Short Answer Flashcards
Ganesha
Ganesha is a popular, elephant-headed Hindu deity known as the lord of beginnings and remover of obstacles. He is the son of Shiva and Parvati, he has a round belly and enjoys sweets, and he paradoxically is said to ride on a mouse. Ganesha is frequently invoked by Hindus at the beginning of new ventures and at various types of thresholds.
-is political; festival developed as a religious festival and to gather to increase local/national sensibilities of the time against british rule
Sarasvati
goddess of learning, music and language
-holds a fiery associated with language, book for learning, instrument for music
goddess talked about but not central
the word “Hinduism”
hindu related to river in india (now called the Indus river but used to be the Sindhu river)
- In english; indra, indus and hindu
- is a 15c (1655) word that hindu relates to a religion of people, used to be an ethnic/geographical distinguisher
ways of approaching the word:
- specific types of orthodoxy (authoritative core of some kind)
- ‘way of life’ which is popular among modern hindus and especially outside of india
- hindu as a legal category to encompass and exclude
- orientalist constructions
Orientalism
orientalist constructions:
orientalism, by Edward Said (1978); palestinian Chritian scholar critiqued how ‘the east’ is configured in scholarship, international relations, etc as;
an insert, static place
decadent, exotic backgrounds, traditional, irrational and feminine
a site which can be studied and examied
contrast to ‘the west’, viewed as dynamic, rational, technologically superior, modern, so that patrons and superior attitude was adopted towards colonial populations
Indus Valley Civilization
- Sites in modern Pakistan found by brit. archeological surveys of india led by Sir John Marshal and conducted by D. R. Sahni and R. D. Banjerjee in the 1920’s
- IVC as its peak circa 2200-1900 BCE, declined after this
- multiple cities notably mohenjo - Daro and Harappa
- Characteristics across a large area; uniform material culture including streets and buildings (made of common things), domesticated animals, month metals (no iron), grain storage, wheeled transportation
Relationship between IVC and vedic culture? -continuity suggests cultural continuuity (IVC brat? and modern hindu brat?)
- IVC seals interpreted as religious
- Yugi seal (some think it shows some sort of yoga)
- Proto-shiva
- Yugi seal (some think it shows some sort of yoga)
overall– no direct evidence for relationship but there are theories
Veda/Vedas
4: (3 +1)
Rg Veda- earliest hymns, ritual descriptions
Yajuneda- most ritual texts
Samaueda- compendium of song hymns
Artharvedas- mixed content; magic, medicine and ritual (this was added later)
4 levels to each:
a priest would become specialist in ONE
- samhitas; collection of mantras and hymns
- brahmanas; theological/ritual commentaries added later and practiced/learned away from society
- Aranyakus; ‘wilderness tests’, idea of converted teaching that are done in different contexts
- Upanisads; secret philosophical texts learned sitting at the feet of a teacher, away from society, kind of a secret, later layers of tests, depth knowledge
agni
God of fire; worshiped pre-modern times as small of fire, offerings given and smoke sent it to the god
Agni is also sometimes the god itself
dharma
‘right action’, moral order, sacred duty
(dharma should influence this)
expanded meaning of Dharma:
sanatana-dharma- ‘the eternal dharma,’ the dharma for ALL times and people (e.g. ‘golden rule’)
varnasrama-dharma- dharma according to one’s social position and stage of life (more specific sharma)
an abstract model for living an ideal brahminical life that change emphases according to 2 factors; one’s caste (varna) and stage of life (ashrama)
Not a ‘model of’ reality (e.g. aritst’s drawing of a building) but an idealized social ‘model for’ reality (e.g. architect’s blueprint)
karma
concept of causality in moral action in which good deeds are meritorious, while evil or sinful deeds produce painful effects
Purusha Sukta
Hymn; tells the story of how all things including people were made.
begins with the affirmation that all the heads, all the eyes, and all the feet in creation are of the Purusha.
Each body part of the being was the origin of people and their levels (different castes.. the lower the body part the lower the caste)
svadharma
‘one’s own duty’
different people have different things that are right for them at different times
-Krishna shows Arjuna that his svadharma is to go and fight despite against kin (in the Gita)
ātman
the individual self, often used as a synonym for Brahman
brahman
a hallowed power within sacred utterances of the vedic, also ultimate reality
saṃskāra
right of passage, life cycle ritual, literally means 'construction; or 'refinement' -traditional examples for upper class hindus; pre birth rituals like the rite of conception, childhood ritual like first feeing,
Vedānta
often refers to the Upanisads and the interpretation of their teachings since they forms the end or concussing sections of revealed Vedic literature
