Brahmanism

BRAHMANISM.

Brahmanism is the orthodox religion of India, the most ancient of all Indo-Germanic faiths of which there is record. In itself the most catholic and elastic of cults, its test is the recognition of the divine authority of the Vedas; its outward sign is reverence for the gods, some of whom are comparatively late and foreign in origin; and, for the Brahmans, its end is emancipation from the sorrow of existence and the misery of reincarnation through reabsorption into the divine essence of the All-Soul.

Brahmanism may be divided into three periods: I. The Age of the Vedas and their Ancillary Literature; II. Brahmanism and the Pantheism of the Upanishads; III. The Age during which the Buddhistic and Jainistic Heresies Prevailed. The two phases which are included in the Brahmanistic counterreformation and rise of the Hindu sects, and modern Hinduism and the unitarian movements are treated under Hinduism.

I. Vedism, the Age of the Vedas and their Ancillary Literature (the Brahmanas and Sutras—the former a sort of Hindu Talmud; the latter brief verses in technical language, a favorite form of expressing rules):

1. The People of the Vedas and their Gods.

At a period of remote antiquity, possibly between 2000 and 1500 B.C., a section of the Indo-Germanic peoples known by various names, of which the most common are Indians and Aryans, broke off from the kindred Iranian stock and wandered southward and eastward through Afghanistan into the Punjab or the "Five Waters," in the extreme northwest of the Indian peninsula. Like the Iranians of Persia, they were divided into the three classes of priests, warriors, and husbandmen, whence were to be formed later the three higher castes, and were a nomadic and agricultural people, filled with the joy of living, valiant in war, daring freebooters, hot in love and reveling in wine, almost everything, in short, that the later Hindus were not. Their gods were like themselves, concrete and strong: Surya, the bright deity of the sun; Indra, the blinding lightning which ushers in the rainy season; Agni, the god of fire; and Soma, the deified inspiration of strong drink and of the divine courage which it gives. Few are the deities which show the softer side of the early Aryan mind, such as Ushas, the goddess of the dawn, or Varuna, the god of the sky-ocean, who watches over all and even later in this period receives praises which almost savor of monotheism.

2. The Rig-Veda.

The beliefs of the Aryans of this period are contained in the Rig-Veda, a book of hymns, the earliest literary records of the Indo-Germanic race, to which the most probable date assigned is 1500–500 B.C. This Veda is divided into ten books containing 1,022 hymns. Books ii-vii form the "family books," composed by successive generations of families of bards. Book ix is restricted to the Soma hymns, while i and viii, and especially x, the latest of all, are more diverse in contents and authorship. Within this range of space and time are represented many phases of religious thought, ranging from crass polytheism through intricate henotheism or syncretism to a quasimonotheism, or rather pantheism; varying from earnest faith to incipient skepticism; touching, too, on daily life as well as on worship and sacrifice.

It must not be supposed, however, that the faith of the Veda is naive or childlike. It is, on the contrary, quite developed and occasionally even corrupt. Many of the hymns were undoubtedly composed for the ritual, although it is scarcely possible to regard the entire collection as subservient to the liturgy. Untenable also is the theory of the French school which reduces the entire Rig-Veda to a mass of allegory, nor are the conclusions of the realistic school, which regards this Veda as entirely Indic and interprets it rationalistically, altogether free from criticism. To the elucidation of a collection so extended both in space and time no single method of interpretation is adequate. Naiveté and mature thought, liturgy and hymnology, allegory and realism must each be recognized as occasion demands, must even be combined at times to give a true representation of the Vedic Hinduism.

The basis of the Vedic religion is nature-worship. Each element is deified, the fire as Agni, the dawn as Ushas, the sky as Varuna, and the lightning of the storm as Indra. A single object in nature may be represented by many gods, as when the sun is venerated under the names of Surya, " the glowing one"; Savitar, "the enlivener"; Bhaga, "the bestower of boons"; Pushan, "he who causeth to flourish"; and Vishnu, "the mighty one." While these names may represent the deity in different aspects, as do the Egyptian Ra and Tum, the gods of the rising and the setting sun, it must not be forgotten that variance in name and even in concept of the same divinity may have been in its origin mere local divergence in expression for one and the same god, for the Rig-Veda was composed by many minds, at many places, in many periods. Behind nature-worship doubtless lay the earlier phase of animism, although its traces are obscured in the Vedic texts. Still more scanty are the evidences of ancestor-worship, or the cult of ghosts, 248though this phase was perhaps rather officially ignored than popularly absent. The eschatology of the Rig-Veda is comparatively simple, and resembles in its meagerness the poverty of early Semitism as represented by the Assyro-Babylonian religion. Allusions to the future state of the dead are practically confined to the late tenth book. Yama, the first of men to die, is the king of the dead; and apparently the blessed, i.e., the brave and generous, go when they die to the sun, where they engage in revelry like that of the Norse heroes of Asgard. The unblessed dead merely disappear, for hell is, in Indian thought, a late theological invention, devised to counterbalance the joys of heaven. In the latest portion of the Rig-Veda, moreover, appear the chief hymns later rubricized in the ritual, if indeed they were not, at least in part, designedly composed for an already existing liturgy.

3. The Sama- and Yajur-Vedas.

Beside the Rig-Veda exist two other canonical Vedas, and a fourth which is uncanonical. The Sama or "Song" Veda is composed of verses taken chiefly from the eighth and ninth books of the Rig-Veda and arranged for the liturgy. Far more important is the Yajur or "Sacrificial" Veda, which exists in several recensions, the chief being the Vajasaneyi or "White" Yajur-Veda, so called from being composed only in verse, and the Taittirya and Maitrayani, which are termed "black," since the verse of the text is intermingled with a quasicommentary and amplification in prose.

The arena implied is no longer the Punjab but the "middle district," around the modern Delhi, which the Aryans had reached in their slow migration eastward. The change of locality, however, is dwarfed into insignificance by the alteration in religious tone. The frank delight in life which characterizes the Rig-Veda is changed to mysticism and an ever-increasing ritualism. Religion has given place to magic. The principle of henotheism which is so marked a feature of the Rig-Veda, through which poetic enthusiasm comes to attribute to one divinity the names and attributes of another, thus elevating him for the nonce into the supreme and only object of adoration, becomes in the Yajur-Veda symbolism carried to its limit. A thing is no longer like something else, it is something else. The Brahman is no longer merely a priest, he is a god with all the attributes of divinity, while prayer and sacrifice are now means of compelling the deity to perform the will of his worshipers, instead of being modes of propitiation or bargaining. The religion of India now centers in the sacrifice, and a ritual is developed which is perhaps the most elaborate that the world has ever seen. While the power of the Brahmans was thereby increased until they were apotheosized, the view is antiquated which regards the development of the liturgy as the ecclesiastical device of a cunning and self-interested priesthood, despite the enormous fees which were given for the performance of sacrifice.

The pantheon of this period suffers little diminution as compared with the epoch of the Rig Veda, but the gods have declined in power, although some have been greatly magnified, such as Kala (Time), who played no part in the earliest Veda. The epithets and the functions of the gods become separate divinities in many cases, and an All-God now gains the full recognition which is only suggested even in the latest portions of the Rig-Veda. The legends of the deities, on the other hand, are richly developed, though their quantity is more admirable than their quality. This, however, is a recrudescence of popular beliefs previously not officially recognized, rather than new speculations of the Brahmans, though this faith of the people finds its application in the explanation and proof of the sacrifice. The rules for the Brahmanic ritual are contained not only in the various recensions of the Yajur-Veda, but in the still more important Brahmanas, of which each school of each of the Vedas has at least one, while the Tandin recension of then Same-Veda has three. Additional details are contained in the Srautasutras, and the ritual for daily life may be found in the various Grihyasutras.

4. The Atharva-Veda.

Beside the three canonical Vedas and their ancillary literature, representing the official religion of the Vedic and Brahmanic periods, stood a Veda of magic—the uncanonical Atharva-Veda. The pantheon of the Rig-Veda is here a jumbled confusion of divinities, at their head a supreme god of all, while eschatology has so far developed as to recognize a place of torment for the malignant dead. The predominant note of the Atharva-Veda is magic. It is filled with all manner of charms and incantations for wealth and for children, for long life and good health, for love and for revenge, charms for plants, animals, and diseases, curses and maledictions for the destruction of enemies and for counteracting the enemy's black magic. Linguistically and chronologically far later than the Rig-Veda, the material of the Atharva-Veda is in all probability as old in some of its parts as the most ancient portions of the Rig. It is an invaluable document for early Hindu religion as the oldest monument of its popular faith.

II. Brahmanism and the Pantheism of the Upanishads:

The enormous structure of ritualism erected by the Yajur-Veda, the Brahmanas, and the Sutras gradually became a burden too heavy to be borne; liturgy was then undermined by philosophical speculation. Traces of this are already evident in the later portions of the Rig-Veda, as in the famous hymn (x, 121) whose refrain runs: "To whom (as) god shall we offer sacrifice?" thus affording a basis for the Brahmanas to create a god "Who." By this time, moreover, an All-God was definitely recognized in Prajapati, "the lord of creatures," but it was reserved for the close of the Brahmanic period to ignore the gods and arrive at God.

1. The Upanishads.

The Upanishads, the literary records of this phase of thought, represent a perfection of pantheism which has never been equaled, and their influence is a mighty factor in Hindu thought of the present day. Salvation is no longer to be attained by works, but by knowledge, and the entire teaching of the Upanishads may be comprised 249in the one famous phrase found in the Chandogya Upanishad: Tat tvam asi, "That art thou," or, in other words, "Thou art the Infinite." Though the summum bonum of the Upanishads is this saving knowledge and the reunion with the All-Soul which it brings, such a consummation is not requisite for all, since there are many who do not desire it, and for them minor blessings are reserved in a future life. The existence of the gods is not denied, though they be but phases of the All-Soul, nor is the advantage of sacrifice denied, for such offerings are still imperative. Herein lies, perhaps, the secret of the origin of the Upanishads.

The concluding portion of each Brahmana is an Aranyaka, or "forest-book," designed for the use of those forest hermits who had passed beyond the need of sacrifice, and in each Aranyaka is an Upanishad. Primarily, therefore, the Upanishads represented the text-books of those who had passed through the sacrificial stage of their religious life and were henceforth free to meditate on sacred things as seemed best in their own eyes. Later, however, the Upanishads became a special form of the sacred writings of the Hindus; and served as the basis of the most lofty of all their six orthodox systems of philosophy. To see in them a religious revolt of the second, or warrior, caste against Brahman control, as certain scholars have sought to do, seems, on the whole, scarcely warranted.

2. The Six Orthodox Systems of Philosophy.

Somewhat subsequent to the Upanishads were developed the six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy, the Samkhya and Yoga, the Vaiseshika and Nyaya, and the Purvamimamsa and Vedanta. Of these the Vaiseshika and Nyaya are systems of logic rather than of philosophy; the Samkhya and Yoga, which supplement each other, are essentially dualistic; while the Purvamimamsa and Vedanta, of which the former is the least important of all the systems, represent the spiritual aftermath of the Upanishads, and are, accordingly, rigidly pantheistic.

III. The Age of the Buddhistic and Jainistic Heresies:

Beneath the excessive ritual of the Brahmanistic period and the pantheistic speculations of a chosen few still lay the popular faith of the Aryan invaders of India. Meanwhile, however, the course of immigration had moved still further to the east and become centered about the holy city of Benares. The doctrine of the misery of all earthly existence was by this time accepted by all, and the teachings of metempsychosis were fully established. The worship of Siva, originally a local godling of some aboriginal western tribe, was attaining such popularity that he was opposed as the Destroyer to the Vedic sun-god Vishnu, who was worshiped as the Preserver (of the universe). For the sake of symmetry, Brahma, denoting in the Rig-Veda "prayer," was developed by the priestly theologians into Brahma, the Creator, who, though on the whole a pale abstract deity, respected rather than worshiped, formed the third member of the trimurti, or triad.

The religious texts of this period are comparatively few, though from them may be gleaned data of the greatest importance for a knowledge of India's faith. The principal sources are the law books, especially the famous code of Manu, and the Mahabharata, the great epic of India and the longest poem of all literature. From the point of view of orthodox Hinduism, however, the epoch, possibly because of the comparative scantiness of material, presents less of interest than any of the others. It was, on the other hand, essentially the age of heresy, this term denoting in India simply a formal denial of the divine authority of the three canonical Vedas. There had, of course, been heretics and infidels long before this period; traces of them occur as early as the tenth book of the Rig-Veda, but it was not until the period under consideration that heresies of lasting importance were able to develop. In the sixth century B.C. arose two independent teachers, both from the Kshatriya, or warrior, class and both accordingly more or less antagonistic to the Brahmans. Forebodings of such a struggle between the two upper castes are not lacking in the Upanishads, where, in more than one instance, a warrior rose superior to a Brahman in theological learning.

Rebelling against Brahman supremacy, ignoring salvation by sacrifice, rejecting the authority of the Vedas, teaching emancipation from the pain of life and the misery of rebirth by personal service to all living creatures however lowly, and choosing, moreover, with pointed significance, as their linguistic medium the despised popular dialects instead of the hallowed Sanskrit of the Brahmans, Sakya Muni (Buddha) and Mahavira founded the religions which still exist as Buddhism and Jainism. When, after the lapse of nearly a millennium, those two religions lost their hold upon India, a new form of Brahmanism arose in what is known as Hinduism, the basis of which was a compromise between the orthodox and philosophical Brahmanism of pre-Buddhistic times and the religions of the Dravidian and other non-Aryan peoples of southern India. See India.

Bibliography: The literature of India itself is enormous, and that upon it is almost as great. A bibliography of India is much needed. The most accessible and convenient body of sources for the English reader is the SBE, more than half of which is devoted to translations from the various departments of Indian literature. Outside of this collection, the following texts and translations are important: Sanskrit Texts, Sacred Hymns, 6 vols., London, 1849–74, new ed., 1890–92; H. H. Wilson, Rig-Veda Sanhita, 6 vols., ib. 1850 sqq. (a translation); Rig-Veda, a transl. by P. Peterson, ib. 1888; H. Grassmann, Rigveda übersetzt, 4 vols., Leipsic, 1876–77; Rig-Veda, by A. Ludwig, in 6 vols., Prague, 1875–88 (Germ. transl., introduction and commentary); Sama-Veda, T. Benfey, Leipsic, 1848 (text and Germ. transl.); R. T. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, Transl. with Commentary, 4 vols., Benarea, 1889–92; idem. Hymns of the Samaveda, Transl. with Commentary, ib. 1893; idem. Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, ib., 2 vols., 1895–96; Atharvaveda, by A. Ludwig, 2 vols., Prague, 1876 (Germ, transl.); Atharva-Veda, livre vii (viii, xiii) traduit . . . par V. Henry, Paris, 1891–1892; The Aitareya-Brahmana, transl. by M. Haug, 2 vols., Bombay, 1863; the Brahmanas of the Sama Veda have been edited by A. C. Burnell, 6 vols., London, Trübner, n.d.; Atharva-Veda Samhita, Translation and . . . Commentary by W. D. Whitney, ed. C. R. Lanman, 2 vols., 250Boston, 1906; The Vedantasara, A Manual of Hindu Pantheism, transl. by G. A. Jacob, ib. 1881. Parts of some of the Upanishads have been edited and translated by E. Roer, 19 parts, Calcutta, n.d., and by E. B. Cowell, 2 parts, ib. 1861. Important is J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, 5 vols., London, 1868–73. The Sutras are represented in the Germ. transl. by A. F. Stensler, Leipsic, 1876, in the Eng. transl. of W. D. Whitney, New Haven, 1871, and of G. Thibaut, London, Trübner, n.d.

On the history of Indian literature consult: A. Weber, The White Yajur Veda, Berlin, 1849; idem, A Hist. of Indian Literature, London, 1882 (critical and brief); F. Max Müller, Hist. of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, ib. 1860 (now out of print); A. Kaegi, Der Rigveda, Leipsic, 1881, Eng. transl., London, 1886; F. Nêve, Les Époques littéraires de l’Inde, Paris, 1887; J. C. Oman, The Great Indian Epics, London, 1884 (a condensation of the stories, with notes); A. A. Macdonell, Hist. of Sanskrit Literature, ib. 1900; E. W. Hopkins, The Great Epic of India, New Haven, 1901.

On the philosophy the best single book is F. Max Müller, Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, London, 1899, cf. his Three Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy, ib. 1894. Other works are J. Davies, The Sankhya Karika of Iswara Krishna. An Exposition of the System of Kapilà, ib. 1881; A. E. Gough, Philosophy of the Upanishads, ib. 1882; Ram Chandra Bose, Hindu Philosophy popularly Explained, Calcutta, 1888; M. Williams, Indian Wisdom, London, 1893; R. Garbe, Philosophy of Ancient India, Chicago, 1897 (an excellent "first book"); J. Kreyher, Die Weisheit der Brahmanen und des Christentums, Gütersloh, 1901; P. Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, Edinburgh, 1905; idem, Die Geheimlehre des Veda, Leipsic, 1907; idem, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Berlin, 1907; L. D. Barnett, Some Sayings of the Upanishads, London, 1906; S. A. Desai, A Study of the Indian Philosophy, ib. 1907.

On the religion of India the best single book is R. W. Frazer, Literary Hist. of India, New York, 1898. H. T. Colebrooke, Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, 2d ed. by his son, 3 vols., London, 1873, is a classic, with which should be put C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, 4 vols., Bonn, 1847–61. Of high value is J. H. Wilson, Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, 2 vols., London, 1861–62. Other treatises are: S. Johnson, Oriental Religions, India, Boston, 1872; F. Max Müller, Lectures on . . . Religions of India, London, 1879; A. Barth, Religions of India, ib. 1882; W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, ib. 1882; A. W. Wallis, Cosmology of the Rig Veda, ib. 1887; M. Williams, Religious Life and Thought in India, ib. 1887; G. A. Jacob, Hindu Pantheism, ib. 1889; J. Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, ib. 1891; Religious Systems of the World, ib. 1893; H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, Berlin, 1894; idem, Ancient India, its Language and Reigions, London, 1896; E. W. Hopkins, Religions of India, Boston, 1895 (very useful, systematic and clear, gives list of works); idem, India, Old and New, New York, 1902; M. Phillips, The Teaching of the Vedas, London, 1895; Z. A, Ragozin, Vedic India, ib 1895; A Weber, Vedische Beiträge, Berlin, 1895; A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, 3 vols., Breslau, 1902; J. C. Oman, Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, London, 1903; J. M. Mitchell, Great Religions of India, New York, 1905; E. B. Haven, Benares the Sacred City. Sketches of Hindu Life and Religion, London, 1906.

On the philosophy the best single book is F. Max Müller, Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, London, 1899, cf. his Three Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy, ib. 1894. Other works are J. Davies, The Sankhya Karika of Iswara Krishna. An Exposition of the System of Kapilà, ib. 1881; A. E. Gough, Philosophy of the Upanishads, ib. 1882; Ram Chandra Bose, Hindu Philosophy popularly Explained, Calcutta, 1888; M. Williams, Indian Wisdom, London, 1893; R. Garbe, Philosophy of Ancient India, Chicago, 1897 (an excellent "first book"); J. Kreyher, Die Weisheit der Brahmanen und des Christentums, Gütersloh, 1901; P. Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, Edinburgh, 1905; idem, Die Geheimlehre des Veda, Leipsic, 1907; idem, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Berlin, 1907; L. D. Barnett, Some Sayings of the Upanishads, London, 1906; S. A. Desai, A Study of the Indian Philosophy, ib. 1907.

On the religion of India the best single book is R. W. Frazer, Literary Hist. of India, New York, 1898. H. T. Colebrooke, Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, 2d ed. by his son, 3 vols., London, 1873, is a classic, with which should be put C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, 4 vols., Bonn, 1847–61. Of high value is J. H. Wilson, Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, 2 vols., London, 1861–62. Other treatises are: S. Johnson, Oriental Religions, India, Boston, 1872; F. Max Müller, Lectures on . . . Religions of India, London, 1879; A. Barth, Religions of India, ib. 1882; W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, ib. 1882; A. W. Wallis, Cosmology of the Rig Veda, ib. 1887; M. Williams, Religious Life and Thought in India, ib. 1887; G. A. Jacob, Hindu Pantheism, ib. 1889; J. Dowson, Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, ib. 1891; Religious Systems of the World, ib. 1893; H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, Berlin, 1894; idem, Ancient India, its Language and Reigions, London, 1896; E. W. Hopkins, Religions of India, Boston, 1895 (very useful, systematic and clear, gives list of works); idem, India, Old and New, New York, 1902; M. Phillips, The Teaching of the Vedas, London, 1895; Z. A, Ragozin, Vedic India, ib 1895; A Weber, Vedische Beiträge, Berlin, 1895; A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, 3 vols., Breslau, 1902; J. C. Oman, Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India, London, 1903; J. M. Mitchell, Great Religions of India, New York, 1905; E. B. Haven, Benares the Sacred City. Sketches of Hindu Life and Religion, London, 1906.