Religion 9 Midterm

What languages characterize South India?

Dravidian languages, including Tamil, Telegu, Canada, Malaya

Who is Prithivi?

Earth mother - together, she and Dyaus Pitri are mother and father of all living beings.

How does Agni represent cosmical homology?

Even though a terrestrial god, he's in heaven as the fire of the sun, in the atmosphere as the fire of lightning, on earth as the fire in the stomach, etc.

What is the migration thesis?

Everything covered in this lecture: Aryans migrate into India, dominate over Indus people, etc.

What is cosmic order?

Everything that makes the world an ordered place.

Who were the Vaishyas?

Farmers, craftsmen, etc.

Why does the Indus Valley Civilization remain largely unknown to the general public?

First, because the physical remains left behind are not as impressive as those from Egypt and Mesopotamia. Second, because we just don't know that much about it - no written texts to learn from, just inscriptions with average length five characters long.

What were the original social divisions of the Aryans when they first arrived in India?

General division between aristocracy and commoners: aristocracy = kshatriya, and commoners = vaishya.

What is a better term than polytheism to describe Vedic religion?

Henotheism - taking a multiplicity and turning them into one. Whichever deity you are addressing at a certain time, you are really addressing a supreme deity.

What was the relationship between the Aryans and the indigenous people of North India?

Hostile in some ways. There is a series of sounds in Sanskrit language that are clearly not Indo-European - probably come from language of Indus remains.

What is grihya?

Household rites - could be performed by an ordinary householder on their own.

What is sympathetic magic?

How the fire sacrifice works in terms of cosmical homology - maybe the priestly form of sacrifice worked because it was influenced by simple forms of sympathetic magic occurring on the popular level.

Who/what was Soma?

Hymns to him were spread out, and eventually all put together in the 9th book. Hallucinogenic, intoxicating effect that was very highly valued by the early Aryans. Confers immortality upon human beings, immortality meaning a long healthy and successful life.

What especially was indicative of a developed society in the Indus Valley Civilization?

A sophisticated system of plumbing.

What is Indra's weapon?

A vajra, or thunderbolt.

What is the smallest unit of the preparatory rite?

Act and formula - do a certain act and recite the formula

What is Indra's most important battle?

Against Vritra, a snake-like or serpentine monster. Vritra had somehow blocked up all the life-giving waters and life-giving light inside a mountain so that they were unavailable to humankind, and so Indra on behalf of the Aryans got drunk on soma, went out to do battle with Vritra, used his vajra, defeated Vritra, and split open the mountain so that sun, heaven, and dawn were restored and life could flourish - a lot of cattle released too.

What is the significance of the Proto-Shiva?

Appears on three different seals, seems to have a lot of continuities with the much later Hindu god Shiva - perhaps distant origin. Indus - Priest seated in yogic position, with a headdress like the horns of a bull, said to have three faces, also erect phallus, and is surrounded by animals - similar depiction to Hindu God Shiva.

How did the creation of the cosmos come about?

As a result of sacrifice - the Purusha Sukta.

On what two major cities was the Indus Valley Civilization centered upon, and where were they?

Mohenjo-Daro on the main branch of the Indus, and Harappa on one of the major tributaries.

By the time the Rig Veda was codified, the interest of the Aryans is moving away from ________ and towards ______, because ________.

Moving away from celestial devas and towards terrestrial devas, because the terrestrial devas were more closely related to the fire sacrifice.

What countries are to the upper Northeast of India?

Nepal, Bangladesh

How do we have access to the Rig Veda?

No manuscripts since the Aryans were illiterate! Instead, oral tradition - passing down the text over generations, preserving it only by oral means. It was kept in absolutely accurate and pristine condition.

What classes developed shortly after the Aryans' arrival in India?

The Brahmans - priestly class, and the Shudras: slaves, servants.

What was the impact of the British on the term "Hindu"?

The British took a census of the Indian population every ten years; on it, everyone had to classify their religion. If you were not anything else, you were Hindu.

What river is in the northeast of India?

The Ganges River

What is one of the most famous structures from Indus remains and what does it indicate?

The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro, a large tank sunk down into the ground, with steps leading down from two sides. Presumption is that this was a communal tank for ritual ablutions. It was surrounded by smaller cells, perhaps private cells for bathing/ritual ablutions. Indicates strong concern with purity, pollution, and ritual bathing.

What river is in the northwest of India?

The Indus River

What is the cultural transformation thesis?

The Indus Valley Civilization and the early Aryans are the same people. Most of the evidence for this is archaeological - the early Aryans left behind very little, but did leave behind pottery called painted greyware that is very similar to pottery from the Indus Valley.

What happens every time a sacrifice is performed correctly?

The world is recreated/renewed.

Tell me about the Indus Valley Civilization's economy.

They were masterful traders and had an economy based on agriculture. The largest structures in both M-D and Harappa have been tentatively identified as grain storage facilities. The population may have paid their taxes in grain. There are also texts from Mesopotamia and far Arabian sea ports showing they were trading with the Indus, indicating far trade over land and sea.

Who are the solar devas?

Mitra, Surya, Savitri, Pushan, Ushas, and Vishnu.

What makes Hinduism different from other religions (3 things)?

1. Hinduism has no historical founder. 2. Hinduism has no unified ecclesiastical authority. 3. Hinduism has no uniformly accepted doctrine, belief, or practice.

How long was the Rajasuya proper and what was at its center?

10 days long. Its center, what defines the big rite as a whole and makes it different from other rites, is the unction of the king, by which the king is renewed and so is cosmic order - defining feature.

When were the Aryan Migrations into India?

1500-1200 BCE

What are the approximate dates of the Indus Valley Civilization?

2500 - 1500 BCE

What are the dates of Later Vedic Religion?

900-500 BCE

What is a society's Great Tradition and how does it relate to Hinduism?

A Great Tradition is passed down by highest, most esteemed members of society - common to civilization as a whole, passed down through formal languages such as Sanskrit, Latin, or Greek. Examples of it in Hinduism are high, elite, pan-Hindu; conveyed through Sanskrit, controlled by Brahmin class.

What is a society's Little Tradition and how does it relate to Hinduism?

A Little Tradition is local, regional, or restricted in some other way, maybe to a particular group of people such as women or an ethnic minority, popular amongst ordinary people, not just the most elite members of society, and will be passed down not through formal languages but vernacular dialects and oral means instead of texts.

What is a mantra?

A charm, spell, performative language that does something, has a ritual effect.

What is the Rig Veda?

A collection of 1,028 hymns addressed to a pantheon of deities (devas). Certain divinely inspired rishis (sages and seers) who saw and heard things others did not, had these hymns revealed to them, passed them down through their families. Eventually those hymns were brought together and codified as the Rig Veda.

What kind of system is the varna system?

A hierarchical one, with Brahmans at the top and vastly superior to all. Also a hereditary system - determined by birth, supposed to marry within your varna, your children are of your varna. Also a divinely ordained system - it is the way that the universe works, built into the cosmic order of the universe.

What is a Linga? How does it relate to the Indus?

A linga is a stone phallic object from later Hinduism that indicates male virility and Shiva. Objects like lingas were found in the Indus Valley remains.

Who were the Aryans?

As early as 4000 BCE, there was a group of people living somewhere in Southern Russia, now called the Indo-Europeans. Presumably they spoke an ancient language that we now call Indo-European. Over the next few millennia, these people moved outward in different directions, creating the Indo-European language family. The Aryans come from this group of people.

Why are M-D and Harappa called founder cities?

Because it seems that they were planned out and built all at once rather than developing naturally. They both have the same general plan - on the east, a lower level for residential and commercial purposes, on the west, a citadel.

Why preserve the Rig Veda in its original language even when that language is becoming less intelligible to speakers as time goes on?

Because the sounds themselves are sacred - the meaning is secondary to the sound of the language of the gods.

What are the sources of Later Vedic Religion?

Book 10 of the Rig Veda, and the other three Vedas: Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda, and the Brahmanas.

How is the varna system described to us and why is this problematic?

By Late Vedic texts authored by elite male Brahmans who are giving us their vision of ideal society. What was actually going on on the ground in India, we have no idea.

How do Brahmans maintain cosmic order?

By regular performance of the sacrifice.

How are the devas classified?

By where in space they are located: sky/celestial, atmosphere, and terrestrial. Not a hierarchical structure.

Compare and contrast Centralists and Pluralists with regards to Hinduism.

Centralists focus only on the high elite Sanskritic tradition, whereas pluralists acknowledge that it exists but see it as only one out of a variety of origins. Direction has been moving towards the Pluralist view.

What are the details of the public rites?

Circular fire on the west - flat disk of the Earth, square altar fire on the east - represents heaven, and semicircular fire on the south - represents the atmosphere. There was an odd-shaped pit between the top two fires, where utensils were kept. Most offerings were prepared in the Earth fire and given to the heaven fire. Atmosphere fire for ancestors or departed spirits.

How did the Indus treat females and female fertility?

Clay seals were dominated by male imagery. On the domestic, popular level, many females have exaggerated breasts, hips, and are carrying and/or breastfeeding a baby. Sculptures of this are much more crudely made, indicating popular religion rather than elite.

What would settle the debate over Early Indian history?

Deciphering the Indus Valley script - if it is Indo-European, then Aryans came to India 1000 years earlier than we think and built the Indus Valley Civilization. There has been no successful deciphering yet, but it seems like a Dravidian language.

Tell me about the Purusha Sukta.

In beginning, all there is is man, the original, primal, man. He sacrifices his own body, and from that sacrifice the entire universe evolves. Mind - moon, eyes - sun, breath - wind, mouth - gods, head - heavens, navel - atmosphere, feet - earth, butter of sacrifice - spring, firewood of sacrifice - summer, oblation of sacrifice - autumn.

What languages characterize North India?

Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, etc.

Who is the single most important deity in the Rig Veda and what classification is he?

Indra - an atmospheric deva. More hymns addressed to him than any other deity. Warrior god, celebrated for going out in battle against demons. Helps the Aryan warriors win battles against their enemies, the dasas, who we can presume are the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization.

In the Northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent is the river _________.

Indus

What is southeast of India?

Island of Sri Lanka

Tell me about Early Aryan Society.

It was largely pastoral rather than agricultural. It was nomadic, and militaristic, which was a sharp contrast from the Indus Valley civilization. The people were also illiterate; everything was passed down orally. This was also a sharp contrast from the Indus. Clan-based villages - another contrast. Patrilineal and patriarchal - all descent and inheritance is passed down through male line from father to son. Men in dominant positions of power. Religion of these people was known as Vedic religion, which is early Hinduism.

What are the details of the physical elaboration of the sacrifice?

Longer to perform, more preparation, more different kinds of priests, more utensils and implements, hymns, and everything more elaborate and complex.

What did the Indus especially venerate and how do we know?

Male virility, male sexual power. They had little clay seals often characterized by little carvings. Most powerful subject matter is powerful male animals, often horned - here, horn symbolic for male phallus.

What is an alternative to the debate over Early Indian history?

Maybe the Aryans came to India 1000 years earlier than we think, and they built the Indus Valley Civilization.

What were the California Textbook Wars?

Meeting to approve textbooks for K-8, and huge controversy and dispute broke out. On one side: Vedic Foundation and the Hindu Education Organization: South Asian American groups with close ties to nationalist and fundamentalist Hindu groups and India. They proposed a list of 800 edits to the books. On the other side of the dispute were mostly white college professors in the U.S. In many cases a compromise was reached, but at the end of it all the BofE sided with the scholars.

What happened after 1500 BCE?

No more architecture, written inscriptions, or art from the Indus Valley. There are still people, but their advanced civilization has degenerated back into a village type subsistence. Rivers changing course is a possibility for what happened, but we don't know.

When we talk about early Hinduism, are we talking about North or South India?

North India

What country is to the upper Northwest of India?

Pakistan

What did the Rajasuya Rite consist of?

Preparatory rites for 1 year, one of these is the soma sacrifice, one full day. This is a series of rites with preparatory, soma offering, and concluding. In the preparatory rites of the soma sacrifice is the ishti rite, which has preparatory elements, the offering itself, and concluding elements. Basically, Rajasuya --> Preparatory rites --> Soma --> Preparatory rites of soma --> Ishti --> Preparatory, offering, and concluding elements.

Who was the adhvaryu priest and what text did he use?

Prepared everything for the sacrifice. Would say under his breath various mantras that were supposed to make his actions more ritually effective. These mantras are collected together in the Yajur Veda.

Who were the Brahmans?

Priests, teachers, scholars.

What is shrauta?

Public rites, which required the presence of a priest.

Who was the udgatri priest and what text did he use?

Rearranged syllables of the Rig Veda using sound qualities rather than meaning. Melodies, singing, meaning. Used the Sama Veda.

What are the sources for Vedic religion?

Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Further Vedic texts are the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads.

Who is Varuna and what is rita?

Sovereign ruler of the universe, guardian of cosmic and moral order, aka rita. Example of a god who is not a personification of nature - god of night and waters, but less closely associated.

Who was the Brahman priest and what text did he use?

Role was to protect and preserve the brahman, which is the power of the sacrifice itself. Not directly engaged in the actions, but as the sacrifice is going on, he makes sure everything is going smoothly, and corrects and counters mistakes of other priests. Uses the Atharva Veda, which consists of hundreds of little spells, charms, and incantations that are directed towards all kinds of ends - healing someone from jaundice, exercising a demon from someone's soul, making a woman fall in love with you, etc.

Who was the leader of the Maruts?

Rudra/Shiva. Said to be terrible, wild, sometimes benevolent, sometimes malevolent, can bring death/disease to the people.

Who were the Kshatriyas?

Rulers, kings, etc.

Who were the Shudras?

Servants to the upper three, perform most despised occupations in society.

What do "shruti" and "rishis" mean?

Shruti means heard, and rishis mean divinely inspired seers, as in, the texts were sacred, revealed shruti scripture seen and heard by rishis.

Who is Dyaus Pitri?

Sky father - benevolent heavenly father, father of all beings.

What is the prototype theory and how does it relate to Hinduism?

Some members of the category will be perfectly prototypical of the category, while others are so unprototypical that it's questionable whether they should be there at all. Vedas are very prototypical of Hinduism, but witchcraft is more peripheral.

What is the relationship between Rudra and the ProtoShiva of the Indus Valley Civilization?

The ambivalent distrustful treatment of Rudra and the similarity to the ProtoShiva seal tell su that perhaps the Aryans took Shiva from the Indus Valley Civilization but don't totally trust him yet.

What is the relationship between the varna system and the Purusha Sukta?

The creation of the cosmos through the primal being Purusha - Brahmans from the mouth, Kshatriyas from the arms, Vaishyas from the thighs, and Shudras from the feet.

Book 10 of the Rig Veda has what significant hymn?

The creation-hymn - where did the world come from? we don't know. We're not talking about the sacrifice, but not being versus being. Who knows for certain? The gods appeared after the creation of the world.

Who was Agni?

The god of fire - think English word "ignite." God of the sacrificial fire, but also present wherever fire is found. Fire of the sun in the sky, fire of lightning in the atmosphere, cremation fire, digestive fire. Essential link between humanity and the devas.

What is Wittgenstein's family resemblance and how does it relate to Hinduism?

The idea of using a category without being able to describe it really specifically. You can't point to one essential feature that all members of a family share, but they all share a family resemblance and draw from a common genetic pool. Hinduism doesn't have one thing that all Hindus share, but they all draw from the same pool.

What was the single most distinguishing feature of later Vedic religion?

The increasing elaboration and importance of the sacrifice. Emphasis shifted away from the devas and towards the sacrifice itself.

How does the Purusha Sukta relate to cosmical homology?

The moon is not just an image or symbol of the mind - it is the mind. The mind is that form of the moon that occurs on the level of the sacrifice.

Who was the hotri priest and what text did he use?

The original priest, was responsible for praising the gods through hymns of praise. Used the Rig Veda.

What is cosmical homology?

The positing of identifications and correspondences between things occurring on different levels of reality.

What is the origin of the Shudra class?

The remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization.

What was the early Vedic fire sacrifice like?

The sacrificer is the one who gets the benefits from the sacrifice. Two different types: the kind that a householder could perform on his own, and the kind that required a priest. Food offerings are placed into the fire, and by means of the Rig Vedic hymns, you praise the god and ask for certain things in return. A hospitality rite - having the gods over for dinner - invite them, entertain them, hope for something in return.

How do Dyaus Pitri and Prithivi engage with each other?

The sky lies on top of the earth, impregnates the earth with its seed (the rain).

Who are the Maruts?

The storm gods, Indra's troops.

Why is it incorrect to call the Vedic religion a polytheistic system?

Usually in a polytheistic system, the different deities are clearly defined and distinct from each other. In the Rig Veda, some of the gods are quite vague in character, and sometimes the same characteristic is attributed to several different devas, or one that is usually associated with one deva is associated with another. Many blurry lines.

What were the Brahmanas?

Voluminous works in prose, main subject is the fire sacrifice. Two kinds of content: exhaustive rules for the performance of the fire sacrifice, and establishment of the validity of those rules through myths, legends, etymologies, metaphors, analogies, etc. Each one is appended to a certain Veda. Each body of Brahmanas was meant to be used by the particular priest who was connected to that Veda.

What was the impact of Muslims on the term "Hindu"?

When Muslim rule came to India, Muslims began using the word Hindu to refer to Indians in general, and to Indians who had not converted to Islam.

What was the society of the Aryans like in Late Vedic Religion?

When the Aryans have moved across all of North India and have established themselves as the dominant culture of North India. A much more developed and stable society - no longer nomadic, tribal warriors, but rather sedentary people practicing agriculture, developing trade and economy, starting to develop cities and kingdoms.

What is obsessive uniformity?

When the remains of a large civilization are the same from place to place. Between M-D and Harappa, the remains are very consistent with each other despite the distance between them.

How is the Rig Veda learned in order to be passed down?

You learn every text in its combined and uncombined form. You divide each line up into individual syllables, and put them in various permutations.