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Traditions and Trajectories in Ancient India

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Title: Traditions and Trajectories in Ancient India


1
Traditions and Trajectories in Ancient India
  • Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
  • REL 231
  • Religions of India and Tibet
  • Berea College
  • Fall 2005

2
THE INDUS RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATION
  • Original inhabitants of northwestern
    India-Pakistan (c. 2500 BCE)
  • Indus society
  • Agricultural
  • Urban
  • Mercantile
  • Indus religion
  • Polytheistic (esp. goddesses)
  • Fertility-oriented
  • By 1500 BCE, on brink of collapse, perhaps due to
    combination of natural and human disasters

3
THE ARYAN INVASION
  • Around 1500 BCE, Aryan peoples from southern
    Russia enter Indus region
  • Aryan society
  • Pastoral
  • Nomadic
  • Equestrian
  • Aryan religion
  • Polytheistic
  • Patriarchal
  • Aryan language was ancestral to Sanskrit, oldest
    known in Indo-European family

4
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE MYTHOLOGY
  • Words in Indo-European languages share common
    ancestors
  • English -- father
  • German -- Vater
  • Latin -- pater
  • Greek -- pater
  • Sanskrit pitar
  • Other examples
  • English divinity / ritual
  • Latin divus / ritus
  • Sanskrit deva / rta
  • Deities in Indo-European traditions share common
    origins
  • Norse -- Alfodr (All Father, i.e., Odin)
  • Latin Diespiter (Day Father, i.e., Jupiter)
  • Greek Zeuspater (Father Zeus)
  • Sanskrit Dyauspitar (Sky Father)
  • Thus, Sanskrit reveals deep links between ancient
    Indian and Western cultures

5
INDO-ARYAN SOCIETY
  • Divided into 4 hereditary occupational divisions
    (varnas colors)
  • Brahman (priest)
  • Ksatriya/Rajanya (warrior)
  • Vaisya (merchant/artisan)
  • Sudra (peasant)
  • On margins of fourfold society are Dalits
    (so-called untouchables), who perform menial
    and polluting tasks
  • Corpse handlers
  • Executioners
  • Hunters and fishermen
  • Leatherworkers

6
THE VEDAS
  • Concerned with orthopraxy (proper action) in
    ritual
  • Brahman authors edit oral liturgical traditions,
    producing Vedas (knowledges), c. 1200-600 BCE
  • By 600 BCE, sutras (threads, commentaries), or
    summaries of Vedas, become popular
  • 4 collections (samhitas) of Vedas
  • Rigveda (ric praise stanzas sung by priests in
    ritual)
  • Samaveda (saman songs sung by priestly
    entourage)
  • Yajurveda (yajus short incantations uttered by
    priests assistants in ritual)
  • Atharvaveda (therapeutic spells and hymns used by
    atharvans healers)

7
KARMAMARGA THE WAY OF ACTION
  • Atman (breath)
  • Essential element of person
  • Coexistent with body
  • Separable at death, when it ideally rejoins
    ancestors
  • Rta (right, rite)
  • Correct pattern
  • Cosmic order
  • Accomplished by orthopraxy
  • Dharma (law)
  • Fixed principles
  • Social order
  • Accomplished by obedience to varna-specific
    obligations
  • Ashramas (stages of life) for males of of
    three upper varnas
  • Brahmaçarya (study with guru or master)
  • Grihastha (marriage, family, career)
  • Vanaprastha (partial withdrawal from social life)
  • Sannyasa (complete renunciation of society,
    devotion to spiritual life)
  • Women participate only in householder stage, with
    two likely fates
  • Marginalization as widow
  • Predeceasing husband
  • Gradually, goal of improved reincarnation through
    right action (karma) replaces reunion with
    ancestors

8
TRANSCENDING THE VEDAS
  • Later Vedic texts (c. 1000-800 BCE) show interest
    in inner truth underlying outer ritual
  • Contemplation of Brahman (omnipresent,
    immaterial, ineffable source of all) supersedes
    sacrifices to deities
  • Upanisads (sitting down close at hand, c. 600
    BCE) record master-disciple dialogues related to
    quest to overcome avidya (ignorance) and gain
    jñana (knowledge)
  • Levels of jñana
  • Pratibhasika grasping complete illusion (vaita,
    dualistic)
  • Vyavaharika grasping conventional illusion
    (vaita, dualistic)
  • Paramarthika grasping ultimate reality
    (advaita, nondualistic)

9
UPANISHADIC ANTHROPOLOGY
  • Atman the selfs 3 bodies
  • Causal (innermost, where karma accumulates)
  • Subtle (middlemost, where sensory impressions are
    stored)
  • Gross (outermost, which houses other elements as
    physical form)
  • Gross body disintegrates at death, but causal and
    subtle bodies are eternal and pass on in samsara
    (cycle of rebirth conditioned by karmic
    retribution)

10
UPANISHADIC PSYCHOLOGY
  • 3 psychic organs
  • Çitta (subconscious transmits sensory stimuli)
  • Manas (conscious mind receives sensory stimuli)
  • Buddhi (intellect or will evaluates sensory
    stimuli)
  • 4 levels of consciousness
  • Waking (dominated by material concerns and
    self-awareness)
  • Dreaming (dominated by material concerns and
    self-awareness)
  • Dreamless (free of material concerns but not
    self-awareness)
  • Meditative (free of material concerns and
    self-awareness)

11
THE PATH TO JÑANA
  • Householder preparation (study of Upanisads,
    fulfillment of dharma, moral rectitude)
  • Renunciation of society and adoption of mendicant
    status
  • Discipleship with guru
  • Yoga (work, union)
  • Hatha-yoga -- gymnastic
  • Kundalini-yoga -- sexual
  • Patanjali-yoga combination of meditative,
    physical, and moral disciplines
  • Yogic self-cultivation eventually leads to
    samadhi (experience of undifferentiated unity
    with Brahman)

12
JÑANAMARGA THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE
  • Overcome maya (illusion, especially the illusion
    of separation between atman and Brahman)
  • Realize unity of Brahman and atman That is the
    Real That is the Self That you are!
  • Avoid actions (karma) that promote selfishness
    and maximize selflessness
  • Through knowledge of ones true self and positive
    karma, attain moksa (liberation from samsara and
    full union with Brahman)

13
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