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%2019 Aug 16
%Textbook pages 166-169, 171-174
India is separated from the rest of Asia by several land barriers: the Himalayas, Hindu Kush, the Thar Desert, and the Indian Ocean (making it a subcontinent). It's further separated into a mountainous region, the Indus and Ganges basins, and the peninsula proper---a sociopolitically separated region including Sri Lanka, southern flatlands, and the Coromandel Coast (a river-dense region coming from the Northern Indian plateau). The mountains give it a subtropical climate and the monsoon (massive seasonal winds carrying moisture from the Indian Ocean).
The Vedic Age occupied 1500-500 B.C.E. Named after the Vedas, religious texts acting as a historical record, the age introduces pastoralist (animal-herding) Indo-European migrants. The Indus Valley civilization also collapsed, returning society to patriarchal kinship groups. Iron tools invented around 1000 B.C.E.~(causing a population boom) were taken advantage of by the Aryans in enslaving and conquering the Dasas.
A caste system, varna, evolved to define the social structure.
\term{Caste System/Varna}{social divisions of Indian society by profession: Brahmin priests, Kshatriya administrators and warriors, Vaishya merchants and farmers, Shudra laborers, and, later, the Untouchables whom were assigned menial and polluting work}
Jati were more specific birth groups which further segregated Indian society by limiting social interaction between people in a given group. This was connected to Brahmin reincarnation teachings: the {\it atman} (equivalent to a soul) moved between bodies, carrying karma, past deeds, with it---which determine where in society someone is reincarnated.
\term{Karma}{in Indian tradition, the residue of deeds in past and present lives which adhered to ``spirit'' and determine what form (varna, juta, or even life-form) it will assume in its next cycle. Used by Indian elite to encourage people to accept their position}
\term{Reincarnation}{the idea that spirits re-embody a new animal or human after death}
Modeling culture, Vedic deities were dominantly male and heavenly. Sacrifice also played a major role in Vedic religion---Brahmin priests taught that dedicating a valued possesion like livestock to a god is an essential ritual. Brahmins also controlled these rituals because only they knew the religious texts (by memorization). While still patriarchal, women had a slightly more equal role. They studied lore, composed hymns, participated in rituals, could own property, and appeared in Indian epics. The strong division in Indian society kept it cohesive; group support and identity were useful tools for the civilization.
When Jainism and Buddhism started gaining support on the Indian continent, Vedic religion became Hinduism to broaden its appeal. Hinduism incorporated new ideas from Dravidians (dasas) and Buddhism.
\term{Hinduism}{a broad set of beliefs incorporating Vedic, Buddhist, and South Indian religion; now majority religion of India, but limited unity between practices}
Sacrifice became less critical, and more direct contact between gods and worshippers was easier. The gods also changed. Minor deities (Vishnu and Shiva) became major, and worship moved closer to Vishnu in the Aryan north and Shiva in the Dravidian south---inherited from the Dravidian fertility cults' incorporation in Hinduism.
Reincarnation of the gods was also part of the belief system. Vishnu is believed to have appeared in a series of avataras---a legendary hero Rama, the cowherd-god Krishna, the Buddha, and Jesus Christ. Similarly, Devi manifests as a mother-goddess of fertility and procreation, the wife Parvati, and Kali or Durga, a wrathful deity who makes violence and destruction. There are many other gods and ways to view them, but between them all are unified beliefs. The gods and spirits are viewed as ``a single divine force'' or ''aspects of one cosmic principle.''
The number of methods of worship include puja, service to a deity's statue and pilgrimages to religious sites. Hinduism kept India united with a strong cultural force and fostered the complex Indian society which developed from it.
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