Invitation to World Religions

The History of Hinduism  129

(kshatriyas) were equally important. Last were the traders and farmers (vaishyas). As the Aryans did not place a great deal of emphasis on agriculture, one can see why the vaishyas would occupy a lower social position. The ser- vant class (shudras) probably derived from the indigenous people at the time of the Aryan immigration. This social structure has re- mained fundamental to Indian society until today. The Aryans, who eventually settled across northern India, have left us a body of texts composed in Sanskrit, of which the earliest example is the Vedas. It is to the era of these texts that we now turn. The Vedic Period

Ritual was of ultimate importance in Vedic times, as rites of sacrifice were per- formed to sustain the cosmic order and please the gods. Much of ritual sacrifice involved the pouring of offerings into a sacrificial fire as Vedic hymns were recited. Although the construction of their fire altars became quite elaborate, Indians of the Vedic period inherited from their nomadic ancestors a very “portable” religion with no fixed buildings or icons and with sacred knowledge maintained by priests. In Vedic times, as today, fire was considered a god. Known as Agni, he was the mouth of the gods and the gateway to the celestial realms, so offerings were magi- cally transported through Agni to whichever god was invoked. In Vedic mythology it is Indra, god of lightning, thunder, and rain, and the virile god of fertility itself, who, as the most powerful, is king of the gods. More hymns in the Vedas are addressed to Indra than to any other god, but in later Hindu tradition and mythology he is somewhat comical: haughty, proud, and often drunk. Many of the Vedic gods continue to play a part in the later Hindu pantheon but endure only in a subordinate status. In the later Vedic period, philosophical innovations began to supplant the older Vedic emphasis on sacrifice. It is in hymns from the later period that Vedic religion begins to take a decisive turn, shifting away from an emphasis on myth, cosmology, and sacrifice to a keener interest in philosophy and introspection. In these hymns, the perception of the nature of existence emerges as being more important than upholding the cosmic order through sacrifice. Late Vedic hymns mark a transition toward what would be the philosophical revolution of the speculative texts known as the Upanishads. During the time of the Upanishads (c. 900–200 bce), contemplative and philo- sophical reflection became more widespread. Many philosophers moved from urban areas to the forest in order to lead simpler lives. Some lived as hermits, some lived in A yajna or fire sacri- fice, one of the most archaic of Hindu rites, is performed by priests before an image of Durga during the Durga Puja festival in Kolkata, India. PROPERTY OF OXFORD

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