Miss Buddha (116 page)

This reflection, in turn, spawned
philosophical the speculation found in the Upanishads.

Correctly or not, Hindus view the four types
of texts as dating from the same general period but serving
different purposes. This view holds that the first three texts deal
with the realm of action (Dhamma, artha, and kama), while the
Upanishads deal with knowledge of the self and moksha.

The Upanishads are sometimes also called
Vedanta (meaning “end of the Vedas”) because they represent the
spiritual essence of the prior writings. As such, the Vedanta marks
the culmination as well as the conclusion of the Vedas, although
the Vedic canon was never formally closed.

Shruti and Smriti: Eternal Truth versus
Tradition

Hindu scriptures are
normally classified into two types:
shruti
and
smriti
.

Shruti, meaning “heard,” can be seen as
revelation or eternal truth (the Veda), while smriti, meaning
“remembered,” is comparable to tradition.

By differentiating that which is seen as
eternally true from that which may only hold true for a specific
time and culture, shruti and smriti enable Hindus to reform
outdated practices while remaining faithful to Hinduism’s
essence.

Should a conflict arise between the two,
shruti—in essence the Vedas— always takes precedence over
smriti.

The Vedas are, for the Hindu, what the Bible
is to the Christian and the Qur’an to the Muslim. However, unlike
the revealed texts of Christianity and Islam, whose source is
considered to be God speaking through the son or the prophet, the
Vedas have no author, for according to Vedanta, shruti is
revelation without a revealer.

In fact, the Hindu teachings hold that the
universe is without beginning or end, and that the Vedas appear
along with creation at the beginning of each cycle of time, and
Brahma, who presides over the remanifestation of the universe,
recites the Vedas for sages to hear anew. These divinely heard
scriptures are then transmitted orally from master to disciple.

This is why the Vedas are
also called
shruti
: they are twice heard. First, divinely by the sages at the
beginning of a cycle, and then again by the disciple as the master
orally transmits the teaching.

The word smriti, on the other hand, is
applied to a vast category of literature in Hinduism that, unlike
shruti, is considered to have an author.

One category of smriti is comprised of more
than 20 law books that lay down in detail the rules to follow in
life, especially the rules that pertain to social order and the
four stages of life.

Another category of smriti includes the
texts called Puranas, which deal with the lives of the gods and
celestial beings. There are 18 Puranas, and they are normally
grouped according to which of the three gods of the Hindu trinity
they emphasize—Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva.

The most famous of these is the Bhagavata
Purana, which deals with the life of Krishna—an avatar of
Vishnu.

The Epics

A third category of smriti
is comprised of two texts of legendary history: the
Ramayana
and the
Mahabharata
.

Scholars believe the Ramayana assumed its
present form between 300 BCE and 200 CE, while the Mahabharata
evolved over a period extending from about 400 BCE to about 400
CE.

Ramayana

The Ramayana is a collection of about 24,000
verses and describes the life of Prince Rama, an incarnation of
Vishnu.

According to tradition, Valmiki, the author,
made his living by robbing travelers. Then, after an encounter with
the sage Narada, Valmiki turned his life around and became a poet
and scholar.

Rama and his wife Sita embody virtue and
righteousness, and their lives (as recounted in verse by Valmiki)
demonstrate Dharma in various spheres of activity. Their life
stories contain lessons for Hindus on ideal behavior in various
roles, such as son, brother, wife, king, and married couple.

Rama’s reign ushers in a golden age, and the
expression Rama-rajya (rule of Rama) describes the best of times in
which the divine presence rules on Earth.

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is an epic story of some
100,000 verses attributed to a sage named Vyasa. It is believed to
be the longest poem in the world.

Its narrative traces the descendants of two
sets of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, whose disputes
eventually lead to the Mahabharata war. Krishna, an avatar of
Vishnu, is central to the story. Like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata
addresses many questions related to Dharma, and about how both
individuals and societies should act—discourses that have provided
inspiration for Hindus in many areas of life.

Bhagavad-Gita

As a central part of the Mahabharata, the
Bhagavad-Gita is a text in its own right. On the eve of the
Mahabharata war, the hero Arjuna suddenly develops a reluctance to
fight. Arjuna’s disinclination leads to a prolonged dialogue with
Krishna during which Krishna tries to resolve Arjuna’s moral and
metaphysical dilemmas.

The way in which Krishna seeks to guide
Arjuna has endeared the text to the Hindus as a guide to their
faith.

In the Bhagavad-Gita, Hinduism possesses
what is virtually a universal scripture. Since the Gupta period
(320 to 550 BCE) it has inspired a stream of commentaries,
summaries, and translations, all of which attest to its wide
popularity; a process that, to this day, shows no signs of letting
up.

It is widely considered that both the
Mahabharata and its offspring, the Bhagavad-Gita, both carry
meaning on multiple levels. In one interpretation, the Pandavas and
Kauravas represent the forces of good and evil that exist within
each person, and the contest between them represents the perpetual
battle between these tendencies.

The Bhagavad-Gita then centers on the
techniques and paths by which the individual can attain realization
of the Ultimate Reality with Krishna as the guide.

As part of the Mahabharata, the
Bhagavad-Gita technically falls in the category of smriti rather
than shruti. However, it enjoys the status of shruti by
representing the words of the divinity, incarnated as Krishna and
addressed to human beings through Arjuna.

History of Hinduism

Since there are no specific historical events
(aside from the creation of the Universe) that spawned Hinduism, it
does not attach the same religious significance to history as do
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Some scholars have linked Hinduism’s
indifference to its own history to a scientist’s indifference to
the history of science.

As an aside, I believe this is a misguided
view; what is of value in both cases are not historical events,
clearly dated, but idea(s) or practice(s) as such.

The history of Hinduism is a history of its
aim to incorporate and assimilate the various developments it
encountered or generated, rather than a history of conquests or
triumphs over non-believers.

The contrast is apparent between the
Biblical injunction to believe in one God who is the only God (and
will tolerate no other Gods beside him) and the Vedic perception
that “Truth is one, sages call it variously.”

That being said, considerable controversy
remains over Hinduism’s historical origins. At one point most
scholars believed that it was the arrival of the Aryan people in
India about 1500 BCE that spawned the religion.

And it certainly seems that the Aryans did
in fact arrive around that time, and that, once settled, they did
replace the earlier Harappan culture in the Indus valley with its
own; and they are, most likely the people described in the
Vedas.

However, although linguistic evidence tends
to support the notion of an Aryan migration, most scholars now
believe this view awaits confirmation by archaeology, especially
since it has now been challenged by the discovery of extensive
sites in northwestern and western India—suggesting an advanced
existing civilization that could, on its own, have spawned the
Vedas.

Did Hinduism as described in the Vedas
originate in India or did it arise as a result of migrations from
outside? To date there still is no clear-cut answer. What is clear,
however, is that the Vedas, and the religion based on them, go back
to at least 1200 BCE in India and perhaps much earlier.

Vedic Hinduism

The beginnings of Vedic
Hinduism—which in any event dates no
later
than 1200 BCE—trace back to the
Rig-Veda, which contains hymns of praise to various deities called
devas.

Agni
(deva of fire) and
Indra
(king of devas and deva of the atmosphere, storms,
rain, and battle) were the prominent ones, judging by the number of
hymns addressed to them.

Agni was the deity of the domestic hearth as
well as of public ritual. The Rig-Veda calls the deity
“smoke-bannered” as it carries the offering made into it toward the
gods.

Indra was a martial leader in the Rig-Veda
who carried his followers to victory in battle and also battled
drought as a rain-god.

A significant part of the
Rig-Veda is devoted to
soma
, a plant whose juice produced
ecstatic experiences and was therefore considered
sacred.

It is also clear, already in the Rig-Veda,
that all devas were but facets of one underlying reality.

By the
4
^th
century BCE Vedic Hinduism had permeated virtually all of
India and had, in the process, also assimilated and absorbed
various local religious beliefs and practices.

The resulting, assimilated
religious mixture is what we refer to as
Vedic Hinduism
.

Classical Hinduism

Classical Hinduism is
deemed to last from the 3
^rd
century BCE to the late
7
^th
century CE. Even as Vedic Hinduism did flourish throughout
most of India, there were aspects of its world-view that had come
under challenge by the 6
^th
century BCE—both from
Upanishadic thinkers and from the rise of new sects including the
Jains and the Buddhists.

The Upanishadic thinkers saw themselves as
descendants of the Vedic seers, whereas the followers of Buddhism
and Jainism—while they retained many concepts from the Vedas—tended
to question Vedic absolute authority.

All factions, however, shared one pivotal
concern: the release from the eternal birth and rebirth of samsara,
and they generally agreed that this release was obtained not by
ritual and sacrifice but by meditation and contemplation.

Both Buddhism and Jainism gradually gained
strength in India during the centuries just before and just after
the beginning of the first millennium.

During the
3
^rd
BCE,
Buddhism also benefited from the patronage granted by King Ashoka,
who at that time ruled almost all of India.

Jainism also benefited from royal
patrons.

However, by the start of the Gupta
period—which lasted from about 320 to 550 CE—Hinduism, by now
having integrated a variety of Buddhist and Jain beliefs and
practices, saw a resurgence.

Some of the integrated
beliefs and practices included the doctrine of
ahimsa
(nonviolence) and an emphasis
on vegetarianism. In fact, the Gupta period is still celebrated as
a glorious epoch of classical Hindu culture.

During this classical Gupta period, Hindu
thought and its systematization flourished; and during this period,
many shastras (classical works) of Hindu philosophy were
compiled.

Shastras like the
Arthashastra
(principles
of statecraft),
Nayashastra
(aesthetics of performing arts), grammars by
Panini and the Yoga Suttas by Patanjali, all saw the light of day
(or final form) during this period.

In addition, the two epics—the Ramayana and
Mahabharata—also found their present form then.

Medieval Hinduism

In the
7
^th
century, while a vigorous and multifaceted Hinduism unfolded
in India, a new (and rather warlike) religion made its appearance
in Arabia: Islam.

Within a century, Islam’s
conquests and dominions extended from Spain in the west to Sind
(now part of Pakistan) in the east, and by the
11
^th
century the soldiers of Islam had consolidated their hold on
northwestern India.

In fact, by 1200 CE Islamic rule was
established in the city of Delhi in northern India, and from there,
in two waves, it spread over nearly the whole of the
subcontinent.

The first wave of expansion occurred under
the Delhi Sultanate, which ruled from 1206 to 1526. The second
wave, under the Mughal Empire, which lasted from 1526 to 1858, saw
Islamic rule achieved its Indian peak.

In other words, the (often violent)
encounter between Hinduism and Islam lasted more than 800 years.
During most of this time, Islam had the upper hand politically, a
fact that had enormous consequences for Hinduism and that presented
challenges for both Hinduism and Islam which continue to this
day.

As a rule, and by Islam policy, Islam’s
military victories in all areas but India were always followed by
the enforced conversion of the masses to Islam—with the possible
exceptions of Spain and the Balkans.