Th e Vedic Period lasted from about 1500 to 600 b.c.e. Th e
Vedic culture emphasized sacrifi cing to its gods, but it may not
have included human sacrifi ce. Th e word Ve d i c comes from
the Vedas, which were stories, poems, and proverbs transmit-
ted orally for a thousand or more years before being written
down in the 300s b.c.e. Th ey refl ect the religious beliefs of
the Aryans, cattle-herding nomads who spoke closely related
languages and invaded the Harappan area starting in about
1500 b.c.e. Th e Aryans shared a belief, probably derived from
animism, that all things of the world have a divine nature.
Before the Aryan migration into India, the chief god was
Dyaus, god of the sky. He and Prithivi, goddess of the earth,
had a son, Indra. During the Vedic Period, Indra was the
most celebrated of all the gods. He was the god of storms and
a great warrior. Th e demon Vritra had caused a worldwide
drought by corralling the world’s clouds; when he was born,
Indra drank the mystical drink soma and then led the spirits
of thunder into battle against Vritra. He released the clouds,
which spread across the sky and brought rain to the earth.
In a couple of accounts, aft er his victory over Vritra he killed
his father, symbolizing his ascendancy as the most important
Ve d i c g o d.
Th e Vedic religion mixed with the religions of the areas
the Aryans conquered, mostly in northern India, though
their religious beliefs continuously moved southward to in-
clude ever more people. It is not known exactly when the
Vedic religion became Brahmanism, which became Hindu-
ism. Hinduism represented a signifi cant break from ani-
mism, because instead of there being many spirits or gods,
there was only one God and all the many gods of Hinduism
were just diff erent manifestations of the one God. Th e Aryans
brought with them a social structure of four castes: the top
caste was made up of the Brahmans, who were priests and
teachers; then came the Kshatriyas, who were warriors and
political leaders; aft er them were Vaishyas, who were farmers
and tradespeople; then came the Shudras, who were laborers.
Beneath them all were the Untouchables, for whom the worst
jobs were reserved. Some historians believe that the Sudras
and Untouchables were the native peoples of the lands the
Aryans conquered.
Th ese castes became part of Brahmanism. Brahmanism
taught that there was an eternal law, Sanatana Dharma, which
had always existed. Th e word dharma is oft en interpreted as
“fate,” but it is not exactly fate. Instead it is the way things are,
a statement asserting that there are facts about the universe
that cannot be changed. When in the spring of 326 b.c.e. Al-
exander the Great’s Macedonians defeated an Indian army
led by Porus, the monarch of the Indian kingdom of Chenab,
Porus was asked how he expected to be treated. He was re-
corded as saying, “As befi ts a king.” He was not expressing
pride or bravado but simply his dharma, the unchangeable
fact that he was a king. Th us members of the castes were liv-
ing their dharmas. Each person was born into a caste because
of the divine law of the universe. Each person was expected to
strive to be the best he or she could be according to the rules
of his or her caste.
Dharma was in part determined by karma—a form
of divine energy that people acquired during their lives. It
was believed that every human soul goes through cycles of
death and rebirth, or reincarnation, in a new earthly body.
How well a person fulfi lls his or her duties as a member of a
caste in one life builds karma that will determine into which
caste he or she will be reborn in the next life. By the 300s c.e.
some Hindus believed this process included every single ac-
tion a person ever took. Moment by moment what people did
created positive or negative karma. In some parts of India
people believed that the souls of people with too much nega-
tive karma could be reborn in animals, including insects.
For some people this belief made vegetarianism a religious
necessity. For others it was simply the animal’s dharma if
people killed and ate it.
Th e foremost deities of Brahmanism were Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva. In the beginning of the universe a divine
force created life-giving waters in which an egg arose. In that
egg was Brahma. Aft er a year fl oating on the waters of theLimestone relief panel depicting the departure of Prince Siddhartha
from his palace, to start on the spiritual journey that brings him
to Buddhahood; this panel is from the dome of the Great Stupa at
Amaravati, India (second century c.e.). (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)
846 religion and cosmology: Asia and the Pacific