1.6
Religious sentiments during the Vedic age civilization
By
the end of Vedic civilization, when most of the Aryans living on the
periphery
of Aryavrata were either unknown or reluctant towards performing the
expanded sacrificial
rituals, the same was not true in the region of Kuru-Panchala. From the
time of
the invasion of Aryans, the priestly class and sages worked towards
performing
various rituals that they thought of liberating humans from the painful
life-cycles on the earth. All these rituals along with other
observations about
the society were finally composed together and referred as Vedas,
meaning ‘knowledge’ in Sanskrit. The
earliest created Veda is Rig Veda which contains hymns in the praises of
the gods.
The later Vedas like Yajur Veda contains the rituals to be performed and
Sam Veda
contains the hymns to be sung. There are number of yajnas described in
these Vedas out of which panch yajna (five yajnas) needed to be
performed daily. Sages
believed that mankind is born with five kinds of debts namely, to
divinity, to
sages, to ancestors, to the people and to the other living beings. They
believed that a man will get moksha
(liberation) only by gradual paying off these debts. For this, they
suggested
to observe five kinds of yajnas that include: a prayer to Divine
(Brahma-yajna), study of Ramayana,
Mahabharata and so on created by sages (risi-yajna),
service to dependent, blind, poor, guests and any other social welfare
(Nri-yajna), giving food and water to
lower creatures like ants, cows, buffaloes, cats and so on
(Bhuta-yajna), and prayers to deceased
ancestors by offering food and water (Pitra-yajna) [12]. Sages
further believed that unable to perform these sacrifices daily by
mankind will
make their liberation slower from the life cycles and he has to take
rebirth to
clear off these debts.
The
later Iron Age Vedic civilization witnessed kingship becoming hereditary in
nature and acquiring a divine character from the sages in the form of Rama and
Krishna. The position of the king was strengthened through emphasis on certain
rituals and display of royal powers through various yajnas. In the series, Rajasuya yajna was performed at the coronation
of the king conferring supreme power on him. The Ashwamedha yajna extended his control all over the areas in which
the royal horse ran uninterrupted. The Vajpeya
yajna was performed to restore the strength of a middle aged king and to raise the
status from Raja to Samrat. Most of such yajnas performed in
Vedic period included animal sacrifices whereby they were killed and their
flesh was offered in the fire in form of ahutis.
During this, the ritvikas (priest)
and yajmanas (host) also used to
partake this flesh. In Ashwamedha yajna,
a horse was killed and its flesh was offered in the sacred fire. In Ajamedha yajna, a goat was killed and
its flesh was offered in the fire. There are references of yajnas that include the
sacrifice of humans also e.g. Narmedha
or Purushmedha yajna in which the
human flesh was offered in the sacred fire. However, not all Aryans were
subscribed to get moksha by performing
rituals having animal and some other sacrifices and therefore increasing the
followers of Sramana cult (Jainism)
in that period.
The
animal sacrifice based Vedic yajnas were very common in the pre-Buddhist period
of India’s history. Some of them are discussed here as they were creating an
environment which was supportive to the growth of anti-Vedic feeling in larger sections
of Aryan dominated society which was agriculturist in nature and therefore high
dependence on cattle for livelihood.
Ashwamedha
Yajna
In
the Vedic period, the sages considered cow as symbol of consciousness in the
form of knowledge and horse as symbol of consciousness in the form of force /
power. Therefore Ashvamedha was positioned
as one of the most important royal sacrifices by kings of Vedic civilization. Its
objective was the acquisition of power and glory, the sovereignty over
neighboring provinces, and the general prosperity of the kingdom. The yajna is
described in detail in the Yajur Veda (TS 7.1-5, VSM 22–25) and the pertaining
commentary in the Shatapatha Brahmna (ŚBM
13.1–5). As per the descriptions, the horse used in the yajna should be a
stallion of more than 24 years but less than 100 years old. The selected horse
was sprinkled with water and the adhvaryu
and the King whispered mantras into its ear. It was then left towards northeast
to wonder for the period of one year (or half a year). During that it was
ensured that no one stops the horse, and if stopped, a dog was killed symbolic
of the punishment for the sinners. During the absence of the horse, an
uninterrupted series of ceremonies were performed in the King’s palace. After
the return of the horse, more ceremonies were performed. The head, neck, and
tail of the horse were decorated with golden ornaments. The King used to offer it
the remains of the night's oblation of grain. Then the horse, a hornless male
goat and a wild ox were bound to the sacrificial stakes near the fire along
with a great number of other animals, both tame and wild, tied to the other
stakes (YajurVeda VSM 24 consists of an exact enumeration). The horse was then slaughtered
(YV VSM 23.15) chanting the mantras. The chief queen ritually called on the
king's fellow wives for pity. The queens then walked around the dead horse
reciting mantras. The chief queen expressed gesture of sexual intercourse with
the dead horse, while the other queens ritually uttered obscenities. Next
morning, the priests used to raise the queen of the place where she had spent the
night with the dead horse with the Dadhikra verse (Rig Veda 4.39.6, YajurVeda
VSM 23.32), a verse which is used as a purifier after the obscene language. The
other queens with a hundred golden, silver and copper needles then indicated
the lines on the horse's body along which it will be dissected. Finally, the
horse was dissected, and its flesh roasted. It’s various parts were offered to
a host of deities and personified concepts with utterances of svaha. The
priests performing the sacrifice were rewarded with a part of the booty won
during the wandering of the horse. The yajna carried very high importance in all
types of sacrifices, evident from the Bhagavata
Purana which was composed between 500 AD-1000 AD. It is the period when
Ashwamedha became very rare, but yet it declares that the extermination of
whole humankind could be atoned for by one single Ashwamedha. The punya (blessings) received during the
yajna was even compared with visiting certain holy places on pilgrimage. The Dasashvamedha Ghat in Varanasi was so named
because by taking bath in River Ganges at this ghat, it is believed that one
earns the punya equivalent to sacrificing ten horses. Dashratha, Rama and Yudhishtira
in the Vedic period, Pusyamitra Sunga in 185 BC after toppling the Mauryas,
Samudragupta I around 370 AD, Jaychand of Kannuaj around 1185 AD and Raja Jai
Singh II of Amber Jaipur in 1716 AD performed Ashwamedha. Today in the changed
scenario, Gaytri Parivar is
organizing the yajna since 1991 in the reformed way where actual animal
sacrifice is not involved.
Purushmedha
Yajna (Human Sacrifices):
Similar
to many other ancient civilizations, human sacrifices were part of the religious
activities of Indus Valley civilization of Dravidians. The sacrifice is
recorded as Purushmedha Yajna in Yajur
Veda (VS 30–31) indicating its acceptance by Indo-Aryan society till the time
of its composition. The verses describe people from all classes to be tied to
the stake and offered to Prajapati, the
supreme lord of all creatures. Later Shatapatha Brahmna, composed in the Buddhist
and Jain era, describes that victim of the Purushmedha should be released
unharmed. By 10th century AD of the medieval period, the
Purushamedha was included in the lists of Kali-varjyas
meaning the actions which are prohibited in the Kali-Yuga. It indicates that the sacrifices had become obsolete in
most regions by the time the texts were composed. The sacrifices, however, continued
till 19th century AD in certain regions populated by Dravidian - Mongoloid
tribes who are closely associated with the Shakti cult. The sacrifices were
made as offerings to deities like Chamunda,
Kali or Chandika (Durga Puja) on the 8th day of the festival
before it was prohibited by the British Government.
Based
on the literary evidences, it can be said that by the end of Vedic
civilization, the rituals of the Vedas were elaborated into Brahmnas from the
viewpoint of sacrifices than for higher esoteric thoughts. Although Rig Veda is
uncertain and not authoritative about the power of mantras and sacrifices, Brahmna texts express confidence and hold the view
that if done in a correct way, they will not fail. However Upanishadas, also known as Vedanta
(i.e. the end of Veda), most of which were composed after flourishing of
Buddhism and Jainism, started advocating non-violence to defend Vedism against these
two shramanic cults and thus beginning of animal sacrifice free reformed
Brahmanic rituals in ancient India.
1.7 Food habit during
Vedic age Civilization
From
the beginning of the Vedic age civilization, clashes were recorded on a
large
scale between humans of Aryans, Dravidians and other aboriginal groups.
Most of
the time, it resulted in their mass scale migration from one place to
another.
The process continued till the period of Mahabharata or as late as 6th
century BC when permanent settlements were made in the form of Solasa
Mahajanpada across northern India
and thus dependence on agriculture as an alternate source of food for
the majority
of the masses. In the given scenario, domestic animals were acting both
as
movable property and a source of food not only for the nomadic and
pastoral
Aryans but also for the aboriginals. Rig Veda, the oldest text composed
by
Aryans, records their dietary habits in those days. It lists down some
250
animals out of which 50 were recommended fit for sacrifices and
consumption.
The texts show their god Indra being fond of bull’s flesh while Agni
favoring
both bull and cow’s flesh. The Aitareya Brahmna of Rig Veda lists down
details by which the flesh
of the sacrificed animals has to be distributed in the Brahmins. It says
that ‘the
two jawbones with tongue are to be given to the Prastotar; the breast in
the form an eagle to the Udgatar; the throat with the palate to
the Pratihartar; the lower part of
the right loins to the Hotar and the
left to the Brahma, the right thigh
to the Maitravaruna and the left to
the Brahmnachhamsi; the right side
with the shoulder to Adharvayu and
the left side to those who accompany the chants; the left shoulder to
the Pratipasathatar; the lower part of the
left arm to the Potar; the upper part
of the right thigh to the Acchavaka,
the left to the Agnidhara, the upper
part of the right arm to the Atreya,
the left to the Sadasya, the backbone
and the urinal bladder to the Grihapati
(sacrificer); the right feet to Grihapati who gives a feasting; the left
feet
to the wife of that Grihapati who gives feasting, the upper lip is
common to
both Grihapati and his wife. They offer the tail of the animals to wives
but
they should give it to Brahmin. The head is to be given to the
Subrahmanya, the skin belongs to him
(the Subrahmanya) who spoke s’vah sutyam’ [13]. The Taittiriya Brahmna of Yajur Veda says: atho annam via
gauh means ‘verily the
cow is food’. The prevalence of beef eating is evident from the episode
in
which sage Yajanvalkya insisted on eating the tender flesh of cow [14]. Mahabharata too mentions a King, named
Rantideva, who achieved great fame by distributing food grains and beef
to
Brahmins. The extreme food habits prevalent in the human groups of
subcontinents
are recorded by Greek historian Herodotus in 5th century BC. According
to his scripts, the Indus people had many tribes in different regions
with
different diets and languages. Some people refused to put any live
animal to
death and lived only on vegetables as food. They sow no corn and have
no-dwelling houses and if attacked with sickness, will go in wilderness
and
lies down to die. Some tribes who dwelt in the marshes along the river
lived on
raw fish. Cannibalism was prevalent in a wandering tribe Padaeans who
lived in the eastern part of the subcontinent. They
killed sick people of their tribe for consuming their flesh with belief
that by
doing this, the traits of ancestors pass from one generation to another.
According to their customs, a sick man was killed by his close male
friends and
a sick woman by his close female friends before they feast on their
body. At
some instances, old men were sacrificed to please their gods and after
that
their flesh was consumed by the tribe [15]. Interestingly,
Herodotus was not new to record the presence of cannibalism in certain
tribes
of the Indian subcontinent as these had been also mentioned in the epics
Ramayana
and Mahabharata whose central stories belong to early Vedic period.
The
dependence of Aryan dominated society on cattle as a source of food and
sacrificing items declined rapidly after spread of Buddhism and Jainism in the east
of Aryavrata by the 5th century BC. This was also the period when permanent
settlements of humans were witnessed in the Gangetic plains and therefore their
massive dependence on cattle for agricultural activities in the absence of any
other technique. Such compulsions, in-fact, created an environment for success
of both Buddhism and Jainism as they preached ‘Ahimsa Parmo Dharma’ to Kings and Brahmins against their old Vedic
and aboriginal practices and thus relieving the masses from the fear of losing
their cattle. In words of Swami Vivekananda, the great Indian philosopher of
Vedanta and Yoga, at Madurai on 3rd February 1897 – ‘There was a
time in this very India when, without eating beef, no Brahmin could remain a
Brahmin; you read in the Vedas how, when a Sannyasin, a king, or a great man
came into a house, the best bullock was killed; how in time it was found that
as we were an agricultural race, killing the best bulls meant annihilation of
the race. Therefore
the practice was stopped, and a voice was raised against the killing of cows.’ [16] In
the case of cannibalism too, it is now largely disappeared from India but still
prevalent in the Kapalika and Aghori traditions belonging to tantric Shaivism.
1.8 Position of women
in Vedic era
In
the entire period defined as Vedic era, social laws were still under evolution
phase. Therefore the position of women was no different than men in the broader
sense in the majority population of the subcontinent. The society of that era
had two major civilizations – Indo-Aryans and Dravidians other than Mongoloids
(Kiratas) who were present in the northern hilly areas and the northeastern
regions. In Kiratas, the position of women was very low and many were treated
as slaves. They served at palace of Kings belonging to Aryan society. It is
evident from the epic Mahabharata which records Kirata King gifting thousands
of Kirata girls to Yudhisthira. Though slavery system never took the form of
social institution but the position of women remained degraded even after Vedic
era. Nearly after 1,000 years from the end of Vedic era, the works of Kalidasa
(5th century AD) show that Kirata women dwelling in the hilly areas
had to render their services to their respective kings in different forms. Even
in the records of Karnataka (713 AD), the Kirata women are shown as a source of
entertainment and pleasure for Kings.
Opposite
to Mongoloid society, the position of women in Dravidian society was
undoubtedly superior than men because the society followed matrilocal and
matrilineal cultures. Unlike Dravidians, the Indo-Aryan Society was patriarchal
and the senior most man in the family was considered the head of the family. The
women had secondary status but at many other places they enjoyed equality with
men. According to Saryvanukramanika,
there were nearly 20 women who composed the hymns of Rig Veda. Visvavara,
Ghosha, Lopamudra, Sikata, Nivavari and Apala were some of them. Many women
held respective titles depending on their education and expertise. Pathyavasti
obtained the title of Vak (learned
ladies) while Gandharvgrahita and Lopamudra obtained the title of Mantradrika i.e. who specialized in the mantras.
Women like Sasvati, Apala, Indrani and Maitreyi held the titles of Brahmavadinis i.e. who were well versed
with the sacred texts and participated in the philosophical debates [17]. The
women participated in religious activities and no religious rite or ritual
could be completed without their presence. For marriage, they did not require consent
of parents irrespective of the class of the bridegroom but had to follow rules
which strictly prohibited any such relationship with aboriginal population. There
were no restrictions on widow remarriage in general. The most controversial
ritual of Sati in which woman threw her
in the funeral pyre of a dead husband, however, is mentioned in verses of the Rig
Veda. The system possibly came into existence as a voluntary practice by end of
the Vedic period. It is evident from the Greek historian’s write-up in which two
wives of a dead Indian commander belonging to the Greek army fought with each
other to become sati. Even Alexander (3rd century BC) was surprised
to see a large number of widows of warriors killed in battle performing sati in
a group on the banks of River Sindhu; probably the earliest form of Jauhar in the warrior tribes of these
regions [18]. The
ritual of sati, therefore, seems to
be originated in some different form in Aryans of Rigvedic period, got inculcated
as a voluntary process by end of Vedic period and given a sacred religious
touch only after Gupta Empire when Brahmanism revived under Rajput dynasties of
entire northern India. The position of women started deteriorating near end of
Vedic era and after the rise of Brahmanic civilization. It is evident from the Shatapatha
Brahmna which puts down that at the pravargya
ceremony (an introductory Soma rite) the performer should shun contact with a
woman and Shudra because they are untruth. This was thus beginning of
bracketing women with Shudras, a practice which is frequently found in later literatures,
[19]
and beginning of their long deterioration phase, intellectually as well as
economically, which extended till 20th century AD.
1.9 Procreative relationship between men and women - click here to read
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References:
[12] Prabhu, P.H. (2005). Hindu Social
Organization: A Study of the Socio-Psychological and Ideological Foundations, p
213. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan.
[13] Haug, M. (1863). The Aitareya Brahmnam of the Rig Veda,
Vol 2, p 441. Bombay: The Director of Public Instruction in Behalf of
Government.
[14] Puniyani, R. (2006). Contours of Hindu
Rashtra: Hindutva, Sangh Parivar and Contemporary Politics, p. 223. Delhi:
Kalpaz.
[15] Herodotus. (2009). The Histories, p. 138.
(G. Rawilson, Trans.). Lawrence: Digireads.com.
[16] Vivekananda, S. (1997). A Concordance to Swami Vivekanada, Vol 3, p. 55.
Kolkata: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture.
[17] Jain, L. (2008).
Dropout of Girl Child in Schools, pp. 10-11. New Delhi: Northern Book Center.
[18] Mani, C. M. (2005). The evolution of ideals
of womenhood in Indian society, p. 144. Delhi: Kalpaz.
[19] Sharma, R. S. (1990). Sudras in Ancient
India: A Social History of the Lower Order Down, p. 85. (Rev. 3rd
ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
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Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
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