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Ancient India
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Professor Page’s Study Questions: · How was the
Harapan civilization similar yet dramatically different than that of
Mesopotamia and Egypt? |
Indian culture is an ancient and dynamic entity, spanning back to the
very beginnings of human civilization. Beginning with a mysterious culture along the Indus River
and in farming communities in the southern lands of India, the history of the
sub-continent is one punctuated by constant integration with migrating peoples
and with the diverse cultures that surround India. Placed in the center of
Asia, Indian history is a crossroads of cultures from China to Europe, and the
most significant Asian connection with the cultures of Africa.
Indian history, then, is more than just a set of unique
developments in a definable process; it is, in many ways, a microcosm of human
history itself, a diversity of cultures all impinging on a great people and
being reforged into new, syncretic forms.[1]
The Indus Valley was home to the largest
of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China.
It was not discovered until the 1920's. Most of its ruins, including major
cities, remain to be excavated. Its script has not
been deciphered. Basic questions about the people who created this highly
complex culture are unanswered.
The civilization of
the Indus valley was rediscovered only in the 1920’s. Archaeologists
have now identified over 1000 settlement sites of Harappa distributed over
400,000 square miles, making it the most widespread civilization of its time.
Archaeologists have pushed back the origins of settlement history in
the region to 7000 B.C.E., fixed the apex of its material and cultural creativity
at about 2500-2000 B.C.E. The Harappans began to trade by boat along
the Indus and even down the Indus into the Arabian Sea and, further, into
the Persian Gulf and up the Tigris and Euphrates into Mesopotamia. Goods from
the Indus have been found in Mesopotamia and vice versa.
The Indus Valley civilization raises a great many, largely
unresolved, questions. Why did this civilization, considering its
sophistication, not spread beyond the Indus Valley? In general, the area where
the Indus valley cities developed is arid, and one can surmise that urban
development took place along a river that flew through a virtual desert.
Aryan Invasion and Decline of Harrapan
Culture:
The Indus Valley people did not develop agriculture on any large
scale, and consequently did not have to clear away a heavy growth of forest.
Nor did they have the technology for that, since they were confined to using
bronze or stone implements. They did not practice canal irrigation and did
not have the heavy plough. Most significantly, under what circumstances did
the Indus Valley cities undergo a decline? The first attacks on outlying villages
by Aryans
appear to have taken place around 2,000 BCE near Baluchistan, and of the major
cities, at least Harappa was quite likely over-run by the Aryans.
In the Rig
Veda there is mention of a Vedic war god, Indra,
destroying some forts and citadels, which could have included Harappa and
some other Indus Valley cities. The conventional historical narrative speaks
of a cataclysmic blow that struck the Indus Valley Civilization around 1,600
BCE, but that would not explain why settlements at a distance of several hundred
miles from each other were all eradicated.
Essentially the Rig Veda
is dominated by hymns praising the Aryan gods for giving them victories and
wealth plundered from the local farmers through warfare. The Aryans apparently
used their advances in weaponry and skill in fighting to conquer the
agricultural and tribal peoples of the fading Harappan culture. Numerous hymns
refer to the use of horses and chariots with spokes, which must have given
their warriors a tremendous advantage. Spears, bows, arrows, and iron weapons
are also mentioned. As a nomadic and pastoral culture glorifying war, they
established a new social structure of patriarchal families dominated by
warriors and, eventually with the power of the Vedas themselves, by priests
also.
Professor Page’s Study Questions:
· What is the Bhagavad-Gita? What is the message that Krishna is teaching to Arjuna?
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The Bhagavad-Gita
is considered by eastern and western scholars alike to be among the greatest
spiritual books the world has ever known. In a very clear and wonderful way
the Supreme Lord Krishna describes the science of self-realization and the
exact process by which a human being can establish their eternal relationship
with God.
In terms of pure, spiritual knowledge the Bhagavad-Gita is
incomparable. Its intrinsic beauty is that its knowledge applies to all human
beings and does not postulate any sectarian ideology or secular view. It is
approachable from the sanctified realms of all religions and is glorified as
the epitome of all spiritual teachings. This is because proficiency in the
Bhagavad-Gita reveals the eternal principles, which are fundamental and
essential for spiritual life from all perspectives, and allows one to perfectly
understand the esoteric truths hidden within all religious scriptures.
Many great thinkers from our times such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma
Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer as well as Madhvacarya, Sankara and Ramanuja
from bygone ages have all contemplated and deliberated upon its timeless message.
The primary purpose of the Bhagavad-Gita is to illuminate for all of humanity
the realization of the true nature of divinity; for the highest spiritual
conception and the greatest material. (Swami Bhaktivedanta Narayana
Maharaja)
Albert Einstein
When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe
everything else seems so superfluous.
(Copyright) © 1999-2004 India Divine Communications. All rights reserved)
Mahatma Gandhi
When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not
one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to
comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming
sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings
from it every day. (Copyright © 1999-2004
IndiaDivine Communications. All rights reserved)
Carl Jung
The
idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in by
gone ages. The link with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus
in which it states..." behold we are not an earthly but a heavenly
plant." This correlation can be discerned by what Krishna expresses in
chapter 15 of Bhagavad-Gita. .( Copyright
© 1999-2004 IndiaDivine Communications. All rights reserved)
The
Caste System:
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Professor Page’s Study Questions: · What is the
origin and nature of the social caste system in India? |
In ancient India there developed a social
system in which people were divided into separate close communities. These
communities are known in English as caste. The origin of the caste system
is in Hinduism, but it affected the whole Indian society. The caste system
in the religious form is basically a simple division of society in which there
is four castes arranged in a hierarchy and below them the outcast. But socially
the caste system was more complicated, with much more castes and sub-castes
and other divisions. Legally the government disallows the practice of caste
system but has a policy of affirmative discrimination of the backward classes.
Vedic Aryans and Zoroastrianism:
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Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What is the
dualistic worldview of Zoroastrianism?
What influence did this worldview have on Judaism and Christianity? |
The excavations at Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro have disclosed the existence of a highly evolved culture long
before the Aryan immigration, perhaps dating back to 3000 B.C. or later.
Among
the remains discovered are three-faced prototypes of Shiva seated in a yogic
posture, representations of the Linga,
and a horned goddess associated with the pipal tree. These symbols, evolved by
a very ancient civilization, were assimilated by the Aryan immigrants in slow
stages-their earliest literary work, the Rig-Veda, almost overlooks these
aspects. The Vedic Aryans, it has been suggested, partly assimilated and partly
destroyed the earlier culture
It seems clear from the hymns of the
Rig-Veda and the Persian Gathas and Avesta that the Vedic Aryans and
the Zoroastrians had a
common origin. The languages in which Zoroaster preached and his believers sang
their hymns are almost identical, and Vedic meters are re-produced in the
Avesta.
Evidently, the two groups of Aryans separated after a violent
quarrel, so that several deities of one group - Indra or Jindra, Sarva and
Nasatya - were transformed in the other into evil spirits. It is, however, to
be noticed that Mitra, Aryama,
Vayu and Vrtraghna are divine
in both the systems. A period of unity was probably followed by civil war, as
envisaged in the fight between Asuras
and Devas.[2]
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Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What is the
Hindu doctrine of Reincarnation? How is the return of “atman” to “Brahman”
similar to what Christians call “heaven” or Buddhists call “nirvana.” |
OM, a sacred syllable and a
quintessential symbol of Hinduism. Its meanings are many.
Hinduism is the name given to a family of
religions and cultures that began and still flourish in India. Like other Eastern religions, it doesn't fit
comfortably into the same box as Western religions like Christianity. Hindus do not separate religion from other
aspects of life. For Hindus in India, Hinduism is an inextricable part of their
existence, a complete approach to life that involves social class, earning a
living, family, politics, diet, etc., in addition to the things Westerners view
as religious.
The word "Hindu" comes from the
name of the river Indus, which flows 1800 miles from Tibet through Kashmir and
Pakistan to the sea. Originally the name referred to people living in a
particular region of the world, regardless of their faith; so in the 18th century
someone could quite sensibly be described as a "Hindu Muslim".
There are 750 million Hindus in the world,
and most of them live in India. In the UK there are 400,000 Hindus, 160,000 of
whom are active in their faith.
Hinduism
includes a very wide range of beliefs and practices, so there aren't many
things that are common to all Hindu groups. However they all have a "family
resemblance" to each other. Hinduism has no founder, no creed, and no single
source of authority. The things most
often common to Hindus are a belief in a single Divinity or supreme God that
is present in everything, belief in other gods who are aspects of that supreme
God, belief that the soul repeatedly goes through a cycle of being born into
a body, dying, and rebirth, belief in Karma, a force that determines the quality
of each life, depending on how well one behaved in a past life.
Most Hindus worship at home and have a
shrine there. Hindu temples are the focus of religious life, but there is not a
strong tradition of corporate congregational worship. Hinduism has not had a significant tradition of seeking to
convert people, although some modern Hindu sects now do seek converts.
|
Professor
Page’s Study Questions: · What did
Buddha mean by “all life is suffering.”
· What is the
nature of “The Four Noble Truths” and “The Noble Eightfold Path?” |
Buddhism is a major global religion with
a complex history and system of beliefs.
Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism,
Siddhartha Gautama, lived from 566(?) to 480(?) B.C. The son of an Indian
warrior-king, Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling
in the privileges of his social caste. But when he bored of the indulgences of
royal life, Gautama wandered into the world in search of understanding.
After encountering an old man, an ill man,
a corpse and an ascetic, Gautama was convinced that suffering lay at the end
of all existence. He renounced his princely title and became a monk, depriving
himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the
world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath
a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately,
to achieve salvation. Following this epiphany, Gautama was known as the Buddha,
meaning the "Enlightened One." The
Buddha spent the remainder of his life journeying about India,
teaching others what he had come to understand.
"All men are
my children. I am like a father to them. As every father desires the good and
the happiness of his children, I wish that all men should be happy
always."[3]
One of the most significant events in the history of Buddhism is
the chance encounter of the monk Nigrodha and the emperor Ashoka Maurya. Meeting Nigrodha convinced Emperor Ashoka to
devote himself to peace. On his orders, thousands of rock pillars (Edicts
of Ashoka) were erected, bearing the words of the Buddha, in the
brahmi script -- the first written evidence of Buddhism.
Ashoka
proselytized all over India and beyond. Some went as far as Egypt, Palestine,
and Greece. St. Origen even mentions them as
having reached Britain.
It is interesting to note that there is a saint
in Orthodox Christianity named Josaphat, an Indian king whose story is essentially
that of the Buddha. Josaphat is thought to be a distortion of the word
bodhisattva.
However, Buddhism would become virtually
extinct in India by the 13th century.
Islam began
with the ministry of the Prophet Muhammad (570-632), who belonged to a merchant
family in the trading town of Mecca in Arabia. In his middle age, Muhammad
received visions in which the Archangel Gabriel revealed the word of God to
him.
Soon after his death, the united Arabs
conquered present-day Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Iran, making Islam into a world
religion by the end of the seventh century.
Islam
first came into India in the province of Kerala during the lifetime
of Prophet Mohammed.
The first spreaders of Islam in India were
individuals who saw in spreading Islam a holy precept. They began coming to
India from the 11th century. They arrived in India from Bukhara,
Turkey, Iran, Yemen and Afghanistan. The most famous preacher of Islam in India
was Khwaja Chishti, who arrived from Iran and his sect is called Sufism. But the accepted
assumption in India is that most of India's Muslims were converted to Islam
through the sword. Meaning the Indians was given an option between death and
adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along
with heavy taxes- Jeziya (poll tax) and Kharaj (property tax).
[1] www.wsu.edu, “The History of Ancient India,” Richard Hooker
[2] www.uni-giessen.de, “Hinduism,” by Dr. C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar