Historical Vedic religion

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Map of North India in the late Vedic period. The location of shakhas is labeled in green; the Thar Desert is dark yellow.
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The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedism, Brahmanism, Vedic Brahmanism, and ancient Hinduism[note 1]) was the religion of the Indo-Aryans in ancient India during the Vedic period (~1500-500 BCE).[1][page needed]

According to Heinrich von Stietencron, in the 19th century western publications, the Vedic religion was believed to be different from and unrelated to Hinduism. The Hindu religion was thought to be linked to the Hindu epics and the Puranas through sects based on Agamas, Tantras and Bhakti. In the 20th-century, a better understanding of the Vedic religion, its shared heritage and theology with contemporary Hinduism, has led scholars to gradually encompass Brahmanism and the Vedic religion into "Hinduism".[2] The Hindu reform movements and the Neo-Vedanta emphasized the Vedic heritage and "ancient Hinduism", and this term has been co-opted by some Hindus.[2] Vedic religion is now generally accepted to be a predecessor of Hinduism, but they are not the same because the textual evidence suggests significant differences between the two.[note 2]

The Vedic religion is described in the Vedas and associated voluminous Vedic literature preserved into the modern times by the different priestly schools.[3] The Vedic religion texts are cerebral, orderly and intellectual, but it is unclear if the theory in diverse Vedic texts actually reflect the folk practices, iconography and other practical aspects of the Vedic religion.[3] The evidence suggests that the Vedic religion evolved in "two superficially contradictory directions", state Jamison and Witzel. One part evolved into ever more "elaborate, expensive, and specialized system of rituals", while another part questioned all of it and emphasized "abstraction and internalization of the principles underlying ritual and cosmic speculation" within oneself. Both of these traditions impacted Indic religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, and in particular Hinduism.[4][5] The complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue to be practiced in coastal Andhra.[6]

Some scholars consider the Vedic religion to have been a composite of the religions of the Indo-Aryans, "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",[7] which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[8] from the Bactria–Margiana culture,[8] and the remnants of the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley.[9]

Origins[edit]

Further information: Indo-Aryans, Indo-Aryan migrations, Vedic period, Indo-European migrations, Proto-Indo-European religion, and Proto-Indo-Iranian religion

The Vedic religion was probably the religion of the Indo-Aryans,[10][note 3] and existed in northern India from c. 1750–500 BCE.[12][note 4] The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes.[15][note 6][note 7] The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE.[33]

The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion,[34] and the Indo-Iranian religion.[35][page needed] According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran.[7] It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",[7] which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[8] from the Bactria–Margiana Culture (BMAC).[8] At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma.[36] According to Anthony,

Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.[24]

The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the Rig Veda, are found not in northwestern India and Pakistan, but in northern Syria, the location of the Mitanni kingdom.[37] The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving.[37] The Old Indic term r'ta, meaning "cosmic order and truth", the central concept of the Rig Veda, was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom.[37] Old Indic gods, including Indra, were also known in the Mitanni kingdom.[38][39][40]

The Vedic religion of the later Vedic period co-existed with local religions, such as the Yaksha cults,[1][41][web 1] and was itself the product of "a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations".[42] David Gordon White cites three other mainstream scholars who "have emphatically demonstrated" that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilization.[9] The religion of the Indo-Aryans was further developed when they migrated into the Ganges Plain after c. 1100 BCE and became settled farmers,[16][43][44] further syncretising with the native cultures of northern India.[1][page needed]

Textual history[edit]

Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, but the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and some of the older Upanishads (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana) are also placed in this period. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, who were considered to be seers or "hearers" (Śruti means "what is heard") of the Veda, rather than "authors". In addition the Vedas are said to be "apauraṣaya", a Sanskrit word meaning "uncreated by man" and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status.

Characteristics[edit]

See also: Proto-Indo-Iranian religion

Rituals[edit]

Main articles: Yajurveda and yajna
A Śrauta yajna being performed in South India

Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others:[45][verification needed]

The Hindu rites of cremation are seen since the Rigvedic period; while they are attested from early times in the Cemetery H culture, there is a late Rigvedic reference invoking forefathers "both cremated (agnidagdhá-) and uncremated (ánagnidagdha-)".(RV 10.15.14)

Pantheon[edit]

Main article: Rigvedic deities

Though a large number of names for devas occur in the Rigveda, only 33 devas are counted, eleven each of earth, space and heaven.[48] The Vedic pantheon knows two classes, Devas and Asuras. The Devas (Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga, Amsa, etc.) are deities of cosmic and social order, from the universe and kingdoms down to the individual. The Rigveda is a collection of hymns to various deities, most notably heroic Indra, Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods, and Soma, the deified sacred drink of the Indo-Iranians.[49] Also prominent is Varuna (often paired with Mitra) and the group of "All-gods", the Vishvadevas.[50]

Philosophy[edit]

See also: Timeline of Eastern philosophers § Vedic Period

In the Hindu tradition, the revered sages of this era were Yajnavalkya, Atharvan, Atri, Bharadvaja, Gautama Maharishi, Jamadagni, Kashyapa, Vasistha, Bhrigu, Kutsa, Pulastya, Kratu, Pulaha, Vishwamitra Narayana, Kanva, Rishabha, Vamadeva, and Angiras.

Ethics — satya and rta[edit]

See also: Asha and ṛta

Ethics in the Vedas are based on the concepts of satya and ṛta. Satya is the principle of integration rooted in the Absolute.[51] Panikkar remarks:

Ṛta is the ultimate foundation of everything; it is "the supreme", although this is not to be understood in a static sense [...] It is the expression of the primordial dynamism that is inherent in everything...."[52]

The term is also found in the Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples.[53] The term dharma was already used in Brahmanical thought, where it was conceived as an aspect of ṛta.[54]

Post-Vedic religions[edit]

Main articles: Indian religions and History of Hinduism

The Vedic period is held to have ended around 500 BCE. The period after the Vedic religion, between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is the formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.[55][56][page needed][57][page needed][58] According to Michaels, the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of "ascetic reformism".[59][note 8] Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, which he calls the "Classical Period":

...this was a time when traditional religious practices and beliefs were reassessed. The brahmins and the rituals they performed no longer enjoyed the same prestige they had in the Vedic period".[61]

According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed between 800 BCE and 200 BCE:[57][page needed][note 9]

Indian philosophers came to regard the human as an immortal soul encased in a perishable body and bound by action, or karma, to a cycle of endless existences.[63]

In most areas of South-Central Asia, the Vedic religion gradually metamorphosed into the various schools of Hinduism, which further evolved into Puranic Hinduism.[64] Up to the late 19th century, the Nuristanis of Afghanistan observed a primitive form of Hinduism until they were forcibly converted to Islam under the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan.[65][66][67] However, aspects of the historical Vedic religion survived in other corners of the Indian subcontinent, such as Kerala, where the Nambudiri Brahmins continue the ancient Śrauta rituals. The Kalash people residing in northwest Pakistan also continue to practice a form of ancient Hinduism.[68][69]

Post-Vedic Hinduism[edit]

Main articles: Hinduism and History of Hinduism

According to Rajbali Pandey, the Hindu samskaras

...go back to a hoary antiquity. The Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Grhyasutras, the Dharmasutras, the Smritis and other treatises describe the rites, ceremonies and customs.[70]

The worshipping rituals developed in such a way that

A formal distinction was maintained between Śrauta rites (rites using the Vedic hymns), which were necessarily performed by priests, and Griha ("domestic") rites, performed by the Aryan householder himself; but both the latter and the former were subject to priestly influence. Some domestic rites became almost indistinguishable from the priestly Śrauta sacrifices; and, even where older ceremonies were retained, they were usually interwoven with elements of the priestly ritual.[71]

Vedanta[edit]

Vedic religion was followed by Upanishads which gradually evolved into Vedanta, which is regarded by some as the primary institution of Hinduism. Vedanta considers itself "the purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas."[72] The philosophy of Vedanta (lit. “The end of the Vedas"), transformed the Vedic worldview to a monistic one. This led to the development of tantric metaphysics and gave rise to new forms of yoga, such as jnana yoga and bhakti yoga.[73] There are some conservative schools which continue portions of the historical Vedic religion largely unchanged (see Śrauta, Nambudiri).[74]

Of the continuation of the Vedic tradition in a newer sense, Jeaneane D. Fowler writes the following:

Bhakti[edit]

According to German Professor Axel Michaels, the Vedic gods declined but did not disappear, and local cults were assimilated into the Vedic-brahmanic pantheon, which changed into the Hindu pantheon. Deities arose that were not mentioned or barely mentioned in the Vedas, especially Shiva and Vishnu, and gave rise to Shaivism and Vaishnavism.[76]

Interpretations of Vedic Mantras in Hinduism[edit]

The various Hindu schools and traditions give various interpretations of the Vedic hymns.

Mīmāṃsā philosophers argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a god to validate the rituals.[77] Mīmāṃsā argues that the gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the mantras that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of gods.[78]

Adi Shankara, an 8th-century CE philosopher who unified and established the main currents of thought in Hinduism,[79] interpreted Vedas as being nondualist or monist.[80] However, the Arya Samaj New religious movement holds the view that the Vedic mantras tend to monotheism.[81] Even the earlier Mandalas of Rig Veda (books 1 and 9) contains hymns which are thought to resemble monotheism.[82] Often quoted isolated pada 1.164.46 of the Rig Veda states (trans. Griffith):

Indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān,
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan".

Moreover, the verses of 10.129 and 10.130, deal with the one being (Ékam sát). The verse 10.129.7 further confirms this (trans. Griffith):

iyám vísṛṣṭiḥ yátaḥ ābabhūva / yádi vā dadhé yádi vā ná / yáḥ asya ádhyakṣaḥ paramé vyóman / sáḥ aṅgá veda yádi vā ná véda
"He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not, He who surveys it all from his highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps even he does not"

Sramana tradition[edit]

Main articles: Śramaṇa, Jainism, and Buddhism

The non-Vedic śramaṇa traditions existed alongside Brahmanism.[83][84][note 10][note 11][note 12] These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but movements with mutual influences with Brahmanical traditions,[83] reflecting "the cosmology and anthropology of a much older, pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India".[85] Jainism and Buddhism evolved out of the Shramana tradition.[86]

There are Jaina references to 22 prehistoric tirthankaras. In this view, Jainism peaked at the time of Mahavira (traditionally put in the 6th Century BCE).[87][88] Buddhism, traditionally put from c. 500 BCE, declined in India over the 5th to 12th centuries in favor of Puranic Hinduism[89] and Islam.[90][91]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Scholars such as Jan Gonda have used the term ancient Hinduism, distinguishing it from "recent Hinduism". These terms are chronologically differentiated. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, from the Vedic religion emerged Brahmanism, a religious tradition of ancient India. It states, "Brahmanism emphasized the rites performed by, and the status of, the Brahman, or priestly, class as well as speculation about brahman (the Absolute reality) as theorized in the Upanishads (speculative philosophical texts that are considered to be part of the Vedas, or scriptures)."[1]
  2. ^ Stephanie W. Jamison and Michael Witzel, Vedic Hinduism, 1992, "... to call this period Vedic Hinduism is a contradictio in terminis since Vedic religion is very different from what we generally call Hindu religion – at least as much as Old Hebrew religion is from medieval and modern Christian religion. However, Vedic religion is treatable as a predecessor of Hinduism".[3]
  3. ^ Michaels: "They called themselves arya ("Aryans," literally "the hospitable," from the Vedic arya, "homey, the hospitable") but even in the Rgveda, arya denotes a cultural and linguistic boundary and not only a racial one."[11]
  4. ^ There is no exact dating possible for the beginning of the Vedic period. Witzel mentions a range between 1900 and 1400 BCE.[13] Flood mentions 1500 BCE.[14]
  5. ^ The Aryan migration theory has been challenged by some researchers,[11][19] due to a lack of archaeological evidence and signs of cultural continuity,[11] hypothesizing instead a slow process of acculturation[11] or transformation.[17] Nevertheless, linguistic and archaeological data clearly show a cultural change after 1750 BCE,[11] with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion.[20] According to Singh, "The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryans came to the subcontinent as immigrants."[19]
  6. ^ The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists[16] who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization,[11][17][18][note 5] bringing with them their language[21] and religion.[22][23] They were closely related to the Indo-Aryans who founded Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria[24] (c.1500–1300 BCE). Both groups were rooted in the Andronovo-culture[25] in the Bactria-Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan,[24] and related to the Indo-Iranians, from which they split-off around 1800–1600 BCE.[26] Their roots go back further to the Sintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the Rig Veda.[27]
    The immigrations consisted probably of small groups of people.[15] Jonathan Mark Kenoyer notes that "there is no archaeological or biological evidence for invasions or mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of the Harappan phase, about 1900 B.C. and the beginning of the Early Historic period around 600 B.C."[28]

    For an overview of the current relevant research, see:
    • Michael Witzel (2001), "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts", in Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) 7-3, pp 1-93
    • Shereen Ratnagar (2008), “The Aryan homeland debate in India”, in Kohl, PL, M Kozelsky and N Ben-Yehuda (Eds) Selective remembrances: archaeology in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts, pp 349-378
    • Suraj Bhan (2002), “Aryanization of the Indus Civilization” in Panikkar, KN, Byres, TJ and Patnaik, U (Eds), The Making of History, pp 41-55.
    • Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press 
  7. ^ Some writers and archaeologists have opposed the notion of a migration of Indo-Aryans into India.[29][30] Edwin Bryant used the term "Indo-Aryan Controversy" for an oversight of the Indo-Aryan Migration theory, and some of its opponents.[31] These ideas are outside the academic mainstream. Mallory and Adams note that two types of models "enjoy significant international currency," namely the Anatolian hypothesis, and a migration out of the Eurasian steppes.[32] According to Upinder Singh, "The original homeland of the Indo-Europeans and Indo-Aryans is the subject of continuing debate among philologists, linguists, historians, archaeologists, and others. The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryams came to the subcontinent as immigrants. Another view, advocated mainly by some Indian scholars, is that they were indigenous to the subcontinent."[19]

    An overview of the "Indigenist position" can be obtained from
    * Bryant, Edwin F.; Patton, Laurie L., eds. (2005), The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-7007-1463-4 

    See also Indigenous Aryans
  8. ^ According to Michaels, the period between 200 BCE and 1100 CE is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".[60]
  9. ^ Although the concept of reincarnation originated during the time of the Shramanic reforms and the composition of the Upanishads,[57] according to Georg Feuerstein the Rig-Vedic rishis believed in reincarnation and karma.[62]
  10. ^ Cromwell: "Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its roots going back to prehistoric times."[83]
  11. ^ Y. Masih (2000) In : A Comparative Study of Religions, Motilal Banarsidass Publ : Delhi, ISBN 81-208-0815-0 Page 18. "There is no evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever subscribed to Vedic sacrifices, vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native religions of India and have contributed to much to [sic] the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present times."
  12. ^ P.S. Jaini, (1979), The Jaina Path to Purification, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, p. 169 "Jainas themselves have no memory of a time when they fell within the Vedic fold. Any theory that attempts to link the two traditions, moreover fails to appreciate rather distinctive and very non-Vedic character of Jaina cosmology, soul theory, karmic doctrine and atheism"

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Samuel 2010.
  2. ^ a b Stietencron 2005, pp. 231-237 with footnotes.
  3. ^ a b c Jamison, Stephanie; Witzel, Michael (1992). "Vedic Hinduism" (PDF). Harvard University. pp. 2–4. Retrieved 2018-08-04. 
  4. ^ Jamison, Stephanie; Witzel, Michael (1992). "Vedic Hinduism" (PDF). Harvard University. pp. 1–5, 47–52, 74–77 with footnotes. Retrieved 2018-08-04. 
  5. ^ Geoffrey Samuel. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University. p. 113. 
  6. ^ Knipe 2015, p. 1-50.
  7. ^ a b c Anthony 2007, p. 462.
  8. ^ a b c d Beckwith 2009, p. 32.
  9. ^ a b White, David Gordon (2003). Kiss of the Yogini. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-226-89483-5. 
  10. ^ Singh 2008, p. 185.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Michaels 2004, p. 33.
  12. ^ Michaels 2004, p. 32-36.
  13. ^ Witzel 1995, p. 3-4.
  14. ^ Flood 1996, p. 21.
  15. ^ a b Anthony 2007.
  16. ^ a b Witzel 1995.
  17. ^ a b Flood 1996, p. 30-35.
  18. ^ Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 5.
  19. ^ a b c Singh 2008, p. 186.
  20. ^ Flood 1996, p. 33.
  21. ^ Samuel 2010, p. 53-56.
  22. ^ Flood 1996, p. 30.
  23. ^ Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 5-7.
  24. ^ a b c Anthony 2007, p. 454.
  25. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 410-411.
  26. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 408.
  27. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 375, 408-411.
  28. ^ Kenoyer, M., 1998. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, p. 174. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  29. ^ Bryant 2001.
  30. ^ Bryant, Edwin. 2001. The Indo-Aryan Controversy, p. 342
  31. ^ Bryant 2005.
  32. ^ Mallory & Adams 2006, p. 460-461.
  33. ^ Pletcher, Kenneth (2010). The History of India. Britannica Educational Publishing. p. 60. 
  34. ^ Roger D. Woodard (18 August 2006). Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. University of Illinois Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-252-09295-4. 
  35. ^ Beckwith 2009.
  36. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 454-455.
  37. ^ a b c Anthony 2007, p. 49.
  38. ^ Anthony 2007, p. 50.
  39. ^ Flood 2008, p. 68.
  40. ^ Melton & Baumann 2010, p. 1412.
  41. ^ Basham 1989, p. 74-75.
  42. ^ White 2006, p. 28.
  43. ^ Samuel 2010, p. 48-51, 61-93.
  44. ^ Hiltebeitel 2007, p. 8-10.
  45. ^ Prasoon, (Prof.) Shrikant. Indian Scriptures. Pustak Mahal (11 August 2010). Ch.2, Vedang, Kalp. ISBN 978-81-223-1007-8.
  46. ^ Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith, The Texts of the White Yajurveda. Translated with a Popular Commentary (1899), Benaras, 1987 Reprint: ISBN 81-215-0047-8.
  47. ^ Bloomfield Maurice. Hymns of the Atharva Veda. Kessinger Publishing (1 June 2004). P. 1-8. ISBN 1419125087.
  48. ^ Singhal, K. C; Gupta, Roshan. The Ancient History of India, Vedic Period: A New Interpretation. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 8126902868. P. 150.
  49. ^ "Botany of Haoma", from Encyclopædia Iranica. Accessed 15 June 2012
  50. ^ Renou, Louis. L'Inde Classique, vol. 1, p. 328, Librairie d'Ameriqe et d'Orient. Paris 1947, reprinted 1985. ISBN 2-7200-1035-9.
  51. ^ Holdrege (2004:215)
  52. ^ Panikkar 2001:350–351
  53. ^ Duchesne-Guillemin 1963, p. 46.
  54. ^ Day, Terence P. (1982). The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature. Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. P. 42-45. ISBN 0-919812-15-5.
  55. ^ Smart 2003.
  56. ^ Michaels 2004.
  57. ^ a b c Muesse 2003.
  58. ^ Flood 1996, p. 82, 224–49.
  59. ^ Michaels 2004, p. 36.
  60. ^ Michaels 2004, p. 38.
  61. ^ Muesse 2011, p. 115.
  62. ^ (Page 169) The Yoga Tradition By Georg Feuerstein
  63. ^ Muesse 2003, p. 14.
  64. ^ Swami Krishnananda, A Short History of Religious and Philosophic Thought in India, Divine Life Society. p. 42
  65. ^ Minahan, James B. (10 February 2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 205. ISBN 9781610690188. Living in the high mountain valleys, the Nuristani retained their ancient culture and their religion, a form of ancient Hinduism with many customs and rituals developed locally. Certain deities were revered only by one tribe or community, but one deity was universally worshipped by all Nuristani as the Creator, the Hindu god Yama Raja, called imr'o or imra by the Nuristani tribes. 
  66. ^ Barrington, Nicholas; Kendrick, Joseph T.; Schlagintweit, Reinhard (18 April 2006). A Passage to Nuristan: Exploring the Mysterious Afghan Hinterland. I.B. Tauris. p. 111. ISBN 9781845111755. Prominent sites include Hadda, near Jalalabad, but Buddhism never seems to have penetrated the remote valleys of Nuristan, where the people continued to practice an early form of polytheistic Hinduism. 
  67. ^ Weiss, Mitch; Maurer, Kevin (31 December 2012). No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan. Berkley Caliber. p. 299. ISBN 9780425253403. Up until the late nineteenth century, many Nuristanis practiced a primitive form of Hinduism. It was the last area in Afghanistan to convert to Islam—and the conversion was accomplished by the sword. 
  68. ^ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 357. ISBN 9781438119137. The Kalasha are a unique people living in just three valleys near Chitral, Pakistan, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. Unlike their neighbors in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghani and Pakistani sides of the border the Kalasha have not converted to Islam. During the mid-20th century a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan were forcibly converted to this dominant religion, but the people fought the conversion and once official pressure was removed the vast majority continued to practice their own religion. Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognizes many gods and spirits ... given their Indo-Aryan language, ... the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors that to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies. 
  69. ^ Bezhan, Frud (19 April 2017). "Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans Get Their Due". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 31 July 2017. About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs. 
  70. ^ Pandey, Rajbali, "Hindu Samskaras" (Motilal Banarasidass Publ., 1969)
  71. ^ Hopkins, Thomas J., The Hindu Religious Tradition (Belmont: Dickenson Publications, 1971), 15
  72. ^ Robert E. Hume, Professor Emeritus of History of Religions at the Union Theological Seminary, wrote in Random House's The American College Dictionary (1966): "It [Vedānta] is concerned with the end of the Vedas, both chronologically and teleologically."
  73. ^ "Patanjali’s Yoga Darsana – The Hatha Yoga Tradition," InfoRefuge.
  74. ^ Kelkar, Siddharth. UNESCO’s leg-up for city Veda research Archived 6 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. Express India. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  75. ^ P. 46 Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism By Jeaneane D. Fowler
  76. ^ Michaels 2004, p. 40.
  77. ^ Neville, Robert. Religious ruth. p. 51. 
  78. ^ Coward, Harold. The perfectibility of human nature in eastern and western thought. p. 114. 
  79. ^ Johannes de Kruijf and Ajaya Sahoo (2014), Indian Transnationalism Online: New Perspectives on Diaspora, ISBN 978-1-4724-1913-2, page 105, Quote: "In other words, according to Adi Shankara's argument, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta stood over and above all other forms of Hinduism and encapsulated them. This then united Hinduism; (...) Another of Adi Shankara's important undertakings which contributed to the unification of Hinduism was his founding of a number of monastic centers."
  80. ^ Sharma, Chandradhar (1962). "Chronological Summary of History of Indian Philosophy". Indian Philosophy: A Critical Survey. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. vi. 
  81. ^ Light of Truth by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chapter 7
  82. ^ Macdonell, Arthur Anthony. Vedic Mythology. Forgotten Books (23 May 2012). P. 17. ISBN 1440094365.
  83. ^ a b c S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West (1972)
  84. ^ Dr. Kalghatgi, T. G. 1988 In: Study of Jainism, Prakrit Bharti Academy, Jaipur
  85. ^ Zimmer 1989, p. 217.
  86. ^ Svarghese, Alexander P. 2008. India : History, Religion, Vision And Contribution To The World. p. 259-60.
  87. ^ Helmuth von Glasenapp, Shridhar B. Shrotri. 1999. Jainism: an Indian religion of salvation. P.24. "Thus not only nothing, from the philosophical and the historical point of view, comes in the way of the supposition that Jainism was established by Parsva around 800 BCE, but it is rather confirmed in everything that we know of the spiritual life of that period."
  88. ^ Dundas, Paul. 2002. The Jains. P.17. "Jainism, then, was in origin merely one component of a north Indian ascetic culture that flourished in the Ganges basin from around the eighth or seventh centuries BCE."
  89. ^ "Buddhism". (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 November 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition.
  90. ^ P. 78 - 83 Freeing the Buddha: Diversity on a Sacred Path--large Scale Concerns By Brian Ruhe
  91. ^ P. 110 A text book of the history of Theravāda Buddhism by K. T. S. Sarao, University of Delhi. Dept. of Buddhist Studies

Sources[edit]

Published sources
  1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, yaksha
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