of culture on the subcontinent or that such an “origin,” if it did exist, would
have remained intact into later history.
What seems the more prudent way to discuss this issue is to recognize the
existence of multiple sources of what became Indian religion and civiliza-
tion. In this chapter we will identify some of those sources and reflect on
some of their possible implications for the emergence of religion on the
subcontinent.
Hunting communities
It is believed that human beings existed on the subcontinent from at least
100,000BCE. That those people were the result of migrations out of Africa
is plausible, though difficult to establish with certainty. The earliest stage of
this culture is known as the Lower Paleolithic period; “lower” for the fact
artifacts of those peoples are found at the lowest stratum of archaeological
digs. The Middle Paleolithic period (25,000–5500 BCE) may have been
supplemented by additional migrations possibly including hunter-gatherers
spread across the north in the Gangetic plain along the east coast. The
Upper Paleolithic period (c. 5000 BCE) represents a later stage of hunting
culture. Many of these hunting communities lived in forested areas, lower
hill slopes up to an elevation of 2,000 feet, and near riverbeds.
Of course, all Indian culture did not spring from these early communities,
but it is important to note that hunting motifs persisted into later periods
and did influence the lives of later peoples and even of certain forms of
classical religion. It is possible, for example, that some (but by no means all)
contemporary tribal peoples are distant relations of these early hunters.
Further, hunting societies were described in some of the early literary
sources dating in the early centuries CE. These societies did lend certain
motifs to the mythology and symbology of later forms of religion. Several
deities in the Hindu pantheon, for example, either passed through a hunt-
ing stage or assumed the role of hunter at certain points in their histories.
These include such deities as Vit.hoba ̄, one of the most popular deities
of Maharashtra; Murukan
̄
, a popular god in Tamil Nadu; S ́a ̄sta ̄ and Aiyan,
popular in Kerala; and Bhairava, a fierce forested “manifestation” of S ́iva.
Further, forest animals were incorporated into mythologies of the later
high gods, for example, the elephant (which became a part of the mythology
of Ganes.a); or the tiger often associated with powerful goddesses of later
mythology. Even Narasim.ha (the manifestation of Vis.n.u which is half-
human, half-lion), who apparently incorporated motifs of the lion now
virtually extinct in India, but once found along the Eastern Ghats, has had
hunter/tribal roots in Andhra Pradesh.^1
Sources of Indian Religion 15