Vedic Essays

  • Roles of Women in Vedic Culture

    3373 Words  | 7 Pages

    Roles of Women in Vedic Culture Vedic culture seems to have conflicting views regarding its attitude towards women, specifically its attitude towards a woman’s sexuality. This conflict can be seen by contrasting the ways in which women are treated in sacrificing rituals with how they are treated in a more intimate atmosphere, such as lovemaking, which is still often treated as a ritual in and of itself; ritual regarding fertility, love, and childbirth. To represent the roles of women in ritual

  • The Vedic Hymns and the Four Cosmogonies

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    the creation of the universe. The Vedic hymns present several cosmogonies. There are many interpretations for these myths resulting from there documentation on various levels of culture. It is purposeless to quest for the origin of each of these cosmogonies because most of these ideas and beliefs represent a heritage transmitted from prehistory all over the ancient world. There are four essential types of cosmogonies that seem to have fascinated the Vedic poets and theologians. They are as

  • The Rejection of Vedic Sacrificial Ritual in Indian Culture

    7233 Words  | 15 Pages

    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

  • World Renunciation in Indian Religious Traditions

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    World Renunciation in Indian Religious Traditions World renunciation is a major theme in Indian civilization, seen by the fact that all major Indic Religions deal with it in one way or another. The ancient Vedic texts laid out a cosmic and social hierarchy – a conception of ‘the world’ – and taught people how to act in accordance with their varna in a way that kept the world in harmony and kept the gods appeased. In the 6th century BCE, world renunciation emerged as a component of religious

  • Hindu Rituals

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    mostly at the same time. The Hindu religion has many different types of rituals that are performed for different occasions. Some of the rituals can only be performed by certain social classes. Many of the rituals that take place can be found in the Vedic literature. The majority of the rituals are centered around sacrificial fires which are called yajna. Since the Hindu religion does not have a specific place nor time to worship many of them are done at temporary altars, there are not any types of

  • Jainism

    2360 Words  | 5 Pages

    civilization of three thousands B.C. Due to the reaction and demands of the Indian religion by the Hindu Brahmans and its Brahman priesthood, there arose two independent religions with who rejected the materialistic goals and bloody sacrifices of the Vedic of later Hinduism rituals. These two religions are still practiced today, one being Buddhism and the other Jainism. However, Jains survived the ups and downs of Buddhism and attacks from Islam and Hinduism. In the twelfth century, the fortunes of the

  • Hindu Wedding Ceremony

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hindu Wedding Ceremony Introduction The tradition Vedic wedding ceremony is about four thousand years old. The ceremony is a religious occasion solemnized in accordance with the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of the Hindus. It is a collection of rituals performed by the bride’s parents. Each steps in the ceremony has symbolic philosophical and spiritual meaning. The Maharaj (priest) conducts the ceremony by chanting Mantras (bridal altar). The ceremony is performed in Sanskrit, the most ancient

  • Different Interpretations Of Religion

    2311 Words  | 5 Pages

    patterns in his studies of religion. These patterns can be seen in many religions, especially Hinduism. The first pattern Malloy describes is the way each religion contacts the sacred. There are two ways that Hindus contact the sacred. One is through the Vedic Hinduism sacrifice, and the other appears in Upanishadic Hinduism, which is through mystical orientation, where a person “seeks union with a reality greater than ones self” (Burke 11). The sacrifice follows a scheduled routine in which many priests

  • Ancient Indian Architecture

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    it is also known as Sthapatya-kala, the word Kala means an art. From very early times the construction of temples, palaces, rest houses and other civil construction was undertaken by professional architects known as Sthapati. Even during the Vedic times, there existed professionals who specialized in the technique of constructing chariots and other heavy instruments of war. These professionals have been referred to in the Rig Veda as Rathakara which literally means 'chariot maker'. The

  • Religious Paths

    2028 Words  | 5 Pages

    examining different religious paths within Hinduism from the perspective of four patterns of transcendence (ancestral, cultural, mythical and experiential) it is interesting to see how each pattern found its dominance over four segments of Hinduism: Vedic sacrifice, the way of action, the way of devotion and the way of knowledge. When Hinduism originated as a religion it was mainly concerned with sacrifices for ancestors. The sacred texts - called the Vedas - on which Hinduism was based were the

  • Endings and Beginnings

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    cock just in case, a common reason for religion for many dying people. All religions have death rituals or hopeful ideas of where they will end up after their death: Hindus seek to escape repeated reincarnation by practicing yoga, by adhering to Vedic scriptures, and by devotion to a personal guru; Buddhists seek a state of living Nirvana by following the path of righteousness--if they are not perfectly righteous then they repeat another lifetime that is either good or bad depending upon their actions

  • Aryan Invasion Theory

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    the darker skinned "Dravidian Civilization, from which they took most of what later, became the Hindu culture." The Aryan Invasion Theory is based upon ruins that were discovered in the Indus valley. The Aryan people also cite how the Aryan Vedic scriptures explain a war between the powers of light and darkness. This was therefore interpreted throughout time, to mean that the war occurred between a lighter skinned civilization (Aryans) and more dark skinned civilization. Scholars believed

  • Vedic Literature & Age

    1643 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vedic Literature & Age The settlements of the Indus civilisation were either destroyed or abandoned by about 1750 B.C. to be rediscovered only three thousand years later. What happened after the collapse of this rich civilisation is one of the most intriguing questions of human history and centres around the Aryan problem. Who were the Aryans where did they come from, what was their original language – these are questions over which there have been many debates and much written. But more the

  • Vedic Views on Evolution

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this article I shall try to dissuade the reader of the popular scientific theory of evolution, through use of scientifically sound facts and some philosophical arguments using the Vedas. The Vedas are a large body of philosophical and religious texts originating from ancient India, writ in Sanskrit verse they are some of the oldest texts ever written. Darwin’s theory of evolution states that all life originated from one spontaneously created, self replicating, asexual, single celled, organism

  • Vedic Literature: Hinduism And Homipuality

    1732 Words  | 4 Pages

    life. Vedic literature with its philosophical maxims has stood the test of time and is the highest religious authority for all sections of Hindus in particular and for mankind in general. Veda” means wisdom, knowledge or vision, and it manifests the language of the gods in human speech. It is believed that humans did not compose the revered compositions of the Vedas, which were handed down through generations by the word of mouth from time immemorial. The general assumption is that the Vedic hymns

  • Karma And Jnana Yoga In The Vedic Period

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Vedic Period The first traces of yoga date back to over 5,000 years ago, or 3,000 B.C, while the first written evidence of yoga was found in the Vedic Period. In this time period, spiritual texts were composed and named The Vedas. There are four of them and each have their own name: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Athana Veda (The Vedic Period). The Vedas were full of rituals and mantras that correlated with the term yoga. Yoga means discipline. The Vedic people relied on the teachings

  • Vedic Mathematics And Sutras Related To Mathematics

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vedic Mathematics And Sutras Related To Mathematics Among four Vedas Rig Veda is the root for Vedic mathematics which is an ancient method. It consists of 16 basic formulas also called sutras or aphorisms and 14 sub formulas. During the early part of the 20th century a Hindu scholar and mathematician, Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja presented this [10]. The meaning word "veda" is "knowledge" in sanskrit. Famous Indian Mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara

  • Janam Kundai Marriage Matching through Hindu Vedic Astrology

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    Janam Kundali Marriage Matching through Hindu Vedic Astrology Indian marriages are typically prepared by analyzing a Jaman Kundali, which is a method of horoscope matching based on astrology, also called nakshatras, meaning lunar constellations. The purpose of Kundali marriage matching is to bring together two individuals in counseling to predict future events, and then to determine whether or not those two individuals are compatible for marriage. During the Kundali matching process, general predictions

  • Advantage And Disadvantage Of Multiplier

    1937 Words  | 4 Pages

    and compact VLSI design. Vedic Mathematics is used to reduce the delay and to give high speed multiplier. 2. Vedic Multiplication 2.1 Vedic Algorithm Among the 16 sutras of the ancient Indian Vedic Multiplication, Urdhava Tiryakbhyam was one of the sutras that is used in this Vedic Multiplier Module design in order

  • Hinduism Indian Predominan Religion

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    have been inspired by and emerged from the Vedic religion; however the simple fact that the core of Hinduism comes from the Vedic period does not denote that the complex theological thought that is behind it was also developed during that period. The Vedic period goes from roughly 1500 – 500 BCE, which is well before Hinduism was fully established. The fundamental idea of Hinduism is that of a Single Supreme Being; this is solely being indicated at in the Vedic religion but is developed later. Another