India's Cultural Roots

Indian culture is several millennia old and, like an ancient tree, has many roots feeding one common trunk, from which many branches grow — art, literature, science, medicine, religion, the art of governance, martial arts, and schools of thought (groups of thinkers or spiritual seekers sharing similar ideas about human life and the world).

Some of India’s cultural roots go back to the Indus/Harappan/Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation (Chapter 6). Over time hundreds of schools of thought emerged; this chapter looks at a few early ones that shaped India’s unique personality.

There are four Vedas — the Ṛig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda and the Atharva Veda — India’s, and among the world’s, most ancient texts. They consist of thousands of hymns (prayers as poems and songs) that were recited orally, not written, composed in the Sapta Sindhava region (Chapter 5). Experts propose dates for the Ṛig Veda ranging from the 5th to the 2nd millennium BCE — so for anything between 100 and 200 generations these texts were committed to memory through rigorous training and passed on orally with hardly any alterations.

The hymns were composed by rishis (male seers) and rishikas (female seers) in an early form of Sanskrit, addressed to many deities — Varuṇa, Mitra, Sarasvatī, Uṣhas, Indra, Agni, and more. Together with the seers, these deities sustained ritam — truth and order in human life and the cosmos. The early rishis and rishikas saw the many gods and goddesses as one, not separate beings:

ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti — “The Existent [the supreme reality] is one, but sages give it many names.”

In this worldview, some values were especially important, beginning with ‘Truth’ — often another name for God. The closing mantras of the Ṛig Veda call for unity among people: “Come together, speak together; common be your mind, may your thoughts agree … United be your purpose, united your heart … may your thoughts be united, so all may agree!”

Early Vedic society was organised into different janas, or ‘clans’ — larger groups of people. The Ṛig Veda alone lists over 30 janas — for instance the Bharatas, the Purus, the Kurus, the Yadus, the Turvashas — each associated with a particular region of the northwest of the Subcontinent.

Not much is known of how the janas governed themselves. The Vedas give only a few clues, through words like rājā (king or ruler), and sabha and samiti (both referring to a collective gathering or assembly). Many professions are mentioned in the Vedic texts, such as agriculturist, weaver, potter, builder, carpenter, healer, dancer, barber, priest, etc.

1500 BCE   1000 BCE    500 BCE      1 CE      500 CE
  |----------|-----------|-----------|----------|
                    ↑ Births of Buddha
                      and Mahāvīra
              ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ Upanishads ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
                    ‑ ‑ ‑ Vedic schools of thought ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑

Vedic culture developed many rituals (yajña, often read as ‘yagya’) directed towards deities for individual or collective benefit and wellbeing. Daily rituals were generally offerings to Agni, the deity of fire, but rituals grew more complex over time.

A group of texts called the Upanishads built on Vedic concepts and introduced new ones: rebirth (taking birth again and again) and karma (our actions, or their results). One school of thought, generally known as Vedanta, held that everything — human life, nature, the universe — is one divine essence called brahman (not the god Brahmā), or sometimes just tat (‘that’). Two well-known mantras express this:

aham brahmāsmi — “I am brahman” (I am divine)
tat tvam asi — “You are That”

The Upanishads also introduced ātman, or Self — the divine essence in every being, ultimately one with brahman. It follows that everything in the world is connected and interdependent — explaining the common prayer sarve bhavantu sukhinah, “May all creatures be happy,” which continues by wishing them free from disease and sorrow.

Early in the 1st millennium BCE several more schools grew out of the Vedas. One was Yoga, which developed methods to realise brahman in one’s own consciousness. Together, these schools became the foundations of what we call ‘Hinduism’ today.

Many stories from the Upanishads tell us the importance of asking questions, whether they come from men, women or children.

Śhvetaketu and the seed of reality (Chhāndogya Upanishad) — Rishi Uddālaka Āruṇi sent his son Śhvetaketu to a gurukula to learn the Vedas. When Śhvetaketu returned 12 years later, proud of his learning, his father tested him with questions on the nature of brahman that he could not answer. Uddālaka explained that brahman, though invisible, is everywhere — just as the seed of a banyan fruit seems empty but already contains the future tree, or as all kinds of pots are made from the same clay. He concluded: “Everything consists of this subtle essence... You are That, Śhvetaketu.”

Nachiketa and his quest (Katha Upanishad) — A man was giving away all his possessions in a ritual. His son Nachiketa kept asking which god he would be offered to, until his angry father said, “I give you to Yama” — the god of death. Nachiketa went to Yama’s world and, after a long wait, asked what happens after the death of the body. Yama explained that the ātman, or self, is hidden within all creatures: it is neither born nor does it die; it is immortal. Nachiketa then returned to his father, who welcomed him joyfully.

The debate of Gārgī and Yājñavalkya (Brihadāranyaka Upanishad) — King Janaka announced a prize for the winner of a philosophical debate. The rishi Yājñavalkya defeated many scholars until Gārgī, a rishikā, questioned him on the nature of the world and finally of brahman. Yājñavalkya asked her to stop; later she resumed, and he went on to explain how brahman is what makes the world, the seasons, the rivers and everything else possible.

About two-and-a-half millenniums ago, a young prince named Siddhārtha Gautama was born in Lumbini (today in Nepal). The textbook uses 560 BCE as an approximate year for his birth.

Siddhārtha grew up living a protected life in the palace. One day, at the age of 29, driven through the city in a chariot, he saw for the first time an old man, a sick man, a dead body, and also an ascetic who appeared happy and at peace. Following this experience, he decided to give up his palace life, leaving behind his wife and son. After meditating for many days under a pipal tree at Bodh Gaya (today in Bihar), he attained enlightenment: he realised that avidyā (ignorance) and attachment are the source of human suffering, and conceived a method to remove these two causes.

Siddhārtha then became known as the Buddha, meaning the ‘enlightened’ or ‘awakened’ one. He began teaching what he had realised, including ahimsa — generally translated ‘non-violence’, but originally meaning ‘non-hurting’ or ‘non-injuring’.

“Not by water is one made pure, though many people may bathe here [in sacred rivers]. But one is pure in whom truth and dharma reside. Conquering oneself is greater than conquering a thousand men on the battlefield a thousand times.”

The Buddha founded the Sangha, a community of bhikshus or monks (and, later, bhikshunīs or nuns) who dedicated themselves to practising and spreading his teachings. His influence on India, and indeed the whole of Asia, was enormous; it is still perceptible today.

The Jātaka tales tell stories of the Buddha’s former births. In a well-known tale, the Buddha was the king of a large troop of monkeys living near a tree bearing fruit of divine fragrance. When a ripe fruit fell into a stream and was carried to a human king’s palace, its taste so enchanted him that he sent soldiers to find and attack the monkeys. The much larger monkey-king caught hold of a tree on the far bank and let his troop cross the stream using his own body as a bridge — though he was severely bruised and eventually died. The human king, watching from a distance, was deeply moved by this selfless sacrifice and reflected on the role of a king with respect to his subjects.

Jainism became widespread at the same time as Buddhism, though its roots are said to be much more ancient. Just like Siddhārtha Gautama, Prince Vardhamāna was born into a royal family in the early 6th century BCE, near the city of Vaishālī in modern-day Bihar. At age 30 he left home in search of spiritual knowledge, and after 12 years achieved ‘infinite knowledge’ or supreme wisdom. He became known as Mahāvīra, ‘great hero’.

The word ‘Jain’ (jaina) comes from jina, meaning ‘conqueror’ — not conquest of territory or enemies, but conquest of ignorance and attachment, to reach enlightenment.

Jain teachings include ahimsa, anekāntavāda and aparigraha — ideas shared to a large extent with Buddhism and the Vedantic school:

• Anekāntavāda (‘not just one’ aspect) — truth has many aspects and cannot be fully described by any single statement.
• Aparigraha (‘non-possession’) — detachment from material possessions, limiting oneself to what is truly necessary in life.

“All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away.” — Mahāvīra

Jainism also insists on the interconnectedness and interdependence of all creatures, from humans to invisible organisms, which support each other and cannot live without one another.

A Jain story — Rohineya. Rohineya was a skilled burglar who accidentally heard a few sentences from a sermon Mahāvīra was giving about liberation from ignorance. Later arrested and nearly tricked into confessing, he remembered Mahāvīra’s words and detected the trap. Feeling remorseful, he confessed his crimes, returned the stolen treasures, and became a monk. The story illustrates the importance of right action and right thinking, and that everyone deserves a second chance.

In both Buddhism and Jainism, ahimsa means much more than avoiding physical violence — it also means refraining from violence in thought, such as ill feelings towards anyone, sometimes even directed at oneself. Monks and nuns in both traditions travelled to spread their teachings — some founded new monasteries, others led ascetic lives in caves cut into rock, as at Ellora (Maharashtra).

In English, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are often labelled ‘religions’. The textbook deliberately avoids this term, preferring ‘schools of thought’ and ‘belief systems’, because these traditions have many aspects — philosophical, spiritual, religious, ethical, social — and many scholars agree the word ‘religion’ is too limiting in the Indian context.

One further school, known as the ‘Chārvāka’ school (also ‘Lokāyata’), believed that the material world is the only thing that exists, and therefore there is no life after death. This school never gained much popularity and disappeared over time — mentioned to show the wide diversity of belief systems available; people were free to choose what suited them.

Although the Vedic, Buddhist and Jain schools had important differences, they also shared common concepts — dharma, karma, rebirth, the search for an end to suffering and ignorance, and many important values. This is the ‘trunk’ of the cultural tree the chapter began with.

The cultural roots covered so far are well documented in texts. India has also had rich ‘oral traditions’ — teachings or practices transmitted through everyday practice, without written texts. Among them are numerous folk traditions (transmitted by common people) and tribal traditions (transmitted by tribes).

What is a tribe? Anthropologists usually define a tribe as a group of families or clans sharing common descent, culture and language, living as a close-knit community under a chief, holding no private property. Ancient India had no word for ‘tribe’ — tribes were simply different janas living in a specific environment, such as forests or mountains. The Constitution of India uses ‘tribes’ / ‘tribal communities’ in English, and janjāti in Hindi.

In the 19th century, anthropologists studying tribes often described them as ‘primitive’ or ‘inferior’ to ‘civilised’ people. With deeper study of tribal communities and their rich, complex cultures, such biased judgements have mostly been abandoned.

The chapter picks up mid-example: a folk deity in the form of the Moon who later rose to the status of a supreme god — also the case of the god Khandoba in parts of central India. In eastern India, the Munda and Santhal tribals, among others, worship Singbonga, a supreme deity who created this whole world.

“The thousands of castes and tribes on the Indian subcontinent have influenced each other in their religious beliefs and practices since the beginning of history and before. That the tribal religions have been influenced by Hinduism is widely accepted, but it is equally true that Hinduism, not only in its formative phase but throughout its evolution, has been influenced by tribal religions.” — André Béteille

Clearly, this long interaction resulted in mutual enrichment. Folk and tribal beliefs and practices also count among India’s cultural roots.

Three images side by side: a carved rishi figure (from Hampi, Karnataka); a golden seated Buddha statue (from Bhutan); a dark stone seated Buddha/Mahāvīra image (from Bihar) — captioned “A rishi (from Hampi, Karnataka) | The Buddha (from Bhutan) | Mahāvīra (from Bihar)”.

A time arrow marked 1500 BCE, 1000 BCE, 500 BCE, 1 CE, 500 CE, with “Births of Buddha and Mahāvīra” marked near 500 BCE. Below it, two dashed bands show the approximate span of the Upanishads and of Vedic schools of thought.

A carved stone panel about 1,800 years old, showing the Buddha seated with a halo, hand raised in a teaching gesture, surrounded by several followers with raised hands and offerings; a carved pillar and railing frame the scene.

Mahāvīra seated cross-legged in plain white robes, eyes closed in meditation, within an ornate multi-coloured arch decorated with serpents, flowers and a parasol-like canopy.

A carved stone roundel (at Bharhut, Madhya Pradesh) showing monkeys in a tree, illustrating the Jātaka tale of the monkey-king who bridged a stream with his own body to save his troop.

A carved stone panel (from a Jain temple in New Delhi) showing animal figures — including a lion-like creature and horned animals — around a central pot/vessel motif.

A photograph of rock-cut caves at Ellora, Maharashtra, carved into a hillside between the 6th and 10th centuries CE; some caves are Hindu, others Buddhist and Jain.

1. (p.109) Do you know the term for a society where people select their leaders? How do you think people can benefit from such a situation? What could happen if they live under leaders they did not choose? Write your thoughts in a paragraph of 100–150 words.
2. (p.110) Have you heard or read any other story that conveyed an important message? What values did it teach you?
3. (p.115) Discuss the way the Buddha is depicted in the stone panel on p.114. Can you name some states of India, or some other countries, where Buddhism is a major religion even today? Try to plot these on a world map.
4. (p.118) Observe the carved panel from a Jain temple in New Delhi. What is striking about it? What messages does it carry?
5. (p.118) In both Buddhism and Jainism, ahimsa means much more than refraining from physical violence — it also means refraining from violence in thought. If we observe ourselves carefully, we may notice negative thoughts and learn to turn them into positive ones.
6. (p.119) In English, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are often labelled ‘religions’. Why might ‘schools of thought’ or ‘belief systems’ be a better description in the Indian context?

1. If you were Nachiketa, what questions would you like to ask Yama? Write them down in 100–150 words.
2. Explain a few central ideas of Buddhism. Briefly comment upon them.
3. Discuss in class the quotation of the Buddha which begins with “Not by water is one made pure…” to make sure that its meaning has been understood by all.
4. Explain a few central ideas of Jainism. Briefly comment upon them.
5. Consider and discuss in class André Béteille’s thought (see page 122).
6. Make a list of popular gods and goddesses in your region and the festivals they are associated with.
7. As a class activity, list two or three tribal groups from your region or State. Document some of their art and belief systems.

1. The Vedic hymns were written on palm-leaf manuscripts.
2. The Vedas are India’s oldest texts.
3. The Vedic statement ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti reflects a belief in the unity of cosmic powers.
4. Buddhism is older than the Vedas.
5. Jainism emerged as a branch of Buddhism.
6. Both Buddhism and Jainism advocated for peaceful coexistence and the avoidance of harm to all living beings.
7. Tribal belief systems are limited to belief in spirits and minor deities.

Stage a small play with Yama, god of death, surrounded by several Nachiketas asking him questions about life.