Vedic religion

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The Vedic religion is the oldest religion in India that can be documented in writing . It builds on the complex animistic traditions of the Indo-Aryan populations of South Asia and the oasis cultures in southern Central Asia and is polytheistic and oriented towards religious and ritual sacrifice . The Vedic religion is very different from today's Hinduism , and was mainly found in India, but was also found in today's Syria and Turkey , where it is associated with the Mittani and their upper class.

The writings of the Vedic religion are preserved in the Vedas , the origins of which are probably from 1500 BC. Chr. Exist as an oral tradition. In these appear a diverse pantheon of gods, most of whom are male deities. They form groups of heavenly deities, atmospheric deities, and earth gods. Agni represents e.g. B. represents an earth deity as the god of fire, Vayu is an atmospheric wind deity, Surya , the sun god, is a deity of the sky, as is Indra . Indra also represents the supreme deity and most of the hymns of the Rig Veda are about him. The following most important deities were Soma and Agni. Even Varuna and Mitra played an important role, the Maruts and the Ashvins and Usha , the dawn.

Gods who later passed into Hinduism were Vishnu and Rudra . In the Vedic pantheon, Vishnu was considered a solar deity associated with the sacrificial ritual, while Rudra was considered a dark deity that later became part of the Shiva cult.

The ancient Vedic religion is by far the most similar religion to the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European religion and shows parallels to the ancient Greek religion , the Roman religion and the Old Norse religion .

Faith

The Vedic religion differs from today's Hinduism in many ways. So there is no concept of reincarnation , samsara or nirvana in the Vedic religion . The old Vedic religion believed in life after death in the form of "spirits". These are mainly located in one or more “spirit worlds”; Dimensions in which the dead as well as other spirits and gods exist. In rare cases, however, these remained in the physical dimension as “restless spirits”. According to Vedic traditions, spirits and gods can influence the physical world from the spirit world.

Ancestor worship through a pronounced ancestor cult is one of the most important aspects of the Vedic religion. Traces of this ancestral cult are still widespread today and are continued as “Śrāddha” traditions.

mythology

One of the dominant themes of the Vedas is the battle between the gods and the demons ( Asuras ), a symbolic expression of the opposites of good and evil, of creation and destruction. Like these battles, Vedic mythology was based on dualisms , those of gods and demons, good and bad, heaven and earth, male and female. The heroic element is expressed, for example, in the mythology of Indra.

The Vedas show a rural background, an urban culture cannot be recognized, so that there is no evidence whatsoever that the Vedic religion was part of the Indus Valley culture (approx. 2500–1700 BC).

Shrauta rituals

Shrauta were semi-public, complex rituals of the Vedic religion. The name Shrauta comes from Shruti , the basic Vedic scriptures. The Shrauta rituals had the function of sustaining the creative forces of nature. For this purpose, elaborated gestures were used that were in resonance with the elemental forces in order to recreate or penetrate the cosmos. At the center of these rituals was the Yajamana, the sacrificial priest.

Structure of the Shrauta rituals

  1. The priests of Rigveda and Yajurveda carried out coordinated rituals, and a representative of Samaveda was also involved in Soma victims.
  2. Text passages of these Vedas ( mantras ) were recited.
  3. Fireplaces were used to sacrifice various substances, e.g. B. Milk, ghee and yoghurt, rice, parts of sacrificial animals and soma . The drink Soma is mentioned above all in the ninth circle of songs of the Rigveda, Hymn 67.

The altar, Vedi, was built in an east-west direction and was covered with sacred grass. He formed the center of the Vedic ritual. The gods were to come to this altar when they were satisfied with the offerings. There were three fire places around the altar that were used to make sacrifices to the gods, deceased ancestors and domestic offerings. Depending on the form of the ritual, one to seventeen priests were involved. Agnihotra means the offering of milk or rice in the morning, the offerings were made in the three fires. Darsapurnamasa denotes the sacrifice of milk and grain on the new moon and full moon, Nirudhapasubandha denotes the sacrifice of animals.

The main deity of the sacrifices was Prajapati , the Lord of all creatures, who stood for wholeness and completeness, and accordingly represented the year. The victims were calendered in relation to the days and the whole year. The sacrificial priest and his wife had to perform at least the daily Agnihotras and Darsapurnamasas, in addition to that, a six-monthly Soma sacrifice and an annual Soma sacrifice as well as seasonal vegetation sacrifices. The priests had 30 years to make these sacrifices if they did not die or were too old to make the sacrifices.

Grihya rituals

The Shrauta were very costly, elaborate rituals, which is why they were probably only performed by kings and brahmin specialists, although they occupy a large place in literature.

Domestic rituals that were less complex were called Grihya (from Griha: house), which could be performed by any household, required less Vedic knowledge, and had only one ritual fire.

The Grihyasutras were created based on the Shrautasutras, as manuals for domestic rituals. The Grihya rituals themselves seem to go back to older customs, up to the time of Rigveda, when there were simple rituals for the protection and well-being of the domestic community, which were simply structured and carried out individually.

In simplified terms, three basic forms of domestic rituals can be identified: regular sacrifices in the domestic fire based on the Shrauta calendar, which are less complex than the Shrautas, Samskaras , there are usually 18 of them, and rituals of folk culture such as ceremonies and customs, which in the Grihyasutras were formalized.

All forms of Vedic schools had their own Grihyasutras, which refer to different Vedas such as the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Rigveda.

Vedic rituals in Hinduism today

The tradition of Vedic rituals is the oldest form of religious practice in the world and was passed down into the 21st century. The Vedic rituals are at least 3500 years old. The Shrauta fires are performed nowadays by Abhitagnis and their wives, most Shrauta specialists follow the family tradition of black Yajurveda as Apastamba subsects of the Taittiriya branch. The Shrauta are particularly widespread in Tamil Nadu and on the coast of Andhra Pradesh. The Shrauta are mostly upheld for reasons of tradition, most Abitagnis cannot read the Vedic scriptures.

The recitation of Vedic scriptures is more common than the Shrautas, and the recitation techniques and pedagogy of these Vedic schools have been passed down for thousands of years. In central and southern India there are still Vedic schools today that teach scripture recitation. Mainly the Rigveda, the Samaveda and the Taittiriya Samhitas are recited. In the course of the modernization of India, however, these Vedic schools are also disappearing more and more.

Vedic rites of passage are widespread, but they are practiced almost exclusively in the Brahmin caste. The traditional Vedic rites are limited to the naming ceremony, the initiation into the Vedic scriptures, which also takes place if the initiate has never read a Vedic text in his life, marriage and death. In many Hindu temples the priests have learned these ceremonies, and in some cases the rites are adapted to the respective sect.

The offering of gifts in a fire (Homa) is an important element of Hinduism today and goes back to the Vedic religion.

The Vedas had a strong influence on many of the later works of Hinduism such as the Mahabharata , the Puranas , the Tantras and "orthodox" philosophical literature referred to as Vedic, which refers to the "Vedic tradition", a term for Hinduism.

Kalash religion

The Kalashes in northern Pakistan follow an animistic religion that some historians, including Michael Witzel , consider to be a holdover from the Vedic religion. Other historians refer to the Kalash religion as "ancient Hinduism".

literature

Individual evidence

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  8. ↑ Laumakis, Stephen J. (February 21, 2008). An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139469661 .
  9. ↑ Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th century. Pearson Education India. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0 .
  10. ^ Atsushi Hayakawa (2014). Circulation of Fire in the Veda. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 66-67, 101-103. ISBN 978-3-643-90472-0 .
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