The Rejection of Vedic Sacrificial Ritual in Indian Culture
My intention in this piece is to explore the development of the concepts of brahman and atman in ancient Indian culture. I intend to examine the role of the Upanisads in Vedic society and to investigate their abandonment of Vedic sacrificial ritual. I contend that the writers of the Upanisads turned towards a mystical path away from society in order to explore a viable alternate way of living that did not involve sacrificial ritual. Although the only record we have of this shift in thought is a set of philosophical discourses, I suggest that this was not solely an intellectual move. Rather, there were emotional reasons as well as logical reasons that these groups of people moved away from Vedic society in pursuit of brahman. This was a slow process that evolved over many years and although it did not banish sacrifice from Indian culture, it laid the foundation for later non-violent religious movements in India. In attempting to apply Rene Girard and Gil Bailie’s theory of acknowledgement of the victim to an ancient Indian phenomenon, I intend to show that the Upanisadic rejection of Vedic sacrificial ritual was a significant move away from the sacrificial system upon which humanity relies so heavily.
Vedic Sacrifice: Maintenance of the Universe
The sacrificial system of ancient India was founded on a worldview that placed humanity in an allegorical relationship with the divine realm. The physical world of humans was seen as a smaller, mirror image of the greater world of the gods. The fundamental role of religion was to assign and perform the appropriate rites to maintain proper order in the universe. The gods required regular offerings and appeasement. Thus, a relationship with the gods required maintenance that was provided by the sacrificial ritual.
Fire ceremonies and the ritual giving of offerings to the gods were common practices for the Aryan tribes that invaded the Indian sub-continent in approximately 1500 BCE. [1] Their simpler, private offering ceremonies eventually evolved into the more codified, communal, elaborate sacrificial rituals of classical Vedic culture as this new society began to grow and change.
Fire itself was of central importance to this civilization and all of these rituals focused around the offertory fire. It is logical, then, that the Aryans eventually personified the fire itself and deemed it divine.
Firstly, religion and philosophy greatly affected life in Ancient India. Document A states, “India has been an important part of three major world religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.” These religions change people’s day-to-day lives, because of their beliefs. For example, Hindus life their lives based on their dharma, or their spiritual duties they have to fulfill in their lifetime. Hindus believe that by following their dharma and being a good person, they will establish good karma, which is the effect(s) that good or bad actions have on the soul. By establishing good karma, Hindus believe that they will be born into a better caste, or social division. This will definitely change the way people act, since they will want to be born into a better life in
... sacrifice and ritual of purification. They were therefore banned from the temples and had to perform the rituals by themselves.
Although the Vedas and the Upanishads express common themes of the Aryan world view, they differ greatly in genre and emphasis. Underlying both texts are the core ideas of the religion: the ubiquitousness of atman, Brahman’s origins of non-being, the non-existence of physical reality, and the subtle, intangible existence of ultimate reality. But while the Vedas is mythical and ritualistic, the Upanishads is theological and devalues ritual.
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
These offerings were made for the gods, temple consecration, the rise of a new leader and during natural disturbances such as drought and disease. They used animals like deer, dogs, jaguars and birds as offering. They cut the bird’s head of an...
Because of the showcase of beliefs that the Greeks admired, the influence on Greek mythology, and collective public impact, sacrifice played a key role in Greek culture. From centuries back from B.C., we see a devotedness and attentiveness in the Greek religion and culture, and a great deal of that devotedness can be attributed to ritual sacrifice, and how it united the ancient Greeks, no matter where they were. So, even with a practice many hold in a negative connotation, it can still bring together the public, display values that we still respect, and affect the greatest works of the ancient world.
Animal sacrifices were a common way of honoring the gods. Part of the animal was for the god and the rest was eaten by worshippers. In ancient Greek religion, both men and women could be priests, but only men could perform sacrifices. Women also took part in processions and wove cloth for statues.
The Greeks, made sacrifices to the gods, so that the gods would honor them, and help them in times of trouble. They sacrificed animals, and other things that were special to them.
Throughout the ancient world, religions and ideologies have developed into forms and practices that influence the very essence of civilizations. Religions could pose as a form of foundation for the beliefs, ideas, social organizations, and economic structures of a certain group of people. They provided a means of justification and form of unity between people and they helped establish and infuse new ideas into a culture. Religions were used as source to explain the misconcepted beliefs in nature and science as well as natural phenomina and it was also used to provide a source of motivation, control, and stability in a civilization.
Hinduism is easily the oldest major world religion that is still in use today. It has not only survived countless attacks but has also thrived and has changed little to none in the last 2500-3000 years. "The Aryans are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber Pass, around 1500 BC. They intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated themselves into the social framework. The Aryans did not have a script, but they developed a rich tradition. They composed the hymns of the four vedas, the great philosophic poems that are at the heart of Hindu thought" (The Aryans and the Vedic Age, 2004, par. 2).
Pandey, T. N., 2014. Lecture 1/9/14: Culture of India: Aryan and Indigenous Population. Cultures of India. U.C. Santa Cruz.
Because of the under development of science, Ancient Greeks used mythologies and associated to the gods anything that they could not explain or understand, which also have revealed many aspects of their culture and society, including their views toward gods. Through the survived works of ancient Greeks, one can see that the concept of exchange plays a center role in the relationship between human beings and gods; and that the ancient Greeks had absolutely and undeniably respect for their gods, who are human-like and demand to be glorified.
Fort, Andrew O, and Patricia Y Mumme. Living Liberation in Hindu Thought. Albany, NY: State Univerasity of New York Press, 1996.
Nesbitt, E. (2002). The body in Sikh religion. In S. Coakley (Eds.), Religion and the Body (pp. 289-305). UK: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Today, Hinduism stands as India’s primary religion. In fact, India houses 90% of the world’s Hindi population and 79.8% of India’s population follows the Hindu religion, according to the 2011 census. It is thought by some to be the oldest religion in the world and the “eternal law” (Fowler). This culture is truly one as defined by Edward Taylor: “A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capability and habit acquired by man as a member of society.” In order to have somewhat of an understanding about what the Hindu religion entails, one must study the Hindu conception of God, its basic concepts and key beliefs, as well as symbolism.