Religion, Hindu

HINDUISM IS THE oldest of the world's major religions, with about one billion adherents, most of whom live in India. The term Hinduism was not applied to the religion that developed from the Vedas until after the arrival of the British. They used the name to identify the people of India who were culturally Indian but who were not believers in Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Parsism (Parsees), Sikhism, or any of the other religions found in India. As a consequence, Hinduism may be regarded as “Indian—ism” and requires of its believers only that they subscribe to the Vedas and to the caste system.

The Vedas are the oldest sacred writings of all of the world's major religions. They were transmitted orally for hundreds—if not thousands—of years before they were written down. The Vedas are now found in the form of four books that contain songs, stories, rituals, magical formulas, and other materials. They were committed to writing in archaic Sanskrit and were organized into collections called samhitas. There are several versions of the Vedas in different parts of India, but in general they agree.

The Vedas were produced by the Aryans who moved into the Indus Valley region around 3,500 years ago from the steppes of Central Asia, speaking the Indo—European language of Sanskrit. There may have been five tribes of Aryans who called themselves arya, which means noble or kinsman in Sanskrit. They invaded (or possibly immigrated) through areas of Iran and Afghanistan before crossing the Hindu Kush through the Khyber Pass or other mountain canyons into the Indus River Valley. They overran the original population and eventually spread across much of the North Indian plain and down the Indus River Valley. The Aryans brought their devas (gods and goddesses) to India. They were nomadic cattle herders who worshipped primal forces of nature, which are referred to often in the Vedas. Using rituals, they sang songs and melodies and chanted formal directions for the performance of rituals. These songs and chants were formalized and incorporated into the Vedas.

The caste system is found in the Vedas, but it also received more detailed attention in The Laws of Manu and other Hindu books on law. The Laws of Manu includes a great deal of rules that could be considered to be manners, social customs, and religious practices of purification and some that would be recognized as civil and criminal laws. The book also discusses castes (varna).

Castes were justified in the Rig—Veda. The Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya castes were [Page 461]the “twice born” (dvijas). They could undergo a rebirth ceremony about the age of 12 years to become twice—born. In contrast, the Sudras, who were members of the caste system, were not dvijas and were not allowed to study the Vedas. In The Laws of Manu, learning even a part of the Vedas could cause a Sudra to be severely punished. Below the Sudras were the Chandalas, who were so low in the eyes of the upper castes that they were believed to be outside the caste system and were therefore untouchables. Today they call themselves Dalits, or the oppressed. According to The Laws of Manu, they were produced by the union of a Sudra father and a Brahmin mother. The Laws describes a number of mixed—caste unions that produced corrupted offspring.

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