Description of Module Items Description of Module Subject

Description of Module

Items Description of Module Subject Name Social Work Paper Name History and Philosophy of Social Work Paper Coordinator Dr. Ruchi Sinha Content Writer/Author Dr. Pekham Basu (CW) Content Reviewer Prof Manish Jha Indian Ideologies in the Ancient Period- Vedic Module Name/Title Religions, Jainism and Buddhism Module Id 7 1. To understand and familiarise students to Ancient India 2. To contextualise Vedic religion 3. To comprehend the emergence of Jainism and Objectives Buddhism 4. To understand the linkages of religion with the basic tenets of social work

Ancient India, Vedic Religions, Emergence of Jainism Key words and Buddhism

Introduction

Ancient India covers a vast swathe of time and runs across various ages, beginning with the prehistoric era of the Stone Age. Various literary and archaeological evidences have been pieced together in an attempt to give a definitive account of ancient India. D.D. Kosambi, an authority on ancient Indian history, while writing on ancient India, came across the problem of absence of records, especially of the Kings, dynasties, and their chronicles. This posed a problem, because most often historians depend on those evidences to chronicle the past. Kosambi thus said, “History is the presentation in chronological order of successive changes in the means and relations of production. This definition has the advantage that history can be written as distinct from a series of historical episodes. Culture must then be understood also in the sense of the ethnographer, to describe the essential ways of life of the whole people”.

Archaeological evidences from ancient India dug out many cultures that Dandekar, writing on the Historiography of ancient India, mentions, “brought to light a variety of

cultures, such as the pre-Harappan. Harappan, and post-Harappan cultures, the Banas culture, the chalcolithic cultures of Narmada and Central India, the ochre colour pottery culture of the upper Gangã-valley, the copper hoard culture, the painted grey ware culture, and the northern black polished ware culture.” Since this module is on Vedic Religions, Jainism and Buddhism, we will concentrate only on the religious aspects of ancient Indian history.

Vedic Religion Much of Vedic religion is attributed to the Aryans, who came to India just after the Indus Valley Civilization. Vedic Religion is understood from Vedic literature, or the 'Veda'. This was not a written document, but was compiled over the years, an oral tradition that was handed down from one genration to the next. Vedic Literature consists of three major literary genres, namely, the Samhitãs, the Brãhmanas (which would also include the Äranyakas), and the Upanisads, and the four Vedas, namely, Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Sãmaveda, and the Atharvaveda.

The Vedic Period is divided into two periods – early Vedic period, tentatively between 1500 and 1000 BC, and later Vedic period. Rig Veda is dominated by nature worhsip like Indra, the God of thunder, Agni, god of fire, Surya, the sun god, Varuna, god of water, and so on. Max Muller, a noted German scholar sees this as a form of nature worhsip. Kosmabi says, that “the Persians and Medes had an Aryan speech close to Sanskrit. About 1400 B.C., Mitannian records show that people worshipping Indo-Aryan gods in an Aryan language were settled near Lake Urmiyeh in Iran. The same gods Indra, Varuna, Mitra, etc., were worshipped by Persians till Zoroaster swept them away in the late sixth century B.C. Only the Indo-Aryan god of fire (Agni) remained in common worship for both. The Sanskrit word deva for 'god' became the Iranian term for 'demon’.”

Kosambi further states that the Rigveda made no reference to fixed settlements like the earlier period of the Indus Valley Civilization. Neither was there any reference to reading, writing, art, and architecture. “Music was restricted to chants for ritual. Technology amounted mostly to the construction of chariots, tools, and weapons of war; it belonged primarily to the god Tvashtri and his followers, both seemingly of Indus origin”. In the Rig vedic period, there was no caste or class differentiation

within the tribe at this stage, and there was mobility among castes which were purely based on profession. So the son of a priest could become a carpenter if he mastered carpentry, and if a cobbler’s son gained religious knowledge, he could become a priest.

The later Vedic period is between 1000 and 600 BC and shows a considerable advance in material culture, and there is a geographical shift to the Ganga valley, giving an indication that the society was not nomadic, or pastoral as earlier, but was developing into an agrarian society with subsistence economy. The development of iron, which aided the formation of tools, also led to urbanization. However, the most significant development was the consolidation of the Varna or the caste system leading to its rigidity and emergence of the Brahmanas as a dominant caste group. The Vedic poet-priests also undertook to collect together all the scattered old and new mantras, group them into süktas or hymns - the Rigveda-Samhitã or the collection of the suktas relating to the religion of the classes and the Atharvaveda-Samhitã or the collection of the suktas relating to the religion of the masses for the sake of convenience. This division may have had an impact in paving the way for Jainism and Buddhism, but one is not sure. Samhitã- period, was marked by growing stability and prosperity in social, political and economic spheres. This social security and leisure time, allowed people to elaborate their existing simple religion – making it a complex religion. It saw the institutionalisation of Vedic sacrifice and thus loaded with details like “the type of sacrifice, the variety of sacred fires, the number of officiating priests, the time and place of the performance, the formulas to be recited, the oblations to be offered, the utensils to be used, etc. This new complex institution of sacrifice naturally demanded new literature which would be devoted, more or less exclusively, to the deliberation of the theory and practice (particularly, the latter) of the Vedic ritual”. (Dandekar, 2000).

Many of the Vedic practices have been continued by Hinudism, but, “Vedic religion 1 differs from classical Hinduism in a number of respects. First, the characteristic and dominant cults of classical Hinduism have been those of Visnu and Siva. Both gods are present in Vedic hymns, but Visnu is relatively unimportant. Moreover, the hymns make hostile refers to phallus-

1 https://msu.edu/~puhek/miem/Vedanta.html

worshippers (evidently cult of lingam associated. with Siva). Second, the cult of images and temple worship do not appear in Veda. Third, there was only a foreshadowing of later bhakti religion. Fourth, the division into varnas or classes was present, but not fully-fledged caste system of later Hinduism. Fifth, only in Upanishads is there the almost an all-pervasive belief, of Hinduism, in rebirth. Sixth, the center of religion is the sacrificial cultus, which later played a smaller and smaller actual part in the fabric of Hinduism. On other hand, Vedic religion set certain patterns that have maintained themselves. First, the dominance of Brahmin class was well established by mid-Vedic times. Second, upper-class patterns of initiation and domestic ritual have continued with relatively little change, considering the time-span involved. Third, the Upanishads have retained dominant position scripturally and have remained normative for expositions of Vedanta. Fourth, the pattern of identifying one divinity with another, etc., has been followed in later Hinduism in the task of synthesizing the variety of cults (for example, in the identification of Brahma, Siva and Visnu). Fifth, many gods of Vedic pantheon have persisted into later Hinduism, even if they have been less important cultically than they once were. Sixth, an import, factor in the unity of Indian culture has been Aryanization and Sanskritization of literary and administrative structures of the subcontinent in classical and medieval times— something which grew out of the culture represented by Vedic writings as mediated by the priesthood’s recognizing Vedic writings as revelation (Sruti). But at same time the incorporation of a supplementary canon (smrti) and the influence in medieval times of vernacular religions poetry (Alvars), Tantras and other texts, have in practice greatly modified the interpretation of the Veda”.

Interlude period – laying the ground for alternate thoughts There were several factors that made it conducive for the rise of Jainism and Buddhism in India. Here I will touch upon only 2 factors, economic and religious. In the later Vedic period and during the Magadha Empire there was considerable economic prosperity and political consolidation. The values stressed in the Hindu religion were not conducive for an expanding national economy and the mercantile nature of cities where traders had to do business with people from different castes and

race and had no time for the cleansing rituals as a result, or the numerous injunctions against the utilization of certain resources and the restrictions on collaboration in production. Essentially, the Hindu tradition is oriented towards a rural, self-sufficient, relatively static agricultural society, while the values of the urban merchant and artisan were, like their medieval European counterparts, "no longer determined by their relations with the land"(Pirenne, 1956:45). Darian writes, “The Hindu Dharma Sutras (c. 500-200 B.C.) warn of the cities, where "the Vedas are not recited." The householder who has finished his religious studies is cautioned against spending too much time in the city, for people living there cannot attain salvation, despite their austerities. Manu (c. 1st century B.C.-3rd century A.D.) looks with disfavor on trade and industry (iv.5-6).” Similar as in medieval Europe where the new economic realities came into conflict with accepted theories of society, followers of Hinduism were going through this, whereas this conflict is lacking in the texts of Buddhism and Jainism, who accepted urban life and preached across rural and urban areas. “The growth of both sects, as Weber pointed out, is closely tied to the development of urban institutions (Weber, 1958a:202, 204; Fairservis, 1971:379). And it may be no coincidence that the two great religious leaders arose at the time of the "urban revolution" in the period of expanding empires”.

Every religion has gone through a phase of extreme orthodoxy, or questioning by those who follow the faith. Thus, you have Christianity arising out of Judaism (see Module 2) or Sikhism (see Modules 8 and 9) being institutionalised as a religion since both the dominant religions of the time, Islam and Hinduism, became constricting and not liberating. Kosambi writes that, “the post-Vedic period (600 BC-200 BC) is marked by the extensive use of iron for production, enormous expansion of the economy, substantial rise in the available surplus and accentuated economic inequality in the full-fledged class society of the middle Ganga basin and further east.” Thus the caste or the varna or jati that started off as classifications based on professions in the early vedic period, was now consolidated. “The Dharmasutras of Apastam ba, Baudhayana, Gautama and Vasishtha (600 BC-300 BC) reflect this clearly in the relatively more frequent use of jati in the sense of caste. The Dharmasutras place the hierarchical social position and occupational roles of the four varnas in a legal setting and detail the privileges of the first three twice-born (dvija) varnas, demarcating them clearly from the shudras, who are saddled with numerous

and varied disabilities.” The Sudras are mandated to serve the twice-born, they are assigned laborious physical labour like landless agricultural labourers, artisans, wage earners and slaves, and to mark the difference the initiation with sacred thread (upanayana) is also denied to them. To keep them ignorant they are excluded from Vedic study and sacrifices or sacraments with Vedic mantras. Long before the invasion of any foreign invaders like the Turks, Mughals or the British, we had already began the process of discrimination and practised inequality before law in matters relating to inheritance, rates of interest and even criminal offences. The shudras were denied access to judicial and high administrative positions, and restrictions were imposed on their association and marriage with superior varnas.

It is in this scenario of the rigidity of the caste system, increasing dominance of the Brahmans or twice born, and the increasing ritualism of Vedic religion, and economic prosperity, and urbanisation of society, Jainism and Budhism emerged. The common features shared by the two religions are rationalistic and atheistic sects, there is no God presiding over the destiny of people, thorough ethical systems, and people rise or fall according to their karma. (Kosambi, 1964). Jainism offered the way of extreme asceticism and austerities, while Buddhism offered a moderate way which Gautama, the founder called the “middle way”.

Jainism Jainism, was founded in the fifth century B.C. Jainism is often considered to be mid- way between Buddhism and Hinduism. It shares with Hinduism the belief in rebirth and in the desirability of escaping from the suffering and privations of all transient existence into the freedom of nirvana. Since it opposed caste system, it did not recognise the predominance of a caste in the religion. The name Jainism is from the word jinas, meaning the victorious ones or “conquerors”. The Sanskrit root Ji means to conquer. The Jinas are the Jain saints, the teachers and leaders. They have attained liberation from the cycle of birth and death (nirvana) and are in that sense conquerors. They are also referred to as Tirthankaras and have found the way towards salvation. The 23 prophetic personalities before Mahavira were called Jinas. Rishabha is claimed to have been a historical figure; he had died 246 years before the birth of Mahavira. Traditions say that he had been living in heaven until time came for him to descend to the earth, he entered the womb of queen Vema and was born. Parsva, who

came later, renounced his father’s throne to which he was the heir, with his parents’ reluctant agreement, and became a recluse, mostly in the forest. It is from here through the practice of extreme austerity and yoga, he finally attained liberation (moksha), and omniscience (perfect knowledge of the true nature of reality and of self). Parsva became a Jina, a great teacher of mankind.

Though there were 24 tirthankaras who founded the faith, Mahavira, the last of them all, is attributed to be the founder of Jainism. He lived a little before Buddha and probably died around 480 BC. He restored and reformed a very old religion. Jainism also carries with it special veneration for life, probably dating back to early Hinduism. (Mugambi, 2010). Jains believe in ahimsa or non-violence, a commitment, which binds the Jain to harm no living being - neither man, nor animal, nor plant. In a sense, they realised the importance of the environment and made attempts to conserve it, even going beyond the food chain concept. Jains do not believe in Brahman, the world-soul of Hinduism. The spirit of Jain piety lives in founder Mahavira's saying, "O man, thou art thine own friend. Why seekest thou for a friend beyond thyself?' In purely philosophical terms,. Gandhi was attracted to Jainism in many ways: to the personal sanctity of Jain leaders, to the compassion of the Jains in their many works of social welfare, and to the secularism and relativism of Jain metaphysics. (Miles, 1974).

To sum up the basic tenets of Jainism: “The essence of Jainism is concern for the welfare of every being in the universe and for the health of the universe itself. Jains believe in reincarnation and seek to attain ultimate liberation - which means escaping the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth so that the immortal soul lives for ever in a state of bliss. Liberation is achieved by eliminating all karma from the soul. The three guiding principles of Jainism, the 'three jewels', are right belief, right knowledge and right conduct. The supreme principle of Jain living is non violence (ahimsa). Jains believe that animals and plants, as well as human beings, contain living souls. Each of these souls is considered of equal value and should be treated with respect

and compassion. Thus Jains are strict vegetarians and live in a way that minimises their use of the world's resources. This is one of the 5 mahavratas (the 5 great vows). The other mahavratas are non-attachment to possessions, not lying, not stealing, and sexual restraint (with celibacy as the ideal).

The texts containing the teachings of Mahavira are called the Agamas. Jains are divided into two major sects; the Digambara (meaning "sky clad") sect and the Svetambara (meaning "white clad") sect.

Jainism is a religion of self-help. There are no gods or spiritual beings that will help human beings. Jainism has no priests. Its professional religious people are monks and nuns, who lead strict and ascetic lives” (BBC, 2009).

Buddhism

Buddhism preaches to reach a state of nirvana, following the path of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who went on a quest for Enlightenment around the sixth century BC. There is no belief in a personal god and the path to Enlightenment is through the practice and development of morality, meditation and wisdom. Buddhists believe that life is both endless and subject to impermanence, suffering and uncertainty. These states are called the tilakhana, or the three signs of existence. Existence is endless because individuals are reincarnated over and over again, experiencing suffering throughout many lives. It is impermanent because no state, good or bad, lasts forever. The history of Buddhism is the story of Siddhartha Gautama's spiritual journey to enlightenment, and of the teachings and ways of living that developed from it. He was born into a royal family in present-day Nepal over 2500 years ago. He lived a life of privilege and luxury until one day he left the royal enclosure, his wife and young son in the quest for knowledge, enlightenment. He became a monk and decided to pursue the ‘Middle Way’ - a life without luxury but also without poverty. There are numerous different schools or sects of Buddhism, and over the years it has become a popular religion with global presence. The two largest are Theravada Buddhism, which is most popular in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar), and Mahayana Buddhism, which is strongest in Tibet, China, Taiwan,

Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. The majority of Buddhist sects do not seek to proselytise (preach and convert), with the notable exception of Nichiren Buddhism.

Unlike Jainism, Buddhism enjoyed royal patronage. King Asoka (r. c. 274-236 BC) was the first royal patron of Buddhism. The Maurya ruler ruled over northern India and his empire extended till modern day Afghanistan. He decided that he will abandon violence as a means of unification, and to consolidate his rule by spreading the non-violent teachings of the Buddha. Asoka's moralizing edicts engraved on stone, once excavated, provided much of the knowledge on Buddhism. The maturation of Buddhism between the sixth and twelfth centuries AD on the Indian sub-continent were in pockets like the Deccan, North eastern India. While Buddhism attracted both urban and rural followers, in later period the monasteries were set up in secluded areas. However, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries many of them were destroyed by the Turkish invaders and much of the historical evidences were lost with it. Buddhism disappeared from India during thirteenth century as Hinduism and Islam became the dominant religions and philosophies. Since Buddhist doctrine had been carried to the far ends of East and Southeast Asia, it survived and even today remains a dominant religion. (Barnes, 1995).

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar used Buddhism as a tool of social action when he publicly adopted Buddhism at a Diksha ceremony in Nagpur shortly before his death. Ironically history repeated itself, since to defy caste discrimination of later Vedic period, Buddhism had emerged. Centuries later, Ambedkar tried to empower, especially the ‘Untouchables’ from among the Hindus, by giving them a fresh breath of life under Buddhism.

Social Work and Ancient India A discussion on ancient India is incomplete without a discussion on the Mauryan Empire and its chief adviser, Kautilya. The Mauryan Empire is said to be the largest empire – larger than Mughal Empire and the British Empire. Chandragupta Maurya is the founder of the dynasty, and the mots celebrated king in the line is Ashoka. In no other era has the Chief Adviser being equally revered, even after thousand of years as Kautilya. It is said that he proposed an elaborate welfare state in domestic politics –

socialised monarchy, his view of women as weapons of war or his use of religion and superstition to gain advantage in the battlefield, or his human treatment of prisoners of wars – are followed even today. However, it was under Ashoka, that the principle of Dhamma or Dharma came into the fore. A prakrit word, it encompassed a varied meanings like right conduct, duty, religion, law, social justice, and responsibility. Influenced by Buddhism, the 12 rock edicts elaborate on them further, and lay the foundation of social work and human rights in India. These edicts talk about compassion, a system of social welfare that includes digging of wells and medical centres for human beings and animals, kindness towards slaves and prisoners, to mention a few (Boesche, 2003). Thus, more than 2000 years ago some of the basic concepts and welfare measures were already in practice. Today we are transgressing from some of these edicts like tolerance and respect for other religion, or concern for the poor in rural areas. As social workers we are increasingly working in polarised environment; where the focus is on urbanization and hence an increased migration of people from rural areas; and where liberality towards friends and neighbours from other communities is seen as a weakness. Instead of building on the rich legacy, we are at the risk of losing it all. As social workers we address problems arising from social inequalities like caste, communal conflict, gender discrimination, rural urban divide, to name a few. Hence, we, as social workers need to be aware of the political ideologies, religious beliefs while working towards social justice and securing human rights of those affected.

Conclusion Mahatma Gandhi had said, “God has no religion”. Yet, since time immemorial, the history of our civilization unfolds with attempts to establish the supremacy of one religion over the other in a bid to control the lives of individuals. Religion has an overarching influence on society, on art and culture, and politics. In ancient India, over the course of a few hundred years, we saw the development of Hinduism through the early and later vedic period, then that being challenged by Jainism and Buddhism. It is interesting to note that ancient India gave birth to 3 new religions which developed into institutions and still survive today. While Hinduism tried to organise people and cajole them into living disciplined lives by way of rituals and through a system of exclusion and inclusion (caste), Jainism and Buddhism emerged to challenge that very process. They were attempting to stall discrimination by bringing

about social reform through a new religion. By laying emphasis on Karma, or right conduct, they shifted focus from the “will of God” (fatalism) that had crept into Hinduism. They even changed the language of discourse – from Sanskrit, the language of the upper caste Hindus, to Prakrit that the Jains used and Pali that the Buddhists used, for a better comprehension by the common people, irrespective of caste and education. This module along with modules 2, 8 and 9 emphasise the necessity of social workers to understand religions from a historiographical lens over the mere reductionist view of symbols and loose interpretation of texts and intent of texts. It points out the contextual relevance, the inability of religions to imbibe change and thereby becoming rigid in their approach. Thus not only did religions set the base of charity over time they showcase how oppression gets expressed as an alternative religion or pathway.