Hinduism developed between 500 BCE and 300 BCE and it is indeed the result of the integration of earlier belief systems. As the other educator's answer describes, much of Hinduism has its roots in the Vedic religion that developed during the Iron Age. The Vedic religion was a combination of beliefs and rituals that were practiced by the Harappans, Indo-Aryans, and the followers of the renouncer religions that developed in the Indus River Valley.
From its start, the Hindu religion formed as a synthesis of these earlier belief systems as well as incorporating elements of early Buddhism. While northern India, especially the Indus River Valley and the Himalayan foothills proved to be the cradle of Hinduism, the religion quickly spread to southern India and several other parts of Southeast Asia.
One of the likely factors that allowed and encouraged the adoption and proliferation of early Hinduism was the growth of cities during the centuries before the Common Era. Growing urban populations led to a shift in society that resulted in the challenging of earlier belief systems. Many new movements, such as the Sramana, rejected the supremacy of the Brahmins as well as many of the earlier Vedic traditions, thus paving the way for a new religion.
With a new centralized urban population, schools of Hindu philosophy developed. This led to more standardization of Hindu dogma and practices. It was in these schools that the earliest known Hindu texts, part of the Smriti literature, were written which further helped to standardize and spread the religion. Interestingly, many of these texts served to affirm the importance and power of the Vedas, further intertwining these earlier beliefs into Hinduism.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf
One of the traditions that was incorporated into Hinduism was the Vedic religion of the Iron Age, which was practiced among the Indo-Aryans of northern India from about 1750 BCE to 500 BCE. Their rituals were based on the four Vedas (including the Vedic Samhitas and some of the older Upanishads). These texts became the founding texts of Hinduism. The Vedas, written in Sanskrit, include the Rigveda, composed of about 1,000 hymns for the priestly families who conserved the literature; the Yajuveda, which contains prose for certain rituals; the Samaveda, which contains verses from the Rigveda with music; and the Atharvaveda, which includes incantations and magic spells. The Vedic religion was a polytheistic religion that involved sacrifices to gods connected with nature.
During the later Vedic period, only Brahmins could carry out the rituals in the Vedas. The four varnas, or castes, of Hinduism--the Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants), and Shudras (servants)—developed during the Vedic Age. The Vedic religion ended around 500 BCE, when the formation period of Hinduism developed.
Hinduism developed from a combination of the Vedic religion and the religious cultures of the indigenous inhabitants of India. The religion likely evolved following the Aryan invasion of the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BCE and the eventual merging of the Aryan culture (the Vedic religion) with the indigenous beliefs already existing in India. The Aryan invasion, which some experts still dispute, is thought by other experts to have occurred at the time when the Indus Valley Civilization declined after their water sources dried up. After the Aryans, originally nomads, settled in the Indus Valley, their culture began to spread. This period, referred to as the Hindu synthesis, brought Hindu beliefs to southern India. In addition, the spread of Hinduism was facilitated by the granting of land to Brahmans by local rulers and by the incorporation of non-Vedic gods into the religion. As the culture of Hinduism developed, along with cities, the religion became increasingly complex and philosophical.
No comments:
Post a Comment