Essay About Indian Culture And Vedic Period

Changes Traditional India 1500-500 Bce
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Febuary 6, 2012
Traditional India
925 Words
Changes in Ancient India (1500-500 BCE)
Indian culture and religion is dynamic and ancient, going back to the beginning
of Civilization. Constant integration occurred in India because of the diverse cultures that
surrounded it. The changes in Indian religion has been caused by many factors from the goal
of “liberation” (moksha), the cynical view of life and the universe (samsara), the law of karma,
and the individualistic rejection of society. As well as the social reasons, there are agricultural
and geographical reasons that changed the society and rituals. The religion evolved from the
early Vedic period (1700 BC-1000 BC), to later Vedic Age (1000 BC to 500 BC) and then to the
rise of Jainism and Buhddhism.
The Aryans, who were originally from the older Indus River culture, were later known
as the creators of the main essence of Indian culture. The main source of information about the
Aryans came from the 4 series of Vedas. Aryans were Nomads ruled by Kings and Priest who
lived in tribes where there primary source of wealth was measured in cattle. Because there was
no currency, cattle was there standard unit of trade. This caused many wars amongst the Aryans.
The Aryans were friends with the Persians and they believed women were inferior.
With the cultivation of rice, use of iron, the renewal of trade in Mesopatamia and the
introduction to coinage from the Persians created a powerful Kingdom in the Ganges Valley. The
power shifted from the Indus rivers to the Ganges. Along with the change in power, the Society
of the Aryan people were also beginning to changed. The cultivation of rice stopped people from
herding cattle and into agriculture of rice. The population of non-Aryans were growing and the
Aryans were becoming worried about losing there power over the non-Aryans. During this time
the Vedas were becoming more vague to the majority of the people because it was composed in
Sanskrit. This gave the Brahmins even more status in society. These changes created the caste
system.
The Brahmins claimed higher status because they were the only ones that could read the
text and so this caused more vagueness in the Vedas so crazy speculations of the Vedas were
being made and in-turn wild rituals were being performed. This caused a number of Indians to be
skeptical of the rituals and so they went to the forest to live as hermits to seek hire knowledge.
These hermits with there philosophical speculations came the Upanishads.
The Upanishads brought a couple key parts to Indian Philosophy, Brahman,
reincarnation, Karma, and dharma. Brahman was a universal spiritual entity. They believed that
the gods were manifestations of Brahman. This would help unify Hinduism because they saw
all the gods as one spirit, Brahman. Reincarnation is the belief that we are reborn over and over
again in different forms depending on our Karma. If you have good karma you will be born as
a high form of life if you have bad karma you will be born with low form of life. The last is
dharma, which is the duty that you are obligated to do in your life. By carrying out your dharma
you will have better Karma and therefor this gave people the hope that they will have a better life
in there