Hinduism

religio - “reverence for the gods”

  • religion is belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe

  • religion is any specific system of belief and worship often involving a code of ethics and philosophy

brahman - ultimate/ absolute reality


E.B. Tylor (1832-1917)

  • defined religion as belief in supernatural beings

  • primitive religion (origin on religion) - savage philosophers (religion is a way to explain the world before scientific causes)

K. Marx (1818-1883)

  • opium of the people (to bring relief to suffering (social injustices), to make a world where people can feel better)

E. Durkheim (1858-1917)

  • a collective tradition, not just believing but doing rituals in a group setting - a sense of the place in the world, a belonging

  • not just orthodoxy (belief), its about orthopraxy (practice, what you’re supposed to do)


emic: “insider’s perspective”

  • sruti: revealed text

  • smruti: traditional text (human author)

etic: “outsider’s perspective”


  • Indus Valley Civilization - also known as Meluhhan civilization

  • Harappa and Mohenjo Daro: evidence of Indus VC

    • evidence with seals, mostly domestic animals with symbols

    • Pasupati (lord of creatures): Proto-Siva

  • varna: color; class

  • jaati: to be born; caste


4 aims of life

  1. kaama (sensual desire)

  2. artha (wealth and wordly success)

  3. dharma

  4. moksha (liberation)


  • anuloma (following manu’s laws of marriage in terms of varna)

  • pratiloma (against manu’s laws of marriage in terms of varna)


  • bramhodaya

  • Svetaketu: son of Aaruni

  • Aaruni: father of Svetaketu

  • upanisad: secret connection


  • Naciketas - son (different from other people; other people are blind and want to experience material wealth, yet Naciketas wanted knowledge)

  • Usan - father

  • Yama - god of death


  • tat tvam asi: you are that


Upanishads:

  • means secret connection

  • Usan is sacrificing his cow to Yama; Yama says that the cows are worthless because they are dried out (sees it as a sign of disrespect)

  • Naciketas waits on Yamas doorstep for three days and recieves three boons

  1. asks for his father’s anxiety and anger to be pacified

  2. asks to be taught the performance of the vedic agni sacrifice that leads to swargam

  3. asks for ultimate truth after death and the secret of atma (Yama says to make another wish because its too complicated to understand and explain it)


  • samsaara: cycle if redeath and rebirth


  • naastika: “denier“; worst kind of renouncer, clings to inaction

  • yajna: vedic sacrifice

  • bhakti: devotion

  • jnana: knowledge

  • karma: action


MahaBharata:

Hastinapura: Vichitraveeraya - sons Pandu (5 sons; Pandavas; Yudhistra (gambling addict), Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva) and Dhrutharastra (100 sons; Kauravas; Duryodhana, Dhusyaana)

  • part of ksathriya varna


BhagavatGita:

  • means “Song of the Lord” (specifically Krishna)

  • dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna

  • can ignore the fruit of the action, but do the action (do not cling to inaction)


3 gunas (strands)

  1. lucidity (sattra); white

  2. passion (rajas); red

  3. dark inertia (tamas); black

Samkhya philosophy

  1. nature: prakruti

  2. spirit: purusha


Ramayana:

  • Valmiki - Sanskrit (3rd c BCE - 3rd c CE)

  • Kampan - Tamil (12th c CE) - most like R.K. Narayan’s modern version

  • Tulsi Das - Hindi (16th c CE)

  • Sita - “furrow”



  • ahimsa - “non-violence”


6 affirmer schools

  1. samkhya

  2. yoga

  3. mimamsa

  4. vedanta

  5. nyaya

  6. vaisesika


limbs of yoga

  1. moral principles

  2. observances

  3. posture (asana)

  4. breath control (pranayama)

  5. withdrawal of the senses

  6. concentration

  7. meditation

  8. absorption (samadhi)


5 steps of Nyaya

  1. there is fire on the hill

  2. because there is smoke

  3. as in a kitchen

  4. this is such a case

  5. therefore it is so


Introduction to Hinduism (Gavin Flood)

  1. Points of Departure

  • hindu - first a persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus

    • often characterized as belief in reincarnation (samsara) determined by the law that all actions have effects (karma), and that salvation is freedom from this cycle

    • not a category in the classical sense but more in the sense of prototype theory (maintains that categories do not have rigid boundaries, but degrees of category membership)

    • a development of hindu self-understanding - a transformation in the modern world of themes already present

  • Vedas - large body of literature composed in Sanskrit revered as revelation (sruti) and as the source of dharma

    • means knowledge

    • puranas - stories about people and gods, the Epics and mythological texts

  • Dharma

    • what a hindu does is more important than what a hindu believes

    • the practice or performance of certain duties

    • implies a fundamental distinction between the affirmation of worldly life and social values and rejection of reincarnation in order to achieve salvation or liberation

  • sociological characterization: a hindu is someone born within an Indian social group, a caste, who adheres to its rules with regard to purity and marriage, and who performs its prescribed rituals

  • high caste householder if born with three debts (rna) to be paid (to seek liberation)

    • vedic study to the sages (rsi) as a celibate student (brahmacarin)

    • ritual to the gods (deva) as a householder

    • begetting a son to make funeral offerings to the ancestors (putr)

  • offering incense to the icon of a deity - thought to open a channel of communication

  • tirtha - places of pilgrimage (crossings)

    • Ex. Varanasi (so sacred that people who die there receive liberation at death)

  • Hindu Traditions

    a. arboreal model

        claims that various sub-traditions branch off from a central, original tradition

    b. river model

        claims that a tradition comprises multiple streams which merge into a single mainstream

  • Brahmanical traditions

    • Vaisnava traditions - Vishnu

    • Saiva traditions - Siva

    • Sakta traditions - Devi

  • Vedanta - theological articulation of the vedic traditions (philosophical basis of the Hindu renaissance during 19th cent)

  • Renouncer Traditions

    • espouse the values of asceticism and world transcendence in contrast to the brahmanical householder values of affirming the goals of dharma, artha, and kaama

  • Popular Traditions

    • low-caste traditions to appease goddesses who demand offerings of blood and alcohol

-Chronology of South Asia

  • Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500 to 1500 BCE)

  • Vedic Period (c. 1500 to 500 BCE)

  • Epic Period (c. 500 BCE to 500 CE)

  • Medieval Period (c. 500 CE to 1500 CE)

  • Modern Period (c. 1500 CE to present)



  1. Ancient Origins

  • 2 ancient cultural complexes

    a. Indus valley civilization (2500 BCE - 1500 BCE)

        centered on a river and locates in the basin of the Indus (flows through present day Pakistan)

        developed urban culture - had sophisticated water technologies

        had trade contacts with the Middle East and with the hunter-gatherer tribes of Gujurat

        large number of female terracotta figurines unearthed during this period

        declined between 1800 and 1700 BCE - due to environmental causes

        rest of Indus civilization died by early Aryan invaders (claimed)

    b. Aryan culture (developed during second millennium BCE)

        northern plains of India from central Asia

        self-designation - Sanskrit aarya (noble or honorable)

                            three highest social classes

        knowledge of Aryans come from Rg Veda Samhita (earliest literature of hinduism)

        Aryan migration thesis: Aryans migrate when Indus valley civilization declines

                            a religion with Greek and Scandinavian equivalents became “corrupted by the emotional devotionalism of the Dravidians”

                            Rg Veda speaks of Aryans subduing cities of the Dasas - not specifically Indus but it can be implied

                            Arya - “noble” (sanskrit)

        Cultural transformation thesis: Aryan culture is development of Indus valley civilization - so aryan culture is a continuation of indus culture

                           modern archaeological evidence does not support the idea of Aryan migrations to India - only linguistic evidence of the connections between Sanskirt and European languages

  • The Veda

    • timeless revelation which is not of human authorship -in eternal and contains all knowledge

    • not written down until thousand years after its composition

      • the act of writing itself was regraded as a polluting activity

    • foundation for most later developments in hinduism

    • intimately connected with vedic ritual and its primary function is a ritual one

    • mantra: verses used in liturgy which make up the collection of texts called Samhita

    • brahmana: texts if ritual exegesis

      • rules for ritual and explanations about it concerning its meaning and purpose

      • contain aetological myths, posit elaborate correspondances between the rite and the cosmos

    • Aranyakas: form the concluding parts of several Brahmanas - form link between Brahmanas and Upanisads

    • four traditions: Rg, Yajur, Saama, and Atharva

    • three or four categories of texts: the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanisads

    • Rg Veda (1200 BCE): samhita in ten mandala of 1028 hymns to various deities

      • composed in vedic Sanskrit

    • Saama Veda: book of saaman (songs) based on Rg Veda with instructions on their recitation (gana)

    • Yajur Veda: collection of short prose formulae used in ritual

    • Atharva Veda: collection of hymns and magical formulae - considered more inferior compared to the others


  • The Upanisads

    • a devolpment of the Aaranyakas

    • Oldest one: Brhadaranyaka

    • older ones in prose, newer in verse

  • Vedic Ritual

    • revolved around sacrifice and sharing of the sacrificial meal with others and with devas

    • sacrificer: yajamana

  • two kinds of ritual were developed:

    • srauta: solemn, public rites

      • older and require burning of three sacred fires

      • observances to Agni and Soma (plant god)

      • asvamedha: horse sacrifice

      • purusamedha: human sacrifice

      • three fires: householder’s fire (garhapatya) in the west, (ahavaniya) to the east, and (daksinagni) in the south

    • grhya: domestic and life-cycle rites

      • require one sacred fire

  • four priests

    • chief priest (hotr) recites Rg Veda

    • second priest (udgatr) chants stotra from Saama Veda

    • adhvaryu priest chants Yajur Veda

  • Soma

    • originally a hallucinogenic/ intoxicating substance prepared from the soma plant

  • heaven (svar): contains sky god Dyaus, lord of righteousness and of night Varuna, god of night Mrita, nourisher Pusan, and pervader Visnu

  • atmosphere (bhuvas): contains warrior Indra, wind Vaayu, storm gods Maruts, and the terrible Rudra

  • earth (bhur): contains plant god Soma, fire god Agni, and priestly god of creative power Brhaspati

  • Natural phenomena

    • Apa (water)

    • Dhruva (pole star)

    • Soma (moon)

    • Dhara (earth)

    • Anila (wind)

    • Anala (fire)

    • Prabhasa (dawn)

    • Pratyusa (light)

    • Surya (sun)

    • Savitr (sunset)

    • Vayu (wind)

    • Prthivi (goddess earth)


  1. Dharma

  • Satapatha Brahmana and Brhadaranyaka Upanisad were composed in the Videha region

  • rise of renouncer traditions - particularly Buddhism + establishing Brahmanical ideology

  • Between Mauryan Dynasty (c. 320-185 BCE) and Gupta Emire (c. 320-500 CE)

    • political problems: Mauryan king was assassinated by his Brahman general

  • Sunga Dynasty (c. 185-73 BCE): lost empire to Greek invaders

    • kingdom replaced by Saaka empire after King Menander died

    • Kusanas invaded when Saaka declines - then Kaniska - then Gupta Empire

  • dharma

    • articulated by the vedic traditions or schools in texts concerned with the performance of vedic ritual and social ethics

      • expressed by a brahman and a king

    • has no direct semantic equivalent meaning

    • vedic obligation, eternal

    • 3 sources (according to dharma sutras): revelation, tradition, and customs

  • Vedangas (body of knowledge by Kalpa Sutras)

    • siksa - pronunciation of ritual

    • kalpa - performance of ritual

    • vyakarana- study of grammar

    • nirukta - etymology of vedic words

    • chandas - prosody

    • jyotisa - astrology

  • Kalpa Sutras

    • Srauta Sutras: correct performance of the solemn or public rites

      • focus upon Agni and Soma

      • ritual manuals with rules for performance of srauta rites

      • not speculating deeper meanings, just for rules of performance

    • Grhya Sutras: dealing with domestic rites

      • rules for ritual purity

      • performed by Brahmans for other castes or for self

    • Dharma Sutras: dealing with law and social ethics

      • concerned with customs and correct human conduct

  • Varnaasrama-dharma: one’s obligation with regard to one’s position in society and obligation with regard to one’s stage of life

  • class (varna) and caste (jaati)

        a. nobles/ warriors (raajanya, ksatriya)

        b. commoners (vaisya)

        c. serfs (sudra)

  • Aashramas (stages of life)

        a. brahmacaarya (celibate student)

        b. grhastha (householder)

        c. vanaprastha (hermit/forest dweller)

        d. samnyaasa (renouncer)


  1. Yoga and Renunciation

  • beings are reincarnated into the world over and over again by the results of karma; process of endless rebirth is one of suffering - no escape

  • Patanjali: systematizer of yoga practice and philosophy

  • to be free of suffering one needs to be free from action and its effects

    • renunciation of action can be achieved through tapas and meditation