Within the Brahmanas two subdivisions are
important in the development of later tradition.
One of the subdivisions is called the Aranyaka.
From its name one can understand that this por-
tion of the text pertained to activity in the forest
(aranya). These specially designated portions of
the Brahmanas contain evidence that some Vedic
yajna, or ritual, was now performed internally, as
an esoteric practice. This appears to be a special
practice done by adepts, who would essentially
perform the ritual mentally, as though it were
being done in their own body and being. This
practice was not unprecedented, since the priests
of the Atharva Veda did not chant as other priests,
but rather were required at public rituals to per-
form mentally the rituals that other priests per-
formed externally. But the Aranyaka notion was
distinctive in that the ritual was performed only
internally. From this interpretation originated the
notion that the ritualist himself was the yajna, or
ritual.
Last, the Brahmanas included (commonly
within the Aranyaka portion) the Upanishads, the
last of the Vedic subdivisions or literary modes
(no one really knows when these subdivisions
were designated). As do the Brahmanas, many
of these texts contained significant material that
reflected on the nature of the Vedic sacrifice. Thus
the division between Brahmana proper, Aranyaka,
and Upanishad is not always clear. The most
important feature of the Upanishad was the emer-
gence of a clear understanding of the unity of the
individual self or atman and the all-encompassing
brahman, understood as the totality of universal
reality, both manifest and unmanifest.
The genesis of the Upanishadic understand-
ing, that the self and cosmic reality were one, is
clear. First, the Shatapatha Brahmana stated that
the most perfect ritual was, in fact, to be equated
to the universe itself, visible and invisible. Second,
the Aranyakas made clear that the individual ini-
tiated practitioner was the ritual itself. So, if the
ritual equals all reality and the individual adept
equals the ritual, then the notion that the indi-
vidual equals all reality is easily arrived at. TheUpanishads were arrived at, then, not by philo-
sophical speculation, but by ritual practice. Later
Upanishads of the orthodox variety (that is, early
texts associated with a Vedic collection) omitted
most reference to the ritual aspect and merely
stated the concepts as they had been derived.
Most importantly, the concepts of rebirth (rein-
carnation) and the notion that actions in this life
would have consequence in a new birth (karma)
were first elaborated in the Upanishads.
This evidence shows that the concept of karma,
or ethically conditioned rebirth, had its roots in
earlier Vedic thought. But the full expression of
the concept was not found until the later texts, the
Upanishads, which are called the Vedanta, or the
end or culmination of the Vedas. Therefore, the
notion of reaching unity with the ultimate reality
was seen as not merely a spiritual apotheosis, but
also a way out of the trap of rebirth (or redeath).Epic Hinduism and
Classical Hinduism
In the sixth century B.C.E., a large-scale revolt
against Vedic practice occurred in India. The Bud-
dha, a great reformer, decried the supremacy of
Brahmins in Vedic practice and in Indian society
and called for a path that was open to all without
discrimination. He criticized the animal sacrifices
made by the Brahmins and their corruption in
monetary pursuits. He was joined in this era by
the Jain leader Mahavira. Both of these leaders
began movements on the eastern plain of the
Ganges valley, near the area of Benares (Varanasi),
which represented a shift in the center of the cul-
ture from the area of the Punjab, in what is now
present-day Pakistan, to eastern India.
Buddhism achieved supremacy in early India
through the influence of the empire of the great
king Ashoka in the third century B.C.E., but,
although it enjoyed periods of state glory over
the centuries, it never succeeded in supplanting
traditions that looked to the Vedas. Thus, the
culture and tradition represented by the greatK xx Encyclopedia of Hinduismi-xL-hindu-fm.indd xx 12/14/06 1:02:37 AM