Introduction

Between 1500 and 500 BCE, a people who called themselves Aryans came to dominate northern India politically and culturally. 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 gods and goddesses, who could be approached through the ceremonies of priests called Brahmins. These ceremonies might allow a person 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 men who were Brahmins and who lived a life focused on purity rather than pleasure. However, in the third century BCE this idea began to widen. The brahmanic religion developed into what was later called Hinduism, a set of practices and beliefs in which individual worshippers could show their devotion to the gods directly, without using priests as intermediaries. Personal gods could be honored through saying prayers, singing hymns, dancing, presenting offerings, and making pilgrimages to holy sites.

Religious ideas and practices

The high status of Brahmins was affirmed in the Upanishads, religious texts composed between 750 and 500 BCE. In these the universe was understood to be 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 — known as karma — determined one’s status 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, bliss, and awareness in which one achieved union with brahman.

The quest for brahman involved personal devotion to one or more of the many gods and goddesses who were manifestations of brahman. They were usually represented by images in homes and temples. Devotion to one did not mean denial of the others, and over the centuries new gods, doctrines, and beliefs were added. Reaching brahman also involved living a moral life, a path that became known as dharma.

The moral and spiritual teachings of Hinduism had wide appeal throughout India. Hinduism offered direct contact with the gods and guidance for everyday life. In addition, if one followed the rules of good behavior and performed the proper ceremonies one might be born into a higher status group in the next life.

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 (Vaishya). Peasants, laborers, and conquered peoples made up the fourth and largest stratum (Shudra). The Vedas portray this system as created by the gods, who divided the original cosmic being into four parts corresponding to parts of the body.

Attitudes toward certain types of work underlay the division of society into different strata. Memorizing religious texts and engaging in intellectual debates was considered honored work, while farming or making things with one’s hands was considered demeaning. Over time, occupational and geographic distinctions grew into an increasingly complex system of thousands of hereditary groups known as jatis — which literally means “births.” Each of these were understood to have a common identity and ancestors, and had roles, rituals, and status prescribed by custom and tradition. They were reinforced by endogamy, that is, marrying within the group.

As new occupations developed because of technological change or cultural interactions, or as groups migrated in or invaded, new jatis were created for them or older ones were redefined. Thus, the system was both stable and flexible. When Portuguese traders came to India in the late 1400s, they called these groups casta, from their own word for hereditary social divisions. This became the English word “caste,” now used widely to describe the Indian social hierarchy.

Certain tasks were regarded as beneath the dignity of even the lowest Shudras, and 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, on account of their occupations.

Hindu deities include powerful female gods, but only male Brahmins could go through the most important religious ceremonies and study sacred texts. While her brothers were off studying, 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, which 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, who in return confirmed the superior status of the priests. The Persians and the Greeks under Alexander conquered parts of northwest India, but at times Indian rulers also created larger empires, some of which favored Buddhism and some Hinduism.

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 to people from other areas. Today there are about a billion Hindus, about 95 percent of whom live in India.