Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

There have also been those Indians who, in the face of coloniality, have come to view their own tradition romantically. One of t ...

contrast, serious historians are obliged, as much as possible, to see the whole picture and seek to understand the parts (even t ...

to Christianity as the Hebrew Bible or Greek mythology had – fulfilled, that is, by Christian teachings. The title of one of J. ...

influence) has become more socially conscious. Persistent perceptions such as these are not only inaccurate; they have also colo ...

“Benign neglect” Yet another lens commonly used in approaches to people of alternate religions or cultures is one that can be eu ...

On understanding the “nature” of religion The viewpoint of the observer/interpreter is reflected in the way very basic terms are ...

religion is a symbol system that is created by human beings in such a way that it is modeled fromthe social reality and becomes ...

Recommended reading On the study or interpretation of India Barrier, N. Gerald. India and America: American Publishing on India, ...

Knipe, David. Hinduism: Experiments with the Sacred. San Fransisco: Harper, 1991. Koller, John. The Indian Way. Upper Saddle Riv ...

2 Sources of Indian Religion Hunting communities Agricultural communities The “Indo-European” influence The Vedic period The rit ...

of culture on the subcontinent or that such an “origin,” if it did exist, would have remained intact into later history. What se ...

Agricultural communities By at least 3500 BCEcultivation was occurring in many parts of the sub- continent. Certain grains and f ...

people who today speak some twenty-two languages, including the four major ones associated with the four southernmost states – T ...

valley.^9 In any case, a common ritual in later Indian settings is very similar to the Mesopotamian libations and became known i ...

articulated as a form of transmigration in the lower Gangetic basin around the sixth century BCEbyYa ̄jñavalkyain the Br.hada ̄r ...

“classical” and the “folk” have been engaged in a dialectic, each influencing the other. The “Indo-European” influence There has ...

Odin, Ouranos, Varun.a); an atmospheric level wherein gods of storm and warfare presided (e.g., Indra and Thor); and a sub-atmos ...

and the chief purveyors of the religious system; the ks.atriyasorra ̄janyas, associated with protection and tribal leadership; a ...

The ritual system By the tenth to eighth centuries BCE, the ritual system had become especially complex. Its purpose was several ...

Sound was extremely important in the exercise of these rituals. Sound was personified as va ̄c, the female creative force. Pre-d ...