1.
Pali
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Pali is a Prakrit language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of much of the earliest extant literature of Buddhism as collected in the Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka and is the language of Theravāda Buddhism. The word Pali is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon, Childers translates the word as series and states that the language bears the epithet in consequence of the perfection of its grammatical structure. However, modern scholarship has regarded Pali as a mix of several Prakrit languages from around the 3rd century BCE, combined together and partially Sanskritized. The closest artifacts to Pali that have found in India are Edicts of Ashoka found at Gujarat, in the west of India. There is persistent confusion as to the relation of Pāḷi to the vernacular spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, Pali, as a Middle Indo-Aryan language, is different from Sanskrit more with regard to its dialectal base than the time of its origin. A number of its morphological and lexical features show that it is not a continuation of Ṛgvedic Vedic Sanskrit. Instead it descends from one or more dialects that were, despite many similarities, however, this view is not shared by all scholars. Some, like A. C. Woolner, believe that Pali is derived from Vedic Sanskrit, Paiśācī is a largely unattested literary language of classical India that is mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. e. Evidence which lends support to this interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare, many Theravada sources refer to the Pali language as Magadhan or the language of Magadha. This identification first appears in the commentaries, and may have been an attempt by Buddhists to associate more closely with the Maurya Empire. The Buddha taught in Magadha, but the four most important places in his life are all outside of it and it is likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a high degree of mutual intelligibility. There is no attested dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan with all the features of Pali, Pali has some commonalities with both the western Ashokan Edicts at Girnar in Saurashtra, and the Central-Western Prakrit found in the eastern Hathigumpha inscription. In Sri Lanka, Pali is thought to have entered into a period of decline ending around the 4th or 5th century, the work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its reemergence as an important scholarly language in Buddhist thought. Another scholar states that at time it was a refined. Modern scholarship has not arrived at a consensus on the issue, after the death of the Buddha, Pali may have evolved among Buddhists out of the language of the Buddha as a new artificial language. According to K. R. Norman, it is likely that the viharas in North India had separate collections of material, in the early period it is likely that no degree of translation was necessary in communicating this material to other areas. Around the time of Ashoka there had been more linguistic divergence, following this period, the language underwent a small degree of Sanskritisation
2.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
3.
Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
4.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
5.
Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. The majority of Jains reside in India, with 6-7 million followers, Jainism is smaller than many other major world religions. Outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, contemporary Jainism is divided into two major sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
6.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
7.
Lotus Sutra
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The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras, and the basis on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. According to Paul Williams, For many East Asian Buddhists since early times the Lotus Sutra contains the final teaching of the Buddha, complete and sufficient for salvation. The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, in English, the shortened form Lotus Sūtra is common. The Lotus Sūtra has also highly regarded in a number of Asian countries where Mahāyāna Buddhism has been traditionally practiced. According to Fuse, the sections of chapters 1-9 and 17 were probably created in the first century BCE. He estimates the date of the stage, chapters 10,11, 13-16, 18-20 and 27. Chapters 21-26 belong to the last stage, according to Teiser and Stone, there is consensus about the stages of composition but not about the dating of these strata. Tamura argues that the first stage of composition, chapters 2-9, was completed around 50 CE and he dates the third stage, chapters 22-27, around 150 CE. Karashima proposes another modified version of Fuse´s hypothesis with the sequence of composition. The first layer of this includes the tristubh verses of these chapters which may have been transmitted orally in a Prakrit dialect. The second layer consists of the verses and the prose of chapters 2-9. Chapters 1, 10-20,27, and a part of chapter 5 that is missing in Kumarajivas translation, chapters 21-26 and the section on Devadatta in chapter 11 of the Sanskrit version. Three translations of the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese are extant, The Lotus Sūtra of the Correct Dharma, in ten volumes and twenty-seven chapters, the Lotus Sūtra of the Wonderful Dharma, in eight volumes and twenty-eight chapters, translated by Kumārajīva in 406 CE. The Supplemented Lotus Sūtra of the Wonderful Dharma, in seven volumes and twenty-seven chapters, the Lotus Sūtra was originally translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa in 286 CE in Changan during the Western Jin Period. However, the view there is a high degree of probability that the base text for that translation was actually written in a Prakrit language has gained widespread acceptance. It may have originally been composed in a Prakrit dialect and then translated into Sanskrit to lend it greater respectability. This early translation by Dharmarakṣa was superseded by a translation in seven fascicles by Kumārajīva´s team in 406 CE, according to Jean-Noël Robert, Kumārajīva relied heavily on the earlier version. The Sanskrit editions are not widely used outside of academia and this composite sutra is often called the Threefold Lotus Sūtra or Three-Part Dharma Flower Sutra
8.
Brahmi script
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Brahmi is the modern name given to one of the oldest writing systems used in South and Central Asia from the 1st millennium BCE. Brahmi is an abugida that thrived in the Indian subcontinent and uses a system of marks to associate vowels with consonant symbols. It evolved into a host of other scripts that continue in use, Brahmi is related to the ancient Kharosthi script, which was used in what is now eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kharosthi died out in ancient times, the best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dating to 250–232 BCE. The script was deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, Brahmi was at one time referred to in English as the pin-man script, that is stick figure script. Thence the name was adopted in the work of Georg Bühler. The Gupta script of the 5th century is sometimes called Late Brahmi, the Brahmi script diversified into numerous local variants, classified together as the Brahmic scripts. Dozens of modern scripts used across South Asia have descended from Brahmi, one survey found 198 scripts that ultimately derive from it. The script was associated with its own Brahmi numerals, which provided the graphic forms for the Hindu–Arabic numeral system now used through most of the world. The Brahmi script is mentioned in the ancient Indian texts of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, for example, the Lipisala samdarshana parivarta lists 64 lipi, with the Brahmi script starting the list. The Lalitavistara Sūtra states that young Siddhartha, the future Buddha, mastered philology, Brahmi and other scripts from Brahmin Lipikara, a shorter list of eighteen ancient scripts is found in the texts of Jainism, such as the Pannavana Sutra and the Samavayanga Sutra. These Jaina script lists include Brahmi at number 1 and Kharoshthi at number 4 but also Javanaliya, while the contemporary Kharosthi script is widely accepted to be a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet, the genesis of the Brahmi script is less straightforward. Salomon reviewed existing theories in 1998, while Falk provided an overview in 1993, an origin in Semitic scripts has been proposed by some scholars since the publications by Albrecht Weber and Georg Bühlers On the origin of the Indian Brahma alphabet. The most disputed point about the origin of the Brahmi script has long been whether it was an indigenous development or was borrowed or derived from scripts that originated outside India. Most scholars believe that Brahmi was likely derived from or influenced by a Semitic script model, however, the issue is not settled due to the lack of direct evidence and unexplained differences between Aramaic, Kharosthi and Brahmi. Virtually all authors accept that regardless of the origins, the degree of Indian development of the Brahmi script in both the form and the structure has been extensive. It is also accepted that theories of Vedic grammar probably had a strong influence on this development. In contrast, some reject the idea of foreign influence
9.
Itsukushima
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Itsukushima is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. It is popularly known as Miyajima, which in Japanese means the Shrine Island, the island is one of Hayashi Gahōs Three Views of Japan specified in 1643. Itsukushima is part of the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture, the island was part of the former town of Miyajima before the 2005 merger with Hatsukaichi. Itsukushima is famous for the Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to records, the shrine was established in the time of Empress Suiko. The warrior-courtier Taira no Kiyomori gave the shrine its present form, in 1555, Mōri Motonari defeated Sue Harukata at the Battle of Miyajima. Toyotomi Hideyoshi built a building, the Senjō-kaku, on a hill above the shrine. Itsukushima has a number of temples, including Toyokuni Shrine with a five-storied pagoda, the island is also famous for its upper hill side cherry blossoms and maple leaf autumn foliage. The island of Itsukushima, including the waters around it, are within Setonaikai National Park and this sea is affected by strong tides. At low tide, the bottom of the sea is exposed past the islands torii, at high tide, the sea covers all the previously exposed seabed mud and fills areas underneath the shrine boardwalk. Itsukushima is mountainous and sparsely settled and it has an elementary school and a middle school. It is rural and mountainous, only 30.39 square kilometres, there are no cities, only small towns with simple houses and privately owned shops. The islanders work hard to preserve the forests and respect nature, frequent ferry services, operated by JR West and by Miyajima Matsudai Tourist Ship, carry traffic between the island and the mainland. The trip takes ten minutes. There is an express passenger ferry to Hiroshima harbour. Miyajimas maple trees are renowned throughout Japan and blanket the island in crimson in the autumn, momiji manjū, pastries filled with azuki jam or custard, are popular souvenirs and carry maple-leaf emblems. Many other varieties such as chocolate and cheese are available, because the island is seen as sacred, trees may not be cut for lumber. Deer are thought of as sacred in the native Shinto religion because they are considered messengers of the gods and they walk the streets of the city, not afraid of the tourists. The shamoji, a style of wooden spoon used to serve cooked rice without impairing the taste, is said to have been invented by a monk who lived on the island, the shamoji is a popular souvenir, and there are some outsized examples around the shopping district
10.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
11.
Vedas
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The Vedas are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient sages after intense meditation, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas, the various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their authority are classified as orthodox. Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts. The Sanskrit word véda knowledge, wisdom is derived from the root vid- to know and this is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning see or know. The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek εἶδος aspect, not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek οἶδα oida I know. Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc, the Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means knowledge. The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the Rigveda, means obtaining or finding wealth, property, a related word Vedena appears in hymn 8.19.5 of the Rigveda. It was translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith as ritual lore, as studying the Veda by the 14th century Indian scholar Sayana, as bundle of grass by Max Müller, Vedas are called Maṛai or Vaymoli in parts of South India. Marai literally means hidden, a secret, mystery, in some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts, the Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BC, and the circum-Vedic texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age, Michael Witzel gives a time span of c.1500 to c. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BC the only record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period
12.
Buddhist texts
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They can be categorized in a number of ways. These religious texts were written in different languages and scripts. Even after the development of printing, Buddhists preferred to keep to their practices with these texts. The Mahāsāṃghika and the Mūlasarvāstivāda considered both the Buddhas discourses, and of his disciples, to be buddhavacana, a number of different beings such as buddhas, disciples of the buddha, ṛṣis, and devas were considered capable to transmitting buddhavacana. The content of such a discourse was then to be collated with the sūtras, compared with the Vinaya and these texts may then be certified as true buddhavacana by a buddha, a saṃgha, a small group of elders, or one knowledgeable elder. In Theravada Buddhism, the collection of buddhavacana is the Pali Canon. Some scholars believe that some portions of the Pali Canon and Agamas could contain the substance of the historical teachings of the Buddha. In East Asian Buddhism, what is considered buddhavacana is collected in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the most common edition of this is the Taishō Tripiṭaka. Then these sutras may be regarded as buddhavacana. Sometimes texts that are considered commentaries by some are regarded by others as Buddhavacana, in Tibetan Buddhism, what is considered buddhavacana is collected in the Kangyur. The East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist canons always combined Buddhavacana with other literature in their standard collected editions, however, the general view of what is and is not buddhavacana is broadly similar between East Asian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan Kangyur, which belongs to the schools of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, in addition to containing sutras and vinaya. Doctrinal elaborations were preserved in Abhidharma works and later Karikas, as Buddhism spread geographically, these texts were translated into the local language, such as Chinese and Tibetan. The Pali canon was preserved in Sri Lanka where it was first written down in the first century BCE, the Sri Lankan Pali tradition developed extensive commentaries as well as sub-commentaries for the Pali Canon as well as treatises on Abhidhamma. Sutra commentaries and Abhidharma works also exist in Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, important examples of non-canonical Pali texts are the Visuddhimagga, by Buddhaghosa, which is a compendium of Theravada teachings and the Mahavamsa, a historical Sri Lankan chronicle. Sanskrit Buddhist literature later became the dominant tradition in India until the decline of Buddhism in India, around the beginning of the Christian era, a new genre of sutra literature began to be written with a focus on the Bodhisattva idea, commonly known as Mahayana sutras. Many of the Mahayana sutras were written in Sanskrit and then translated into the Tibetan, some 600 Mahayana Sutras have survived in Sanskrit, or in Chinese and/or Tibetan translation. In the Mahayana tradition there are important works termed Shastras, or treatises which attempt to outline the sutra teachings, the works of important Buddhist philosophers like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and Dharmakirti are generally termed Shastras, and were written in Sanskrit
13.
Gautama Buddha
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Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was an ascetic and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the part of ancient India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region and he later taught throughout other regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala. Gautama is the figure in Buddhism. He is recognized by Buddhists as a teacher who attained full Buddhahood. Accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death, various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later. Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the facts of the Buddhas life. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddhas lifetime coincided with the flourishing of influential schools of thought like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism. Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of thought, thus, Buddha was just one of the many śramaṇa philosophers of that time. The times of Gautamas birth and death are uncertain, most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet accepted by all historians. It was either a republic, or an oligarchy, and his father was an elected chieftain. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, no written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, another one of his edicts mentions the titles of several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era. These texts may be the precursor of the Pāli Canon and they are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different and these include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, a poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE, the Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE
14.
Theravada
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Theravāda is a branch of Buddhism that uses the Buddhas teaching preserved in the Pāli Canon as its doctrinal core. The Pali canon is the only complete Buddhist canon which survives in a classical Indic Language, Pali, another feature of Theravada is that it tends to be very conservative about matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. As a distinct sect, Theravada Buddhism developed in Sri Lanka, Theravada also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with varying cultures and religious communities. It is the dominant form of religion in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is practiced by minority groups in Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Vietnam. In addition, the diaspora of all of these groups as well as converts around the world practice Theravāda Buddhism, contemporary expressions include Buddhist modernism, the Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest Tradition. The name Theravāda comes from the ancestral Sthāvirīya, one of the early Buddhist schools, according to its own accounts, the Theravāda school is fundamentally derived from the Vibhajjavāda doctrine of analysis grouping, which was a division of the Sthāvirīya. Significantly, the Sthāviras in turn comprise three sub-nikāyas, the Jetavanīyas, the Abhayagirivāsins, and the Mahāvihāravāsins, according to Damien Keown, there is no historical evidence that the Theravāda school arose until around two centuries after the Great Schism which occurred at the Third Council. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada, emperor Ashoka is supposed to have assisted in purifying the sangha by expelling monks who failed to agree to the terms of Third Council. The elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa was at the head of the Third council and compiled the Kathavatthu, later, the Vibhajjavādins in turn is said to have split into four groups, the Mahīśāsaka, Kāśyapīya, Dharmaguptaka, and the Tāmraparṇīya. The Theravāda is said to be descended from the Tāmraparṇīya sect, the most distinctive features of this phase and virtually the only contemporary historical material, are the numerous Brahmi inscriptions associated with these caves. They record gifts to the sangha, significantly by householders and chiefs rather than by kings, the Buddhist religion itself does not seem to have established undisputed authority until the reigns of Dutthagamani and Vattagamani. The first records of Buddha images come from the reign of king Vasabha, in the 7th century, the Chinese pilgrim monks Xuanzang and Yijing refer to the Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka as Shàngzuòbù, corresponding to the Sanskrit Sthavira nikāya and Pali Thera Nikāya. Yijing writes, In Sri Lanka the Sthavira school alone flourishes, the school has been using the name Theravāda for itself in a written form since at least the 4th century, about one thousand years after the Buddhas death, when the term appears in the Dīpavaṁsa. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Theravāda, spread rapidly south from Avanti into Maharashtra and Andhra and down to the Chola country, as well as Sri Lanka. According to Richard Gombrich this is the earliest record we have of Buddhist scriptures being committed to writing anywhere, the Theravada Pali texts which have survived are derived from the Mahavihara of Anuradhapura, the ancient Sri Lankan capital. Later developments included the formation and recording of the Theravada commentary literature, the Theravada tradition records that even during the early days of Mahinda, there was already a tradition of Indian commentaries on the scriptures. Of great importance to the tradition is the work of the great Theravada scholastic Buddhaghosa. Buddhaghosa wrote in Pali, and after him, most Sri Lankan Buddhist scholastics did as well and this allowed the Sri Lankan tradition to become more international through a lingua franca so as to converse with monks in India and later Southeast Asia
15.
Mahavira
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Mahavira, also known as Vardhamāna, was the twenty-fourth and last Jain Tirthankara. Mahavira was born into a family in what is now Bihar, India. At the age of 30, he left his home in pursuit of spiritual awakening, and abandoned worldly things, including his clothes, for the next twelve-and-a-half years, Mahavira practiced intense meditation and severe penance, after which he became kevalī. For the next 30 years, he travelled throughout the Indian subcontinent to teach Jain philosophy, Mahavira taught that the observance of the vows ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha is necessary to elevate the quality of life. He gave the principle of Anekantavada, Syadvada and Nayavada, the teachings of Mahavira were compiled by Gautama Swami and were called Jain Agamas. Most of these Agamas are not available today, jains believe Mahavira attained moksha at the age of 72. In Jainism, a Tirthankara signifies the founder of a tirtha which means a fordable passage across the sea of interminable births and deaths, according to the Jain texts, twenty-four Tirthankaras grace each half of the cosmic time cycle. Mahavira was the last Tirthankara of avasarpani, Samantabhadra, an illustrious Digambara monk, who lived in the 2nd century A. D. called the tīrtha of Mahavira by the name Sarvodaya. Mahavira is often called the founder of Jainism, but this was not the case because the Jain tradition recognizes his predecessors, in addition to that, Parshvanatha is accepted as a historical figure. According to Jain texts, Mahaviras childhood name was Vardhamāna, because of the prosperity in the kingdom at the time of his birth. He was called Mahavira because of the acts of bravery he performed during his childhood, Mahavira was given the title Jīnā, which later became synonymous with Tirthankara. Buddhist texts refer to Mahavira as Nigaṇṭha Jñātaputta, Nigaṇṭha means without knot, tie, or string and Jñātaputta, refers to his clan of origin as Jñāta or Naya. He is also known as Sramana, in the Gregorian calendar, this date falls in March or April and is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti. Traditionally, Kundalpur in the ancient city of Kashtriya Kund Lachhuar is regarded as his birthplace, in the present-day Sikandra Division of Jamui district, according to Jainism, after his birth, anointment and abhisheka —carried out by Indra on Mount Meru. Most modern historians agree he was born at Kundagrama, now Basokund in Muzaffarpur district in the state of Bihar, Jain traditions date Mahavira as living from 599 B. C. to 527 B. C. Western historians date Mahavira as living from 480 BC to 408 BC, some Western scholars suggest Mahavira died around 425 BC. His height was seven cubits as per the description given in Aupapatika Sutra, as the son of a king, Mahavira had all luxuries of life at his disposal. According to the chapter of the Śvētāmbara text Acharanga Sutra
16.
Jain Agamas
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Agamas are original texts of Jainism based on the discourses of the tirthankara. The discourse delivered in a samavasarana is called Śhrut Jnāna and comprises eleven angas, the discourse is recorded by Ganadharas, and is composed of twelve angas. It is generally represented by a tree with twelve branches and this forms the basis of the Jaina Agamas or canons. These are believed to have originated from Rishabhanatha, the first tirthankara, the earliest versions of Jain Agamas known were composed in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit language. Agama is a Sanskrit word which signifies the coming of a body of doctrine by means of transmission through a lineage of authoritative teachers and these scriptures are said to have contained the most comprehensive and accurate description of every branch of learning that one needs to know. According to the Digambaras, Āchārya Bhutabali was the last ascetic who had knowledge of the original canon. Later on, some learned Āchāryas started to restore, compile and put into words the teachings of Lord Mahavira. Āchārya Dharasen, in first century CE, guided two Āchāryas, Āchārya Pushpadant and Āchārya Bhutabali, to put these teachings in the written form, the two Āchāryas wrote, on palm leaves, Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama- among the oldest known Digambara Jaina texts. This was about 683 years after the nirvana of Mahavira, the general consensus amongst western scholars, like Ian Whicher and David Carpenter is that the earliest portions of Jain siddhanta were composed around the 4th or 3rd century BC. However, with time, it became difficult to keep the entire Jain literature committed to memory, chandragupta Maurya was the ruler of Magadha and Bhadrabahu, was the head of Jain community. Predicting a 12 year long famine, Bhadrabahu went south to Karnataka with his adherents and Sthulabhadra, during this time the knowledge of the doctrine was getting lost. A council was formed at Pataliputra where eleven scriptures called Angas were compiled, due to the twelve years of famine it was extremely difficult for the Jain ascetics to preserve the entire canonical literature. The Purvas or the ancient texts were already forgotten and lost after the famine, the existing Svetambara texts are based on the Vallabhi council texts. Digambaras reject the authority of the Agamas compiled at Valabhi, the knowledge of Shruta-Jnana, may be of things which are contained in the Angas or of things outside the Angas. The most authoritative Jain text accepted both by Digambara and Svetamberas is Tattvartha Sutra and it is the first Jain scripture written in the Sanskrit language. Other Sanskrit Jain literature includes śrāvakācāras such as the Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra, Digambaras group texts into four literary categories called exposition. The Jain literature includes both religious texts and books on generally secular topics such as sciences, history, and grammar, the Jains have used several languages at different times and in different regions of India. The earliest versions of Jain Agamas known were written in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit language, Prakrit Prakrit literature includes the Aagams, Aagam-tulya texts, and Siddhanta texts
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Shloka
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Shloka is a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anustubh poetic meter. It is the basis for Indian epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, for example, are written almost exclusively in shlokas. The traditional view is that form of verse was involuntarily composed by Valmiki in grief. The shloka is treated as a couplet, each hemistich of 16 syllables, composed of two Pādas of eight syllables, can take either a pathyā form or one of several vipulā forms. The form of the foot of the first Pāda limits the possible patterns the first foot may assume. Alternatively, a shloka is four quarter-verses, each with eight syllables, the Pathyā and Vipulā half-verses are arranged in the table above in order of frequency of occurrence. Out of 2579 half-verses taken from Kalidasa, Magha, Bharavi, the metrical constraints on a hemistich in terms of its two constituent padas are as follows, General The 1st and 8th syllables of both pādas are anceps. The 2nd and 3rd syllables cannot both be light in either pāda, i. e. one or both of the 2nd and 3rd syllables must be heavy in both pādas. Syllables 2-4 of the second pāda cannot be a ra-gaṇa Syllables 5-7 of the second pāda must be a ja-gaṇa This enforces an iambic cadence, normal form Syllables 5-7 of the first pāda must be a ya-gaṇa Variant forms, The 4th syllable of the first pāda is heavy. By comparison, Syllables 5-7 of any pāda in the old Vedic anuṣṭubh is typically a ja-gaṇa, a shloka, states Monier-Williams, can be any verse or stanza, a proverb, saying. The shloka and Anushtubh meter has been the most popular style in classical and post-classical Sanskrit works. It is octosyllabic, next harmonic to Gayatri meter that is sacred to the Hindus, a shloka has a rhythm, offers flexibility and creative space, but has embedded rules of composition. The Anushtubh is present in Vedic texts, but its presence is minor, a dominating presence of shlokas in a text is a marker that the text is likely post-Vedic. The shloka structure is embedded in the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, Smritis and scientific treatises of Hinduism such as Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita. The Mahabharata, for example, features many verse meters in its chapters, but a proportion of the stanzas, 95% are shlokas of the anustubh type. Subhashita Sutra Sanskrit prosody Vedic meter Arnold, Edward Vernon, Vedic Metre in its historical development. Sanskrit prosody and numerical symbols explained, london, Trübner and Co. pp. 57–146. Friedrich Max Müller, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, rocher, Ludo, The Puranas, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447025225 Annette Wilke, Oliver Moebus
18.
Rigveda
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The Rigveda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, a good deal of the language is still obscure and many hymns as a consequence seem unintelligible. The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities, for each deity series the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, and the number of hymns per book increases. In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. 1700–1100 BC has also been given, some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it probably the worlds oldest religious text in continued use. This redaction also included some additions and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi, the Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the texts fidelity and meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections and this interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period, the oral tradition still continued into recent times. The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age, the family books, mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books, they are arranged by length and account for 38% of the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a deity, Agni comes first, Indra comes second. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi and his family of students, within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format, the eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest, they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, however, adds Witzel, some hymns in Mandala 8,1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas. The first mandala has an arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta intended for various rituals, the sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc, which are further analysed into units of verse called pada
19.
Samaveda
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The Samaveda, is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scriptures of Hinduism, one of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text whose 1,875 verses are primary derived from the Rigveda. Three recensions of the Samaveda have survived, and variant manuscripts of the Veda have been found in parts of India. The classical Indian music and dance tradition considers the chants and melodies in Samaveda as one of its roots and it is also referred to as Sama Veda. The Samaveda is the Veda of Chants, or storehouse of knowledge of chants, according to Frits Staal, it is the Rigveda set to music. It is a fusion of melodies and the Rig verses. It has far fewer verses than Rigveda, but Samaveda is textually larger because it all the chant-. The Samaveda text contains notated melodies, and these are probably the worlds oldest surviving ones, the musical notation is written usually immediately above, sometimes within, the line of Samaveda text, either in syllabic or a numerical form depending on the Samavedic Sakha. The first part include four collections and the second part three verse books. A melody in the song corresponds to a verse in the arcika books. The Gana collection is subdivided into Gramageya and Aranyageya, while the Arcika portion is subdivided into Purvarcika and Uttararcika portions, the Purvarcika portion of the text has 585 single stanza verses and is organized in order of deities, while Uttararcika text is ordered by rituals. The Gramageya melodies are those for public recitations, while Aranyageya melodies are for personal meditative use such as in the solitude of a forest. Just like Rigveda, the sections of Samaveda typically begin with Agni and Indra hymns but shift to abstract speculations and philosophy. The later sections of the Samaveda, states Witzel, have least deviation from substance of hymns they derive from Rigveda into songs, the purpose of Samaveda was liturgical, and they were the repertoire of the udgātṛ or singer priests. The Samaveda, like other Vedas, contains layers of text, with Samhita being the oldest. The Samaveda consists of 1,549 unique verses, taken almost entirely from Rigveda, the largest number of verse come from Books 9 and 8 of the Rig Veda. Some of the Rigvedic verses are repeated more than once, including these repetitions, there are a total of 1,875 verses numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith. Samaveda samhita is not meant to be read as a text, the text uses creative structures, called Stobha, to help embellish, transform or play with the words so that they better fit into a desired musical harmony
20.
Yajurveda
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The Yajurveda is the Veda of prose mantras. An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire, Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism. The exact century of Yajurvedas composition is unknown, and estimated by scholars to be around 1200 to 1000 BCE, the Yajurveda is broadly grouped into two – the black Yajurveda and the white Yajurveda. The term black implies the un-arranged, unclear, motley collection of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the white which implies the well arranged, the black Yajurveda has survived in four recensions, while two recensions of white Yajurveda have survived into the modern times. The earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, the middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection. The youngest layer of Yajurveda text includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads and these include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the Isha Upanishad, the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Katha Upanishad, the Shvetashvatara Upanishad and the Maitri Upanishad. Yajurveda is a compound Sanskrit word, composed of yajus and veda, monier-Williams translates yajus as religious reverence, veneration, worship, sacrifice, a sacrificial prayer, formula, particularly mantras muttered in a peculiar manner at a sacrifice. Johnson states yajus means prose formulae or mantras, contained in the Yajur Veda, michael Witzel interprets Yajurveda to mean a knowledge text of prose mantras used in Vedic rituals. Ralph Griffith interprets the name to mean knowledge of sacrifice or sacrificial texts, carl Olson states that Yajurveda is a text of mantras that are repeated and used in rituals. The Yajurveda text includes Shukla Yajurveda of which about 16 recensions are known, only two recensions of the Shukla Yajurveda have survived, Madhyandina and Kanva, and others are known by name only because they are mentioned in other texts. These two recensions are nearly the same, except for few differences, in contrast to Shukla Yajurveda, the four surviving recensions of Krishna Yajurveda are very different versions. The samhita in the Shukla Yajurveda is called the Vajasaneyi Samhita, the name Vajasaneyi is derived from Vajasaneya, patronymic of sage Yajnavalkya, and the founder of the Vajasaneyi branch. There are two surviving recensions of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, Vajasaneyi Madhyandina and Vajasaneyi Kanva, there are four surviving recensions of the Krishna Yajurveda – Taittirīya saṃhitā, Maitrayani saṃhitā, Kaṭha saṃhitā and Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā. A total of eighty six recensions are mentioned to exist in Vayu Purana, the Katha school is referred to as a sub-school of Carakas in some ancient texts of India, because they did their scholarship as they wandered from place to place. The best known and best preserved of these recensions is the Taittirīya saṃhitā, some attribute it to Tittiri, a pupil of Yaksa and mentioned by Panini. The text is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Yajurveda, the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā or the Caraka-Kaṭha saṃhitā, according to tradition was compiled by Katha, a disciple of Vaisampayana. Like the Maitrayani Samhita, it offers more detailed discussion of some rituals than the younger Taittiriya samhita that frequently summarizes such accounts. The Kapiṣṭhala saṃhitā or the Kapiṣṭhala-Kaṭha saṃhitā, named after the sage Kapisthala is extant only in some large fragments and this text is practically a variant of the Kāṭhaka saṃhitā
21.
Atharvaveda
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The Atharva is the knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life. The text is the fourth Veda, but has been an addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. The Atharvaveda is composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and it is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books. About a sixth of the Atharvaveda text adapts verses from the Rigveda, and except for Books 15 and 16, two different recensions of the text – the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into modern times. Reliable manuscripts of the Paippalada edition were believed to have been lost, the Atharvaveda is sometimes called the Veda of magical formulas, an epithet declared to be incorrect by other scholars. Many books of the Atharvaveda Samhita are dedicated to rituals without magic, the text, states Kenneth Zysk, is one of oldest surviving record of the evolutionary practices in religious medicine and reveals the earliest forms of folk healing of Indo-European antiquity. It was likely compiled as a Veda contemporaneously with Samaveda and Yajurveda, along with the Samhita layer of text, the Atharvaveda includes a Brahmana text, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations. The latter layer of Atharvaveda text includes three primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy and these include the Mundaka Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad. Monier Williams notes that the now obsolete term for fire used to be Athar, the name Atharvaveda, states Laurie Patton, is for the text being Veda of the Atharvāṇas. The oldest name of the text, according to its own verse 10.7.20, was Atharvangirasah, each school called the text after itself, such as Saunakiya Samhita, meaning the compiled text of Saunakiya. The Atharvan and Angiras names, states Maurice Bloomfield, imply different things, over time, the positive auspicious side came to be celebrated and the name Atharva Veda became widespread. The latter name Angiras which is linked to Agni and priests in the Vedas, states George Brown, michael Witzel states Atharvan roots may be *atharwan or priest, sorcerer, with links to Avestan āθrauuan priest and Tocharian <*athr, superior force. The Atharvaveda is also referred to as Bhrgvangirasah and Brahmaveda, after Bhrigu. The Atharvaveda is a collection of 20 books, with a total of 730 hymns of about 6,000 stanzas. The Caraṇavyuha, a later era Sanskrit text, states that the Atharvaveda had nine shakhas, or schools, paippalāda, stauda, mauda, śaunakīya, jājala, jalada, brahmavada, devadarśa and cāraṇavaidyā. Of these, only the Shaunakiya recension, and the recently discovered manuscripts of Paippalāda recension have survived. The Paippalāda edition is more ancient, the two recensions differ in how they are organized, as well as content. For example, the Book 10 of Paippalada recension is more detailed, more developed and more conspicuous in describing monism, the concept of oneness of Brahman, all life forms, the Atharvaveda Samhita originally was organized into 18 books, and the last two were added later
22.
Warp and weft
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In weaving, the weft is the term for the thread or yarn which is drawn through, inserted over-and-under, the lengthwise warp yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom to create cloth. Warp is the lengthwise or longitudinal thread in a roll, while weft is the transverse thread, a single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called an end or end. The weft is a thread or yarn usually made of spun fibre, the original fibres used were wool, flax or cotton. Today, man-made fibres are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, the weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle, air jets or rapier grippers. Hand looms were the original weavers tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand, inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, with the picking stick and the flying shuttle speeding up production of cloth. The power loom patented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 allowed sixty picks per minute, a useful way of remembering which is warp and which is weft is, one of them goes from weft to wight. The words woof and weft derive ultimately from the Old English word wefan, Warp means that which is thrown away. Very simple looms use a warp, in which a single. Because the warp is held under tension during the entire process of weaving and warp yarn must be strong, yarn for warp ends is usually spun. Traditional fibres for warping are wool, linen, alpaca, with the improvements in spinning technology during the Industrial Revolution, it became possible to make cotton yarn of sufficient strength to be used as the warp in mechanized weaving. Later, artificial or man-made fibres such as nylon or rayon were employed, while most people are familiar with weft-faced weavings, it is possible to create warp-faced weavings using densely arranged warp threads. In warp-faced weavings, the design for the textile is in the warp, warp-faced weavings are defined by length-wise stripes and vertical designs due to the limitations of color placement. The expression woof and warp is used metaphorically as one might similarly use fabric, e. g. the warp. The expression is used as a metaphor for the structure on which something is built. Warp or woof are also found in the Bible in the discussion of mildews found in cloth materials in Leviticus 13. Weft is also a term for temporary hair extensions
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Hindu texts
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Hindu texts are manuscripts and historic literature related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. A few texts are shared resources across these traditions and broadly considered as Hindu scriptures and these include the Vedas and the Upanishads. There are two classifications of Hindu texts, Shruti – that which is heard, and Smriti – that which is remembered. The Śruti refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts, without any author and it includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts - the Samhitas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the early Upanishads. The Smriti texts are a body of Hindu texts attributed to an author. Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts were composed in Sanskrit, many others in regional Indian languages, in modern times, most ancient texts have been translated into other Indian languages and some in Western languages. This verbal tradition of preserving and transmitting Hindu texts, from one generation to next, the Vedas are a large body of Hindu texts originating in ancient India, before about 300 BCE. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. The Upanishads are a collection of Hindu texts which contain some of the philosophical concepts of Hinduism. The Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta, variously interpreted to either the last chapters, parts of the Veda or the object. The concepts of Brahman and Ātman are central ideas in all the Upanishads, the Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are known. More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main Upanishads. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, some in all likelihood pre-Buddhist, of the remainder, some 95 Upanishads are part of the Muktika canon, composed from about the start of common era through medieval Hinduism
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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History of Hinduism
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History of Hinduism denotes a wide variety of related Hindu denominations native to the Indian Subcontinent, most of whom live in modern-day Nepal and India. Its history overlaps or coincides with the development of Indian religions since Iron Age India and it has thus been called the oldest living religion in the world. Scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots, the history of Hinduism is often divided into periods of development, with the first period being that of the historical Vedic religion dated from about 1900 BCE to 1400 BCE. The subsequent period, between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is a point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions, and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c.200 BCE to 500 CE, saw the classical Golden Age of Hinduism (, in this period the six branches of Hindu philosophy evolved, namely Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta. Monotheistic sects like Shaivism and Vaishnavism developed during this period through the Bhakti movement. Hinduism under both Hindu and Islamic rulers from c.1200 to 1750 CE, saw the prominence of the Bhakti movement. The colonial period saw the emergence of various Hindu reform movements partly inspired by movements, such as Unitarianism. The Partition of India in 1947 was along religious lines, with the Republic of India emerging with a Hindu majority. During the 20th century, due to the Indian diaspora, Hindu minorities have formed in all continents, with the largest communities in absolute numbers in the United States, Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions. After the Vedic period, between 500-200 BCE and c.300 CE, at the beginning of the Epic and Puranic c. q. Preclassical period, the Hindu synthesis emerged, which incorporated śramaṇic and Buddhist influences and this synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism. During the Gupta reign the first Puranas were written, which were used to disseminate mainstream religious ideology amongst pre-literate, the resulting Puranic Hinduism differed markedly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmaśāstras and the smritis. Hinduism co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism, to gain the upper hand at all levels in the 8th century. From northern India this Hindu synthesis, and its divisions, spread to southern India. This process of assimilation explains the diversity of local cultures in India half shrouded in a taddered cloak of conceptual unity. James Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations and this periodisation has been criticised, for the misconceptions it has given rise to. Another periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, the division in Ancient-Medieval-Modern overlooks the fact that the Muslim-conquests took place between the eight and the fourteenth century, while the south was never completely conquered
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Puranic chronology
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The Puranic chronology gives a timeline of Hindu history according to the Hindu scriptures. Two central dates are the Mahabharata War, which according to this chronology happened at 3139 BCE, and the start of the Kali Yuga, which according to this chronology started at 3102 BCE. The Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, the Puranas contain stories about the creation of the world, and the yugas. Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas also contain genealogies of kings, wendy Doniger, based on the study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas. She dates Markandeya Purana to c.250 CE, Matsya Purana to c, 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c.350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c.450 CE, Brahmanda Purana to c. 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c, 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c. 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c, the Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana also contain lists of kings and genealogies, from which the traditional chronology of Indias ancient history are derived. The existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, according to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel, the Mahabharata is essentially mythological. Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that, Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved and it is possible that there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE. Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a date to the Kurukshetra War. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga, a number of other proposals have been put forward, P. V. Vartak calculates a date of October 16,5561 BCE using planetary positions. P. V. Holey states a date of 13 November 3143 BCE using planetary positions, K. Sadananda, based on translation work, states that the Kurukshetra War started on November 22,3067 BCE. B. N. Achar used planetarium software to argue that the Mahabharata War took place in 3067 BCE, S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses. R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of 1478 BCE using double eclipses, P. R. Sarkar estimates a date of 1298 BCE for the war of Kurukshetra. V. S. Dubey claims that the war happened near 950 BCE The Puranas contain stories about the creation of the world, and the yugas. There are four yugas in one cycle, Satya Yuga, a time of truth and righteousness, Treta Yuga Dvapara Yuga Kali Yuga and these 4 yugas follow a timeline ratio of. 1500 BCE and proposing older dates for the Vedic period, according to the Indigenist position, the Aryans are indigenous to India, and the Indo-European languages radiated out from a homeland in India into their present locations
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Hindu mythology
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As such, it is a subset of mainstream Indian and Nepali culture. The roots of mythology that evolved from classical Hinduism come from the times of the Vedic civilization, the four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda, contain allusions to many themes. The characters, philosophy and stories make up ancient Vedic myths are indelibly linked with Hindu beliefs. The Vedas are four in number, namely RigVeda, YajurVeda, SamaVeda, in the period of Classical Sanskrit, much material is preserved in the Sanskrit epics. Besides mythology proper, the voluminous epics also provide a range of information about ancient Nepali and Indian society, philosophy, culture, religion. The two great Hindu Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata tell the story of two incarnations of Vishnu. These two works are known as Itihasa, the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana serve as both religious scriptures and a rich source of philosophy and morality. The most famous of these chapters is the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata, in which Lord Krishna explains the concepts of duty and these stories are deeply embedded in Hindu philosophy and serve as parables and sources of devotion for Hindus. The Mahabharata is the worlds longest epic in verse, running to more than 2,000,000 lines, the epics themselves are set in different Yugas, or periods of time. The Ramayana, written by the Maharshi Valmiki, describes the life and times of Lord Rama, the Mahabharata, describing the life and times of the Pandavas, occurs in the Dvapara Yuga, a period associated with Lord Krishna. In total, there are 4 Yugas and these are the Satya or Krita Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. The avatara concept, however, belongs to the Puranic times, the Puranas deal with stories that are old and do not appear in the epics. They contain legends and stories about the origins of the world, and the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. They contain traditions related to ancient kings, seers, incarnations of God and legends about holy places, the Bhagavata Purana is probably the most read and popular of the Puranas. It chronicles the legends of the god Vishnu and his avatars on earth, the act of creation was thought of in more than one manner. One of the oldest cosmogonic myth in the Rigveda had come into existence as a cosmic egg, the Purusha Sukta narrates that all things were made out of the mangled limbs of Purusha, a magnified non-natural man, who was sacrificed by the gods. In the Puranas, Vishnu, in the shape of a boar, plunged into the cosmic waters, the Shatapatha Brahmana says that in the beginning, Prajapati, the first creator or father of all, was alone in the world. He differentiated himself into two beings, husband and wife, the wife, regarding union with her producer as incest, fled from his embraces assuming various animal disguises
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Brahman
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In Hinduism, Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient and it is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a concept is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe. Brahman is a Vedic Sanskrit word, and it is conceptualized in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, Brahman is a key concept found in the Vedas, and it is extensively discussed in the early Upanishads. The Vedas conceptualize Brahman as the Cosmic Principle, in the Upanishads, it has been variously described as Sat-cit-ānanda and as the unchanging, permanent, highest reality. Brahman is discussed in Hindu texts with the concept of Atman, personal, impersonal or Para Brahman, or in various combinations of these qualities depending on the philosophical school. In dualistic schools of Hinduism such as the theistic Dvaita Vedanta, Brahman is different from Atman in each being, Brahman is thus a gender-neutral concept that implies greater impersonality than masculine or feminine conceptions of the deity. Brahman is referred to as the supreme self, puligandla states it as the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world, while Sinar states Brahman is a concept that cannot be exactly defined. In Vedic Sanskrit, Brahma, brahman from root bṛh-, means to be or make firm, strong, solid, expand, promote. Brahmana, from stems brha + Sanskrit -man- from Indo-European root -men- which denotes some manifested form of power, inherent firmness. In later Sanskrit usage, Brahma, brahman means the concept of the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, the concept is central to Hindu philosophy, especially Vedanta, this is discussed below. Brahm is another variant of Brahman, Brahmā, Brahman, means the deity or deva Prajāpati Brahmā. He is one of the members of the Hindu trinity and associated with creation, but does not have a cult in present-day India. This is because Brahmā, the creator-god, is long-lived but not eternal i. e. Brahmā gets absorbed back into Purusha at the end of an aeon, and is born again at the beginning of a new kalpa. These are distinct from, A brāhmaṇa, is a commentary on the Vedic mantras—an integral part of the Vedic literature. A brāhmaṇa, means priest, in this usage the word is rendered in English as Brahmin. This usage is found in the Atharva Veda. Ishvara, in Advaita, is identified as a partial manifestation of the ultimate reality
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God in Hinduism
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In Hindu monotheism, the concept of God varies from one sect to another. Hinduism is not exclusively monotheistic, and has described as spanning a wide range of henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, atheism and nontheism etc. This non-dualism postulates the identity of the Self or Atman with the Whole or Brahman, forms of explicit monotheism find mention in the canonical Bhagavad Gita. Explicit monotheism in the form of emotional or ecstatic devotion to an external and personal deity became popular in South India in the early medieval period. Ecstatic devotion to Krishna, a form of Vishnu, gained popularity throughout India during the Middle Ages, ecstatic devotion to Goddess Durga became popular in some parts of India in the later medieval and early modern ages. Vaishnavism, particularly Krishnaism, Shaktism and some forms of Shaivism remain the most explicit forms of worship of a personal God within Hinduism. Other Hindus, such as many of those who practice Shaivism, tend to assume the existence of a singular God, rather they envisage God as an impersonal Absolute, who can be worshipped only in part in a human form. The term Ishvara may refer to any of the monotheistic or monistic conceptions within Hinduism, in Hinduism, Brahman is the all-pervading, supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead, Brahman is conceived as personal, impersonal and/or supreme depending on the philosophical school. The sages of the Upanishads teach that Brahman is the essence of material phenomena that cannot be seen or heard. According to Advaita, a human being has realised Brahman as his or her own true self. The Isha Upanishad says, Auṃ – That supreme Brahman is infinite, if you subtract the infinite from the infinite, the infinite remains alone. The sages of the Upanishads made their pronouncements on the basis of experience as an essential component of their philosophical reflection. Several mahā-vākyas from the Upanisads indicate what the principle of Brahma is, In the Upanisads the sages teach that brahman is infinite Being, infinite Consciousness, and infinite Bliss. Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism posits that Brahman cannot be known by empirical means — that is to say, as an object of our consciousness — because Brahman is our very consciousness and being. Therefore, it may be said that moksha, yoga, samādhi, nirvana, etc. do not merely mean to know Brahman, but rather to realise ones brahman-hood, to actually realise that one is and always was Brahman. Indeed, closely related to the Self-concept of Brahman is the idea that it is synonymous with jiva-atma, or individual souls, according to Adi Shankara the nirguna brahman is non-different from the supreme personality, God, whatever qualities we attribute to the divine. By the power of Maya the supreme lord playfully creates multiple worlds and deludes all beings and this world is only relatively real and the real self is not affected by it
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Sannyasa
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Sannyasa is the life stage of renunciation within the Hindu philosophy of four age-based life stages known as ashramas, with the first three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Vanaprastha. Sannyasa has historically been a stage of renunciation, ahimsa peaceful and simple life, however, this has not always been the case. These warrior sanyasis played an important role in helping European colonial powers establish themselves in India, saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit means renunciation of the world and abandonment. It is a word of saṃ- which means together, all, ni- which means down and āsa from the root as. A literal translation of Sannyāsa is thus to put down everything, Sannyasa is sometimes spelled as Sanyasa. The term Saṃnyasa makes appearance in the Samhitas, Aranyakas and Brahmanas, the earliest layers of Vedic literature, but it is rare. The term Sannyasa evolves into a rite of renunciation in ancient Sutra texts, in Dravidian languages, sannyasi is pronounced as sanyasi and also sannasi in colloquial form. Sanyasis are also known as Bhiksu, Pravrajita/Pravrajitā, Yati, Sramana, jamison and Witzel state early Vedic texts make no mention of Sannyasa, or Ashrama system, unlike the concepts of Brahmacharin and Grihastha which they do mention. Instead, Rig Veda uses the term Antigriha in hymn 10.95.4, still part of extended family and it is in later Vedic era and over time, Sannyasa and other new concepts emerged, while older ideas evolved and expanded. The explicit use of the four stage Ashrama concept, appeared a few centuries later, however, early Vedic literature from 2nd millennium BC, mentions Muni, with characteristics that mirror those found in later Sannyasins and Sannyasinis. Rig Veda, for example, in Book 10 Chapter 136, mentions mendicants as those with Kesin, rigveda, however, refers to these people as Muni and Vati. The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments of soil hue, They, following the winds swift course and these Munis, their lifestyle and spiritual pursuit, likely influenced the Sannyasa concept, as well as the ideas behind the ancient concept of Brahmacharya. One class of Munis were associated with Rudra and this freedom has led to diversity and significant differences in the lifestyle and goals of those who adopt Sannyasa. There are, however, some common themes, a person in Sannyasa lives a simple life, typically detached, itinerant, drifting from place to place, with no material possessions or emotional attachments. They may have a stick, a book, a container or vessel for food and drink, often wearing yellow, saffron, orange. They may have hair and appear disheveled, and are usually vegetarians. Some minor Upanishads as well as monastic orders consider women, child, students, fallen men and others as not qualified for Sannyasa, the dress, the equipage and lifestyle varies between groups. For example, Sannyasa Upanishad in verses 2.23 to 2.29 and those who enter Sannyasa may choose whether they join a group
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