Origins of Temple Worship in Hindu Religion

Those of us living in the United States would remember the year 2015 for being  the  harshest winter in our recent memory. The cold air from the Arctic had timed itself perfectly to join hands with precipitation that moved from the south to dump record amounts of snow in the New England and upstate New York areas. Even cities like Boston and Buffalo, generally well accustomed to tough winter weathers, found themselves paralyzed by the ferociousness of the blizzard that hit them.   The ancient Indian city of Taxasila (Taxila in the present day Pakistan) happened to experience a similar situation in 4th century BCE, though from a foreign invasion rather than climate.

By 4th century BCE, Taxasila had become the ancient version of what we may call as a college town today. A number of scholars with incredible knowledge of Vedas as well as Buddhist and Jain thinking had found refuge in Taxasila and were probably running informal schools. The city had experienced occasional invasions from the Persian empire and even had been under the Persian Achaemenid empire for some time. Sitting at the cross roads of Indian, Chinese and Persian cultures, Taxasila was uniquely positioned to nurture scholarship. 

Around 323 BCE, the Greek Emperor Alexander had set on his 'global conquest', marching the Greek army through Egypt, Babylonia, Persia and finally to India.  In addition to the army, the Greek invasion had brought with it new God concepts, mythology, ideas of organized administration and skills of creating stone sculptures. These additional aspects made limited impact elsewhere but when they reached Taxasila and combined with the ideas of Vedic, Puranic and Budhist thinking already in place, what resulted was an incredible shower of new ideas on iconography.  From this was born the new dimension of temple worship in Hindu religion which finally became its most visible face. One could say that, of all those foreigners who invaded India, the Greeks were probably the only ones who brought in more than what they took!  

At the time of Alexander's invasion of Taxasila, there were two important personalities present in the city who would go on to influence India's future in a way that no one else had until that time. One was a great warrior in making, the young Chandra Gupta Maurya and the other a great scholarly statesman, Vishnugupta Chanakya.  Chandra Gupta Maurya went on to build the largest and most progressive Indian empire of the BCEs in India and Chanakya wrote the first Indian text on economics and statesmanship, the Artha Sastra or "The science of wealth"

Emperor Alexander stopped his invasion at the western border states of India and didn't continue into its heartlands, probably because of the challenge offered by the large Nanda army of the state of Magadha as well as the fatigue that had come over his army from the long campaign. Alexander's sudden death in Babylon during his return journey  left a power vacuum for some time but his successor for the Asian regions, Selucus was quick to take charge of the Indian subcontinent  part of the empire. Meanwhile, both Chandra Gupta Maurya and  Chanakya had learned whatever they needed to learn in terms of warfare and statesmanship from the Greeks. They joined hands to successfully overthrow the Nanda dynasty in Magadha leveraging this knowledge. The Maurya dynasty replaced Nanda dynasty in Magadha, established the capital city of Pataliputra (current day city of Patna in Bihar) and expanded all the way from Indian subcontinent's northwest states to areas east of Ganges. Following the successful reversal of an invasion attempt by Selucus, Chandra Gupta Maurya established friendly, cultural relations with the Selucids and even married Selucus's daughter, Helen. Anyway, what is of more interest to us in the current topic is the marriage between Hellenistic culture and India's religious systems.

In my opinion, the scholars of Taxasila would have come to know from the Greeks about the concept of building temples for Gods and worshiping them using icon-centric rituals. Many of these scholars who migrated out of Taxasila following the takeover of the city by Greeks, spread their new knowledge in India's mainland. Pataliputra was the new favorite destination for many of them, as the city flourished under the Maurya  empire. Until the Greeks arrived, India didn't have much expertise in working with stones, either for sculpting or for building palaces. This is one of the most likely reasons that we are unable to find large structural, city like remainders of our great civilization from the BCEs. Most of the construction material that were used at that time were probably blocks of stones, wood and mortar that do not stand the test of time. There was use of baked clay bricks for constructing the fire altar in Yagnas and this knowledge could have come from the Indus valley civilization who knew about making bricks from clay and were adept in pottery.  

Ajanta Caves

One of the first to pick up the granite sculpting techniques were Buddhist monks, who initially started with in-situ rock carvings and murals like those that we find in the Ajanta caves. The Buddha viharas started to have stone pillars and structures  called as Stupa similar to what we find in Saranath, declaring their special identity. Emperor Ashoka, the grand son of Chandra Gupta Maurya, placed most of his edicts across the empire on stone pillars.  The sculpting techniques later on expanded to making free-standing sculptures including the figures of Buddha and other Buddhist divinities.

An Ancient Hindu Temple

This was also the period when the seeds laid down for Puraanas by Sage Veda Vyaasa started to grow. Hindu religion began its move away from the Vedic Gods of Indra, Agni, Vayu etc. replacing their worship with Puraanic Gods of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, Devi  etc. While the Vedic Gods were always propitiated with Yagna rituals, the Puraanic Gods could be worshiped using their iconic representations. The methods of this worship were formulated and codified closer to the 1st Century AD, and was called the 'Aagama'', meaning ' that which arrived'. Contrarily, the Vedic ordained means of worship were called as 'Nigama', or ' that which originated (here)'. Aagama Sastra developed further during the early centuries of AD,  formalizing the structure of Hindu Temple worship as we know of it today. (Please see my blog post  http://oupanishadam.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-i-see-when-i-go-to-temple.html if you are interested in the philosophical thinking behind the architecture of a Hindu Temple)

Unlike the Greek Gods, the Indian Puraanic God images were not just super human figures but rich philosophic metaphors.  For example, Lord Shiva was a representation of the absolute which is devoid of all earthly decorations; Parvathi represented the Nature relying on whose power everything in creation functions. Shiva is also considered 'ardhanariswara', one half of his body being the male figure of Shiva who is absolute and the other half being Parvathi, the feminine figure representing Nature. Shiva and Parvathi have two  off springs, Lord Ganesha who represents everything that is matter and physical in creation and Lord Karthikeya representing everything that is subtle and non-physical. As you can see, the creators of these iconic images have managed to represent the entire universe in this one single divine family!

Now, it is quite natural to ask the question why do we have to worship these images if they were only metaphorical? The Hindu religious leaders had recognized the fact that it is very difficult for ordinary minds to grasp the abstract thinking required to understand God . It is incredibly difficult to explain God in words. Therefore the next best option was use of metaphorical images.  As we all know, a picture is worth thousand words. Same is true for metaphorical, iconic representations too.  Images also have the ability to engage the mind in its totality and convey ideas that are otherwise extremely difficult to be communicate.

 The Hindu worship of iconic images are intended to stimulate contemplation and aid establishing the connection between the self and the absolute. This is why the Hindus who stand in line for hours for the glimpse of the deity in popular temples, mostly end up keeping the eyes shut during the precious few seconds they get to be in front of the deity! What they instinctively value more is the connection with divinity that the presence in front of the deity has enabled rather than the deity itself. Worshipful attitude is also a great means to rein in the ego that continuously identifies the self with the many worldly things that it really is not.

The Sanskrit word for visiting a Temple and viewing the deity is 'Darshana', which actually means insight. The image and icon are outside but the true vision of them happens inside.   The next time you visit a temple, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to close your eyes and contemplate on what insights you have about your on self, the world and God. This act of contemplation and reflection is the true core of Hindu religion.

Buddhism and Bhagawad Gita: The Age of Universal Religions

If you have followed the announcement of Nobel prize for Sciences, there is a curious phenomenon that you may have observed. Many a times, there are joint winners of the prize from opposite  ends of the planet, who happened to work on the same scientific problem. They have either arrived independently at the same solution around the same time or come up with different solutions that were equally effective. We can only wonder how this happens! In much the same way, during the 6th and 5th century of BCE, many enlightened spiritual masters attempted to solve the riddle of human suffering in everyday life. For example, we have Socrates in Greece, Buddha  and Vyāsa in India and Lao Tsu in China, all of whom took on this same problem and arrived at answers that were not very different.

As you may recall, the Hindu civilization had by the 6th century BCE, settled down into many small kingdoms in the Gangetic plains and assimilated the indigenous population into its fold. A process of consolidation of these kingdoms through wars were also going on. The society was getting structured with groups of people assuming different roles like farming, metal working, trading etc. From a religion point of view, the ritual traditions of the Hindu religion and some purāna stories were commonly known but the philosophic  side of the religion remained mostly obscure. If one had an interest in the philosophical aspects, he or she would have to embark on an extensive search to find a suitable teacher or Guru. The reality of the situation was that the Hindu religion was doing very little at that time to help the average person deal with the everyday issues of life. To this scene had arrived Gautama Buddha with his incredible compassion for the sufferings of the common people.

Buddha's  sole quest was  how to avoid the suffering like old age, sickness and death that everyone, both rich or poor, had to undergo. He accepted the prevailing Hindu concept of rebirth and according to him, the soul experienced life in an eternal, recurring cycle returning to life from death through rebirth. Caught into the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the soul experiences the same suffering over and over. How does one escape from this? Buddha had found a way and was ready to travel around and spread information on this to everyone on how it could be done. No one had to go searching for Buddha. Instead, he went to them, or at least close enough where they could find him easily.

To enable souls to gain a release from the eternal birth/death cycle, Buddha suggested a method that included four fundamental principles (a.k.a., 'noble truths') and an eight fold path. He called this as the 'middle path'. The 'middle path' was a deviation away from both the purely ritualistic, God-appeasing path as well as the atheistic, 'you only live once' kind of mindless enjoyment. This approach, originally called as 'Baudhayana'  or the 'path of Buddha' later on became the religion of Buddhism and was set apart from Hindu religion.  Though the religion appealed easily to the common people,  it also posed couple of issues. Turning to Buddhism in the way Buddha preached, required a person to become a monk, giving up his societal connections. This was very disruptive to the society's functioning. Secondly, Buddha's insistence on Ahimsa weakened the defensive power of societies, increasing their vulnerability to external aggression. The real need of the time was for a religion that supported one to take on a spiritual path that enabled better life while remaining right in the middle of the society. The Hindu religion came up with a great answer for meeting this need through Bhagawad Gita. (The religion of Buddhism also has evolved since to better address these issues)

Bhagawad Gita, that is found in the middle of the Mahābhāratha epic, was most likely a 5th or 4th century BCE insertion into the original epic that dates back to earlier centuries of BCE. It is thought that Mahābhāratha  was originally composed in 24,000 verses and was later expanded to its current form of 100,000 plus verses. The Vyāsa who was the author of original Mahābhāratha is potentially different from the Vyāsa wo authored Bhagawad Gita. Bhagawad Gita itself appears to have been constructed in three distinct parts that were possibly compiled over different periods of time. The core message of the Bhagawad Gita, as presented in the first part consisting of chapters one thru six,  is that  spiritual transformation is a personal journey that could be undertaken while living right in the middle of the society.  A spiritually enlightened person as well as a non-enlightened person, both may engage in performing the same actions in life but with extremely different levels of internal clarity. And, as Buddha had done, Bhagawad Gita also professed a liberation from the eternal cycle of birth and death for such a person. In contrast to Buddha's middle path, Bhagawad Gita offered a path of synthesis that skillfully combined Spiritual knowledge, Devotion, Meditation, Yoga. It offered an interpretation of the Hindu religion that could be practiced equally well by a hermit in an Himalayan cave as well as a warrior in the middle of a battlefield.

A real life example of this transformative spiritual journey is found in the story of Sage Valmiki. He had an amazing life journey from being a wayside robber in the forests to becoming a renowned spiritual master. Sage Valmiki was also a highly imaginative, creative poet. He managed to metaphorically etch his own spiritual journey within the epic of Ramayana while painting the picture of a perfect human being in Lord Rama. (For more detailed reading on Ramayana and Valmiki, check this blog post http://oupanishadam.blogspot.com/2015/03/ramayana-autobiography-of-rishi.html )

It will be delusional to play down the role of faith and belief in religion. As the  human society expanded,  the chaos and uncertainties only continued to increase. And, in times of uncertainty, what has served the individuals and society well is faith in order brought about by a higher, omniscient and all-powerful being, referred to as 'God'. As the influence of Buddhism declined and popularity of the Purāna stories increased, the Hindu religion strengthened itself with a new found means of temple worship of Purānic Gods. The spiritual masters went along with this trend, again skillfully embedding spiritual principles within the iconography of the God images and temple rituals. More on this major transformation that defined the final shape of Hindu religion as we know it today, in the next blog post.

Meanwhile, grab a copy of the Bhagawad Gita if you haven't yet. It is a book that can help you tremendously! (You can find a quick summary of what Bhagawad Gita offers on this blog post: http://oupanishadam.blogspot.com/2014/02/bhagawad-gita-what-is-in-it-for-you.html)

Darshana: The Age of the Philosophers

Since we had talked about the story-centric Purāna and Ithihāsa last time, let's start this discussion with a good story. The story below from the Kenopanishad (approx. 750 BCE), is also indicative of an important turning point in the history of Hindu Religion.

The Devas: Indra, Agni, Vāyu, Surya

Once the Devas, the divinities we saw in the Vedas, had an epic battle with their 'not very nice' cousins, the Asuras. The Devas won the battle and were celebrating the victory, gloating over the powers they had used to defeat the Asuras. At that time a strange looking, mystical figure appeared little away from where they were assembled. Unsure of who this mysterious being  was, the Devas asked Agni, the God of Fire,  to go and find out. Agni approached this strange being and asked 'who are you?'. The being responded asking who Agni was. Agni pompously answered, 'I am the Lord of Fire and I can burn anything down'. The being threw a dried blade of grass in front  of Agni and said, let me see you burn this. Agni gave a contemptuous laugh and just glanced at the blade of grass with the tip of a flame. Nothing happened. Now he tried to go at the blade of grass with all his fire power. Again nothing happened to the grass. Agni was half scared and half ashamed of himself and went back to the Devas saying he was unable to find out who the being was. The Devas now asked Vayu, the God of wind, to go and find out who the being was. The same events  repeated with Vayu  who in spite of his hurricane power,  was unable to make the blade of grass move even an inch. Now, this got the King of Devas, Indra, all worried and he said 'I will go myself and find out'. As soon as Indra approached the strange being, it vanished and in its place appeared the Goddess Uma, adorned in her beautiful white clothes. She told Indra,' That strange being you were trying to know is Brahman;  all of you Devas  have your powers that is bestowed by him'.

Why is this story important? First of all, it boldly admits the limitation of powers of the  divinities worshiped by the rituals. Secondly, it points to the single, higher truth that is to be known through inquiry and wisdom and not rituals. The depiction of 'Wisdom' as a woman is an universal mythological theme spanning the oriental and occidental cultures. Essentially, what we are witnessing here in the story is the beginning of critical philosophical inquiry in India.

The early Upanishads  as well as the Samhita part of  Veda, share the visions of truth that the Rishis had seen. But they don't detail out how the answers were arrived at or why the knowledge shared by them is valid. This is the fundamental difference between Religion and Philosophy. Religion relies on faith and credibility of the messenger to support the answers and the means it professes whereas Philosophy relies on the logical validity of its analysis to justify the conclusions it arrives at. Same time, we have to keep in mind that a philosophical inquiry is more of an intellectual exercise where as a religious inquiry is a quest for personal transformation. And, we see in history  a number of brilliant philosophers who happened to lead not so an exemplary life.

Sage Yagnavalkya (Sage of Brihadāranyaka Upanishad)

The questions posed by in a philosophical inquiry as well as religious inquiry are more or less the same; where did all these in the world originate from? what is the true nature of things? how did all these come into being? Philosophy, specifically epistemology, is also concerned with the process of knowledge, examining how reliable are our means of knowledge. We see examples of such analysis  In the early Upanishads like Chāndogya and Brihadāranyaka, appealing to logic rather than faith for validating conclusions . Later on, the scope of this type  of critical philosophical examination in the Hindu religious system expanded, resulting in the emergence of Hindu schools of philosophy known as 'Darshana', or 'Insights'. Six of these Darshanas are namely, Sāmkhya, Nyāya, Vaiseshika, Purva Mimāmsa, Utthara Mimāsma and Yoga are recognized as part of the Veda. The rise of philosophical thinking during this time period was

Aristotle and Plato

not limited to India alone. The pre-socratic Greek philosophers had also started to lay down the foundation for western philosophy approximately around the same time as Chāndogya and Brihadāranyaka upanishads were being compiled. There are also considerable number of parallels between the thoughts of later Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle with that of their Indian counterparts in Darshanas.

The six Darshanas can be classified into two broad types, the objective analysis and subjective analysis. The Sāmkhya, Nyāya and Vaiseshika are objective analysis focused whereas the Purva Mimāmsa, Uthara Mimāmsa and Yoga are subjective analysis focused. Objective analysis is an analysis approach that is focused on the nature of things with the intent of explaining everything from a physical perspective.  The oldest school that took this approach is the Sāmkhya. We know very little about its originator, Sage Kapila and his original text on the subject is not available today. Whatever we know about Samkhya comes from later works that are an elaboration of the original text. Sāmkhya introduced the concept of Purusha (manifests as consciousness) and Prakriti (manifests as matter and nature) that was leveraged by the other later schools o philosophy. The Vaiseshika school proposed that everything is composed of foundational elements and atoms with generic and particular properties. It's proponent was Sage Kanāda. The Vaiseshika thought process was later reinforced using logic and epistemology in the Nyāya school that was proposed by Sage Gautama. The Nyaāya and Vaiseshika schools had significant overlaps and merged in later days.  

Sage Patanjali (Author of Yoga Sutra)

The subjective analysis focused Darshanas were more focused on the nature of mind, intellect, conscience, cognition, cause/effect relations, soul etc. The oldest of these three schools of thought is the philosophy of Yoga. Though a proper compilation of Yoga thoughts happened in 2nd century BCE by Sage Patanjali, the approach was already prevalent in the centuries preceding. The Yoga philosophy also draws heavily from Sāmkhya. The next younger philosophy is Purva Mimāmsa that offered an abstract concept of power inherent in rituals and incantations. It proposed a way of living based purely on the rituals specified in the Brāhmanas. The Uttara Mimāmsa philosophy, more popularly known as Vedānta, is the youngest and most popular of all these schools of thought. While relying on the analytical approaches that other schools of philosophy used, Vedānta pointed towards a truth that lies beyond the means of objective knowledge.  The Sanskrit word Vedanta means end of knowledge. Uttara Mimāmsa inherited this name from the subject matter of its analysis that transcended regular knowledge as well as its foundation on Upanishads which are found at the end of Veda. The foundation text for Uttara Mimāmsa is the Vedānta Sutra which is better known as Brahma Sutra.

All these sound like academically interesting subjects that are incomprehensible to ordinary minds. What does Religion have to offer to the common man to enable him or her to deal with the issues they face in everyday life? Admittedly there was a major shortfall on the part of religious and philosophical thinking in making this connection with ordinary people. But that vacuum didn't last too long. Next time, we will look into how  India's religions addressed this question.

Puraana and Ithihaasa: The age of imagination and innovation

What is the difference between 'creativity' and 'innovation' ? (Don't google it, yet!) . These words are commonly used as synonyms. As you know, both these words refer to producing something new, physical or non-physical. And, both require a mind that is able to think outside of what is obvious. However, though we would call a Michelangelo or Da Vinci as creative, we would rather describe an Edison or Marconi as innovative. So, what is the difference?

Innovation is creativity that has a purpose. Purely creative efforts  are done for the sake of the creation or the process of creation itself and carries with it an element of beauty which is appreciated. Most works of art are great examples of this. In the case of innovation, it is not beauty but its intended purpose and associated utility that are primarily appreciated. For example, an iPhone may have great aesthetics, but it's ease of use and convenience are more appreciated, right?

The Hindu puraana and ithihaasa texts, commonly referred to as the Hindu mythology, are highly acclaimed for their rich creativity. Over the many centuries, they have acted as an undiminished source of inspiration for great works of fiction in India's many languages. However, what is less known is the fact that the Puraana and Ithihaasa were also products of a great innovation; an innovation that made it possible for India to discover a lasting unity among its vast diversity.

In the Indian city of Allahabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh., we find the great confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. The Kumbh Mela, which is the world's largest religious gathering, happens in the sprawling sand dunes of this confluence. The city of Allahabad was known in the Vedic times as Prayaag. Just as the dark blue waters of Yamuna and light blue waters of Ganga came together in Prayaag, the culture of the Hindu civilization that moved into the heartlands of Indian subcontinent and the indigenous civilization that had existed prior to its arrival also had come together in these plains. What resulted was more likely a gradual fusion of two great cultures than a violent invasion of one over the other. How can we say that? The clues for this are hidden in the Puraana and Ithihaasa framework.

The Hindu civilization of Vedic time was predominantly a hunting culture where as the indigenous civilization was more agrarian. The Hindu civilization had the Vedic divinities, who were  super humans or symbols of various principles. As we have seen earlier, these divinities were propitiated through the Yaaga rituals. The indigenous civilization contrarily had no structured rituals but were full of myths, folklore and deities who were worshiped using icons or images.  Every indigenous population in the world have had this collection of myths. The interesting fact about myths and folklore is that they encapsulate the learnings of a society, allowing for that knowledge to be transferred from generation to generation in an unwritten fashion. Most of such myths also have heroes who set examples for the society to emulate. The myths and folklore were thus another kind of Veda, expressed in stories and not injunctions or rituals.

As we saw earlier, the Yaaga rituals were a way of expressing the underlying Vedic philosophy. Could there be another way to express the same Vedic philosophy, may be by using stories and folklores in the way of the indigenous? The Puraana and Ithihaasa were most likely born from this thinking. The brilliant innovator of the framework of Puraana and Ithihaasa was Sri Veda Vyasa, the author of a number of first Puraanas and the epic story of Maha Bharatha. He also happens to be the organizer of Veda texts into the four books. Through this framework of Puraana and Ithihaasa, Veda Vyasa invented a means to not only bring two very distinct cultures together but also enable assimilation of many more cultures into the future. As the religion of Hinduism spread through the continent, the stories that expressed the Vedic philosophy in stories of Gods and heroes simply resonated with  everyone. And, through these stories, the culturally diverse civilization preserved the same great Vedic philosophy, sometimes unknowingly.

The story of Veda Vyasa, whose original name is Krishna Dvaipayana, is very interesting and connected to the cultural confluence we discussed above. He was born to a fisher-woman, Satyavati who was an indigenous, and the Sage Paraasara who was a great Vedic Rishi. Vyasa was dark skinned (krishna) and was born from the 'journey in an island' (Dvaipayana). He was supposed to have been conceived by his mother in an artificial island that the Rishi created right in the middle of Ganga! I hope you are catching on to the symbolism here. Ganga, the river of knowledge, had for its banks the Vedic interpretation of the knowledge on one side and the myth based interpretation of the same knowledge for the other. And, Sage Paraasara created this island in between the two that Krishna Dvaipaayana claimed to be his birthplace. Coming from this 'island', he organized the Veda into the four books, wrote a number of Puraanas and then completed the great Ithihaasa of Maha Bharatha. The brilliance of Sage Veda Vyasa is that he had managed to express the same philosophy in these three ways, so different from each other! There are a number of later works like Brahma Sutra and Srimad Bhagavatha that are attributed to Veda Vyasa, but they are very unlikely to be the works of the same person who wrote the Maha Bharatha and organized the Vedas.

 Just as the Ganga flowed down from the northern plains, the civilization of the Hindus flowed to the south and east of India, nurturing the land and letting the population quench their thirst for knowledge. These were the times when imagination literally caught fire and a number of works with excellent stories came into being. In total, there are 18 puraanas including Vishnu Puraana, Siva Puraana, Padma Puraana, Skanda Puraana etc. They are complemented by the two Ithihaasa, Maha Bharatha and Ramayana. The path of Bhakti or devotion took its initial roots at this time though it came to its culmination much later, closer to 10th century CE. 

But there was another greater Sun that had stated shining in India at the time, one who brought back philosophical thinking into prominence once again, though in the name of a different religion. More on the times of philosophy including Budhism in the next post. Meanwhile, please find some good puraana stories to read and enjoy. I can bet that they will beat the Harry Potter stories any day!