Introduction

Between 1500 and 500 BCE, a people called the Aryans became the major political and cultural force in northern India. The word “Aryan” means “noble” in Sanskrit, the major language of ancient India.

The Aryans created a body of sacred writings known as the Vedas. They recognized a number of different gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses could be addressed through the ceremonies of priests called Brahmins. Though these ceremonies, a person might be able to achieve union with the ultimate unchanging reality that is the source of the universe, called brahman. Originally this was seen as possible only for male Brahmins. However, in the third century BCE this began to change. In time, the brahmanic religion, later called Hinduism, became available to all people.

Hinduism allowed individual worshippers to show their devotion to the gods directly, without using priests. Personal gods could be honored in a number of ways. They could be honored through saying prayers, singing hymns, dancing, presenting offerings, and making pilgrimages to holy sites.

Religious ideas and practices

For Hindus, the universe was an endlessly repeating cycle in which souls were reincarnated, or reborn, through a continual process of rebirth known as samsara. Actions performed in one’s life were known as karma. They determined one’s status, or social position, in the next life. Good deeds led to higher status and bad deeds to lower. The ultimate goal of life was to escape this relentless cycle of birth and rebirth and achieve moksha, a state of liberation and awareness in which one achieves union with brahman.

The quest for brahman involved personal devotion to one or more of the many gods and goddesses who are manifestations of brahman. These gods and goddesses were usually represented by images in homes and temples. Over the centuries, new gods and new beliefs were added.

Reaching brahman also involved living a moral life. This “right way of living” was known as dharma.

Society and family life

Like every ancient society, early Aryan society distinguished among various social groups. People were divided into separate strata, or social levels. Priests and warriors became the two highest social strata, the Brahmin and the Kshatriya. Merchants formed the third stratum, the Vaishya. Peasants, laborers, and conquered peoples made up the fourth and largest stratum, the Shudra. The Vedas claim this system was created by the gods.

The division of society into different strata was in large part based on attitudes toward certain types of work. Memorizing religious texts and engaging in intellectual debates was considered honored work. By contrast, farming or making things with one’s hands was considered demeaning. Over time, the division of people into separate occupations grew into an increasingly complex system of thousands of groups known as jatis — which literally means “births.” People were born into a jati and often married within their own group. Each jati had its own roles, rituals, and status.

When Portuguese traders came to India in the late 1400s, they called these groups casta, from their own word for inherited social divisions. This became the English word “caste.” Thus, India’s division of its population into fixed, ranked social groups is known as the caste system.

Certain tasks were regarded as beneath the dignity of even the lowest Shudras. Thus, those who did them were viewed as outside of the caste system. This developed into the notion that certain groups were “untouchable” because they were impure, due to their occupations.

Only male Brahmins could go through the most important religious ceremonies and study sacred texts. A Brahmin girl learned housekeeping and domestic religious rituals. After her husband’s death, a widow was regarded as unlucky, and was no longer welcome at family festivities. But like the male members of her family, after death she could hope for a favorable rebirth. This might include being reborn as a man.

Political developments and the spread of Hinduism

The Aryans established small kingdoms in northern India. Priests supported the expanding power of the rulers of these kingdoms, and in return, rulers confirmed the superior status of the priests.

At times, Indian rulers also created larger empires. At different points, however, these empires were broken up as parts of northwest India fell under the control of first the Persians, and then the Greeks under Alexander the Great.

Religious and social practices associated with Hinduism spread into Nepal and Sri Lanka, where they blended with local religious and social systems. They also spread into Southeast Asia. There too, imported Indian traditions fused with local ones. Huge stone temples were built to Hindu deities, but native gods and spirits remained important.

In more recent times, South Asian migrants have taken Hinduism around the world, though it has not spread widely among non–South Asians. Today there are about a billion Hindus, about 95 percent of whom live in India.