Encyclopedia of Hinduism

The first attested elements that can be argued

to be “Hindu” are found in the Indus Valley

civilization complex, which lay geographically

in present-day Pakistan. This civilization com-

plex, which is contemporaneous with Sumeria

and matches it in complexity and sophistication,

is dated 3600–1900 B.C.E. Many seals found at

Indus Valley sites were apparently used to mark

commercial goods and had engraved upon them

pictures that some have related to later Hindu-

ism. One is the “proto-Shiva” seal, which shows

a person, seated in a cross-legged position, with

a headdress with horns on it and what appears to

be an erect phallus. The headdress is said to relate

to the later god Shiva’s title of “Lord of the Ani-

mals,” and the erect phallus is said to be related

to the common icon of Shiva, the lingam, which

is phallic in shape. Some see his seated posture as

being the yogic lotus position. Shiva is known for

his yogic practices.

Other Indus Valley seals seem to depict what

came to be known as the “Seven Mothers,” still wor-

shipped in contemporary Hinduism. Additionally, B.

B. Lal, the most prominent Indian archaeologist of

the Indus Valley culture, argues that other artifacts

and fire sites of the Indus Valley complex appear

to be designed for rituals associated with the Vedic

ritual tradition, which is usually dated many centu-

ries later.

The Sacred Texts of Hinduism:

The Vedas

Considerable debate exists with regard to the rela-

tionship of the Indus Valley civilization and the

later Vedic tradition that focused on fire worship.

The scholarly consensus for many years held that

the Aryans, people who migrated from the west

through Iran, arrived in India no earlier than 1200

B.C.E., much too recently to have participated in

the Indus Valley world. These people were, the

view holds, associated with the transmission of

the Vedas, India’s most sacred and revered texts.

This consensus has been challenged, primarily

from the Indian side, and continues to undergo

scrutiny. The alternative view rejects the notion

that the people who gave India the Vedas were

originally foreign to India and sees a continuity

between India’s earliest civilization and the people

of the Vedas.

The Rig Veda (c. 1500 B.C.E.), which everyone

agrees is the most ancient extant Indian text, is

the foundational text of Hinduism. It consists of

about a thousand hymns. The great majority of

the hymns are from five to 20 verses in length.

The Rig Veda contains hymns of praise to a pan-

theon of divinities as well as a few cosmogonic

hymns that tell of the creation of the universe.

These stories are extremely important for the

development of later Hinduism.

By far the greatest number of the thousand

plus hymns of the Rig Veda are devoted to Indra,

king of the gods, a deity connected with rain and

storms who holds a thunderbolt, and Agni, the

god of fire. The rest of the hymns are devoted

to an array of gods, most prominently Mitra,

Varuna, Savitri, Soma, and the Ashvins. Less fre-

quently mentioned are the gods who became most

important in the later Hindu pantheon, Vishnu

and Rudra (one of whose epithets was shiva, the

benign). A number of goddesses are mentioned,

most frequently Ushas, goddess of the dawn, and

Aditi, said to be the mother of the gods. The god-

dess of speech, Vach (Vak), however, may be most

important, since speech is one of the most power-

ful sacred realities in Hindu tradition, although

there are not many references to her.

The religion of the Rig Veda has for a long time

been referred to as henotheistic, meaning that the

religion was polytheistic, but it recognized each

divinity in turn as, in certain ways, supreme. Cer-

tainly, later Hinduism continued and enriched this

henotheistic concept, and, through time, Hindu-

ism has been able to accept even Christ and Allah

as being supreme “in turn.” The Rig Veda, though,

was the central text in a very powerful ritual tradi-

tion. Rituals public and private, with sacred fire

always a central feature, were performed to speak

to and beseech the divinities. Sacrifices of animals

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