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Chapter One Historical Background For a long time the consensus among Indologists was that Indian culture and civilization originated with the arrival of the Aryans from central Asia (circa 1750 B.C.). The J5-gveda, for the most part a collection ofhymns extolling the forces ofnature and believed to be the compositions of the Vedic poets, makes reference to the clash between the invading Aryans and the dark-skinned aborigines called Dasyus. The prejudices of the former against the latter, which later came to be reflected in the fourfold social stratification, were mainly responsible for the picture presented in the J5-gveda ofthe people who occupied the Indus valley at the time of the Aryan invasion. The discovery by archaeologists of remains of a well-developed civilization in the Indus valley has changed this picture completely. The dark-skinned inhabitants conquered by the Aryans are no longer considered a race ofuncultured people. They seem to have possessed a highly developed culture and an urban society, and the task ofrecent scholars has been to sort out the different streams of culture and civilization-the Aryan and the non-Aryan-which, as time passed, merged into the one presented in the post-Vedic literature, commencing with the Upani~ads. The ascetic culture which later came to dominate India is generally associated with the pre-Aryan Indus valley civilization because the celebrated Indus seal depicts a prototype of Siva as mahiiyogin. The Aryan culture was more mundane in its outlook, as is evident from some of the hymns extolling the soma-drinking, funloving gods. It is for this reason that the culture of the non-Aryans appeared so strange to the Aryans. This is shown in the KeSl-sukta of the J5-gveda1 in which the Vedic poet expresses awe at the sight of naked, long-haired ascetics. Although the ascetic tradition of the non-Aryans was in time relegated to the background as a result ofthe dominance of the more mundane Aryan tradition, it could not be completely wiped out. After remaining dormant for a while, it 3 seems to have re-emerged with fresh vigor and vitality. The history of Indian philosophy may be described as the story of the struggle for supremacy between these two traditions. In the absence of any written records pertaining to the preVedic period, research on the beginnings of Indian philosophy is generally based on study of the Vedas. Speculation concerning the nature of phenomena led the Vedic Aryans to acceptance of a conception of uniformity of nature long before systematic philosophical thinking began. Commenting on the psychological background that gave rise to the Vedic conception ofgods, M. Hiriyanna says, "Unless primitive man had noticed the regularity with which natural phenomena recur and unless he were inwardly convinced that every event had a cause to account for it, he would not have resorted to the creation of such deities in explanation of them."2 This conception ofa purely physical order, which came to be known as rta (i.e., 'world order'), gradually developed into a sacrificial system and then a moral law. A brief outline of the development of the conception of gods and the sacrificial system may be helpful here. Although the conception ofgods as it appears in the Jf.-gveda had its origin in the Indo-Iranian, if not the Indo-European, period and therefore is extremely complex, some very distinct stages ofevolution have been pointed out by Indologists. The initial stage is said to be marked by an anthropomorphic view ofnature. Natural forces, such as fire, wind, and rain, were thought of as having human form and human feelings, desires, and so forth. But as time passed, these beings were looked upon as divinities, mysterious, powerful, and aweinspiring . The result was the emergence of a large pantheon of divinities on whose favors man depended for a peaceful and comfortable life. Each person, depending on the nature of his needs and desires, selected one of these gods to worship, and in the process tended to extol him as the highest among the gods. Max Milller called this stage henotheism. This conception ofgods led to a twofold development: to monotheism, represented by gods like VaruQa and later by Prajapati and Brahma, and monism, which culminated in the conception of Brahman-Atman as reflected in the Upani~ads. Along with this development we find also the gradual evolution ofsacrificial ritual. During the earliest stage, when a form ofanthropomorphism was in vogue, sacrifices were simple offerings like...

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