Roots of Hinduism in the Ancient Cultures of India

     Hinduism has been compared to a growing banyan tree, spreading its roots on the earth and sprouting up in many directions—we may not know where it starts or ends, nor did a single person establish it. In the Hindu faith, there are no set parameters, no fixed rules, and no rigid schedules. Hinduism is a vastly liberal religion. In fact, it openly and fervently encourages and tolerates differences of opinion, use of discretion, and interpretation based on one’s own circumstances and perceptions. At the same time, there are some strong ethical principles and rituals that characterize this religion. The great Vedas and Upanishads affirm these principles in an organized compilation. Belief in the authority of these ancient scriptures is one of the chief prerequisites of Hinduism. In light of this, it may appear rather paradoxical to have such opposing attitudes. But in the true spirit of a large family, which it not only resembles but in every sense passionately promotes, Hinduism is like a traditional family.

     Although Hinduism recognizes the Vedic teachings as its basic principles, the roots of this religion go back a long way, much earlier than the inception of the Vedas. The excavations of the Indus-Saraswati civilization, which dates back more than five thousand years, show evidence of the carvings of Shiva in his proto form as Pasupati, the lord of all animal kingdoms, and also in the yoga asana, or yoga positions. There are also carvings of exuberant feminine deities, which would later be known as various forms of the Mother Goddess, Shakti. The naked figurines, in meditative poses of the lotus position and standing kayotsarga (relaxation with self-awareness), are very similar to those later adopted by the Buddha and the Tirthankars (humans who achieve enlightenment) of the Jain religion. These carvings are said to point toward the concepts of God as prevalent in that period. The concepts of yoga and meditation too were probably born in this prehistoric era. These philosophical notions later commingled with those of the Aryans (1500 BCE), who believed in nature gods and worshipped the sun, the moon, fire, wind, the sky, and so on. This led to an exigent feature of Hinduism: it would always remain centered around God rather than one individual or prophet. The Aryans also incorporated the practice of worship with rituals of sacrifice. Later, the idol and the temple concepts of the southern Dravidian culture were assimilated in the emerging Hindu religion. Indeed, adaptation and modification would become the hallmark of the Hindu philosophy.

     The archeological discoveries of India’s ancient civilization are truly mind-boggling. Evidence suggests that the Saraswati and Sindhu (also known as the Indus) rivers originated at the end of the great Ice Age, about ten thousand years ago. It is believed that the colossal civilization along this verdant belt was more widely spread than the civilizations of Egypt or Greece. The Saraswati River ran parallel to the Sindhu River, about two hundred miles east of it. The huge mass of land between the two great rivers developed as the Indus-Saraswati civilization. Names of these two rivers are mentioned repeatedly—perhaps more frequently than other rivers—in the most ancient Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda. This suggests that this civilization was the epicenter of all cultural activity during the period. The Indus-Saraswati civilization reached its zenith in the period between 2500 BCE and 1700 BCE. More than fifteen hundred cities developed on the banks of these two great rivers. In these cities, roads were sixty feet wide, and there were brick and stone two-story houses, large community baths, and excellent gravity-operated drainage systems. There is evidence of art pieces, silk and metal articles, crafts, leather seals, and a large variety of agricultural products and storage facilities. The ancient people of India established reliable marine transport and conducted a trade and cultural relationship with such distant lands as Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Babylon, and others, thus making India an honored member of the earliest group of civilizations on Earth. The seeds of international commerce and money transactions were sown here. It is said that cotton and its textile were first produced in this region, and the art of navigation was born in India six thousand years ago.7 It is noteworthy that in this time period, when mankind still lived in caves in most parts of the world, the people of India were highly advanced. Written script also has been discovered on the seals from this ancient period, although proper deciphering of these writings still remains uncertain. Why and how this once-great civilization disappeared remains speculative. New evidence suggests it was due to the gradual drying up of the Saraswati River because of some structural changes in the north at the Himalayas. India, on the other hand, continued to march ahead and, in fact, remained the wealthiest country in the world until the seventeenth century, despite repeated invasions from outsiders, who plundered and looted her repeatedly.

     Another equally ancient and great civilization was established in the south of India. This became the home of the Dravidian culture, which incorporated Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and other languages of this group. Dravidian culture has its own distinguished history, literature, fine arts, and spiritual heritage. The Dravidian community adopted the emerging Hinduism thought, translating it into its own languages and script. Some also think that there is a link between the Indus-Saraswati civilization and the Dravidian culture, the exact extent of which has not been fully assessed8; others consider the Dravidian a separate ethnic entity. The acceptance of the Vedas as the supreme authority, however, eventually became the melting point of many diverse ethnic cultures toward the formation of Hinduism.

     Historically, Aryans have been credited with the creation of the Vedas. It was believed that the Aryan race came to India around 1500 BCE and named the land of their settlement Aryavartha. Most scholars now discredit the invasion theory and consider these Aryans as returning people of Indian origin, who had gone earlier to spread the message of their ancient culture to many distant lands. Literally, Aryan means “noble.” It is now felt that it only relates to the section of a larger society, which had become more culturally advanced. Indeed a new term, Indo-Aryans, has been coined to indicate this shift in perception.

    In his famous book Return of the Aryans, Bhagwan Gidwani presented a magnificent concept of the origin of Hindu clan in the region of this grand civilization. In the “Song of the Sindhu Hindu,” he lays out the principle of the ancient Indian culture of all-inclusiveness, excluding none from God’s grace whatever his faith. Clearly, it says, “God’s gracious purpose includes all human beings and all Creation, for God is the Creator and God is the Creation, that all are blessed and whatever God you choose he is that God and Dharma, righteousness or good conduct.”9 The seed of plural and infinite Divine was sown in this holy land.

     The ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion, the Vedas, are recognized as the earliest documented literature of mankind. It is affirmed that the Vedas are the very first Hindu scriptures, but the flow of the written word would never stop in Hindu philosophy. In the beginning, many spiritual and moral concepts were devised to help man overcome his fears and problems. Initially, this doctrine was called the Manav Dharma, or the preferred duties of mankind. Later, the name Sanathan Dharma, the eternal religion, came to be associated with it and is still very popular in many places. Hindu sages in fact, perceived religion, or dharma, in a wide sense. Universal or cosmic religion is called rita, which denotes order and harmony; social religion of a community is named as varna dharma, which describes the laws governing a section of people according to their customs and culture; and religion of an individual, swadharma, guides a person to lead life in conformity with one’s personal situation. A Hindu is thus prompted to consider the righteous duty, dharma, as a guideline for all his actions.

     Dharma itself has a wide spectrum of meanings. Literally, it means “something that sustains.” This simple meaning has very practical philosophy in it. Thus, dharma is closely linked to its application in our everyday life. In Hindu philosophy, dharma has come to uphold the cause of righteousness and moral duty. Indeed, the ancient sages of India dedicated themselves entirely to the philosophy of truth and righteousness.

     Over a period of many centuries, Hinduism developed as a territorial concept. In fact, the word Hindu is derived from the word Sindhu, meaning inhabitant of the Sindhu or the Indus River valley. The neighboring people from Persia had difficulty pronouncing the word Sindhu and referred to the people across the river as Hindus. Strangely, the term Hinduism became popular only around the nineteenth century.10 is yet another interpretation of the word Sindhu. In the Rig Veda, the Indian continent, or Bharat, as it was known earlier, is mentioned as Sapta Sindhu; that is, the region of seven great rivers, not just specifically one Sindhu River or Indus River, as mentioned earlier.

     The concept of Hinduism thus has grown out of the mergence of many sects and cultures of different origins, joining together with greater freedom to pursue their individual customs, manners, practices, and languages. It is like a mighty ocean of thought, which has risen from the confluence of many small and large, old and new rivers of philosophy and doctrine. The origin of Hinduism fixedly belongs to India, without contest. Max Muller also confirms “the Vedic religion was the only one the development of which took place without any extraneous influences.”11

     This open-arm approach of tolerance and encouraging and supporting new thoughts and ideas would form the basis of a plural Hindu society. Historian H. G. Wells stated, “Hindu kings actually welcomed Christian missionaries and Muslim fakirs for free exchange
of ideas.”

     In his famous book, Hindu View of Life, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, a very prominent statesman and philosopher of the twentieth century, narrated some interesting anecdotes from this early period of the Hindu religion: Shiva was the God of the Pre-Aryans. [The] breaking of the Shiva’s Bow in the epic of Ramayana is symbolic of the conquest of the Vedic ideals over the Shiva cult. Rama, the fair-colored god, belonged to the Aryan race. Krishna, the dark-colored god, is symbolic of the re-emergence of the Pre-Aryan gods. Krishna’s struggle with the rain god Indra, the prince amongst the Vedic gods, is another instance of these intercultural feuds of the ancient times.12

     Apart from these early mythological tales of symbolic confrontations, Hinduism has remained the most universal religion, a progressive faith that assimilates diverse religious elements with the march of time. Hinduism was born in the cradle of peace; ‘religious persecution was rare’ in its historical growth.13 Civilizations grow with the manure of peace and cooperation, not in the brutalities of war and bloodshed.

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