at one time but became absorbed in the Shaivite
tradition. Likewise, Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu,
has characteristics of a local nature divinity who
became identified with Sri of the Vedas.
Vedic ritual tradition saw a revival in the king-
doms of the Guptas during the fourth through
sixth centuries C.E. This period is often described
as a golden age of Indian tradition, when Sanskrit
literature flourished with such poets as Kalidasa,
and the kings patronized Brahmins and rees-
tablished Vedic rites that had long languished.
Except for this passing phase, however, Vedic
ritual tradition lost its supremacy very early. By
the turn of the Common Era worship of the major
cults had expanded greatly and by the sixth cen-
tury C.E. temples to these divinities began to be
created in stone.
Temple Hinduism represented a real shift in
worship from that of the Vedas. Vedic worship
had no permanent cultic sites, and no icons or
images, nor was it locally bound. Following the
traditions of the non-Aryan substratum in India,
temple Hinduism focused its worship around
icons placed in permanent temples. Most of these
temples were built at places that had been sites of
worship for hundreds of years. Part of the shift,
however, very much connected the new temple
sites with the Aryan tradition: the priests in the
major temples now were all Brahmins and they
all used Sanskrit in the rituals to the gods, where
other languages had been used exclusively.Caste
In the transition from Vedic religion to Hinduism
proper, one important feature is the development
of the stratified social system that in India became
known as the caste system. Texts dating from the
late centuries before the Common Era, such as the
Laws of Manu, began to make clear that the four
classes found in the Vedas were now seen as strati-
fied social entities. Rules and social laws began
to be passed down, not universally, but in terms
of each class or “birth” (jati) division. Brahmins,
here, were placed at the apex of the pyramid,because of their priestly positions. (However,
they were also not allowed to accumulate large
amounts of wealth and could not hold positions
of direct political power.) Next were the warriors,
or Kshatriyas, who held kingly and administrative
power. The large body of the people, the Vish, or
Vaishya, were farmers or merchants. The lowest
class were the Shudras, born, it was thought, to
be servants.
As time went on and the tradition expanded
its reach into all parts of India, indigenous tribes
and other groups entering the society of Aryans
were absorbed at an even lower rung of the social
ladder. Eventually the concept of the untouchable
(contemporary Dalit) was created to refer to peo-
ple whom the upper castes would not even allow
to be near or to touch them. Hinduism developed
into a society where people became ranked rigidly
by occupation. The sacerdotal position, or priestly
work, was considered purest. Work that involved
dealing with the dead, carrion, cleaning of sewers,
sweeping, and other such tasks, was considered
“unclean” and was performed only by hereditary
untouchables.Islam
In the 11th and 12th centuries, Islam entered
an India that was flourishing. As the devotional
movements that embodied the new tendency of
the culture to worship the iconic divinity devel-
oped, saints emerged to sing poetry at the many
shrines. Cultic Hinduism displayed a vast array
of poet singers and wanderers who embodied the
devotion for which ordinary Hindus strove. The
ascetic wanderer had emerged even before Bud-
dha, who was one of them. And through time
the developing tradition looked to the wandering
sadhu, or saint, to exemplify the purest devo-
tion to the divine. The often eccentric holy man
remains a distinctive feature of Hinduism today.
Islam entered India with a vengeance and
stayed to rule. As Islamic presence expanded over
North India, the Mughal empire was established
in the 15th century C.E. For several centuriesK xxii Encyclopedia of Hinduismi-xL-hindu-fm.indd xxii 12/14/06 1:02:37 AM