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The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedicism or Vedism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism,[a] 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 (c. 1500–500 BCE).[3][4][5][6] These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practiced today.[7][8][9] 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.[5][10][a]
The Vedic religion has roots in the Indo-Iranian culture and religion of the Sintashta (c. 2200–1750 BCE) and Andronovo (c. 2000–1150 BCE) cultures of Eurasian Steppe.[11][b] This Indo-Iranian religion borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"[12][c] 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 (c. 1500–1100 BCE) as a variant of Indo-Aryan religion, influenced by the remnants of the late Indus Valley Civilisation (2600–1900 BCE).[13]
During the late Vedic period (c. 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.[1][2][web 1][14][a]
Specific rituals and sacrifices of the Vedic religion include, among others: the Soma rituals; Fire rituals involving oblations (havir); and the Ashvamedha (horse sacrifice).[15][16] The rites of grave burials as well as cremation are seen since the Rigvedic period.[17] Deities emphasized in the Vedic religion include Dyaus, Indra, Agni, Rudra and Varuna, and important ethical concepts include satya and ṛta.
- ^ a b Bronkhorst 2007.
- ^ a b Samuel 2010.
- ^ Heesterman 2005, pp. 9552–9553.
- ^ "Vedic religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. 21 September 2024.
- ^ a b Sullivan 2001, p. 9.
- ^ Samuel 2010, pp. 97–99, 113–118.
- ^ Knipe 2015, pp. 41–45, 220–223.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Witzel2004was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Witzel_Kalashawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Michaels 2004, p. 38.
- ^ Anthony 2007.
- ^ Beckwith 2011, p. 32.
- ^ White 2003.
- ^ Witzel 1995.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Prasoonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Griffith, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin (1987) [1899]. The Texts of the White Yajurveda. Translated with a popular commentary (Reprint ed.). Benaras: E. J. Lazarus and Co. ISBN 81-215-0047-8.
- ^ Stephanie Jamison (2015). The Rigveda — Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 1393, 1399. ISBN 978-0190633394.
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