Traditions and Trajectories in Ancient India

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Traditions and Trajectories in Ancient India

• Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
• REL 231
• Religions of India and Tibet
• Berea College
• Fall 2005

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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