India is the largest democratic country in the world when it comes to religion. The paper tries to examine the Indian culture and its religion. Emphasis will be put on the development of India’s religion, its importance and the components of its culture before the 16 th century.
Development of Religious and Philosophical Ideas
India is characterized by a diversity of religious, philosophical beliefs, ideas, and practices. Hinduism is the ancient and most predominant religion in India and its establishment and development can be associated with the Vedic period. Hinduism was further subdivided into bhakti, Shaktism, Smarta, Shaivism, and Shaurta during the Puranic and Early Medieval period. The two sacred Hindu texts “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana” encouraged a great deal of artistic, literary and musical creations in the following millennials (Trautmann, 2011).
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Buddhism and Jainism are the other two forms of religion that originated in northern India. As early as the 9 th century, Buddha’s followers were hundreds of millions. Many other heterodox religious sects also developed in India during the 6 th century such as Ajivika which was founded by Mahavira’s. Avijikas thought that a person’s destiny was foredetermined hence it cannot be changed (Trautmann, 2011). So many religious contemporaries to Mahavira and Buddha erupted in the 6 th century B.C. Pakuda Katyayana, a preacher taught that a person’s soul was great to good and evil, therefore remains untouchable and unaltered. Pakuda went ahead and categorized everything into seven groups including earth, fire, water, air, pain, gratitude, and soul that were everlasting. Ajita Kesambalin, a contemporary of Buddha did not believe that there is life after death taught only materialistic. He believed that death was the end of all souls.
According to Trautmann, (2011), the Islamic period (1100-1500 CE) resulted in movements like Sikhism in the15th century. This movement was based on the teachings of GuruNanak and 9 consecutive Sikh Gurus in Northern India. The earliest philosophical schools in India were formalized in 1000BCE . Ramanuja and Shankara philosophies were created based on the great India classical darshanas . The era was a prosperous and epic period in the philosophical’s thought of India because of the endurance of its teachings and different opinions (Trautmann, 2011). The philosophy of Svadharma entailed beliefs that after birth, a person should have a job, marry, eat, and give birth to children who will continue this cycle.
Roles of Religion in Indian History
During Hindu ceremonies and festivals majority of its followers interacted and this provided them with mental peace. This is because Hinduism is a diversified religious tradition that has practical expressions and it allowed its followers to worship many gods ranging from Vishnu or Shiva or Krishna or Rama. Religion played a significant role in providing recreation to the people. Festivals and religious rites of Hindus, Christians, and Islam were used to relieve people from mental exertion. Similarly, a collection of hymns, liturgy, bhajans, musical concerts, and kirtans gave people more pleasure and provided them with eternal recreation (Trautmann, 2011).
Religion promoted welfare. Hinduism, Christianity, and Islamic taught their followers to serve the masses and promote their welfare. The ancient Hindus taught of dharma and every Hindu developed the habit of giving to the poor and all other living things (Trautmann, 2011). According to the teachings that Hindus were being taught, any gift given out without any expectation of appreciation had beneficial to both the receipt and the giver and any gift that was given with selfish interests lost its spiritual value.
Religions such as Buddhism taught its followers on how to live harmoniously and through it are four noble truths; suffering is common to everyone, it originates from desire and yearning, suffering is preventable, and suffering can be eradicated by eliminating desires, people learned to preserve the social norms as well as strengthening their social control. These teachings helped to control peoples’ behaviors at different levels (Trautmann, 2011). It also helped to regulate their followers’ activities. Religion helped to promote social solidarity of people. Hindu emphasized universal brotherhood and it viewed the world as one family. The ancient Vedic teachers believed that man was divine in nature and the realization of the supreme truth was the primary goal for humanity.
Components of Traditional Indian Culture
Indian culture is among the ancient cultures in the world. It was formed on a spiritual basis and it is labeled as an amalgamation of several cultures that have been shaped by its history. The origin of India’s traditions and culture can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age between 400,000 and 200, 000 B.C. Before the 1600 century, India had a collection of distinct and unique cultures of all religions and communities that were present (Trautmann, 2011). During this time, people had cave paintings and stone implements.
Pastoralism was introduced by the Aryans who had migrated into India in the second millennium B.C. They also came with prayers, a collection of hymns and liturgy and they were the pioneers of Hinduism. The Aryans had a wide knowledge of mathematics and astronomy which allowed them to acquire military and high technology which allowed them to spread their religious beliefs and social customs around 1,000 B.C. (Trautmann, 2011).
The Indus Valley civilization that occurred between (3300 BCE-1700 BCE) produced many cities marked by great uniformity between Harappa and Lothal sites (Trautmann, 2011). The towns had granaries, water courses, drains, and tanks. Some of the sections of the cities had cylindrical brick wells. Little architectural decorations and art existed and they were in form of seals and terracotta. Most houses in the Indus era had two stories and were made from mud-bricks.
The Harappan culture occurred 6000 B.C. was characterized by cities with large buildings for communal and personal ablution. Living houses were made of bricks with flat-roofs. There were strong administrative and religious centers as well as granaries (Trautmann, 2011). The Harappan life was characterized by extensive agriculture production and trade with Sumer in Mesopotamia. Weapons and tools were made from copper and bronze. People made clothes from cotton, and cultivated wheat, rice, vegetables, and fruits.
Reference s
Trautmann, T. R. (2011). India: Brief History of a Civilization . OUP Catalogue.
