similar to what we find in early Greece. Female children were exposed, but women still held
a good position.

When the Brahmanas succeeded in winning for themselves an authoritative religious

position, and when conquest of North India was begun in real earnest, the whole religion of
the Aryan people began to change. The worship became much more elaborate, and stringent
rules were laid down for every detail of every sacrifice. This applies to the worship of the
pitris as well as the worship of gods. The Satpatha Brahmana contains a chapter which
ordains that the pious man shall worship the pitris every month, and gives detailed rules for
the observance. Here for the first time we meet with the pinda, the word used throughout the
history of Hinduism for the cake or ball of rice offered to ancestors. Another noteworthy
matter is this, that the help of a Brahman is already required for this monthly worship of the
fathers. Even at this early date the priestly caste had begun to usurp the father’s rights in the
religion of the family.

When a Hindu dies, his body is burned. At the burning, and during the next nine days,
funeral rites are performed for him, his son taking a prominent place in the ceremonial. The
essential point in the ritual of each of these days (for ten days) is the offering of a pinda, i.e.,
a ball of kneaded flour, with water, milk, rice, honey etc to the spirit of the dead man. Then
only the Spirit becomes pitri, Otherwise the spirit of the dead becomes preta (a wandering
ghost). On the eleventh day the first Sraddha (lit. an act of faith) is held, and this has to be
repeated monthly during the first year, and once a year afterwards.

It is from ancestor-worship that the chief principles of the Hindu family have arisen.

The first of this is that every man must marry and beget a son. If he fails to do this he
fails in his duty to his ancestors. Their welfare in the other world depends upon his having a
son to take over from himself the sraddha ceremonies. E.G. Jaratkaru story in the
Mahabharata.

Burning of widow – in this period (after A.D. 1200).

The woman who dares this great act of devotion is highly praised in the Garuda
Purana. Vishnusmriti XXV: 14 “Mrite bhartari brahmacharya tadanvarohanam va”. (If a
woman’s husband dies, let her lead a life of chastity, or else mount his pyre.)

**********************

The Vaisnavas of the South:

The twelve Azhavars (Alvars) Satagopa

Tirumangai
 58

About AD 1100 Ramanuja

Tengalai Vadagalai

(1300 c.) Pillai Lokacharya Vedanta Desika (1400 c.)

Ramananda (1500 c.)

**********************

Leaders and Books of Saiva Siddhanta

(All the Literature is in Tamil)

Century Leader Literature

Sivagaman: There are said to be 28 Agamas
In this collection, but they are not known to
scholars.

XI Manikkavasagar Tiruvasagam
1200 C. Appar Tiru-nana-Sambandhar, Wrote hymns which are included in the
Sundarar Devaram, a collection put together in the
13th C.

13th C. Mey-Kanda-devar Siva-nana-bodham, a systematic and

philosophic account of the religion.

Arunanthi-devar Sivva-nana-Siddhi, a further exposition.

14th C. Umapathi Sivachariar Siva Piragas., a poem in hundred quatrains,

being a commentary on the two-preceding
works.

Tiru-arul-paya, a poem in hundred couplets

on divine grace.

The Bhakti Period, 1200 to 1757

External Events History Religion Literature
 59

1200 The Qutb Minar Namdev

and Mosque built.

1300 1336 Vijayanar founded Sayana and Maddhava

1398 Timur in India

1400 Vidyapati Mira Bai Ramananda and Kabir

1500 Martin Luther 1526 the Mughals Nanak

1556 Akbar Toleration Surdas, Tulsi Das, Dadu,
1565 Battle of Talikot Chaitanya Bhakta Mala.
And fall of Vijayanagar

1600 Cromwell 1658 Aurangazeb Intolerance 1601 Adi Granth

renewed Tukaram
1696 Granth.

The followers of Ramananda

1500 Ramananda

Kabir (died in 1518)

(Bijakl)

Nanak (1469-1538)

Dadu (1544-1603)

Tulsi Das (1532-1623)

Sikhs
Dadu Panthi

Kabir Panthi

Om namo Bhagavata Vasudevaya.

Northern Krishnaite Leaders

 60

Century Name Place Works Language

XI Nimbarka

XII Jayadeva Bengal Gita Govinda Sanskrit

XIII Namdev Maratha Land Hymns Marathi

XIV

XV Vidyapati, Chandi Bihar, Bengal & Sonnets, songs Maithili, Bengali

Das & Mira Bai Mewar songs Braj

XVI Vallabha Mathura Sur Sagar Braj

Sur Das Agra “ Bengali
Chaitanya Nadiya “

XVII Tukaram Maratha Land Abhanga & Hymns Marathi

******************************

The Modern Bhagavatas

The Four Churches /Philosophic Position/Main Sect/Chief Sub-sects

Ramanite
1. Sri Sampradaya Visistadvaita Modified Sri Sampradaya 1. Ramanandis
Founder Ramanuja dualism 2. Kabirpanthi
3. Khakis
4. Muluk-dasis
5. Rai-dasis
6. Sena-Panthi

2. Brahma-Sampradaya Dvaita (dualism) Madhavas

Founder Madhava

Krishnaite
3. Rudra-Sampradaya Suddhavaita (pure Vallabhacharis 1. Mira Bais
Founder Vishnu Swamin monism) 2. Chaitanyas

4. Sanakadi-Sampradaya Dvaitadvaita Nimavats 1. Radha-Vallabhas

Founder Nimbarka Dualistic Monism 2. Charan-dasis
3. Bhakti-bhavas

BUDDHISM
Socio-religious-political situation of India in the sixth Century BCE and the life and
work of Buddha:
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By the sixth century BCE, the Aryan and the Mongolian invaders of India had
established themselves along the lower slopes of the Himalayas, and had poured into the
Ganges valley. It was along this valley that early Buddhism was to spread, and to understand
it aright we must know something of the mingled civilization which they established.
Politically it was like that of early Greece, and the systems of government varied from
autocratic monarchies to self—governing communities. Of the former type we learn from
Brahmin, Jain and Buddhist literature that there were sixteen, and there were many smaller
states, some of which were more or less feudatory to their larger neighbours, some
independent.

The chief of the larger kingdoms were those with which early Buddhism was most
concerned: Kosala, corresponding to the modern Oudh, with its capital either at Sivatthi (now
Sahet Mahet on the river Tapti) or at Ayodhya; Magadha, corresponding to south Bihar
(Bihar gets its name from the many Viharas or Buddhist monasteries which at one time it
boasted), with its capital at Mithila. These kingdoms were separated from one another by
rivers, The Ganges dividing Videha from Magadha, and the Sandanira divding it from
Kosala. The kings of these country were often related to one another by marriage; thus we
find that Bhimbisara of Magadha had amongst his wives the sister of Agnidatta Pasenadi of
Kosala and also “the lady of Mithila”.

Among the self-governing communities was that of the Licchavi nobles, living in and
around Vesali, who after Gautama’s death, came under the suzerainty of Ajatasattu; but the
Sakyas, Gotama’s own people, were already tributary to the kings of Kosala. Their chief
town was Kapilavastu, and their total territory probably covered some nine hundred square
miles, partly on the slopes of the Himalayas, and partly on the rich rice fields which stretched
out like a great carpet below, irrigated by abundant springs pouring down from the mountain
side, and boardered on the east by Rohini, and on the west and south by the Achiravati. It is
possible that both Licchavis and Sakyas, like the modern inhabitants of Tarai of Nepal, were
Mongolians and that Gotama was not of Aryan stock.

This rich and fertile land was the early home of Gautama Buddha, a land of great
beauty, with the mighty snow rampart of Himalaya towering above it, and below it the rich
green of sal trees and young oaks.

His father’s name, Suddhodhana, which means ‘pure rice’, suggests that they were an
agricultural people; but they belonged to the kshatriya or warrior caste, and the early legends
tell of ambitious plans which the chieftain had for his son. At the least, we may imagine that
he desired the boy to succeed him in the leadership of the clan; for the Sakyas seem to have
been led by a hereditary chief, not like their neighbours, the Licchavis, by a Nayaka, elected
to the post. It is agreed amongst scholars that Suddhodhana was one of numerous petty
chieftains. That he had a pride of race worthy of a Scottish laird seems clear, and even if he
had no higher ambition than that his son should succeed him, we may be sure that he
regarded this as no mean destiny. The very name Sakya means the Mighty.
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Life at the house of one of these chiefs would be not unlike that at a Scottish castle in
the Middle Ages; not only was there the same pride of race, but there was much the same
feudal system, and much the same strange wayfaring life; scholar and minstrel, noble and
friar, soothsayer and jester, ascetic and juggler, would pass in a fascinating panorama before
the son of the house, and a rough hospitality awaited all.

The religion of the day was Brahmanical Hinduism, which provided no solace to the
soul seekers; instead, it burdened people with more rules and codes. During that time there
were people who were called sramanas, the wandering mendicants, who rebelled against the
established religion of the day. Buddha was attracted by these people to leave his family and
seek truth.

The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha or Gautama Buddha. He was born in a

royal family of Kapilavastu, in Nepal; in 563 B.C. Siddhartha renounced the world early in
life. The sights of disease, old age and death impressed the young prince with the idea that
the world was full of suffering, and the life of a carefree mendicant suggested to him a
possible way of escape. As an ascetic, he was restless in search of the real source of all
sufferings and of the means of complete deliverance. He sought light from many religious
teachers and learned scholars of the day and practiced great austerities, but nothing satisfied
him. This threw him back on his own resources. With an iron will and a mind free from all
disturbing thoughts and passions, he endeavored to unravel, through continued intense
meditation, the mystery of the world’s miseries, till at last his ambition was crowned with
success. Siddhartha became Buddha or enlightened. The message of his enlightenment laid
the foundation of both Buddhistic religion and philosophy which, in course of time, spread
far and wide – to Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand in the South; Tibet, China, Japan and Korea
in the North.

Tantrism: Hindu Tantric Doctrine

“Although the ultimate transcends all duality, the Godhead is conceived as having two
aspects, masculine and feminine, whose conjunction, described as a sexual union, is the first
necessary step, within God, toward cosmic evolution, the active principle being the feminine.
In Sakta Sects, where the main deity is the Goddess, the feminine element clearly
predominates, but in all sects, it is energy, Sakti, which produces, pervades, sustains, and
finally reabsorbs the universe. She (Sakti) is thus the ultimate cause of human bondage and
liberation. She is maya, cosmic illusion, which is equated with God’s grace, which is
sometimes characteristically called Saktipata, “descent of energy” into the world. Man’s
response to grace is devotion, bhakti, which plays an important role in many Tantric
schools.”

“The divine cosmic energy is the prana, the cosmic ‘breath’ symbolized especially by
Kundalini, which is the Goddess in her cosmic play and as present in the subtle body of man.
Divine energy is also the word (vac) or sound (sabda).”

Here language plays important role. “Word (vac) is the fundamental aspect of energy,
both the most powerful and effective and the most usable.”
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“These depend on the Tantric conception of Sakti and micro-macrocosmic

correlations. They usually consist in awakening, with help of mantras, the Kundalini energy
that lies dormant, coiled like a (female) serpent in the subtle body of the adept, and leading
her up to the point where she unites with the Supreme while the adept merges into the
Ultimate. This is done through hathayoga methods combining bodily postures and control of
breathing with mental exercises leading ultimately to Samadhi (enstasis) and realization of
the essence of the mantra and of the deity.”

“… feminine entities as especially numerous and even predominant, as befits a system

in which the whole cosmic process is the work of the feminine energy (Sakti) in different
forms.”

The energies emanating from Siva through Sakti – Vama, Jyestha, Raudri and Ambika
(still others), goddesses engender other deities, similarly with Visnu.

“The Goddess, omnipresent in higher as in ‘popular’ Hinduism, appears under several

forms and names. Her nature being ambivalent, some forms are benevolent, such as Gauri,
Uma, and Parvati; others are terrifying, such as Durga and Kali. She is worshipped ass
supreme Goddess under several names: Tripura, Kupjika, Malini, and others. As the Sakti of
Visnu or Narayana, she is Sri or Lakshmi. She is also manifested in many other ways … or
her ‘emanation’, at different levels of cosmic energy.”

“Such are the sixteen nityas, one of which is Tripurasuandari, the main deity of the
Trripura School, or the ten Mahavidyas: Kali, Tara and others. In the Krama School, there
exists a ‘wheel’ of twelve Kalis in charge of the different cosmic processes. Mention should
also be made of the Mothers (Matri) numbering seven, eight, or nine. The fifty ‘Little
Mothers (Matrika)’ are deities of the Sanskrit phonemes over which presides also the eight
mothers. There are usually sixty-four yoginis, powerful and often terrible, forming a circle,
circles around Siva or Bhairava. Their number varies, however, sometimes reaching 640
million. All these are found in Saiva and Sakta context, but very similar deities or divinized
forms of energy playing analogous cosmic roles exist in the Pancaratra.”

There is right- and left-hand tantrism.