SACRED Part 1 of 2

As the political and social life shifted to the east and south and the economy shifted from semi-nomadic tribes to agricultural and cattle raising kingdoms the religious life of the people went through some changes as well. Many of these changes can be traced through their sacred texts.

The sacred texts of Hinduism are an enormous collection of oral and written scriptures that include myths, rituals, philosophical perspectives, devotional poems and songs, local histories, and more. There are two basic categories within this vast collection: Shruti (revealed) and Smrti (remembered). The word Shruti is from the Sanskrit meaning “heard” suggesting that they are not from the mind of man but “revealed” or “heard” from a divine source. There are four sacred Shruti texts: the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.

The Shruti Texts:
The earliest set of Shruti texts are the Vedas. The word veda comes from the Sanskrit word vid, meaning to know. Not unlike the Greek root from which we get gnosis - "knowledge." In early Hinduism seers, known as risis, “heard” the Vedas and developed them into a range of oral traditions. The Vedas were never intended to be texts, they were always intended to be experienced through the dynamic activation of voice giving them life and texture. The Vedas were composed over a period of time from about 1700 b.c. to around 1000 b.c. There are four sets of Vedic texts which lumped together are often called Samhitas.

1. The Rig Veda - mainly composed of songs of praise to various Vedic gods who are personifications of natural forces like the Sun, the storm or rain, harvest, and so on.
2. The Yajur Veda - deals with sacrificial formulas recited as rituals were being performed.
   
3. The Sama Veda - The word sama meaning melody shows us that these Vedas are melodies and hymns sung to the gods to request basic necessities.
4. The Atharva Veda - Contains perhaps hundreds of magic formulas

When the Vedas had been around for a while some members of the higher caste who were seen as priests, began to collect the Vedas. As they did they developed what amounted to commentary to help explain the Vedas. The Brahmana - the second group of sacred texts are commentaries attached to the Vedas that explain the rituals of the Vedas. In fact the word brahmana means the utterance of a Brahman (Brahman is one who is of the priestly caste). Again this reinforces the idea that these were intended to be spoken instead of written. They were considered sacred because it was the Brahmans who were speaking them. From around 900 b.c. to around 700 b.c. the Vedas were gathered together into Samhitas, which means - “collections” that the Brahmans then attempted to explain through the Brahmanas.

The third group of sacred wisdom which was eventually written down is the Aranyakas which is Sanskrit for “Forest Book”. The Aranyakasa developed later than the Brahmanas but held a similar function. Composed in India about 700 to 600b.c. the Aranyakas are different from the Brahmanas in that they develop ideas on secret rites to be carried out only by certain persons, and they are more philosophical in nature. They were intended to be studied only by properly trained individuals. These individuals were either studied hermits who had withdrawn into the forest and no longer took part in Vedic rituals (hence "Forest Book") or pupils who were given instruction by their teachers in the seclusion of their huts in tucked away places.

These first three groups of sacred writings outline the religious life and practice of the culture. These practices were intended to be performed by a priestly caste of people while the common person learned about them by listening to the priests not by reading scripture on their own. There was a strong communal aspect to the religion. As the society - and culture with it - moved east and south and settled along the Ganges River Basin some Brahmans began to settle in the forests and other secluded places. Think of them as the Druids of ancient India. With this move came a gradual shift away from the rituals and the hymns to a more contemplative practice and form to Hinduism. This is reflected in the sacred literature which demonstrates a move towards commenting on and contemplating the the purpose and meaning of life.

In part 2 I will trace the connection between this slow cultural shift, the writing of the fourth group of sacred texts - the Upanisads, and how this impacted the culture and paved the way for Buddhism.

VEDAS

Hinduism is one of the oldest if not thee oldest of the worlds great religions. There is speculation that Hinduism traces back thousands of years before Christ, perhaps as far back as 7000b.c. There is not a whole lot of concrete evidence to support these early development theories. We do get substantial evidence of early Hinduism with the coming of the Indo-Aryan people to the Indian Subcontinent (check out posts "Foundations part 1 & 2").

Around 1500bc the Vedic culture including its religion began to exert some influence in the fading Indus River Civilization. The early Vedic religion was an animistic religion centered around sacrifices and sharing the sacrificial meal with each other and with the many gods. Elaborate sacrifices were offered to different Vedic gods or devas and forms of these rituals continue to this day.

The Vedic deities of the Indo-Aryans bare many similarities to those of the pagan and animistic deities of early Western Europe. One of the Vedic gods, the sky god Indra, comes from the same root word as Zeus. The Vedic religion was based on the strong oral tradition of the Aryans and was was later written down in the Rig Vedas.

The Vedas are the holy books of the Hindus, the earliest of which are the Rig Vedas which were written around 1200b.c. to 1000b.c. They were composed in Vedic Sanskrit and make up the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Rig Vedas are a compilation of the oral traditions of the Vedic people. They are a written record of hymns and songs to the earth and celebrations and sacrifices to their gods who were anthropomorphism's of forces in nature. A more philosophical focus began to develop around 700 BC, with the Upanishads and development of the Vedanta philosophy. More on these later.

The Rig Vedas include their own account of the creation of the world. Prajapati, who is the first god, was sacrificed to himself by younger gods and out of his body the whole universe was made. Each of Prajapati's body parts turned into different groups of people. From this the Indian people thought of themselves as belonging to one of the four castes. So it would seem the whole caste system has its roots with the Aryan people even though it is deeply embedded in the Hindu worldview.