South Asia

Beginnings: Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Jain Traditions

Historically speaking, even the diverse traditions that came to be called Hinduism emerged out of a fusion of cultures: the Indo-European-speaking Aryans, on the one hand, and Dravidian and tribal peoples, on the other. While the origin of the Aryan people remains a contested issue, we know that by 1000 BCE, they had settled in the Ganges region, practicing a religion centered around ritual and the sacred Sanskrit texts that govern these rituals—the Vedas. Indeed, most of what we know about the culture of this period comes from the Vedas, precluding a wider view that would include the Dravidian and tribal communities. Vedic religion was decidedly polytheistic: The Vedas glorify gods and goddesses, among whom Agni, Soma, and Indra ranked as the most important. The task of preserving both the ritual and the Vedas was assigned to a priestly class, the Brahmanas. As their roles became increasingly specialized and the sacrificial system itself more elaborate, Vedic religion evolved into what is called Brahmanical religion.

The late Vedic or early Brahmanical period, around 600 to 400 BCE, was marked by transitions and developments that were foundational for later forms of religion in South Asia. This period saw the development of a later class of Vedic texts, the Upanishads, that reflect a process of interiorization and ethicization of ritual. Karma, earlier denoting ritual acts, was redefined as the logic of cause and effect inherent in any action, which binds one to the never-ending cycle of death and rebirth (samsara).

These terms, and the central problematic of liberation from karma and samsara, were shared and to some degree alternately defined by various non-Vedic śramana (“mendicant”) movements that emerged in the same period. Many of them challenged the ultimate authority of the Vedas and hence were labeled by the Brahmanas “heterodox” or “unbelievers” (nāstika). Among these wandering mendicants were two teachers whom the world would come to know as Mahavira and the Buddha, the “founders” of Jainism and Buddhism, respectively. While the exact dates of the Buddha's birth and death are still debated, it is accepted that he lived sometime around the fifth century BCE. Mahavira was slightly senior to him and is understood by the later Jain tradition to be the 24th and last in a long succession of teachers or “ford-makers” (tīrthaṇkara). Both Mahavira and the Buddha spent their lives wandering and teaching around the Middle Gangetic region, attracting disciples who ordained under them as monks and nuns.

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