The Vedic Period (1500–500 BCE)

Posted by Rakesh | Labels: | Posted On Friday, September 18, 2009 at 8:56 AM


Information about the Vedic religion apparently introduced by the Aryans is gleaned largely from the Vedas. Focus was on yajna, ritualistic performance of sacrifice, and on joining the ancestors in heaven.The pre-eminent doctrine was Purva Mimamsa, largely non-theistic and with some strands trying to prove that God is non-existent, or at least redundant. Uttara Mimamsa (Vedanta) emerged towards the latter part of the period with the compilation of the Upanishads. Scholars say that there was no clearly enunciated doctrine of reincarnation at this time. The predominant deities, different from those in later Hinduism, represented the forces of nature and were headed by Indra, god of rain. The central story of his killing the giant, Vrita, comes down in numerous versions up to the present. The migrating Aryans are accredited with introducing Sanskrit, and with the system of varnashrama-dharma, though perhaps in a relatively simple form.