Historical Vedic religion

{{Short description|1500–500 BC Indo-Aryan religious practices of northwest India}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} [[File:Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png|thumb|The spread of the Vedic culture in the late Vedic period. ''Aryavarta'' was limited to northwest India and the western Ganges plain, while Greater Magadha in the east was occupied by non-Vedic Indo-Aryans.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010}} The location of shakhas is labeled in maroon.]] {{Hinduism small}} {{Indo-European topics |Religion and mythology}}

The '''historical Vedic religion''', also called '''Vedism''' or '''Brahmanism''', and sometimes '''ancient Hinduism''' or '''Vedic Hinduism''',{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}} constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period ({{Circa}} 1500–500 BCE).{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}}<ref name=britannicavedic>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vedic-religion |title=Vedic religion |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=21 September 2024 }}</ref>{{sfn|Sullivan |2001|p=9}}{{sfn|Samuel |2010 |pp=97–99, 113–118}} These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practised today.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|pp=41–45, 220–223}}<ref name=Witzel2004/><ref name=Witzel_Kalasha/> The Vedic religion is one of the major traditions which shaped modern Hinduism, though present-day Hinduism is significantly different from the historical Vedic religion.{{sfn|Sullivan |2001|p=9}}{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=38}}{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}}

The Vedic religion has roots in the Indo-Iranian culture and religion of the Sintashta ({{Circa}} 2200–1750 BCE) and Andronovo ({{Circa}} 2000–1150 BCE) cultures of Eurasian Steppe.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}{{efn|name="Indo-Aryans"}} This Indo-Iranian religion borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}}{{efn|name="BMAC"}} from the non-Indo-Aryan Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC; 2250–1700 BCE) of south of Central Asia, when pastoral Indo-Aryan tribes stayed there as a separate people in the early 2nd millennium BCE. From the BMAC Indo-Aryan tribes migrated to the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, and the Vedic religion developed there during the early Vedic period ({{Circa}} 1500–1100 BCE) as a variant of Indo-Aryan religion, influenced by the remnants of the late Indus Valley Civilisation (2600–1900 BCE).{{sfn|White|2003}}

During the late Vedic period ({{Circa}} 1100–500 BCE) Brahmanism developed out of the Vedic religion, as an ideology of the Kuru-Panchala realm which expanded into a wider area after the demise of the Kuru-Pancala realm and the domination of the non-Vedic Magadha cultural sphere. Brahmanism was one of the major influences that shaped contemporary Hinduism, when it was synthesized with the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan religious heritage of the eastern Ganges plain (which also gave rise to Buddhism and Jainism), and with local religious traditions.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}<ref group=web name="EB_Vedic religion"/>{{sfn|Witzel|1995}}{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}}

Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others: the Soma rituals; fire rituals involving oblations (havir); and the Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice).<ref name="Prasoon"/><ref name="Griffith 1987">{{cite book|first=Ralph Thomas Hotchkin|last=Griffith|url=https://archive.org/details/textswhiteyajur00grifgoog|title=The Texts of the White Yajurveda. Translated with a popular commentary|orig-year=1899|place=Benaras|year=1987|edition=Reprint|isbn=81-215-0047-8|publisher=E. J. Lazarus and Co.}}</ref> The rites of grave burials as well as cremation are seen since the Rigvedic period.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|title=The Rigveda — Earliest Religious Poetry of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190633394|pages=1393, 1399}}</ref> Deities emphasized in the Vedic religion include Dyaus, Indra, Agni, Rudra and Varuna, and important ethical concepts include ''satya'' and ''ṛta''.

==Terminology==

===Vedism and Brahmanism=== ''Vedism'' refers to the oldest form of the Vedic religion, when Indo-Aryans entered into the valley of the Indus River in multiple waves during the 2nd millennium BCE. ''Brahmanism'' refers to the further developed form of the late Vedic period which took shape at the Ganges basin around {{Circa}} 1000 BCE.<ref name="Heesterman1987">{{Cite web |title=Vedism and Brahmanism {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/vedism-and-brahmanism |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>{{efn|See {{harvnb|Witzel|1995}} for an elaborate description of the religious and socio-political development of the late Vedic society}} According to Heesterman, "It is loosely known as Brahmanism because of the religious and legal importance it places on the brāhmaṇa (priestly) class of society."<ref name="Heesterman1987"/> During the late Vedic period, the Brahmanas and early Upanishads were composed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McClelland |first=Norman C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma |date=2018-10-15 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8 |pages=48 |language=en}}</ref> Both Vedism and Brahmanism regard the Veda as sacred, but Brahmanism is more inclusive, incorporating doctrines and themes beyond the Vedas with practices like temple worship, puja, meditation, renunciation, vegetarianism, the role of the guru, and other non-Vedic elements important to Hindu religious life.<ref name="Heesterman1987" />

===Ancient Hinduism and Vedic Hinduism=== The terms ''ancient Hinduism'' and ''Vedic Hinduism'' have also been used when referring to the ancient Vedic religion.{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}}

According to Heinrich von Stietencron, in 19th century western publications, the Vedic religion was believed to be different from and unrelated to Hinduism. Instead, Hinduism was thought to be linked to the Hindu epics and the Puranas through sects based on purohita, tantras and ''Bhakti''.{{sfn|von Stietencron|2005|pp=231–237 with footnotes}} In response to western colonialism and (Protestant) proselytizing, Hindu reform movements like the Brahmo Samaj and the Neo-Vedanta in the late 19th and early 20th century rejected the 'superstitions' of Puranic Hinduism, which in their view had deviated from the Vedic heritage, instead propagating a return to the Vedas and to restore an "imagined"{{sfn|Mannathukkaren|2024|p="an imagined 'Hinduism'"}} original, rational and monotheistic ancient Hinduism with an equal standing as Protestant Christianity.{{sfn|von Stietencron|2005|pp=231–237 with footnotes}}{{sfnp|Flood|2020|p=58}}

In the 20th century, the neo-Hindu emphasis on Vedic roots, and a better understanding of the Vedic religion and its shared heritage and theology with contemporary Hinduism, led scholars to view the historical Vedic religion as ancestral to modern Hinduism.{{sfn|von Stietencron|2005|pp=231–237 with footnotes}} The historical Vedic religion is now generally accepted to be a predecessor of modern Hinduism, but they are not the same because the textual evidence suggests significant differences between the two.{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}} These include the belief in an afterlife instead of the later developed reincarnation and samsāra concepts.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008}}{{page needed|date=October 2021}} Nevertheless, while "it is usually taught that the beginnings of historical Hinduism date from around the beginning of the Common Era," when "the key tendencies, the crucial elements that would be encompassed in Hindu traditions, collectively came together,"{{sfn|Welbon|2004|p=33}} some scholars have come to view the term "Hinduism" as encompassing Vedism and Brahmanism, in addition to the recent synthesis.{{sfn|von Stietencron|2005|pp=231}}

==Origins and development== {{further|Indo-Aryans|Indo-Aryan migrations|Vedic period|Indo-European migrations|Proto-Indo-European religion|Proto-Indo-Iranian religion}}

===Indo-Aryan Vedic religion=== The Vedic religion refers to the religious beliefs of some Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes, the ''aryas'',{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=319}}{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=185}}{{efn|Michaels: "They called themselves ''arya'' ('Aryans', literally 'the hospitable', from the Vedic ''arya'', 'homey, the hospitable') but even in the Rgveda, ''arya'' denotes a cultural and linguistic boundary and not only a racial one."{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}}}} who migrated into the Indus River valley region of the Indian subcontinent after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation.{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}}{{efn|name="Indo-Aryans"}} The Vedic religion, and subsequent Brahmanism, centre on the myths and ritual ideologies of the Vedas, as distinguished from Agamic, Tantric and sectarian forms of Indian religion, which take recourse to the authority of non-Vedic textual sources.{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}} The Vedic religion is described in the Vedas and associated with voluminous Vedic literature, including the early Upanishads, preserved into the modern times by the different priestly schools.{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}}{{sfn|Jamison|Witzel|1992|p=2-4}} The religion existed in the western Ganges plain in the early Vedic period from {{Circa}} 1500–1100 BCE,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=32–36}}{{efn|There is no exact dating possible for the beginning of the Vedic period. Witzel mentions a range between 1900 and 1400 BCE.{{sfn|Witzel|1995|pp=3–4}} Flood (1996) mentions 1500 BCE.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=21}}}} and developed into Brahmanism in the late Vedic period ({{Circa}} 1100–500 BCE).{{sfn|Witzel|1995}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|pp=9–10}} The eastern Ganges plain was dominated by another Indo-Aryan complex, which rejected the later Brahmanical ideology and gave rise to Jainism and Buddhism, and the Maurya Empire.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}

==== Indo-European roots and syncreticism ==== The Indo-Aryans were speakers of a branch of the Indo-European language family which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the Andronovo culture, which in turn developed out of the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}{{efn|name="Indo-Aryans"|The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists{{sfn|Witzel|1995}} who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|pp=30–35}}{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|p=5}} bringing with them their language{{sfn|Samuel|2010|p=53–56}} and religion.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=30}}{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|pp=5–7}} They were closely related to the Indo-Aryans who founded Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} (c.1500–1300 BCE). Both groups were rooted in the Andronovo-culture{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=410–411}} in the Bactria–Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan,{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} and related to the Indo-Iranians, from which they split off around 1800–1600 BCE.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=408}} Their roots go back further to the Sintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the ''Rig Veda''.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=375, 408–411}} The immigrations consisted probably of small groups of people.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} Kenoyer (1998) notes that "there is no archaeological or biological evidence for invasions or mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of the Harappan phase, about 1900 B.C. and the beginning of the Early Historic period around 600 B.C."<ref>{{cite book |author=Kenoyer, M. |year=1998 |title=Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization |page=174 |location=Oxford, U.K. |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> For an overview of the current relevant research, see the following references.<ref>{{cite journal |author-link=Michael Witzel |first=Michael |last=Witzel |year=2001 |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/EJVS-7-3.pdf |title=Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts |journal=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=1–93}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link=Shereen Ratnagar |first=Shereen |last=Ratnagar |year=2008 |contribution=The Aryan homeland debate in India |editor1=Kohl, P. L. |editor2=Kozelsky, M. |editor3=Ben-Yehuda, N. |title=Selective Remembrances: Archaeology in the construction, commemoration, and consecration of national pasts |pages=349–378}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link=Suraj Bhan (archaeologist) |first=Suraj |last=Bhan |year=2002 |contribution=Aryanization of the Indus Civilization |editor1=Panikkar, K. N. |editor2=Byres, T. J. |editor3=Patnaik, U. |title=The Making of History |pages=41–55}}</ref>{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}}}{{efn|Some writers and archaeologists have opposed the notion of a migration of Indo-Aryans into India,{{sfn|Bryant|2001}}<ref>Bryant, Edwin. 2001. ''The Indo-Aryan Controversy'', p. 342{{clarify|reason=title / year mismatch?|date=November 2010}}</ref>{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}}{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=186}} due to a lack of archaeological evidence and signs of cultural continuity,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}} hypothesizing instead a slow process of acculturation{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}} or transformation.{{sfn|Flood|1996|pp=30–35}} According to Upinder Singh, "The original homeland of the Indo-Europeans and Indo-Aryans is the subject of continuing debate among philologists, linguists, historians, archaeologists, and others. The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryans came to the subcontinent as invaders. Another view, advocated mainly by some Indian scholars, is that they were indigenous to the subcontinent."{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=186}} Edwin Bryant used the term "Indo-Aryan controversy" for an oversight of the Indo-Aryan migration theory, and some of its opponents.{{sfn|Bryant|Patton|2005}} Mallory and Adams note that two types of models "enjoy significant international currency", namely the Anatolian hypothesis, and a migration out of the Eurasian steppes.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|2006|pp=460–461}} Linguistic and archaeological data clearly show a cultural change after 1750 BCE,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=33}} with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=33}} According to Singh, "The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryans came to the subcontinent as immigrants."{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=186}} An overview of the "Indigenist position" can be obtained from Bryant & Patton (2005).{{sfn|Bryant|Patton|2005}} See also the article Indigenous Aryans}} The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of India|author=Pletcher, Kenneth|publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing|page=60|year=2010}}</ref>

The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European religion,<ref name="Woodard2006">{{cite book|author=Roger D. Woodard|title=Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EB4fB0inNYEC&pg=FA242|date=18 August 2006|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09295-4|pages=242–}}</ref>{{efn|See Kuzʹmina (2007), ''The Origin of the Indo-Iranians'', p. 339, for an overview of publications up to 1997 on this subject.}} and shows relations with rituals from the Andronovo culture, from which the Indo-Aryan people descended.{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=319}} According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements"{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}} from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC).{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}} This syncretic influence is supported by at least 383 non-Indo-European words that were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink soma.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}} According to Anthony, {{blockquote|Many of the qualities of the Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the ''Rig Veda''. He was associated more than any other deity with ''Soma'', a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from ''Ephedra'') probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}}}}

The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the ''Rig Veda'', are found in northern Syria, the location of the Mitanni kingdom.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}} The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}} The Old Indic term r'ta, meaning "cosmic order and truth", the central concept of the ''Rig Veda'', was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=49}} Old Indic gods, including Indra, were also known in the Mitanni kingdom.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=50}}{{sfn|Flood|2008|p=68}}{{sfn|Melton|Baumann|2010|p=1412}}

====South Asian influences==== The Vedic religion was the product of "a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations".{{sfn|White|2006|p=28}} White (2003) cites three other scholars who "have emphatically demonstrated" that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley civilization.{{sfn|White|2003|p=28}}

It is unclear if the theory in diverse Vedic texts actually reflects the folk practices, iconography, and other practical aspects of the Vedic religion. The Vedic religion changed when Indo-Aryan people migrated into the Ganges Plain after {{Circa}} 1100 BCE and became settled farmers,{{sfn|Witzel|1995}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010|pp=48–51, 61–93}}{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|pp=8–10}} further syncretizing with the native cultures of northern India.{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}{{page needed|date=August 2018}}{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}} The evidence suggests that the Vedic religion evolved in "two superficially contradictory directions", namely an ever more "elaborate, expensive, and specialized system of rituals",{{sfn|Jamison|Witzel|1992|p=1–5, 47–52, 74–77}} which survives in the present-day ''srauta''-ritual,<ref name="West2010"/> and "abstraction and internalization of the principles underlying ritual and cosmic speculation" within oneself,{{sfn|Jamison|Witzel|1992|p=1–5, 47–52, 74–77}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010|p=113}} akin to the Jain and Buddhist tradition.

Aspects of the historical Vedic religion still continue in modern times. For instance, the Nambudiri Brahmins continue the ancient Śrauta rituals, and the complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta are practised in Kerala and coastal Andhra.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|pp=1–50}} The Kalash people residing in northwest Pakistan also continue to practise a form of the ancient Vedic religion.<ref name="West2010"/>{{efn|Up to the late 19th century, the Nuristanis of Afghanistan observed a primitive form of Hinduism until they were forcibly converted to Islam under the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan.<ref name="Minahan2014">{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James B. |title=Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia |year= 2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |language=en |isbn=9781610690188|page=205 |quote=Living in the high mountain valleys, the Nuristani retained their ancient culture and their religion, a form of the ancient Vedic religion with many customs and rituals developed locally. Certain deities were revered only by one tribe or community, but one deity was universally worshipped by all Nuristani as the Creator, the Hindu god Yama Raja, called ''imr'o'' or ''imra'' by the Nuristani tribes.}}</ref><ref name="BarringtonKendrick2006">{{cite book |last1=Barrington |first1=Nicholas |last2=Kendrick |first2=Joseph T. |last3=Schlagintweit |first3=Reinhard |title=A Passage to Nuristan: Exploring the mysterious Afghan hinterland |date=18 April 2006 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |language=en |isbn=9781845111755 |page=111 |quote=Prominent sites include Hadda, near Jalalabad, but Buddhism never seems to have penetrated the remote valleys of Nuristan, where the people continued to practice an early form of polytheistic Hinduism.}}</ref><ref name="WeissMaurer2012">{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Mitch |last2=Maurer |first2=Kevin |title=No Way Out: A story of valor in the mountains of Afghanistan |date=31 December 2012 |publisher=Berkley Caliber |language=en |isbn=9780425253403 |page=299 |quote=Up until the late nineteenth century, many Nuristanis practiced a primitive form of Hinduism. It was the last area in Afghanistan to convert to Islam—and the conversion was accomplished by the sword.}}</ref> However, aspects of the historical Vedic religion survived in other corners of the Indian subcontinent, such as Kerala, where the Nambudiri Brahmins continue the ancient Śrauta rituals. The Kalash people residing in northwest Pakistan also continue to practise a form of the ancient Vedic religion.<ref name="West2010">{{cite book |last=West |first=Barbara A. |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |date=19 May 2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |language=en |isbn=9781438119137 |page=357 |quote=The Kalasha are a unique people living in just three valleys near Chitral, Pakistan, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. Unlike their neighbors in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghan and Pakistani sides of the border, the Kalasha have not converted to Islam. During the mid-20th century, a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan were forcibly converted to this dominant religion, but the people fought the conversion, and once official pressure was removed, the vast majority continued to practice their own religion. Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognizes many gods and spirits ... given their Indo-Aryan language, ... the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors that to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.}}</ref><ref name="Bezhan2017">{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/28439107.html |title=Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans get their Due |last=Bezhan |first=Frud |date=19 April 2017 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |language=en |access-date=31 July 2017 |quote=About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs.}}</ref>}} It has also been suggested by Michael Witzel that Shinto, the native religion of Japan, contains some influences from the ancient Vedic religion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=The Origin of the World's Mythologies|year=2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan, and beyond|year=2005|url=https://www.onmarkproductions.com/monkey-mythology-compare-india-japan-by-michael-witzel.pdf}}</ref>

===Brahmanism=== {{redirect|Brahamic|the writing scripts|Brahmic scripts}} {{redirect-distinguish|Brahmanism|Branhamism}}

====Historical Brahminism==== Brahmanism, also called Brahminism or Brahmanical Hinduism, developed out of the Vedic religion, incorporating non-Vedic religious ideas, and expanding to a region stretching from the northwest Indian subcontinent to the Ganges valley.{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995}} Brahmanism included the Vedic corpus, but also post-Vedic texts such as the ''Dharmasutras'' and ''Dharmasastras'', which gave prominence to the priestly (Brahmin) caste of the society,{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}} Heesterman also mentions the post-Vedic Smriti (Puranas and the Epics),{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}} which are also incorporated in the later Smarta tradition. The emphasis on ritual and the dominant position of Brahmins developed as an ideology in the Kuru-Pancala realm, and expanded over a wider area after the demise of the Kuru-Pancala kingdom{{sfn|Witzel|1995}} and its incorporation into the Magadha-based empires. It co-existed with local religions, such as the Yaksha cults.{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}{{sfn|Basham|1989|pp=74–75}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/651312/yaksha |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=yaksha|date=12 July 2024 }}</ref>

The word ''Brahmanism'' was coined by Gonçalo Fernandes Trancoso (1520–1596) in the 16th century.<ref name="Županov2005">{{cite book |last=Županov |first=Ines G. |title=Missionary Tropics: The Catholic Frontier in India (16th–17th Centuries) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nix4M4dy7nQC&pg=PA18 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-11490-5 |pages=18ff}}</ref> Historically, and still by some modern authors, the word 'Brahmanism' was used in English to refer to the Hindu religion, treating the term Brahmanism as synonymous with Hinduism, and using it interchangeably.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jacques |last1=Maritain |first2=E. I. |last2=Watkin |title=An Introduction to Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9GnOWELyRYC |year=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-5053-7 |page=7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Catherine A. |last=Robinson |title=Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gita and Images of the Hindu Tradition: The song of the Lord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKHKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-27891-6 |at=page 164, footnote 9}}</ref> Michael S. Allen criticises the use of "Brahminism" for the "greater Vedic tradition", arguing that it obscures the contribution of non-Brahmins to the tradition.<ref>{{harvnb|Allen|2022|p=208}}: "This greater Vedic tradition is sometimes referred to as "Brahminism," but that label is less than ideal. First, as McGovern (2019) has pointed out in a recent book, the term "Brahmin" was originally not exclusive to followers of the Vedas, but was also used by Buddhists, Jains, and others. Second, although (Vedic) Brahmins were jealous of their teaching authority, they regarded the Vedas as the ultimate source of that authority, and referring to their tradition as "Brahminism" rather than "Vedism" would be subject to the same objections that have led scholars of Tibetan Buddhism to abandon the term "Lamaism." Third, and perhaps most importantly, the term obscures the participation of non-Brahmins in the greater Vedic tradition."</ref> In the 18th and 19th centuries, Brahminism was the most common term used in English for Hinduism. Brahmanism gave importance to Absolute Reality (Brahman) speculations in the early Upanishads, as these terms are etymologically linked, which developed from post-Vedic ideas during the late Vedic era.<ref name="britannicavedic" /><ref name="Maritain2005p6">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9GnOWELyRYC&pg=PA7 |title=An Introduction to Philosophy |first=Jacques |last=Maritain |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7425-5053-7 |at=pages 6–7 footnote 1 |quote=This [the primitive religion of the Vedas] resulted, after a period of confusion, in the formation of a new system, Brahmanism (or Hinduism), which is essentially a philosophy, a metaphysic, a work of human speculation, ...; [footnote 1]... the neuter, ''Brahman'', as the one impersonal substance.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLuEAgAAQBAJ |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |first=Oliver |last=Leaman |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-134-68918-7 |pages=64–65 |quote=The early Upanishads are primarily metaphysical treatises concerned with identifying the Brahman, the ground of the universe. ... The essence of early Brahmanism is the search for the Absolute and its natural development is in Vedantin monism which claims that the soul is identical with the Absolute.}}</ref><ref name="Biardeau1994p17">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/hinduism00made |url-access=registration |title=Hinduism: The anthropology of a civilization |first=Madeleine |last=Biardeau |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hinduism00made/page/17 17]–22|isbn=978-0-19-563389-4 }}</ref> The concept of Brahman is posited as that which existed before the creation of the universe, which constitutes all of existence thereafter, and into which the universe will dissolve, followed by similar endless creation-maintenance-destruction cycles.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.1673 |title=Brāhmanism and Hindūism: Or, Religious Thought and Life in India, as Based on the Veda and Other Sacred Books of the Hindūs |first=Monier |last=Monier-Williams |publisher=J. Murray |year=1891 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.1673/page/n27 2]–3}}</ref>{{sfn|Sullivan|2001|p=137}}<ref name="james122">{{cite book |first=James |last=Lochtefeld |article=Brahman |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism |volume=1: A–M |publisher=Rosen Publishing |isbn=978-0823931798 |page=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/122 122] |date=2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/122 }}</ref>{{efn|For the metaphysical concept of Brahman, see: {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv3fCgAAQBAJ|title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |first=Julius |last=Lipner |author-link=Julius Lipner |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-135-24061-5 |pages=251–252, 283, 366–369|postscript=;}} {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pv4jgvvAaQMC |title=Hindu Ethics: A Philosophical Study |first=Roy W. |last=Perrett |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8248-2085-5 |pages=53–54}}}}

The post-Vedic period of the Second Urbanisation saw a decline of Brahmanism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=37–39}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2017|p=363}} With the growth of political entities, which threatened the income and patronage of the rural Brahmins including; the Sramanic movement, the conquests of eastern empires from Magadha including the Nanda Empire and the Mauryan Empire,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |title=Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-20140-8 |location=Leiden |oclc=729756183}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chande |first=M. B. |title=Kautilyan Arthasastra |date=1998 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers and Distributors |isbn=81-7156-733-9 |location=New Delhi |oclc=71205138}}</ref> and also invasions and foreign rule of the northwestern Indian Subcontinent which brought in new political entities.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|pp=9–10}} This was overcome by providing new services{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2015|p=2}} and incorporating the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan religious heritage of the eastern Ganges plain and local religious traditions, giving rise to contemporary Hinduism.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|pp=9–10}}<ref group=web name="EB_Vedic religion" />{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995}}{{sfn|Heesterman|2005|pp=9552–9553}}{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}} This "new Brahmanism" appealed to rulers, who were attracted to the supernatural powers and the practical advice Brahmins could provide,{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2015|p=2}} and resulted in a resurgence of Brahmanical influence, dominating Indian society since the classical Age of Hinduism in the early centuries CE.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2016|pp=9–10}}

==== Modern usage ==== Nowadays, the term Brahmanism, used interchangeably with ''Brahminism'', is used in several ways. It denotes the specific Brahmanical rituals and worldview as preserved in the Śrauta ritual, as distinct from the wide range of popular cultic activity with little connection with them. Brahminism also refers specifically to the Brahminical ideology, which sees Brahmins as naturally privileged people entitled to rule and dominate society.<ref>{{cite Q|Q108732338|url=https://www.hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/glossary#brahmanism}}</ref> The term is frequently used by anti-Brahmin opponents, who object to their domination of Indian society and their exclusivist ideology.<ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hindutva-is-nothing-but-brahminism/215089 'Hindutva Is Nothing But Brahminism'], ''Outlook'', 5 April 2002.</ref> They follow the outline of 19th-century colonial rulers, who viewed India's culture as corrupt and degenerate, and its population as irrational. In this view, derived from a Christian understanding of religion, the original "God-given religion" was corrupted by priests, in this case Brahmins, and their religion, "Brahminism", which was supposedly imposed on the Indian population.<ref name="Gelders_Delders_2003">Raf Gelders, Willem Delders (2003),[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262123666_Mantras_of_Anti-Brahmanism_Colonial_Experience_of_Indian_Intellectuals Mantras of Anti-Brahmanism: Colonial Experience of Indian Intellectuals], Economic and Political Weekly 38(43):4611–4617. DOI:10.2307/4414197</ref> Reformist Hindus, and others such as Ambedkar, structured their criticism along similar lines.<ref name="Gelders_Delders_2003"/>

==Textual history== [[File:Isapur_sacrificial_pillar_of_Vasishka.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|A Yupa sacrificial post of the time of Vasishka, 3rd century CE. Isapur, near Mathura. Mathura Museum.]] Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, but the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and some of the older Upanishads{{efn|Upanishads thought to date from the Vedic period are Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana.}} are also placed in this period. The Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices. These texts are also considered as a part of the scripture of contemporary Hinduism.<ref name="Goodall2001ix">{{cite book |first=Dominic |last=Goodall |title=Hindu Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKUteclXOK8C |year=2001 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1770-8 |pages=ix–xx}}</ref> <blockquote> <poem> Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it? Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen? — Nasadiya Sukta, ''Rig Veda'', 10:129-6<ref name="Kramer1986">{{cite book |first=Kenneth |last=Kramer |title=World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions |url=https://archive.org/details/worldscripturesi0000kram |url-access=registration |date=January 1986 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=978-0-8091-2781-8 |pages=34ff}}</ref><ref name="Christian2011">{{cite book |author=David Christian |title=Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RdVmDjwTtQC&pg=PA18 |date=1 September 2011 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-95067-2 |pages=18ff}}</ref>{{sfn|Singh|2008|pp=206ff}} </poem> </blockquote>

==Characteristics== {{See also|Proto-Indo-Iranian religion}}

The idea of reincarnation, or saṃsāra, is not mentioned in the early layers of the historic Vedic religion texts such as the ''Rigveda''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=A. M. |last=Boyer |title=Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara |journal=Journal Asiatique |year=1901 |volume=9 |issue=18 |pages=451–453, 459–468}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Yuvraj |last=Krishan |title=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |year=1997 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |isbn=978-81-208-1233-8}}</ref> The later layers of the ''Rigveda'' do mention ideas that suggest an approach towards the idea of rebirth, according to Ranade.{{sfn|Laumakis |2008|pp=90–99}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926.djvu/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926#page/n181/mode/2up |title=A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy |first=R. D. |last=Ranade |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |year=1926 |pages=147–148 |quote=... in certain other places [of Rigveda], an approach is being made to the idea of Transmigration. ... There we definitely know that the whole hymn is address to a departed spirit, and the poet [of the Rigvedic hymn] says that he is going to recall the departed soul in order that it may return again and live.}}</ref>

The early layers of the Vedas do not mention the doctrine of Karma and rebirth, but mention the belief in an afterlife.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=90}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w7LtAgAAQBAJ |title=Circulation of Fire in the Veda |author=Atsushi Hayakawa |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2014 |isbn=978-3-643-90472-0 |pages=66–67, 101–103}}</ref> According to Sayers, these earliest layers of the Vedic literature show ancestor worship and rites such as ''sraddha'' (offering food to the ancestors). The later Vedic texts, such as the ''Aranyakas'' and the ''Upanisads'' show a different soteriology based on reincarnation, they show little concern with ancestor rites, and they begin to philosophically interpret the earlier rituals.<ref>{{cite book |first=Matthew R. |last=Sayers |title=Feeding the Dead: Ancestor worship in ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AOBwiZBjRMC |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-989643-1 |pages=1–9}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |first=Matthew Rae |last=Sayers |title=Feeding the ancestors: ancestor worship in ancient Hinduism and Buddhism |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Texas |url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/3945 |page=12}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |editor-last=McGovern |editor-first=Nathan |date=1 November 2015 |title=Feeding the Dead: Ancestor worship in ancient India |first=Matthew R. |last=Sayers |url=https://academic.oup.com/jhs/article/8/3/336/2358466| journal=The Journal of Hindu Studies |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=336–338 |doi=10.1093/jhs/hiv034 |issn=1756-4255|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The idea of reincarnation and karma have roots in the Upanishads of the late Vedic period, predating the Buddha and the Mahavira.<ref name="damienkeown32">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QXX0Uq29aoC |title=Buddhism: A very short introduction |first=Damien |last=Keown |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-966383-5|pages=28, 32–38}}</ref>{{sfn|Laumakis|2008}} Similarly, the later layers of the Vedic literature such as the ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' ({{Circa}} 800 BCE) – such as in section 4.4 – discuss the earliest versions of the Karma doctrine as well as causality.<ref name="Tull1989p2">{{cite book |first=Herman Wayne |last=Tull |title=The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as man in ancient Indian myth and ritual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auqGWz2l9pYC |year=1989 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-0094-4 |pages=1–3, 11–12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/quotes/brihadaranyaka-upanishad-4-4-5-6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413042723/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/quotes/brihadaranyaka-upanishad-4-4-5-6 |archive-date=13 April 2013 |title=Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5–6 |department=Berkley Center for Religion Peace & World Affairs |publisher=Georgetown University |year=2012}}</ref>

The ancient Vedic religion lacked the belief in reincarnation and concepts such as Saṃsāra or Nirvana. It was a complex animistic religion with polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. Ancestor worship was an important, maybe the central component, of the ancient Vedic religion. Elements of the ancestors cult are still common in modern Hinduism in the form of Śrāddha.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sayers|first=Matthew R.|date=2015|title=The Śrāddha: The Development of Ancestor Worship in Classical Hinduism|journal=Religion Compass|language=en|volume=9|issue=6|pages=182–197|doi=10.1111/rec3.12155|issn=1749-8171}}</ref>

According to Olivelle, some scholars state that the renouncer tradition was an "organic and logical development of ideas found in the Vedic religious culture", while others state that these emerged from the "indigenous non-Aryan population". This scholarly debate is a longstanding one, and is ongoing.{{sfn|Flood|2008|p=273}}

===Rituals=== {{Main|Yajurveda|yajna}} [[Image:Yajna1.jpg|thumb|A Śrauta yajna being performed in Kerala]]

Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others:<ref name="Prasoon">{{cite book |last=Prasoon |first=Shrikant |title=Indian Scriptures |publisher=Pustak Mahal |date=11 August 2010 |chapter=Ch. 2, Vedang, Kalp |isbn=978-81-223-1007-8}}</ref>{{verify source|date=August 2018}} *Fire rituals involving oblations (havir): **The Agnyadheya, or installation of the fire<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Renou|first=Louis |author-link=Louis Renou|title=Vedic India|publisher=Susil Gupta|year=1947|pages=101–110}}</ref> **The Agnihotra or oblation to Agni, a sun charm<ref name=":12" /> **The Darshapurnamsa, the new and full moon sacrifices<ref name=":12" /> **The four seasonal (Cāturmāsya) sacrifices<ref name=":12" /> **The Agnicayana, the sophisticated ritual of piling the fire altar<ref name=":12" /> *The Pashubandhu, the (semi-)annual animal sacrifice<ref name=":12" /> *The Soma rituals, which involved the extraction, utility and consumption of Soma:<ref name=":12" /> **The Jyotishtoma<ref name=":12" /> ***The Agnishtoma<ref name=":12" /> ****The Pravargya (originally an independent rite, later absorbed into the soma rituals)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Jamison|first1=Stephanie|title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India|last2=Brereton|first2=Joel|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|pages=32}}</ref> ***The Ukthya<ref name=":12" /> ***The Sodashin<ref name=":12" /> ***The Atyagnishtoma<ref name=":12" /> ***The Atiratra<ref name=":12" /> ***The Aptoryama<ref name=":12" /> ***The Vajapeya<ref name=":12" /> *The royal consecration (Rajasuya) sacrifice *The Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice) or a Yajna dedicated to the glory, wellbeing and prosperity of the kingdom or empire<ref name="Griffith 1987"/> *The Purushamedha<ref name=":12" /> *The rituals and charms referred to in the Atharvaveda are concerned with medicine and healing practices<ref>{{cite book |last=Bloomfield |first=Maurice |title=Hymns of the Atharva Veda |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |date=1 June 2004 |pages=1–8 |isbn=1419125087}}</ref> *The Gomedha or cow sacrifice: **The Taittiriya Brahmana of the Yajur Veda gives instructions for selecting the cow for the sacrifice depending on the deity.<ref name=gomedha>{{cite book|title=The Vedas: With Illustrative Extracts|translator1=Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith |translator2=T. B. Griffith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtpcpsZEiYMC&pg=PA52|publisher=Book Tree, 2003|pages=56–57|isbn=9781585092239 |year=2003 }}</ref> **Panchasaradiya sava – celebration where 17 cows are immolated once every five years. The Taittiriya Brahmana advocates the Panchasaradiya for those who want to be great.<ref name=gomedha/> **Sulagava – sacrifice where roast beef is offered. It is mentioned in the Grihya Sutra<ref name=gomedha/> **According to Dr. R. Mitra, the offered animal was intended for consumption as detailed in the Asvalayana Sutra. The Gopatha Brahmana lists the different individuals who are to receive the various parts like Pratiharta (neck and hump), the Udgatr, the Neshta, the Sadasya, the householder who performs the sacrifice (the two right feet), his wife (the two left feet) and so on.<ref name=gomedha/>

The Hindu rites of cremation are seen since the Rigvedic period; while they are attested from early times in the Cemetery H culture, there is a late Rigvedic reference invoking forefathers "both cremated (''agnidagdhá-'') and uncremated (''ánagnidagdha-'')". (RV 10.15.14)

===Pantheon=== {{Main|Rigvedic deities}} [[File:Bangkok Wat Arun Phra Prang Indra Erawan.jpg|thumb|right|Detail of the Phra Prang, the central tower of the Wat Arun ("Temple of Dawn") in Bangkok, Thailand, showing the ancient Vedic god Indra and three-headed Erawan (Airavata).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}]]

Though a large number of names for devas occur in the Rigveda, only 33 devas are counted, eleven each of earth, space, and heaven.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Singhal, K. C. |author2=Gupta, Roshan |title=The Ancient History of India |chapter=Vedic period: A new interpretation |publisher=Atlantic Publishers and Distributors |isbn=8126902868 |page=150|year=2003 }}</ref> The Vedic pantheon knows two classes, Devas and Asuras. The Devas (Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga, Amsa, etc.) are deities of cosmic and social order, from the universe and kingdoms down to the individual. The Rigveda is a collection of hymns to various deities, most notably heroic Indra, Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods, and Soma, the deified sacred drink of the Indo-Iranians.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |article-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haoma-i |article=Haoma i. Botany |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica }}</ref> Also prominent is Varuna (often paired with Mitra) and the group of "All-gods", the Vishvadevas.<ref>{{cite book |author=Renou, Louis |title=L'Inde Classique |volume=1 |page=328 |series=Librairie d'Ameriqe et d'Orient |place=Paris |orig-year=1947 |year=1985 |isbn=2-7200-1035-9}}</ref>

===Sages=== {{See also|Timeline of Eastern philosophers#Vedic Period}}

In the Hindu tradition, the revered sages of this era were Yajnavalkya,<ref name=staal3>{{cite book |first=Frits |last=Staal |author-link=Frits Staal |title=Discovering the Vedas: Origins, mantras, rituals, insights |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcE23SjLX8sC&pg=PA3 |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-309986-4 |pages=3, 365}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Patrick |last=Olivelle |title=The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu scriptures on asceticism and renunciation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fB8uneM7q1cC |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536137-7|pages=92, 140–146}}</ref> Atharvan,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=48}}</ref> Atri,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=49}}</ref> Bharadvaja,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |pages=66–67}}</ref> Gautama Maharishi, Jamadagni,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=175}}</ref> Kashyapa,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |pages=200–201}}</ref> Vasistha,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |pages=447–448}}</ref> Bhrigu,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC |year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=74}}</ref> Kutsa,<ref>{{cite book |first=Roshen |last=Dalal |title=Hinduism: An alphabetical guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC|year=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341421-6 |page=218}}</ref> Pulastya, Kratu, Pulaha, Vishwamitra Narayana, Kanva, Rishabha, Vamadeva, and Angiras.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

===Ethics – satya and rta=== {{See also|Asha|ṛta}}

Ethics in the Vedas are based on concepts like ''satya'' and ''ṛta''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=us79wQEACAAJ&q=ethics+and+vedic|title=Vedic Cosmology and Ethics: Selected Studies|last=Bodewitz|first=Henk W.|date=2019|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-39864-1|language=en}}</ref>

In the Vedas and later sutras, the meaning of the word satya ({{linktext|सत्य}}) evolves into an ethical concept about truthfulness and is considered an important virtue.<ref name="knt">{{cite book |first=K. N. |last=Tiwari |year=1998 |title=Classical Indian Ethical Thought |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-8120816077 |page=87}}</ref><ref>A Dhand (2002), The dharma of ethics, the ethics of dharma: Quizzing the ideals of Hinduism, Journal of Religious Ethics, 30(3), pages 347–372</ref> It means being true and consistent with reality in one's thought, speech and action.<ref name="knt" />

Vedic {{IAST|ṛtá}} and its Avestan equivalent {{lang|ae|aša}} are both thought by some to derive from Proto-Indo-Iranian ''*Hr̥tás'' "truth",<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asa-means-truth-in-avestan |title=AṦA (Asha "Truth") |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica|access-date=21 February 2013 }}</ref> which in turn may continue from a possible Proto-Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₂r-tós}} "properly joined, right, true", from a presumed root {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₂er-}}. The derivative noun ''ṛta'' is defined as "fixed or settled order, rule, divine law or truth".<ref>Monier-Williams (1899:223b)</ref> As Mahony (1998) notes, however, the term can be translated as "that which has moved in a fitting manner" – although this meaning is not actually cited by authoritative Sanskrit dictionaries it is a regular derivation from the verbal root -, and abstractly as "universal law" or "cosmic order", or simply as "truth".<ref>Mahony (1998:3).</ref> The latter meaning dominates in the Avestan cognate to ''Ṛta'', ''aša''.<ref>Oldenberg (1894) p 30. Cf. also Thieme (1960) p 308.</ref>

Owing to the nature of Vedic Sanskrit, the term ''Ṛta'' can be used to indicate numerous things, either directly or indirectly, and both Indian and European scholars have experienced difficulty in arriving at fitting interpretations for ''Ṛta'' in all of its various usages in the Vedas, though the underlying sense of "ordered action" remains universally evident.<ref>Cf. Ramakrishna (1965) pp. 45–46</ref>

The term is also found in the Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples.<ref name="DG_1963_46">{{harvnb|Duchesne-Guillemin|1963|p=46}}.</ref> The term ''dharma'' was already used in the later Brahmanical thoughts, where it was conceived as an aspect of ''ṛta''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Day, Terence P. |year=1982 |title=The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature |place=Ontario |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |pages=42–45 |isbn=0-919812-15-5}}</ref>

===Vedic mythology=== The central myth at the base of Vedic ritual surrounds Indra who, inebriated by Soma, slays the dragon (''ahi'') Vritra, freeing the rivers, the cows, and Dawn.

Vedic mythology contains numerous elements which are common to Indo-European mythological traditions, like the mythologies of Persia, Greece, and Rome, and those of the Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, and Slavic peoples. The Vedic god Indra in part corresponds to Dyaus Pitar, the Sky Father, Zeus, Jupiter, Thor and Tyr, or Perun. The deity Yama, the lord of the dead, is hypothesized to be related to Yima of Persian mythology. Vedic hymns refer to these and other deities, often 33, consisting of 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas, and in the late Rigvedas, Prajapati. These deities belong to the 3 regions of the universe or heavens, the earth, and the intermediate space.

Some major deities of the Vedic tradition include Indra, Dyaus, Surya, Agni, Ushas, Vayu, Varuna, Mitra, Aditi, Yama, Soma, Sarasvati, Prithvi, and Rudra.<ref name = AAM>{{cite book |author=Macdonell, A.A. |title=Vedic Mythology |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |year=1995 |isbn=81-208-1113-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b7Meabtj8mcC |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Post-Vedic religions== thumb|The hymn 10.85 of the ''Rigveda'' includes the Vivaha-sukta (above). Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals.<ref>{{cite journal |first=N. |last=Singh |year=1992 |title=The vivaha (marriage) Samskara as a paradigm for religio-cultural integration in Hinduism |journal=Journal for the Study of Religion |volume=5 |number=1 |pages=31–40|jstor=24764135 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Swami |last=Vivekananda |title=Prabuddha Bharata |trans-title=Awakened India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJjXAAAAMAAJ|year=2005 |publisher=Prabuddha Bharata Press |pages=362, 594|isbn=9788178231686 }}</ref>

The Vedic period is held to have ended around {{nobr|500 BCE.}} The period between {{Nowrap|800–200 BCE}} is the formative period for later Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|pp=36-38}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|pp=82, 224–49}} According to Michaels, the period between {{Nowrap|500-200 BCE}} is a time of "ascetic reformism",{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=36}} while the period between {{Nowrap|200 BCE–1100 CE}} is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there was "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=38}} Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between {{Nowrap|800–200 BCE}}, which he calls the ''"classical period"'', when "traditional religious practices and beliefs were reassessed. The Brahmins and the rituals they performed no longer enjoyed the same prestige they had in the Vedic period".{{sfn|Muesse|2003|p=115}}

Brahmanism evolved into Hinduism, which is significantly different from the preceding Brahmanism,{{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"}} though "it is also convenient to have a single term for the whole complex of interrelated traditions."{{sfn|Sullivan |2001|p=9}} The transition from ancient Brahmanism to schools of Hinduism was a form of evolution in interaction with non-Vedic traditions. This transition preserved many central ideas and theosophy found in the Vedas while synergistically integrating non-Vedic ideas.{{sfn|Bronkhorst|2007}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010}}{{sfn|Witzel|1995}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Mircea |last=Eliade |series=History of Religious Ideas |volume=2 |title=From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EumnAwAAQBAJ |year=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-02735-7 |pages=44–46 }}</ref>{{efn|name="Synthesis"|Scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|p=12}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010|p=193}} of various Indian cultures and traditions,{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|p=12}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=16}} with diverse roots and no single founder.{{sfn|Osborne|2005|p=9}} Among its roots are the Vedic religion{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=16}} of the late Vedic period and its emphasis on the status of Brahmans,{{sfn|Samuel|2010|p=48-53}} but also the religions of the Indus Valley civilisation,{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2007|p=3}} the Sramana{{sfn|Gomez|2013|p=42}} or renouncer traditions{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=16}} of east India,{{sfn|Gomez|2013|p=42}} and "popular or local traditions".{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=16}} This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between {{circa|500{{sfn|Hiltebeitel |2007|p=12}} – {{nobr|200{{sfn|Larson|2009}} {{sc|BCE}}}}}} and {{circa|{{nobr|300 {{sc|BCE}},}}}}{{sfn|Hiltebeitel |2007|p=12}} in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early Hindu synthesis, and later classical Hinduism ({{circa|{{nobr|200 {{sc|BCE}}}} – {{nobr|1200 {{sc|CE}}}} }})|classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Purānas were composed.{{sfn|Hiltebeitel |2007|p=12}}{{sfn|Larson|2009}}}} While part of Hinduism, Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hinduism share their concern with escape from the suffering of existence with Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mircea |last=Eliade |series=History of Religious Ideas |volume=2 |title=From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EumnAwAAQBAJ |year=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-02735-7 |pages=49–54 }}</ref>

===Continuation of orthodox ritual=== {{Main|Śrauta}} According to Axel Michaels, the Vedic gods declined but did not disappear, and local cults were assimilated into the Vedic-Brahmanic pantheon, which changed into the Hindu pantheon. Deities such as Shiva and Vishnu became more prominent and gave rise to Shaivism and Vaishnavism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=40}}

According to David Knipe, some communities in India have preserved and continue to practice portions of the historical Vedic religion, as observed in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh states and elsewhere.{{sfn|Knipe|2015 |pp=41–45, 220–223}} According to the historian and Sanskrit linguist Michael Witzel, some of the rituals of the Kalash people have elements of the historical Vedic religion, but there are also some differences such as the presence of fire next to the altar instead of "in the altar" as in the Vedic religion.<ref name=Witzel2004>{{cite book |last=Witzel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Witzel |year=2004 |section=Kalash religion (extract from ''The Ṛgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents'' ...) |editor1-first=A. |editor1-last=Griffiths |editor2-first=J.E.M. |editor2-last=Houben |title=The Vedas: Texts, language, and ritual |place=Groningen |publisher=Forsten |pages=581–636 |section-url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf |url-status=usurped |access-date=2025-08-21 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119022720/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-19 }}</ref><ref name=Witzel_Kalasha>{{cite web |last=Witzel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Witzel |year=2004 |title=§1.5  The Hindukush area: Nuristanis and Dards |department=Kalasha religion |at=1.5.2 Ritual (p. 5 in PDF) |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf |url-status=usurped |access-date=2025-08-21 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119022720/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KalashaReligion.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-19 |quote=Extract from: ''The Ṛgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents''. A. Griffiths & J.E.M. Houben (eds.). The Vedas: Texts, Language and Ritual. Groningen: Forsten 2004: 581-636 }}</ref>

===Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta=== Mīmāṃsā philosophers argue that there was no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there was no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a god to validate the rituals.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religious Truth |first=Robert |last=Neville |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThLR13JpCWsC |page=51|isbn=9780791447789 |date=2001|publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref> Mīmāṃsā argues that the gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the ''mantras'' that speak their names. To that regard, the power of the mantras is what is seen as the power of gods.<ref>{{cite book |title=The perfectibility of human nature in eastern and western thought |author-first=Harold |author-last=Coward |author-link=Harold Coward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkE_8uch5P0C |page=114|isbn=9780791473368 |date=2008|publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref>

Of the continuation of the Vedic tradition in the Upanishads, Fowler writes the following: {{cquote|Despite the radically different nature of the Upanishads in relation to the ''Vedas'' it has to be remembered that the material of both form the ''Veda'' or "knowledge" which is ''sruti'' literature. So the ''Upanishads'' develop the ideas of the ''Vedas'' beyond their ritual formalism and should not be seen as isolated from them. The fact that the Vedas that are more particularly emphasized in the Vedanta: the efficacy of the Vedic ritual is not rejected, it is just that there is a search for the Reality that informs it.<ref>{{cite book |page=46 |title=Perspectives of Reality: An introduction to the philosophy of Hinduism |first=Jeaneane D. |last=Fowler}}</ref>}}

The Upanishads gradually evolved into Vedanta, which is one of the primary schools of thought within Hinduism. Vedanta considers itself "the purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas".<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert E. |last=Hume  |publisher=Random House |title=The American College Dictionary |year=1966 |quote=[Vedānta] is concerned with the end of the Vedas, both chronologically and teleologically.}}</ref>

===Sramana tradition=== {{Main|Śramaṇa|Jainism|Buddhism|Ājīvika}}

The non-Vedic śramaṇa traditions existed alongside Brahmanism.<ref name="S. Cromwell Crawford 1972">{{cite book |first=S. Cromwell |last=Crawford |chapter=review of L. M. Joshi, ''Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism'' |title=Philosophy East and West |year=1972}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Kalghatgi, Dr. T.G. |year=1988 |title=Study of Jainism |publisher=Prakrit Bharti Academy |place=Jaipur}}</ref>{{efn|Cromwell: "Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its roots going back to prehistoric times."<ref name="S. Cromwell Crawford 1972" />}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Y. |last=Masih |year=2000 |title=A Comparative Study of Religions |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |place=Delhi, IN |isbn=81-208-0815-0 |page=18 |quote=There is no evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever subscribed to Vedic sacrifices, Vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native religions of India and have contributed ... much to the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present times.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=P.S. |last=Jaini |year=1979 |title=The Jaina Path to Purification |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |place=Delhi, IN |page=169 |quote=Jainas themselves have no memory of a time when they fell within the Vedic fold. Any theory that attempts to link the two traditions, moreover fails to appreciate rather distinctive and very non-Vedic character of Jaina cosmology, soul theory, karmic doctrine and atheism.}}</ref> These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but movements with mutual influences with Brahmanical traditions,<ref name="S. Cromwell Crawford 1972"/> reflecting "the cosmology and anthropology of a much older, pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India".{{sfn|Zimmer|1989|p=217}} Jainism and Buddhism evolved out of the Shramana tradition.<ref>{{cite book |author=Svarghese, Alexander P. |year=2008 |title=India : History, religion, vision and contribution to the world |pages=259–260}}</ref>

There are Jaina references to 22 prehistoric tirthankaras. In this view, Jainism peaked at the time of Mahavira (traditionally put in the {{nobr|6th century BCE).}}<ref>{{cite book |first1=Helmuth |last1=von Glasenapp |first2=Shridhar B. |last2=Shrotri |year=1999 |title=Jainism: An Indian religion of salvation |page=24 |quote=Thus not only nothing, from the philosophical and the historical point of view, comes in the way of the supposition that Jainism was established by Parsva around {{nobr|800 {{sc|BCE}},}} but it is rather confirmed in everything that we know of the spiritual life of that period. }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dundas |first=Paul |year=2002 |title=The Jains |page=17 |quote=Jainism, then, was in origin merely one component of a north Indian ascetic culture that flourished in the Ganges basin from around the 8th or {{nobr|7th centuries {{sc|BCE}}.}} }}</ref> Buddhism, traditionally put from {{circa|500 BCE,}} declined in India over the 5th to 12th centuries in favor of Puranic Hinduism<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Buddhism |year=2009 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica  |edition=Online Library}}</ref> and Islam.<ref>{{cite book |pages=78–83 |title=Freeing the Buddha: Diversity on a sacred path – large scale concerns |first=Brian |last=Ruhe}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=110 |title=A text book of the history of Theravāda Buddhism |first=K.T.S. |last=Sarao |publisher=University of Delhi |department=Dept. of Buddhist Studies}}</ref>

==See also== {{EB1911 poster|Brahmanism}} {{col div|colwidth=30em}} * Pushyamitra Shunga * Ancient Iranian religion * Hinduism in Iran * Iranian mythology * Rishikesh Complex of Ruru Kshetra – Vedic ritual site in Nepal * Vedic priesthood * ''A Vedic Word Concordance'' * Zoroastrianism {{colend}}

==Notes== {{notelist|99em|refs=   {{efn|name="BMAC"|BMAC-influences: * {{harvtxt|Beckwith|2011|p=32}}: "Although the Indo-Europeans settled in new lands, in some cases (such as Greece) evidently by conquest, they did not always dominate the local people in the beginning. Instead, they often served the local peoples as mercenary warriors, or came under their domination in general. In either case, the Indo-European migrants–who were mostly men–married local women and, by mixing with them, developed their distinctive creole dialect features. The most influential of the new dialects was Proto-Indo-Iranian, the speakers of which appear to have been influenced linguistically by a non-Indo-European people from whom the Indo-Iranians borrowed their distinctive religious beliefs and practices. The locus of this convergence is increasingly thought to have been the area of the advanced, non-Indo-European-speaking Bactria–Margiana Culture's centred on what is now northwestern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan. The other Indo-Europeans developed different dialects and beliefs under the influence of other non-Indo-European languages and cultures." * {{harvtxt|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}} states that at least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma, which was "probably borrowed from the BMAC religion." * {{harvtxt|Anthony|2007|p=454}}: "Many of the qualities of the Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the ''Rigveda''. He was associated more than any other deity with ''Soma'', a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from ''Ephedra'') probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers."{{pb}}}}   {{efn|name="Vedic Hinduism"|Scholars such as Jan Gonda have used the term '''ancient Hinduism''', distinguishing it from "recent Hinduism". {{harvtxt|Jamison|Witzel|1992|p=3}} use the term "Vedic Hinduism," but state:"... to call this period Vedic Hinduism is a ''contradictio in terminis'' since Vedic religion is very different from what we generally call Hindu religion – at least as much as Old Hebrew religion is from medieval and modern Christian religion. However, Vedic religion is treatable as a predecessor of Hinduism". {{harvtxt|Michaels|2004|p=38}} also emphasizes the differences: "The legacy of the Vedic religion in Hinduism is generally overestimated. The influence of the mythology is indeed great, but the religious terminology changed considerably: all the key terms of Hinduism either do not exist in Vedic or have a completely different meaning. The religion of the Veda does not know the ethicised migration of the soul with retribution for acts (''karma''), the cyclical destruction of the world, or the idea of salvation during one's lifetime (''jivanmukti; moksa; nirvana''); the idea of the world as illusion (''maya'') must have gone against the grain of ancient India, and an omnipotent creator god emerges only in the late hymns of the rgveda. Nor did the Vedic religion know a caste system, the burning of widows, the ban on remarriage, images of gods and temples, Puja worship, Yoga, pilgrimages, vegetarianism, the holiness of cows, the doctrine of stages of life (''asrama''), or knew them only at their inception. Thus, it is justified to see a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions." See also {{harvtxt|Halbfass|1991|pp=1–2}} The [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77141/Brahmanism ''Encyclopædia Britannica''] explains that from the Vedic religion emerged '''Brahmanism''', a religious tradition of ancient India. It states, "Brahmanism emphasized the rites performed by, and the status of, the Brahman, or priestly, class as well as speculation about Brahman (the Absolute reality) as theorized in the Upanishads (speculative philosophical texts that are considered to be part of the Vedas, or scriptures)." From Brahmanism developed Hinduism, when it was synthesized, around the start of the Common Era, with the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan religious heritage of the eastern Ganges plain and with local religious traditions; see {{harvnb|Witzel|1995}}; {{harvnb|Hiltebeitel|2002}}; {{harvnb|Samuel|2010}}; {{harvnb|Welbon|2004}}; {{harvnb|Bronkhorst|2007}}.}} }}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

== Sources == ===Printed sources=== {{refbegin}}  * {{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Michael S.|title=The Ocean of Inquiry: Niscaldas and the Premodern Origins of Modern Hinduism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=9780197638989}} * {{Cite book |last=Anthony |first=David W. |title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. How Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2007}}  * {{Cite book |last=Basham |first=Arthur Llewellyn |author-link=Arthur Llewellyn Basham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aqgTYlhLikC&q=history+of+hinduism |title=The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780195073492}} * {{Cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |title=Empires of the Silk Road. A history of central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2011}} * {{Cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |title=Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004157194}}  * {{Cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |title=History and Religion:Narrating a Religious Past |publisher=Walter deGruyter |year=2015 |editor-last=Otto |chapter=The historiography of Brahmanism |editor-last2=Rau |editor-last3=Rupke}} * {{Cite book |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309179849 |title=How the Brahmains Won |publisher=BRILL |year=2016}} * {{Cite journal |last=Bronkhorst |first=Johannes |year=2017 |title=Brahmanism: Its place in ancient Indian society |url=https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_9E92BE209619 |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=361–369 |doi=10.1177/0069966717717587 |s2cid=220050987}} * {{Cite book |last=Bryant |first=Edwin |title=The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan migration debate |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001}} * {{Cite book |title=The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=0-7007-1463-4 |editor-last=Bryant |editor-first=Edwin F. |editor-link=Edwin Bryant (author) |location=London |editor-last2=Patton |editor-first2=Laurie L.}}  * {{Cite journal |last=Duchesne-Guillemin |first=Jacques |date=Summer 1963 |title=Heraclitus and Iran |journal=History of Religions |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=34–49 |doi=10.1086/462470 |s2cid=62860085}}  * {{Cite book |last=Flood |first=Gavin D. |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book |last=Flood |first=Gavin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBxa-MNqA8C |title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2008 |isbn=9780470998687}} * {{Cite book |last=Flood |first=Gavin |title=Hindu Monotheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2020}}  * {{Citation |last=Gomez |first=Luis O. |title=The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture |year=2013 |editor-last=Kitagawa |editor-first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fyzAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |chapter=Buddhism in India |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136875908}}  * {{Cite book |last=Halbfass |first=Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5fImMZMqNIC |title=Tradition and Reflection |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1991 |isbn=9780791403617}} * {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2005 |title=Vedism and Brahmanism |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=Macmillan Reference |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000unse_v8f2 |last=Heesterman |first=Jan |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |edition=2nd |volume=14 |pages=9552–9553 |isbn=0-02-865733-0 |url-access=registration}} * {{Cite book |last=Hiltebeitel |first=Alf |author-link=Alf Hiltebeitel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfyzAAAAQBAJ |title=The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, history, and culture |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=9781136875977 |editor-last=Kitagawa |editor-first=Joseph |chapter=Hinduism}} * {{Cite book |last=Hiltebeitel |first=Alf |author-link=Alf Hiltebeitel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fyzAAAAQBAJ |title=The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=9781136875908 |editor-last=Kitagawa |editor-first=Joseph |edition=Digital printing |chapter=Hinduism}}  * {{Cite web |last1=Jamison |first1=Stephanie |last2=Witzel |first2=Michael |year=1992 |title=Vedic Hinduism |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031005091549/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/vedica.pdf |archive-date=2003-10-05 |access-date=4 August 2018 |publisher=Harvard University}}   * {{Cite book |last=Knipe |first=David M. |title=Vedic Voices: Intimate narratives of a living Andhra tradition |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |location=Oxford, UK}} * {{Citation |last=Kuz'mina |first=Elena Efimovna |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |year=2007 |editor-last=J. P. Mallory |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004160545 |author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |editor-link=J. P. Mallory}}  * {{Cite book |last=Larson |first=Gerald James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34vGv_HDGG8C |title=World Religions in America: An Introduction |publisher=John Knox Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-61164-047-2 |location=Westminster |pages=179–198 |chapter=Hinduism}} * {{Cite book |last=Laumakis |first=Stephen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_29ZDAcUEwYC |title=An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy |date=21 February 2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139469661 |language=en}}  * {{Cite book |last1=Mallory |title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World |last2=Adams |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006}} * {{Cite book |last=Mannathukkaren |first=Nissim |title=Hindu Nationalism in South India: The Rise of Saffron in Kerala |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2024}} * {{Cite book |last1=Melton |first1=Gordon J. |title=Religions of the World: A comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices |last2=Baumann |first2=Martin |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010}} * {{Cite book |last=Michaels |first=Axel |title=Hinduism. Past and present |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2004 |location=Princeton, New Jersey}} * {{Cite book |last=Muesse |first=Mark William |url=http://www.docshut.com/rquv/lectures-on-great-world-religions-hinduism.html |title=Hinduism |year=2003 |series=Great World Religions}}  * {{Citation |last=Osborne |first=E |title=Accessing R.E. Founders & Leaders, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism Teacher's Book Mainstream |year=2005 |publisher=Folens Limited}}  * {{Cite book |last=Samuel |first=Geoffrey |title=The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic religions to the thirteenth century |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010}} * {{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |author-link=Upinder Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA195 |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th century |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0}} * {{Cite book |last=von Stietencron |first=Heinrich |title=Hindu Myth, Hindu History: Religion, art, and politics |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005}} * {{Cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Bruce M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xU4ZdatgRysC&pg=PA9 |title=The A to Z of Hinduism |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8108-4070-6}}  * {{Cite journal |last=Welbon |first=Guy |year=2004 |title=Hindu Beginnings. Assessing the Period 1000 BCE to 300 CE |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/hindu-beginnings-assessing-the-period-1000bce-to-300-ce.pdf |journal=Education About Asia |volume=9 |issue=2}} * {{Cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |title=Kiss of the Yogini |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-226-89483-5 |location=Chicago}} ** {{Cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5RwARVMg2_4C |title=Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Contexts |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780226027838}} * {{Cite journal |last=Witzel |first=Michael |year=1995 |title=Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state |url=http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=EJVS |volume=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611142934/http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0104/ejvs0104article.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2007 |number=4}} * {{Cite book |last=Zimmer |first=Heinrich |title=Phiosophies of India |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1989}} {{refend}}

===Web-sources=== {{reflist|group=web|refs=     <ref name="EB_Vedic religion" group="web">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Vedic religion |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=21 September 2024 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vedic-religion |quote=It [Vedic religion] takes its name from the collections of sacred texts known as the Vedas. Vedism is the oldest stratum of religious activity in India for which there exist written materials. It was one of the major traditions that shaped Hinduism.}}</ref> }}

==Further reading== * {{Citation | last =Bronkhorst | first =Johannes | title =Brahmanism: Its place in ancient Indian society | journal =Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=51 |issue=3 |year=2017 |pages=361–369| doi =10.1177/0069966717717587 | s2cid =220050987 | url =https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_9E92BE209619 |author-link=Johannes Bronkhorst |ref=none}}

==External links== * {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vedic-religion |title=Vedic religion |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=21 September 2024 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mark |first1=Joshua J. |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/The_Vedas/ |title=The Vedas |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |date=9 June 2020 }}

{{Portal bar|Religion|Philosophy|Hinduism|Asia}} {{Hindudharma}} {{Religion topics}} {{History of religions}} {{Paganism}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Vedas Category:Vedic period Category:Ancient Indian religions Category:Historical Vedic religion Category:Indo-Iranian religion