Religious traditions of India

Veda

Religious-philosophical corpus whose oldest part dates back to ca. 1500 BCE

Highest religious authority

Oral transmission at the beginning → meant to be chanted

Vedic Sanskrit

language of the Vedas (earlier phase of Sanskrit)

Dharma

Universal law, basis of cosmic, natural, social and moral order

One’s own moral and religious duty → person from a different caste/gender/… has a different dharma

“That which holds together”

Brahmin (brāhmaṇa)

priest, 1st caste

Brahman

supreme entity in the universe from which everything emanates and to which everything will return

Ātman

innermost essence of a human, identical to the brahman (according to the Upaniṣads)

Upaniṣad

concluding part of the Veda where the notion of the identity of brahman and ātman is expressed

Mokṣa

liberation from the cycle of rebirths

Saṃsāra

bond to the cycle of re-birth and re-death determined by karma

Karma

Literally “action”

The causal law according to which the quality of one’s actions determines one’s next existence

Explains inequalities, injustices

Bhakti

devotion to God

Pūjā

ritual consisting of offerings to and worship of a god

Mahābhārata

fundamental epic in the Hindu tradition (ca. 4th cent. BCE – 3rd cent. CE)

Rāmāyaṇa

fundamental epic in the Hindu tradition (ca. 5th cent. BCE – 3rd cent. CE)

Purāṇa

literally “ancient”; encyclopaedic collection of legends, genealogies and myths about the creation, destruction and re-creation of the world (from ca. 4th–5th cent. CE onwards)

Sanskrit

language evolved from Vedic and foundational in the Hindu tradition

Shaivism

devotion to Śiva

Vaishnavism

devotion to Viṣṇu

Shaktism

Devotion to the cosmic feminine principle Śakhti/Devī (the Goddess)1

Kala

Time

Dhamma

Pali for Dharma → Buddhist context

Nastika

Does not accept the Veda

E.g. Buddhism, Jainism, Carvakas

Guru - sisya

Teacher - student

→ Patriarchical interpretation: father - son

Rsis

People with special capacities who became aware of the knowledge of the Veda, they “heard” the Veda

Sruti

What was heard by the Rsis → knowledge of the Veda’s

Kshatriya

Warrior/political elite, 2nd caste

Vaishya

Merchants/traders, 3rd caste

Shudra

Laborers, 4th caste

Harijan

Outcasts

Asrama

= Varnasrama-dharma

Division in stages of life

Do what you need to do according to caste and stage in life => working toward moksa from samsara

Moksa

Liberation

Brings ultimate res

Samsara

Cycle of births, deaths and rebirths

Moksa-marga

The path to liberation

Tri-marga

Three paths to liberation → you choose what is the most appropriate for yourself

• Karma-marga

• Jnana-marga

• Bhakti-marga

Karma-marga

Path to liberation through (ritual) action

Jnana-marga

The path to liberation through knowledge, not many Hindus choose this

Bhakti-marga

Path to liberation through some form of the devine, the most popular path

Deva & devi

Devine beings, gods and goddesses

istadeva

personal deity, ‘favorite god’

Maya

Delusion → 2 interpretations

• Deceptive but devine power

• Illusory manifestation of the universe

Darsana

Philosophical system

Saddarsana

6 philosophical schools