WHAT IS HINDUISM?

I thought about writing about Hinduism because it is much mis-understood by many of us.

I compiled this when one of my friends questioned me about Hinduism. How many Hindus actually know what the basics of Hinduism are? Hinduism does not mean just idol worship as many people tend to believe.Hinduism is much broader than that. We have to approach Hinduism from the Vedic times in order to get a real glimpse of what it is all about.

The Vedas are a compilation of the rites of Aryans who have migrated into India in about 2000 to 1500 BC. Aryans have come from Central Asia that is the present Soviet Asian republics of Kazakhastan Uzbekistan Turkmenistan Kirghizistan and Tadzhikistan.

The Aryans have started migrating probably because the Chinese Shan Dynasty pushed the various tribal populations outward which in turn exerted a pressure on the adjoining Aryans. The Aryans migrated southward before they split into two branches with one branch coming towards Persia and India and the other going west towards Europe.

Of course this theory has been challenged by some Indians who theorized that Aryans are indigenous to India but they could not offer any valid proof for that to satisfy the community of historians.

All the languages spoken in North India except by some tribal groups are Aryan while the languages of the South are totally different from them. These are known as Dravidian languages and are unconnected to any other language external to India which means they are indigenous. The major languages Tamil Malayalam and Kannada form one branch while Telugu is alone in the other branch.

The Vedas are the Sanskrit literature of the Aryans. The Aryans were nomadic people and were not used to agriculture when they entered India. They were totally dependent on cattle rearing on which their life revolved. That is the reason for the extreme reverence accorded to the cow among Hindus. 

When Aryans entered into India they had to face the Indus Valley Civilization which was highly evolved by that time itself and was dependent on city life and agriculture.

The Aryans worshipped nature which is the reason why they gave importance to Gods like Indra Surya Varun Ushas Maruts etc which are forces of nature. They were also fond of liquor so they had a god for that Soma from Soma ras. Along with Indra and Agni, Soma is a very important god for the Aryans. 

When the Aryan and the Indus cultures clashed what happened was not just outright fighting but also cultural assimilation. The Aryans subsumed the Indus Valley culture and adopted some of their practices. Along with this assimilation there was intermarrying as well.

Thus Indians are a crossbred race between the Aryans and the Indus Valley people who belonged to the Proto Australoid or the Meditaranean stock. More or less like the present day Arabs but darker in skin color. 

With time it appears that the remnants of the Indus Valley people were pushed Southward along with interbreeding. Today as one goes from South to North the Aryan blood increases and as one goes down South the Indus Valley blood increases.

Now what are the Vedas? The Aryans have developed elaborate rituals to please their nature gods. This they compiled as their religious literature. Of course our people believe that Vedas are handed down by God.

The oldest Veda Rigveda started getting compiled in around 1500 BC. The subsequent Vedas followed later but these were just oral and not written down. They got passed down by generations byhearting them and passing them on. They were written down much later, probably in the 2nd century BC. The Upanishads got compiled between 800 and 500 BC.

   

I had to give this background before actually writing about Vedic literature.

As you know the Vedas are 4 in number        

     

1. Rigveda

2. Samaveda

3. Yajurveda and

4. The Atharva Veda.

It is said that any Vedic sacrifice requires 4 priests 

1. Hota 

2. Udgata 

3. Adhvaryu 

4. Brahma

The Rigveda is for the Hota, the Sama Veda is for the Udgata, the Yajur Veda is for the Adhvaryu and the Atharva Veda is for the Brahma. 

Hota chants hymns asking the gods to partake in the sacrifice, Udgata sings the Sama Veda to entertain them.The Adhvaryu conducts the yagna as per the laid down norms in Yajurveda and the Brahma is the overall supervisor for the Yagna for whom the Atharva Veda is intended.

Now very few people know that each Veda itself consists of 4 parts.

1. Samhita

2. Brahmana

3. Aranyaka

4. Upanishads.

The SAMHITA is in verse and extolls and praises various Vedic gods like Indra Agni Soma Varun etc. The BRAHMANA is in prose and gives rules for the complicated ritualism of the Vedas. They deal with the rules for performance of the rights and sacrifices. There is little philosophy in these. The appendages to the Brahmanas are ARANYAKAS. They mark the transition from ritualistic to philosophical thought. There is a mystic interpreration of the Vedic sacrifices in these. 

The concluding portion of the Aranyakas are the UPANISHADS. These are intensely philosophical and spiritual. The entire subsequent Indian philosophies take their base from the Upanishads. They are the root of all Indian philosophy.

There are supposed to be 108 Upanishads in all but a number of them have repitition of thought. The 10 Upanishads on which Sankaracharya has commented are taken to be important. They are

1. Isha

2.Kena

3. Katha

4. Prashna

5. Mundaka

6. Mandukya

7. Aitareya

8. Taittiriya

9. Chandogya

10. Brihadaranyaka

The Upanishads consider the Karma Kanda of the Vedas as secondary.

God is defined in 2 ways in the Upanishads. The first is Savisesha Saprapancha Saguna Brahman known as PARA BRAHMA or ISHWARA the personal god and Nirvisesha Nisprapancha Nirguna Brahman or APARA BRAHMA or the ABSOLUTE. The Absolute is unknowable and does not correspond to anything that is known to us. 

The Upanishads say that when we start defining the Brahman it ends up as Ishwara. The only thing we can say about Brahman as not this not this. They put the absolute above everything else known to us. But at the same time allowing the personal god as the concept of Brahman is abstract and unknowable.

Thus Hinduism is a strict monotheism in the garb of polytheism. The Upanishads are intensely spiritual and challenge everything that is known to us. One can trace monotheism, polytheism, pantheism and even atheism to the Upanishads. 

Perhaps this is the reason why Hinduism is so tolerant. It is because the core of Hinduism does not hold anything absolute except for the Brahman which is anyway unknowable to us.

Hinduism is not a specific religion and therefore gives rise to many interpretations.