Chapter 3: Hinduism
Map of Eurasia in the 2nd century
CE(=AD)
Slide 3.
“The Silk Route”
Slide 5.
Diversity in India
• Religious Diversity
• Judaism
• Christianity
•
•
Catholic
Protestant
•
A large minority
• Buddhism
• Islam
• Hindu
• Tribal Religions
• Linguistic Diversity
• 22 languages are recognized by the Indian Constitution
•
Hundreds of languages are spoken
• We can’t say “all Indians” do / think X.
Slide 7.
Religion in Ancient
India
• Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in
the world.
• Like other ancient religious traditions,
Hinduism is a composite of beliefs.
• Over time, these many traditions came
together to develop into a recognizable
religious tradition.
• Self-given label: “Sanatana Dharma”
=Eternal Sacred Duty
Slide 8.
How Old Is Hinduism?
• Texts
• Vedas written 1500-900 BCE
• oral for hundreds/thousands of years.
• “Vedic religion” rather than as Hinduism.
• Indian religion at this time unlike later
Hinduism
Slide 11.
An Indian Definition of
Hinduism
• In 1966, the Indian Supreme Court listed
seven features they believed characterized
Hinduism (a list that was reaffirmed in 1995):
• acceptance and reverence for the Vedas,
• a spirit of tolerance,
• belief in vast cosmic periods of creation and
destruction,
• belief in reincarnation,
• recognition of multiple paths to salvation and
truth,
• polytheism, and
• philosophical flexibility (no single dogma).
Slide 12.
The Birth of Hinduism:
Preview
• The beginnings of Hinduism may be in the Indus
Valley Civilization.
• It is disputed whether Hinduism blended older
Indian religious beliefs with the religion of the
Aryans.
• The caste system was an important aspect of
Hinduism.
• Early Hindus worshiped gods of sun and fire and
storm.
• The earliest Hindu scriptures are the Vedas.
• Vedic scriptures show a transition from ritual to
philosophy.
Slide 16.
Timeline of Hinduism
• Spans at least 3500 years from the
beginnings of written scripture to now.
• Origin reaches back even farther
• The history of Hinduism is composed of five
broad periods:
•
•
•
•
•
• Formative period: 2500-800 BCE
• Speculative period: 800-400 BCE
• Epic/Classical periods: 400 BCE-600 CE
• Medieval period: 600-1800 CE
• Modern period: 1800 CE-present
Slide 17.
Indus Valley
Civilization
• The earliest
civilization in India
• Begins around 2500
BCE
• A serious downturn
around 1500 BCE
• Largely disappeared by
800 BCE
Slide 19.
Indus Valley
Civilization
Sophisticated city-builders
Sewers, grid system
Slide 20.
Indus Valley Art and
inscriptions
Slide 22.
A new group
• Remember: There was an earlier civilization
in ancient India
• The “Indo-Aryans” or “People of the Vedas”
(the preferable term)
• Vedas: the texts these people produced
• Aryans: what these people call themselves.
• These newcomers did not build cities, but
they did produce texts.
• Somewhat war-like, nomadic
• Move cattle around, displacing people
• Religion: fire sacrificial cult
Slide 23.
The Aryan Invasion
Theory
• Theory (1) Hinduism a mix of religion from India &
Aryan invaders.
• Vedas are in Sanskrit, an Indo-European language.
• Assumption: languages spread by military conquest.
• Aryan invasion would have been between 2000 and
1500 BCE.
• Controversial: racial ideology
• Theory (2) Hinduism is completely native to India.
• popular view in India today.
• also ideologically based.
• Archaeological and linguistic data not conclusive
Slide 24.
Vedic Scriptures
• The earliest Hindu scriptures are called the
Vedas.
• 4 Early Vedas 1500 BCE - 900 BCE: written
forms of oral tradition.
• The four Vedas include the:
• Rig Veda,
• Yajur Veda (“ceremonial knowledge”),
• Sama Veda (“chant knowledge”), and
• Atharva Veda (“knowledge from Atharva,” a
teacher).
Slide 25.
Traditional Views of
the Vedas
• Śruti (shruti)=“that which is heard”
• The tradition views them as eternal,
uncreated, and free of error.
• Because their original state is as sound,
the tradition emphasises knowing the
Vedas by heart, chanting the hymns with
eloquence, and the performance of the
hymns as part of Vedic rites.
Slide 26.
Traditional Views of
the Vedas
• Treasure people who work with poetry
well: narrate.
• A teacher instructs a boy the correct
accents for a Vedic chant
• Beginning at 4 years old, to 14.
• Only for priestly (and rich).
• Only for top 3 classes of society.
Slide 27.
Traditional Views of
the Vedas
•
Mantra=a sacred verbal formula, used in Vedic (and
now Hindu) rites.
•
•
The tradition understands them to have power.
Not to have something, but to do something.
•
•
•
They have creative power if spoken aright.
Ṛṣi (“Rishi”)=a “seer” or a “sage”
Kavi=a “poet”.
•
In the Vedic tradition, these were both religiously inspired.
•
•
By Agni? By Soma?
They could head the Vedas in their original form.
Slide 28.
Early Vedic Religion &
Ritual
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
earliest forms of Hinduism “Vedic”.
Formative Period (2500-800 BCE).
characterized by fire sacrifices.
Priests (men from the Brahmin
caste) officiated at rituals.
Attention to detail:
placing fire pits
chanting proper hymns
Purpose: communicate with and
influence the gods.
smoke strengthened and restored vital
powers of universe.
optimistic, world-affirming religion.
Chaos could be reversed through
the Vedic fire rituals.
Slide 29.
Vedic Gods
• vital, brilliant beings associated with sky,
storm, and fire.
• inhabited three-level cosmos
1. Earth
2. Atmosphere
• where communication between people and gods
took place
• heaviest spiritual traffic.
3. Sky
Slide 30.
The Vedic Sacrifices
and Rites
•
Sacrificial Fire cult:
the main religious
practice.
•
•
(some take 15 minutes;
some take weeks)
Vedic ritual age:
•
Height from 1100-600
BCE
•
•
the age of “Karman” =
the age of action
In the Vedas, Karman
and Karma only mean
“action” (as opposed to
Buddhism)
Slide 31.
The Vedic Sacrifices
and Rites
1.
2.
3.
4.
Materialism
•
•
Give things to get things
Afterlife is not a focus
The medium is the message.
•
•
Performative
language not known by
performers
Death for successful rite
•
•
•
human sacrifices?
not at time of commentaries.
Buddhism & Hinduism
oppose violence
Materials in rites are
temporary.
•
•
thatched roof, broken pottery.
Hinduism has permanent
temples, statues, icons
Slide 32.
Hinduism
1.Explain at least
two ways a
typical Hindu
might begin
his/her religious
day.
2.What are the
Vedas? What
role do they play
in Hinduism
today?
3.What is
reincarnation?
4.What were
Buddhism and
Jainism reacting
against within
the Hindu faith?
5.What is the
caste system?
Vedic Pantheon
• Important gods of the Vedic pantheon:
• Dyaus Pitr (shining father),
• Aditi (mother of the gods),
• Indra (god of storm and war),
• Agni (god of fire),
• Rudra (god of the winds),
• Surya (a sun god),
• Varuna (god of sky and justice),
• Vishnu (god of cosmic order), and
• Ushas (goddess of the dawn).
• Dyaus Pitr related to Zeus and Jupiter (contact
with Greece & Rome?).
• Virtually all male
Slide 34.
Agni
•
•
•
•
•
Agni, the god of fire, had a
special role to play in early
Hinduism.
He acted as the primary
intermediary between this world
and the heavens, taking the
smoke from the fire sacrifices
up to the other gods.
On earth, Agni was the god of
fire; in the atmosphere, he was
lightning; in the sky, he was the
sun.
His name, Agni, is related to
the English word “ignite.”
(read Hymn to Agni)
Slide 35.
RV 1.1: A Vedic Hymn
to Agni
(tr. by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty)
1. I pray to Agni, the household priest who is the god of the sacrifice, the one
who chants and invokes and brings most treasure.
2. Agni earned the prayers of ancient sages, and of those of the present, too; he
will bring the gods here.
3. Through Agni one may win wealth, and growth from day to day, glorious and
most abounding in heroic sons.
4. Agni, the sacrificial ritual that you encompass on all sides - only that one goes
to the gods.
5. Agni, the priest with the sharp sight of a poet, the true and most brilliant, the
god will come with the gods.
6. Whatever good you wish to do for the one who worships you, Agni, through
you, O Angiras, that comes true.
7. To you, Agni, who shine upon darkness, we come day after day, bringing our
thoughts and homage
8. to you, the king over sacrifices, the shining guardian of the Order, growing in
your own house.
9. Be easy for us to reach, like a father to his son. Abide with us, Agni, for our
happiness.
Slide 36.
Soma
1. A deity.
• Another god of the Vedic pantheon was
Soma, the god of altered states of
consciousness, linked with the moon, the
waters, and bliss.
2. A plant, from which juice is squeezed.
• Soma was also the Sanskrit term for a
stimulant or psychedelic drug consumed by
other gods in the Vedic pantheon (especially
Indra).
• Possibly a hallucinogen – flying, a rush.
Slide 37.
The Killing of Vritra
(Rig Veda 1.32)
• Does this poem give you the impression that
the religion was more about:
• Ideas or things?
• Beliefs or behaviours?
Slide 39.
The Killing of Vritra
1 I WILL declare the manly deeds of Indra, the first that he achieved, the
deadly bolt against her.
Thunder-wielder.
The mother was above, the son was under and like a cow beside
He slew the Dragon, then disclosed the waters, and cleft the
her calf lay Danu.
channels of the mountain torrents.
10 Rolled in the midst of never-ceasing currents flowing without a rest for
2 He slew the Dragon lying on the mountain: his heavenly bolt of thunder
ever onward.
Tvaṣṭar fashioned.
The waters bear off Vṛtra's nameless body: the foe of Indra sank to
Like lowing kine in rapid flow descending the waters glided
during darkness.
downward to the ocean.
11 Guarded by Ahi stood the thralls of Dāsas, the waters stayed like kine
3 Impetuous as a bull, he chose the Soma and in three sacred beakers
held by the robber.
drank the juices.
But he, when he had smitten Vṛtra, opened the cave wherein the
Maghavan grasped the thunder for his weapon, and smote to death
floods had been imprisoned.
this firstborn of the dragons.
12 A horse's tail wast thou when he, O Indra, smote on thy bolt; thou,
4 When, Indra, thou hadst slain the dragon's firstborn, and overcome the
God without a second,
charms of the enchanters,
Thou hast won back the kine, hast won the Soma; thou hast let
Then, giving life to Sun and Dawn and Heaven, thou foundest not
loose to flow the Seven Rivers.
one foe to stand against thee.
13 Nothing availed him lightning, nothing thunder, hailstorm or mist which
5 Indra with his own great and deadly thunder smote into pieces Vṛtra,
had spread around him:
worst of Vṛtras.
When Indra and the Dragon strove in battle, Maghavan gained the
As trunks of trees, what time the axe hath felled them, low on the
victory for ever.
earth so lies the prostrate Dragon.
14 Whom sawest thou to avenge the Dragon, Indra, that fear possessed
6 He, like a mad weak warrior, challenged Indra, the great impetuous
thy heart when thou hadst slain him;
many-slaying Hero.
That, like a hawk affrighted through the regions, thou crossedst
He, brooking not the clashing of the weapons, crushed—Indra's
nine-and-ninety flowing rivers?
foe—the shattered forts in falling.
15 Indra is King of all that moves and moves not, of creatures tame and
7 Footless and handless still he challenged Indra, who smote him with
horned, the Thunder-wielder.
his bolt between the shoulders.
Over all living men he rules as Sovran, containing all as spokes
Emasculate yet claiming manly vigour, thus Vṛtra lay with scattered
within the felly.
limbs dissevered.
8 There as he lies like a bank-bursting river, the waters taking courage
flow above him.
The Dragon lies beneath the feet of torrents which Vṛtra with his
greatness had encompassed.
9 Then humbled was the strength of Vṛtra's mother: Indra hath cast his
The Creation of the
World
• Rig Veda also
contains an account
of the creation of the
world from the body
of a superperson
named Purusha.
• The separation of
Purusha’s body has
been used to justify
the existence of the
caste system.
Slide 41.
Purusha Hymn (Rig
Veda 10.90)
• What did the parts of his body become?
• What are the four Sanskrit words for these
four classes of people?
• Does it present some group as “better” than
others?
Slide 42.
RV 10.90 Purusha ('primal
man') (tr. by Walter Maurer)
1. Thousand-headed is Purusha, thousand-eyed, thousandfooted. He covered the earth on all sides and stood above it
the space of ten fingers.
2. Purusha alone is all this, what has been and what is to be,
and he is the lord of the immortals, who gro further by means
of food.
3. Such is his greatness, and greater than this is Purusha - a
quarter of him is all beings, three-quarters of him the
immortals in heaven.
4. Three-quarters of Purusha went upward, but a quarter of
him was here below. From that he spread out in all directions
into what eats and does not eat.
5. From that Vira:j was born; from Vira:j, Purusha. When he
was born, he extended beyond the earth, behind and also in
front.
6. When with Purusha as oblation the gods offered a
sacrifice, the spring was its clarified butter, the summer the
fuel, the autumn the oblation.
7. A sacrifice on the sacred grass they sprinkled him,
Purusha, who was born in the beginning. With him the gods
sacrificed, the Sa:dhyas and the seers.
8. From that sacrifice, a total offering, was brought together
the clotted butter: it made the beasts: those of the air, of the
forest and of the village.
9. From that sacrifice, a total offering, the Hymns of Praise
and the Chants were born; the metres were born from it; the
Sacrificial Formula from it was born.
10. From it the horses were born and whatsoever have
incisor teeth in both jaws. The cows were born from it. From it
were born the goats and sheep.
11. When they portioned out Purusha, in how many ways did
they distribute him? What is his mouth called, what his arms,
what his thighs, what are his feet called?
12. His mouth was the Bra:hmana, his arms were made the
Ra:janya (= Kshatriya), what were his thighs were made the
Vaishya, from his feet the Shu:dra was born.
13. The moon from his mind was born; from his eye the sun
was born; from his mouth both Indra and Agni; from his
breath the wind was born.
14. From his navel was the atmosphere; from his head the
heaven evolved; from his feet the earth; the directions from
his ear. Thus they fashioned the worlds.
15. Seven were the altar sticks; thrice seven burning logs
were made, when the gods, offering the sacrifice, tied
Purusha as their victim.
16. The gods sacrificed with the sacrifice to the sacrifice.
These were the first rites. These powers reached the
firmament, where the ancient Sa:dhyas are and also the
gods.
Slide 43.
Recap: The Birth of
Hinduism
•
•
•
•
•
•
• The Indus Civilization may have contributed some elements to later
Hindu religion.
• Some have theorized that Hinduism was composed of an invading
Aryan religion mixed with indigenous elements, but this is
controversial.
• The caste system has been an important feature of Hindu culture
for most of Indian history.
• Fire rituals were used by the earliest Hindus to communicate with
the gods.
• The early Vedic scriptures contain instructions for fire rituals and
the character and names of the most important gods.
• The Vedas are the earliest scriptures of Hinduism. They span a
sequence of religious developments from the fire rituals to more
abstract and philosophical systems within Hinduism.
Slide 44.
Review: Chronology
• Formative period: 2500- • Rig Veda: complete
800 BCE
by 1500 BCE
• Speculative period:
800-400 BCE
• Epic/Classical periods:
400 BCE-600 CE
• Medieval period: 6001800 CE
• Modern period: 1800
CE-present
• The Age of Karman:
1100-800 BCE
• Upanishads: begin
around 600 BCE
• The Epics / Early
Hinduism
• The Bhagavad Gītā is part
of the Epic tradition
• 400BCE - 400CE
Slide 45.
Later Scriptures
• 1000 - 500 BCE
• Brahmanas,
• Aranyakas,
• Upanishads.
Slide 46.
Brahmanas
• elaboration of instructions for rituals from
earlier Vedas
Slide 47.
Aranyakas
• “forest books”
• Perform Vedic
rituals in symbolic
ways by forestdwelling ascetics.
Slide 48.
Transition: Vedas to
Upanishads
• The Upanishads
appear at the end of
the Vedic tradition at
around the 6th
Century BCE.
• Important in
philosophical
development
• More than one
Slide 50.
Upanishads
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Upanishads show shift from
Formative to Speculative
Period.
Upanishads are most
philosophical and metaphysical.
written in the form of dialogues
(like Socratic dialogues).
Explore nature of universe, role
of individual, goal of life.
philosophical core of modern
Hinduism is from Upanishads.
At this time, Hinduism was
interacting with Buddhism.
This influenced the directions Hinduism
developed.
Slide 51.
Chāndogya & Brihadāranyaka
Upanishads
• These two
Upanishads
(numbers 9 and
10) explain
Vedanta
philosophy
• (reading from
Chāndogya)
Slide 52.
From the Chandogya
Upanishad
Let the Master teach me more;
have reached the Real.
said he.
But whatever they are here,
Let it be so, dear; said he.
whether tiger or lion or wolf
As the honey-makers, dear,
or boar or worm or moth or
gather the honey from many gnat or fly, that they
a tree, and weld the nectars
become again.
together in a single nectar; And this soul is the Self of all
and as they find no
that is, this is the Real, this
separateness there, nor
the Self.
say: Of that tree I am the
THAT THOU ART, O Shvetaketu.
nectar, of that tree I am the
nectar.
Thus, indeed, dear, all these
beings, when they reach the
Real, know not, nor say: We
Slide 53.
Chandogya Upanishad
In a hermitage deep in the forest lived the learned sage,
Uddalaka Aruni with his son Shvetketu. When Shvetketu came
of age, his father sent him to an Ashram for his education as
was customary in those days. When Shvetketu returned home
after twelve years of education, Uddalaka asked him, "What
did you learn while in the Ashram, my son?"
"I learned everything that can be known, father," Shvetketu
answered.
When he heard this, Uddalaka became silent and thought,
"What pride! Such conceit is born only out of ignorance. My
son has not yet grasped the essence of the supreme
knowledge of Brahman which brings humility."
Shvetketu observed the change that came over his father and
inquired, "Why did you become so quiet, father?"
Slide 54.
Chandogya Upanishad
"Dear son," replied Uddalaka, "You say that you know everything that
can be known. Then you must know that knowledge or wisdom by which
what is unknown becomes known and what is unseen becomes seen?"
"No, I don’t," replied Shvetketu. "But please, father, tell me about it."
Uddalaka lovingly said, "Well son, look at those pots and toys. They are
made of clay. The potter takes a lump of clay and makes all kinds of
different shapes out of it. So by knowing one lump of clay, one can know
everything that is made of clay!"
"This is true for everything, son," continued Uddalaka, "If you know the
fundamental structure of gold, you will also know all the ornaments
made out of it. If you know a piece of iron, you know all the utensils
made of iron."
To make things clearer for his son, Uddalaka headed towards the river
while continuing his conversation, "Therefore, my child, you must get to
know the essence of all things, the One that exists in everything in this
Universe, the great power of Brahman."
Slide 55.
Chandogya Upanishad
"It is that same power which guides the river from the hills to flow into the ocean.
That power then causes the water in the ocean to evaporate and form clouds
which will produce rain to replenish the river, thus completing the cycle."
Pointing towards a tree which was chopped down by a woodcutter, Uddalaka
said, "Take for example that tree over there. The sap, which is it’s life and
enabled it to draw sustenance from the earth, is leaking out of it."
"Can you tell that one of the branches of the tree is dead?" questioned
Uddalaka. "Each branch of that tree if deprived of the sap, which is it’s life, will
dry up. And when the entire tree is drained of the sap, the whole tree will die."
While Uddalaka and Shvetketu were talking, they saw a dead body carried by a
group of people for cremation. Uddalaka pointed towards the dead body and
spoke to his son, "Similarly, my son, when life forsakes the body, the body dies,
but the life itself does not die."
The son looked puzzled when Uddalaka explained, "My son, that which does not
die is called the Atman and you are that Atman. The Atman is all pervasive and
is present in everything that you see, living or nonliving."
Slide 56.
Chandogya Upanishad
"Why can’t I see this Atman which is all pervasive
and in everything?" Asked Shvetketu.
To explain this, Uddalaka asked his son to bring a
fruit which was hanging from a Banyan tree (a tree
common in India which gives plenty of shade and
bears small fruits).
Shvetketu picked a fruit from the tree and brought it to
his father.
"Break it, son, and look inside," suggested Uddalaka.
"What do you see?" Uddalaka questioned.
"Tiny seeds, father," replied Shvetketu.
"Do you see anything inside?" asked Uddalaka.
"No! There is nothing there" responded Shvetketu.
"If there is nothing inside," said Uddalaka, "Then how
can that tiny seed gives rise to this huge Banyan
tree? That, Shvetketu, is the Atman, the essence of
all things. The Atman pervades the universe, and, my
son, you are a part of that universe."
Slide 57.
Chandogya Upanishad
"Well father, if we cannot see the essence, how do we know that it exists?" said
Shvetketu with a puzzled mind.
"I shall explain that to you, my son" affirmed Uddalaka. "First put some water in
that pitcher."
"Now bring some salt and put the salt in the water," instructed the father.
Shvetketu did as his father asked.
"Keep the pitcher aside for now," said Uddalaka, "And bring it to me tomorrow
morning."
Early the next morning, Shvetketu went to his father with the pitcher of water.
"Can you see the salt?" asked Uddalaka.
Shvetketu searched, and of course, the salt was no longer visible.
Shvetketu said, "No, father, it must be dissolved in the water."
"Now taste it from the top," instructed Uddalaka.
Shvetketu dipped his finger into the water and tasted the water from the top.
"It is salty," Shvetketu said.
"Now taste the water from the bottom," said Uddalaka.
"It’s salty there too, father" answered Shvetketu.
"Similarly, Shvetketu, as you cannot see the salt, you cannot see the essence.
But it is always present everywhere."
Slide 58.
Chandogya Upanishad
Finally Uddalaka concluded,
"My son, this omnipresent
essence is called the Atman,
which pervades everything.
You too are that, Oh
Shvetketu."
"I am grateful father," said
Shvetketu and touched his
father’s feet. "You have helped
me gain the knowledge with
which the unknown becomes
known, the unseen becomes
seen."
The father then blessed his
son.
Slide 59.
Vedas compared to
Upanishads
• From ritual action (karman) 
meaning/knowledge (jñāna)
• From external  internal
• From material  Immaterial
• From senses  not-sensed world
Slide 62.
The Six Senses
• In Indian Thought: 6 senses (the usual 5
plus mind/ego)
• Ego/mind will die, along with other senses; it
coordinates the others.
• The 6 senses can only lead you to
knowledge of the material, which is not
the knowledge the Upanishads say you
need.
Slide 63.
What is this
immortality?
• The Ātman:
• Tricky to describe: the
‘true self’, not subject to
death and change.
• Not part of the material
world; cannot be sensed.
• The part of us that keeps
going after we die.
• ‘soul’ is a bad translation
•
•
‘soul’ carries connotations
from Christianity that do not
apply to Hinduism:
ātman is not individual.
Slide 64.
Brahman
•
•
•
•
•
•
The “real” or the “existent”.
Atmans are ultimately Brahman
(not Brahmin=the priestly
caste)
This is the special knowledge:
there is no difference.
Brahman is the essence/core of
things.
How to describe this with
language?
•
•
•
Does the atman become
Brahman?
No, it is Brahman all along.
Clay pot, bowl, ladle – what is this?
Just clay. All the same.
Open the seed of the tree.
Slide 65.
The Goal
•
•
•
•
The goal is an experience / direct
knowledge that the Atman is the
same as Brahman.
Based on this awareness of
Atman and Brahman comes the
idea that differences in the
physical world are not ultimately
real.
The realization of
Atman/Brahman is described as
merging into oneness (as nectar
is collected from this flower and
that) where all ego and
distinctions are lost.
This is understood to be an
experience of immortality beyond
a state of the senses.
Slide 66.
Summary: Samsara
and moksha
• Brahman, the all-pervading
reality, could be known from
within as the subtle self or
soul, atman.
• cycle of death and rebirth
known as samsara, in which
the atman is continually
reborn according to the
results of one’s actions, or
karma.
• to escape this cycle of death
and rebirth and attain
moksha, liberation from
samsara.
Slide 67.
Summary: Upanishads
• Upanishads show shift from Formative to Speculative
Period.
• Upanishads are most philosophical and metaphysical.
• written in the form of dialogues (like Socratic
dialogues).
• Explore nature of universe, role of individual, goal of
life.
• philosophical core of modern Hinduism is from
Upanishads.
• At this time, Hinduism was interacting with Buddhism.
• This influenced the directions Hinduism developed.
Slide 68.
Vedas, Vedic Period,
and the Upanishads
• Upaniṣads, translated by Patrick Olivelle.
• Stephanie Jamison, The Ravenous
Hyenas and the Wounded Sun: Myth and
Ritual in Ancient India. Straightforward 60page introduction.
• The Rig Veda: An Anthology. Wendy
Doniger O’Flaherty
• Frits Staal on Agni (a 1975 reenactment:
photos). Altar of Fire
Slide 69.
The Hindu Epics and
their teachings
Ramayana
Mahabharata
Slide 70.
The Epics
• world-affirming did not
die out.
• 200 BCE - 200 CE
• 2 long legends about
interactions gods,
goddesses, and (royal)
heroes
• Some parts say life is
suffering
• But mainly worldaffirming attitude.
• Message: humans can
be part of a divine plan
Slide 71.
Epics
•
Two main epics, but many versions (in
Sanskrit, in vernacular languages such
as Hindi and Bengali)
1. The Ramayana – the story of King
Rāmā, also a deity
2. The Mahābhārata – the story of the 5
“Pandava” brothers – princes, warring
against their cousins, “Kauravas” for the
kingdom.
Slide 72.
Ramayana on Dharma
• first Hindu epic:
legends Rama (royal
military hero) and his
wife, Sita.
• world-affirming attitude
of Vedic religion:
•
Rama as an exemplary ruler.
• Kidnapping of Sita by
Ravana
• The god Rama and the
monkey king Hanuman
fight the demon king
Ravana in the climax
Slide 73.
Ramayana
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
do duty
keep word
Rama destined to inherit throne.
mother of one of Rama’s younger brothers
insisted that her son, Bharata, become
king.
King owed Bharata’s mother a boon
King exiled Rama from the kingdom for 14
years.
After father’s death, Bharata came to
Rama and begged him to take the throne.
Rama insisted on remaining in exile
Political considerations and personal
desires could not make Rama break
promise.
archetypal follower of dharma, social duty
Slide 74.
The Mahābhārata
•
•
•
•
The story of the 5 “Pandava”
brothers.
Princes, warring against their cousins
“Kauravas” for the kingdom.
The Bhaghavad Gītā is a small
section of this epic.
•
•
•
•
•
•
“The Song of the Lord” (Gita=song;
Bhagavat=lord)
not really “Bible” of Hinduism, but one
of most important texts
part of 5th book of Mahabhārata – just
before the battle between the cousins.
Many interpretations:
Gandhi: non-violence;
others (e.g., Tilak): violence against
British oppression.
Told by “Sanjay” Sanjaya to
Dhritarashtra, who is the blind king of
the Kauravas.
Slide 75.
Bhagavad Gita
• The real story is about
Arjuna, 2nd Pandava
brother.
• Key ingredient in the
war.
• Fights from a chariot,
so he needs a
charioteer: “Kṛṣṇa”
•
•
•
Arjuna thinks Krishna is a
human king (he’s in
disguise).
Actually, in this text, he’s the
supreme deity.
Shiva, Durga, Brahman are the
supreme deity in other texts.
Slide 76.
Basic Doctrines of the
Gita 1
• Refer to discourse 1 of the Bhagavad Gita
(beginning with verse 26)
• Why doesn’t Arjuna want to fight?
• Refer to discourse 2 of the Bhagavad Gita
• What is Arjuna’s “dharma”?
• What determines one’s rebirth?
• How does Krishna try to persuade Arjuna
that he wouldn’t really be killing anyone?
Slide 78.
Why doesn’t Arjuna
want to fight?
Slide 79.
Basic Doctrines of the
Gita
• Dharma: right action /
right doing
•
•
•
•
•
Some translators call it
“sacred duty” or “just duty”.
BG 2.31-33: Arjuna’s duty is
to fight, since he is a warrior.
Dharma is related to varṇa
(caste)
To not do Dharma is to
perform adharma – wrong
actions.
Dharma shastras (texts on
dharma) say: it is better to do
one’s own duty poorly than to
do someone else’s better
than they.
Slide 80.
Arjuna’s Dilemma
• The cousins have the same gurus
• Most of them are fighting with the Kauravas.
• Arjuna’s duty is to fight; also, he is the best warrior of
the Pandavas. If he doesn’t fight, his family will lose.
• Arjuna suspects it is wrong to kill his childhood friends,
cousins, and especially gurus (like killing your own
father).
• He’s damned both ways – following duty.
• Arjuna’s response is non-action. But non-action
doesn’t exist.
• Krishna says inaction is an action – He must act, and
there are ways to act without gaining (bad) karma.
• Krishna shows himself as supreme deity and that human
souls (jivas) can attain moksha.
Slide 81.
Basic Doctrines 2
• Karma
•
•
•
The word itself isn’t prominent in
the text, but the concept is.
A system of rewards and
punishments for certain actions.
R & P can last over several
lifetimes
• Samsāra
•
•
•
The constant cycle of birth, death,
rebirth and so on; “reincarnation”
The state of one’s rebirth is
dependent on one’s karma (BG
2.27)
You’re worried about killing your
relatives? You’re thinking the short
view – look at the Grand Scheme
of things. There are rebirths
galore!
Slide 82.
Basic Doctrines 3
• Moksha
•
•
•
“Liberation” (Samsara is not a good thing; it’s not immortality;
it’s multi-mortality)
Samsara is ruled by death; moksha is an escape from it to
immortality.
As in the Upanishads, moksha is brought about through some
sort of transforming knowledge/ wisdom.
• Atman/Jiva (Upanishadic ideas in the Gita)
•
Krishna tells Arjuna that each person has an atman which
cannot be killed, and which is beyond human perception –
hence he argues that Arjuna will not really kill anyone in this
battle. (BG 2:11-25)
Slide 83.
Jiva and Atman
• In addition to Atman, each person has an individual soul
that is theirs alone.
•
•
•
•
This is called their jiva.
This soul has many characteristics that distinguish it from other
souls, that make it unique to an individual person.
One’s jiva is like the proverbial snowflake: each one different
from every other one.
Atman is not like this: my Atman is exactly the same as your
Atman, and Atman in either you or me is Brahman.
• What part of an individual is reincarnated over and over
again?
•
•
•
Obviously, it is not one’s body. Is it one’s soul?
If the consequences of one’s actions follow one into subsequent
lives, they must be carried in the jiva, or individual soul.
Atman, equivalent to Brahman, is immune to the effects of
karma.
Slide 84.
Ways to attain Moksha
•
There are several ways to attain moksha,
to act to improve karma by doing dharma
and not adharma:
• (“yoga” comes from a root meaning “join.”
Here it means “path.”)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Karma yoga: unselfish action
Jnana yoga: transforming knowledge
Bhakti yoga: devotion brings forgiveness
Raja yoga: meditation
Hatha yoga: postures
Slide 86.
Karma yoga: “the path of
(unselfish) action”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Do your dharma without any thought or attachment to the rewards or
punishments those actions might bring.
Karma is thought to be connected to desire.
If one acts without a desire for the fruits of action, one can act without
gaining (bad) karma.
This takes effort, and training to learn.
In the context of reincarnation, karma is the consequences of one’s
choices.
In the context of yoga, one’s karma is one’s duty, the path in life
prescribed by one’s social station.
need not retire from all worldly pursuits and become a wandering
monk to attain moksha.
lead exactly the sort of life society expects one to lead.
use worldly duties almost as a meditation technique to keep attention
focused not on the actions themselves, but on Brahman.
Slide 87.
Jñāna yoga:
•
•
•
•
•
“the path of knowledge /
transforming wisdom”
Scriptural knowledge and “true”
understanding can destroy
karma and lead to
release/moksha.
“the fire of knowledge will
reduce karma to ashes”
study of Hindu scriptures (of
which there are enough to last
a lifetime!) and philosophical
contemplation of the central
principles of Hinduism.
particularly appropriate for
priests (originally of the
brahmin caste) and
intellectuals.
Slide 88.
Bhakti yoga
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“the path of devotion”
This path becomes dominant for
the next centuries
Krishna will forgive karma in return
for complete devotion
Example: the poems by Mirabai
She is a Bhakta devotee of Krishna “married”
to Krishna
Just as one may lose all thought of
self when deeply in love with
another person, one can lose all
thought of self through devotion to
a particular god or goddess.
Self drops away in the ecstatic
experience of worship of the god or
goddess until, ultimately, one
becomes joined with him or her.
Slide 89.
Raja Yoga
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Raja yoga (“royal” yoga) was
developed in the early centuries of
the first millennium CE by a
teacher and philosopher named
Patanjali.
Raja yoga is composed of eight
“limbs” or practices directed toward
preparing for and engaging in
meditation.
• Self-control (yama),
• Observance (niyama),
• Posture (asana),
• Breath control (pranayama),
• Restraint (pratyahara),
• Steadying the mind (dharana),
• Meditation (dhyana), and
• Enlightenment (samadhi).
It is a technique of guiding thought
that ultimately leads to Brahmanconsciousness or liberation.
Slide 90.
Hatha Yoga
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
physical postures
popular in the West.
developed out of raja yoga.
At first, the only asana, or posture,
was full lotus.
an extremely stable posture that holds the
back in good alignment.
However, it can also leave one stiff and sore.
Asanas (postures) other than full
lotus were first developed as a
means of stretching out the body
after long periods of sitting
meditation in full lotus.
Eventually this series of postures and
associated breathing techniques became its
own form of yoga.
careful practice of these physical
positions will still the mind and
allow it to focus on the only true
reality, Brahman.
Slide 91.
To remember
• The Hindu Epics and their teachings
• The Ramayana: The history of King Rāmā, also a deity
•
importance of dharma
•
Dharma: right action / right doing
• The Mahābhārata: The story of the 5 “Pandava” brothers,
• Basic Doctrines of the Bhagavad Gita
•
•
•
•
•
Arjuna must act; Krishna tells him there are ways to act without
gaining (bad) karma.
Karma: rewards and punishments for certain actions.
Samsāra: The constant cycle of birth, death, rebirth;
“reincarnation”
Moksha: “Liberation” (Samsara is multi-mortality)
Atman/Jiva: spirit/soul cannot be killed
Slide 92.
Brahma
• Creator
• Not the same as
Brahman (with an
n, ultimate reality)
• Vahana: swan
• 4 heads, 4 arms,
and a reddish
complexion
Slide 98.
Saraswati
• Goddess of
knowledge,
music, and the
arts
• Vahana: swan
• wife of Brahma
• sits on a white lotus
playing a veena
Slide 99.
Viṣṇu (Vishnu)
• Supporter of Dharma / order.
•
He appears when order is threatened.
•
•
(but there’s not one straightforward list)
Important ones:
• Appeared in 10 avatars traditionally
•
•
•
•
•
•
Krishna (from the BG)
Vishnu, the preserver of Dharma
Rama (from the Ramāyana)
Vamana (a dwarf)
Varaha (a boar)
There is a huge body of literature on Vishnu’s various avatars.
• Devotees of Vishnu are called Vaishnavas.
Slide 100.
Vishnu iconography
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 101.
Vishnu is theoretically
shapeless and omnipresent.
However, he is traditionally
represented as follows:
A four-armed male-form
Blue skin
He has the mark of sage Bhrigu's
feet on his chest.
on his chest is the srivatsa mark,
symbolising his consort Lakshmi.
Around his neck, the jewel in
which Lakshmi dwells, and a
garland of flowers.
A crown symbolizes his supreme
authority.
two earrings represent inherent
opposites in creation
He rests on Ananta the infinite
snake
Vishnu holds four
attributes:
• A conch
represents
creating and
maintaining the
universe.
• The discus
symbolizes the
purified
spiritualized mind.
• A mace
symbolizes all
spiritual, mental
and physical
strength.
• A lotus represents
spiritual liberation
Slide 102.
Vishnu and Lakshmi
Slide 103.
Lakshmi
• Vishnu’s main consort
• Goddess of wealth and
good fortune
• Two arms up holding
lotuses (need a lot of
water)
• Right hand: money
• Standing on a lotus
• Elephant: pouring
water
Slide 104.
Shiva
• The divine yogi
• Vishnu is to dharma as
Shiva is to moksha
• Ascetics, renunciants,
yoga & meditation
• Vahana: bull
Slide 105.
Shiva
• Trident: emblem of
Shiva
• Snake around neck
• 3rd eye
• Ganges flowing out of
his head
• In Himalayas
• Off by himself
• Prayer beads
•
(did this idea come to
Catholicism from India?)
• Loincloth
• Pot for begging
Slide 106.
Parvati (Uma)
• Shiva’s consort
• Divine Mother
• Has many forms
(Durga, Kali)
•
(a second consort,
Ganga, is the Ganges)
• Vahana: lion
Slide 107.
•
•
•
•
•
Shiva
with
family
Mountains
White Shiva
Bull
Wife on lion
Elephant-headed
son
• 6-headed son
• Threaded human
heads
Slide 108.
Skanda / Murugan
• The first son of Shiva
and Parvati
• God of war
•
The army general of the
Gods
• Vahana: peacock
Slide 109.
Ganesha
• 2nd son of Shiva &
Parvati
• Very popular
• God of the intellect,
and can remove
obstacles
• Vahana: mouse
Slide 110.
Shiva as Nataraj
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slide 111.
Lord of the Dance
The images originate in south
of India
Shiva as lord of creation
His dance has 108 steps which
bring about the creation,
maintenance, and destruction of
the world
Hand: stop – remove fear
Fire
Cycle of creation-destruction
Hand pointing to foot (pure)
Standing on a dwarf,
symbolizing ignorance
Lingam
• The aniconic form of
Shiva
• At most Hindu
temples
• Usually placed in a
yoni – a concave
object
Slide 112.
Hindu Goddesses
• Devī = “Goddess” – a generic title
• The concept of Śakti – a creative, potent
power all deities need to carry out their
various functions.
• This is a feminine thing, so when it is
personified, it is as a goddess.
• All deities need shakti
• Vishnu needs Shakti to incarnate himself.
• So gods “always” have consorts, to provide it.
• Devotees of the Goddess(es) are called
Śāktas.
Slide 113.
Multiple ideals of the
“Divine Feminine”
• There’s not just 1 goddess.
• Mā: prehistoric? Ideal mother, big
breasted, broad hipped, fertility
Slide 114.
Sītā: the ideal wife (of Rama in the
Ramayana)
• Loyal, domestic
Slide 115.
Rādhā
• Rādhā: the
ideal lover – a
gopi, with
romantic affairs
with Krishna
• Theological
idea behind the
obsessive love
& desire to be
with Krishna
Slide 116.
Durga: the ideal
warrior
• Pan-Indian, but more so
in North-Eastern
(Bengal)
• As Mahishamardini
(Destroyer of the Buffalo
Demon), in the
Devīmāhātmya.
Slide 117.
Devī Māhātmya
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A demon has practised meditation,
austerities, yoga, etc. and gets so
much tapas (religious energy/heat)
from it that the gods are afraid he
will scorch the world.
So he is granted a boon –
immortality
In Puranic Hinduism, the Gods
have immortality
Brahma grants that he can’t be
killed by a male.
The demon then fights the gods,
wins, their force pools up together,
and forms Durga: the sum of the
gods’ shakti power
Here, she takes male power, and
uses it as she pleases.
The demons fall for her because
she is so beautiful, and as soon as
they let their guard down, she lops
off their heads!
Slide 118.
Durga
• Lion vahana
• Buffalo demon
Slide 119.
Durga
•
•
•
•
•
•
Durga rules over Maya “illusion /
delusion; the world of difference”
Don’t be fooled, like the demons, by
the world of illusion.
A point of devotion: she responds to
it.
Finally, Durga is Brahman.
Other gods are bubbles in the ocean –
they pop.
The ocean is Durga. All else comes
out of her and is temporary.
Slide 120.
Kali
• Goddess of time
and death
• Vahana: donkey
• usually portrayed
as dark and violent
Slide 121.
Kālī
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The ideal mother and ideal
destroyer
Another Pan-Indian goddess,
with a focus in Bengal.
Somewhat ferocious!
Poems to Kali: Build up the
goddess in your own mind.
Dishevelled
severed heads around neck
Bluish
Naked
Blood-smeared
Fangs
Slide 122.
Kali
•
•
•
•
•
•
The poems to Kali ask you to think.
They make you question physical
appearance.
In the Devi Mahatmya, Durga
creates goddesses to fight for her.
Kali is created out of Durga’s
anger.
Durga licks up the blood which was
spilled, created new demons.
Blood was polluting – great
aversion.
But – there’s a great deal of power.
If you are not disgusted by what
others consider disgusting, maybe
you’ve overcome this world of
maya.
Slide 123.
Identify the Deity
Slide 124.
Review: Main Hindu
Deities
• Krishna: cares about humanity
• Viṣṇu (Vishnu): Supporter of Dharma / order.
• 10 avatars
• Lakshmi: Goddess of wealth and good
fortune
• Shiva: The divine yogi
• Parvati: Shiva’s consort
• Skanda: The army general of the Gods
• Ganesha: Can remove obstacles
• Shiva as Nataraj: Lord of the Dance
• Linga: aniconic form of Shiva
Slide 127.
Bhakti Poems
 Mirabai: a poet devoted
to Krishna
 Kamalakanta: a poet
devoted to Kali
 Being devoted is good,
according to the poems
 Why be a devotee?



Mira: I can’t help it. Is life
better? poem 84; 27; 193.
Kali Poem 57; 120; 43.
Shiva poem 133; 143
 Compare Cathurvedi 186
with BG
Slide 128.
Krishna
• Krishna insists he has a
great love for humanity
and he rewards those
who love him back.
• Indra doesn’t act this
way.
•
He doesn’t come to help you in
time of need.
• Maybe Agni would; or
he/it might just burn you.
• Krishna provides a
different relation between
human and divine.
• The Bhagavad Gita
makes it less abstract,
more personal.
Slide 129.
Poem of Mirabai
(Caturvedi, no. 27)
Slide 130.
Mahadevi themes in
the poems to Kali
 Many poems
present Kali as the
Great Goddess
 The creator, preserver,
and destroyer
 Over Maya (illusion)
 Is Brahman (songs 10 &
11). Kali is the essence
in things.
Slide 131.
Poem of Kamalakanta
(Śyāmā Sangīt 150)
Mother,
Your form is inconceivable and
You are always finding ways to amuse undecaying.
yourself.
You are beyond the three qualities
And yet composed of them.
Shyama, you stream of nectar,
You are terrifying,
Through your deluding power
You are death,
You forge a horrible face
You are a beautiful woman.
And adorn yourself with a necklace
Of human skulls.
Thus assuming various forms,
The earth quakes under your leaps You fulfil the wishes of your
and bounds
worshipers.
You are frightful
Sometimes you even dance,
With that sword in your hand.
Brahman, Eternal One,
At other times
In the lotus heart of Kamalakanta.
You take a flirtatious pose,
And then even the God of Love is
outdone, Mother!
Slide 132.
Tantra and Kali
 Are closely connected.
 Many Tantrics are devoted to
Kali, especially the devotion
called Dakshinakali.
 Kali dancing on Shiva.




I will lie on the battlefield on which
she is dancing. When she realizes
who I am, she will stop dancing
(on me).
This is also a tantric image
(Tantra: anything non-Vedic)
Right-handed Tantra: non-Vedic
mantras, pujas;
Left-handed Tantra: impropriety.
Joining polar opposites. Much of this
is through impure things.
Slide 133.
Four Stages
(Ashramas) of Life
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
yoga is time-consuming.
a balance between the world-denying, pursuit of liberation and worldaffirming social conservatism by prescribing different forms of
spiritual practice for different life stages, or ashramas.
Four life stages (ashramas) have are appropriate for upper-caste
men (and sometimes their wives):
student (brahmacharin)
householder (grihastha)
retiree (vanaprastha)
renunciate (sannyasin)
Slide 134.
Sannyasin
• final stage: renunciate
• man abandons family ties
and positions
• subsists by begging
• lives a nomadic life
• loses all strictures and
privileges of caste
• freed from all attachments,
single-mindedly pursues
moksha
•
•
most Hindus never become
renunciates.
Example: Swami
Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada
take worship of Krishna to
the West.
Slide 135.
Schools of Hindu
Philosophy
• Several influential schools of Hindu philosophy have
developed and remain paths within Hinduism today.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Samkhya philosophy
developed by Patanjali,
regards prakriti, the world we sense, as a figment in the imagination
of purusha (pure consciousness), sustained only by the “turnings of
thought.”
Advaita Vedanta
advanced by Shankara
rejects the dualism of purusha and prakriti and regards Brahman as
the only reality.
modified by thinkers such as Ramanuja to allow for a degree of
difference between humans and gods necessary for bhakti yoga.
Tantric Hinduism
provides “shock therapy” techniques to achieve moksha quickly
while living in the very degenerate kaliyuga age.
Slide 136.
Time Line review
•
•
•
•
•
1500 BCE: Rig Veda
1100-800: Age of Karman
600: Upanishads
400 BCE-400CE: Epic Hinduism
500CE- Classical and Puranical Hinduism
•
•
Voluminous texts in Sanskrit and vernacular languages
Collections about and stories of how gods preferred to be
worshipped, where they like to be worshipped, and why.
Slide 137.
Hinduism video
9. What are the Hindu stages
of life that a man should
expect to pass through in
his lifetime in the pursuit of
spiritual fulfillment?
10. What is the role of
astrology in Hinduism?
(0:22)
11. What is the significance
of the Ganges River in
Hinduism? (0:23)
12. Which day of the week is
traditionally considered the
Hindu Sabbath?
13. Where did the
term“Hinduism” originate
and when?
14. What are some of the
major contributions made
to Hinduism by such
modern thinkers as Ram
Mohun Roy or Bal
Gangadhar Tilak? (0:35)
15. What are the most
important effects that
Gandhi had on modern
Hinduism? (0:38)
16. Why did Gandhi use the
tactic of nonviolence
against British rule in
India?