Theme 1 (Religious Figures & Sacred Texts) Flashcards
What are features of Shurti texts?
+ oldest & most sacred
+ means ‘heard’
+ contain universal laws (words of the Gods)
+ used in ritual ceremonies
+ handed down orally
+ eventually written down
What are the features of Smriti texts?
- not as sacred but still important
- means ‘to remember’
- contain myths, symbolism, morals & stories
- popular w Hindus today
- easier to understand
Importance of Shruti and Smriti texts and examples of each
Sh:(Vedas & Upanishads)
teaches puja
word of Brahman
contains laws
Sm:(Bhagavad Gita, Itihasas, Puranas & Dharma Shastra)
teaches behaviour
more likely to use
Key facts about the Vedas
-oldest Hindu text
- Veda=’to know’
- “eternal and contains all knowledge
- contains ancient hymns of Aryans
- first revealed by God at the beginning of creation for the benefit of mankind
How is the Vedas used?
+ in ritual ceremonies (RV)
+ source of wisdom & truth
+ sung at special sacrifices (SV)
+ guides priests (YV)
+ contains a wealth of knowledge
What are the 4 books within the Vedas?
Rig Veda
- 1028 hymns
- most important source of knowledge about vedic religion & society
Sama Veda
- melodies & chants to be sung at special sacrifices
Yajur Veda
- handbook for priests to guide performance of rituals & sacrifices
Arthar Veda
- verses of magical formulae & early scientific knowledge
- regarded as inferior
Why is the Vedas important to Hindus?
+ “The Vedas are the breath of God”
+ “symbol of unchallenged authority and tradition”
+ contain a wealth of knowledge about art, medicine, science & philosophy
+ lay down concept of almighty god, nature & deities
+ Brahmins use it to teach people
+ Contains the history of Hinduism
+ used as a guide for worship
What type of text is the Ramayana story?
+ features/facts about Rama
Smriti
+ Blue skin
+ Prince/warrior
+ Holds a bow and arrow
+ Vishnu’s 7th avatar
+ ‘perfect-husband’
+ Tilak symbol on forehead
What happened in the Ramayana story?
1) Rama exiled by his step mother as his father named him heir instead of his brother
2) His brother Laksmana & wife Sita accompanied him to the forest retreat
3) His brother Bharata followed him and begged Rama to come back and take this place but Rama refused
4) One day a princess (Surpanakha) falls in love with Rama and tries to seduce him but he refuses. She flees to her brother Ravana & tells him about Sita’s beauty
5) Rama and Laksmana put a protective circle around Sita & tell her not to step out for her safety
6) Ravana (demon king) disguises as a wondering holy man asking for alms. Sita steps out and he abducts her
7) Rama enlists Hanuman’s help and Hanuman flies to Sita and tells her that Rama is coming
8) Rama, Laksmana, Hanuman & monkey army kill Ravana
9) Sita has to prove her loyalty to Rama by remaining unscathed in a fire
10) The couple return to Ayodha
What is the importance of the Ramayana story?
- Diwali (light coming home & good over evil)
- Perfect ‘dharma’ (husband and wife and protection of Shakti)
- Hanuman (help, friendship & community)
- Respect parents
- Loyalty to partner
- Appeals to the everyday Hindu
What is the spiritual importance of the Ramayana and how is it shown in the story?
Righteous behaviour (dharma)
- Hanuman supports Rama
- Rama killing Ravana
- Sita’s loyalty
Selfless caring
- Rama saving his wife
- Sita & Lashmana going w Rama
- Sita walking through fire
Courage
- Rama killing Ravana
- Sita walking through fire
Friendship
- Hanuman helping Rama
- Laskshmana and Rama
Devotion
- community welcomed them home
- Sita remaining faithful
- Rama saving Sita
What is the Mahabharata story about?
+ what is the Bhagavad Gita about?
The power struggle between two royal families:
- Pandavas (noble & dharma)
- Kauravas (evil & adharma)
+ Krishna encouraging Arjuna to fight and complete his dharma in order to defeat the Kauravas. He did this by teaching him about key Hindu beliefs including Brahman, atman, Samsara & yoga
What is the importance of the Bhagavad Gita?
- teaches about Karma, Bhakti & Jnana yoga
- teaches about dharma
- teaches importance of Brahman & his nature
- importance of gurus & teachers
- good over evil
- reincarnation/ Samsara/ Moksha
- importance of varnas
- Hare Krishnas value it highly
Examples of Bhagavad Gita quotes about yogas
“without attachment, without interruption…by performing prescribed actions a person achieves the highest good”
” those who worship devotedly different demigods…worship Me”
“if they take full shelter of Me, they also reach the supreme goal”
“whatever you offer in sacrifice…make as an offering unto me”
What is karma yoga & how is it performed?
+ why is it important?
Path of action
- must have right attitude & motive
- must do your best & not hold back
- must not be attached to results
- must follow discipline of the job
+ purifies the heart by teaching you to act selflessly
+ learn to sublimate the ego
+ fulfilling your potential for good of society
+ involves completing your dharma
What is Bhakti yoga & how is it performed?
+ why is it important?
Path of devotion
- chanting & singing and praises of love
- prayer, worship & ritual
- unconditional love
- clean room, burning incense & clean seat
- do others what you would like to be done to yourself
+ devotee surrenders himself to God
+ leads to Moksha through inner feelings
+ matter of discipline and training the mind
+ concentrating mind on the deity
+ recognises power of love & God as the embodiment of love
What is jnana yoga and how is it performed?
+ why is it important?
Path of wisdom and knowledge
- understanding body & soul
- must have integrated lessons of other yogic paths
- reading & understanding Vedanta
- achieved via 4 pillars of knowledge
+ leads devotee to experience unity w God
+ most difficult path involving tremendous strength & intellect
+ enables people to distinguish between real and illusion
+ part of Vedanta
1) Karma yoga quotes
2) Bhakti yoga quotes
3) Jnana yoga quote
1) “Karma Yoga is the selfless devotion of all inner as well as all outer”
“a selfish man cannot do any service”
“keep your mind fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord” (both Swami Sivenanda)
2) “God is love, love is God”
“a man doing his work about attachment attains to the highest goal”
3) “with the help of knowledge, attain the Supreme”
What are the problems with the term Hinduism?
1) No two Hindus are the same
- no unified system of beliefs & practices
2) No religious founder
- has evolved with new ideas added in
3) Impossible to categorise
- monotheism, monism etc all apply
4) Different understandings of the deity
- each individual has their own level of consciousness & approach to deities
- different Vedantas
5) Religion & tradition are the same
- religion & culture are the same
- Bhakti, yoga & dharma depict essential aspects better
6) Practical terms Hinduism better
- ‘Sadha’= ‘to accomplish an aim’ & involves reaching spiritual perfection ( Moksha) which is universal
What is the Indus Valley civilisation?
- first excavations carried out four by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in 1924
- now located in Pakistan
- believed to be 4,600 years old
- chief cities: Mohenjo-dharo & Harappa
- possible origin of Hinduism but unable to read their language
What was the Indus Valley economy?
+ how may this link with Hinduism?
- people traded among themselves & other cultures
- city dwellers traded w farmers
- they had standardised weights & measures, centralised food supply & uniform type of pottery
- skilled metal workers in bronze & copper (not iron) & made decorated ornaments, jewelrry & figures
+ ahimsa (uniform pottery)
+ murtis
+ artha
+ shudra caste
What was the Indus Valley’s belief in the afterlife?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- varied types of treatment of the dead; cremation, burial of skeleton, complete burial etc
- dead often buried with daily possessions e.g pots, bowls & weapons
+ suggests belief in afterlife or Samsara
+ smashing of pots on the head of the dead releases atman
What were the Indus Valley seals?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- over 200 seals found in Mohenjo-daro
- representations of animals e.g cattle, snakes & rhinos
- some portray ritual practices
- some have human figures wearing headdresses & horns= power
+ lots of animals are sacred in Hinduism
+ ahimsa
+ represent religious practices & divine
+ headwear may represent denomination symbols & dressing up of cows
What is the Indus Valley proto-Shiva?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
one seal has a ‘horned god’ with a headdress of two buffalo horns:
- sitting crosslegged w 3 faces
- surrounded by wild animals
+ yoga position (‘great-yogi’)
possible prototype of Shiva:
+ ‘lord of the beasts’
+ represented by linga
+ ‘three faced’
What were the Indus Valley cities like?
+ how may these link to Hinduism?
- highly developed
- carefully planned and organised
- excellent sewage system
- surrounded by walls & houses on platforms
- courtyards & bathing areas
- all houses surrounding temple, bath or large tank
+ bathing before puja
+ focused in temple (convenient for puja)
+ organised= dharma & castes
What is the Indus Valley great bath?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- In Mohenjo-dharo
- not a public bath but surrounded by larger buildings & smaller rooms
- may have been a site of prostitution or bathing before worship
+ may have been site of ritual purification before worship
+ kama
What are the Indus Valley figurines?
+ how may these link to Hinduism?
- abundance of male, female & animal figurines found
- many heads w horns
- fewer male than female
- males uprightly rigid w same stance, beard & coloured hair
+ indication for belief in a single deity
+ early murtis
+ horns suggest worship
+ puja
What is the Indus Valley mother goddess?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- found at Harappa
- figurines of women, naked or half-naked
- often nursing a child or making a sacrifice
+ worship of mother goddess for crop fertility
+ prashad
+ link to shakti
+ darshan=huge eyes of figures
+ women leading puja
What happened to the Indus Valley Civilisation?
- from around 1750BCE, the Indus Valley Civilisation began to go into decline
- causes of its end is unclear
- scholars have suggested in the Vedas it gives a picture of a group of warriors, Aryans, invading from the North & destroying it
What evidence is there to prove the Aryan invasion did occur?
(what type of idea is this?)
+ sites show evidence of abandonment
+ Aryans described as tall & light skinned which is general of those from Northern India
+ Aryans worshipped war-like gods
+ large numbers of unburied bodies found
+ Varna System & purity ideas
+ absence of weapons & horses in the valley
+ Sanskrit as Aryan language
+ similarities between early Indian and European cultures
(‘Eurocentric Discourse’: Europeans as source of civilisation & sophisticated culture)
What evidence is there to disprove the Aryan invasion occured?
(what type of idea is this?)
- IVC was very large & would have been tricky to deal with
- lack of archaeological evidence (e.g no signs of warfare or mass graves)
- unburied bodies may have been due to plague as they were found randomly
- number of references to invasion in the Vedas is very small
- may have been abandoned due to drying up of Saraswati river (supported by satellite imagery)
- Aryans may have been from India themselves & just the most noble in society
(‘Indocentric Discourse’: India as primary source of civilisation & Hinduism as unbroken)
What was the Aryan community like?
- large & hostile enough to take over IVC
- settled in region between Indus & Ganges
- had horses & chariots providing speed and mobility
- built no cities & pottery was mundane
- built houses of wood & reeds
- patriarchal & tribal social structure (led by male rajas)
- domesticated horse & cow (important to economy)
- cattle rearers very common & some were metal workers, carpenters & potters
What were the Aryan & ‘Dasa’ people like?
+ not very civilized & illiterate
+ nomadic & pastoral
+ Arya=noble
+ came into conflict with Dasas: hostile non-aryans who may represent survivors of IV
+ destroyed Dasas or made them slaves
+ Aryans seen as tall-fair-skinned w more acquiline features
+ Dasas describe as dark-skinned, flat-nosed & curly haired
What was the Aryan religion like?
+ quote from Rig Veda
- created Vedas
- scripture preserved carefully by priests of each tribe via memorisation (Shurti)
- Rig-Veda is the oldest surviving Indo-European oral literature
- Dismissed Dasas a being without religious rites
+ “They have their own rites and are not entitled to be called men”
What are the class divisions of Aryan society?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- In the early hymns there are mentions of Kshatriyas & Vaishyas
- Aryans placed emphasis on purity of blood
- Brahmin priests became important
- class divisions formed between Aryans, Dasas & Aryans and Dasas who intermarried
- Rig Veda tells the story of Purusa
+ Purusa story is still used by Hindus
+ Dalits & idea of ‘untouchability’
+ Varna System & purity
What was the Aryan patriarchal society like?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- Aryans were war-like and their culture was similar to Vikings
- tribes were ruled by warrior chiefs (Rajas)
- government was responsibility of a council who checked on the authority of a raja
- tribal assembly was centre of men’s social life
- family was patriarchal & sons were important
- wife & mother enjoyed position of respect in the home
+ shakti
+ male sons importance
+ men sit in front of women in temple
+ usually boys who take part in Brahmacharya stage
What were the Yajna (sacrifices) in Aryan society?
+ how may these link to Hinduism?
- central religious practice of the Aryans alongside sharing of a sacrificial meal with each other & devas
- offerings of milk and ghee more common than animal sacrifices
- ritual substances transported through the fire to the deva (link between earth & divine)
+ Prashad
+ Sacred cows
+ connection with deities during puja
What were Devas in Aryan culture?
+ how may these link to Hinduism?
- Aryan term for God
- Gods covered 3 main spheres: sky, heavens and earth
- deities not strictly supernatural as they were linked to nature
- Gods were symbols with fundamental powers that controlled existence
- didn’t have in depth personalities but powers & symbolism were important
+ role & power of the tri-murti being highlighted over what they look like
+ different forms of Brahman
+ deities control existence
+ 3 realms of universe the same
What was Rta in Aryan culture?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- regulating force of the cosmos
- represented order in all aspects of the universe including social & moral order
- punished by the God Varuna if you overstep the correct path (even deities had to conform)
- core of universe
+ Karma
+ Dharmic path
What were Brahmin priests like in Aryan society?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- crucial to sacrifices & had knowledge of all aspects
- reciter priests, chanter priests & officiator priests
- had to make sure everything was done correctly or Aryan society would be destroyed e.g sun wouldn’t rise
- power feared as much as the gods
+ Varna system
+ Jnana yoga
+ priests teaching others about the Vedas
+ puja & carrying on of tradition
What was the importance of cows in Aryan society? (quote?)
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- point of sacrifice was to please the gods so they would grant worshippers with what they needed most- cow’s milk
- cows seen as the ‘goods of life’ and were a symbol of wealth
- God’s seen as providers of material goods & fortune
(“The Vedic devas are givers… source of goods of life”)
+ artha
+ sacredness of cows
+ consecration during prashad
+ praying to Lakshmi for wealth
Why was fire important in Aryan culture?
+ how may this link to Hinduism?
- Agni, Vedic God of fire, addressed in the Rig Veda many times
- fire seen as important & having a destructive nature
- Agni central to sacrificial rituals as fire turns the offering into a form the gods can accept
+ fire forms part of aarti and havan
+ Agni still worshipped today especially during Holi
+ Prashad
