THE ORIGINS OF INDIAN SPECULATIVE THOUGHT

• The fate of Harappan Civilization and its relationship to later Indian civilization
• The Aryans
  • Who ere they and where did they come from?
    • Sanskrit and the Indo-European family of languages
    • Why are the Aryans important?
  • Aryan Life and Thought
    • The four Vedas: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda
    • The Vedas as historical sources, and why they have survived intact
    • What the Vedas tell us about early Aryan life
    • What they tell us about early Aryan religion - beliefs, rituals and deities - from about 1500-900 BC
• Four stages in the development of the Aryan religion form a simple nature religion to a profound speculative philosophy
  • The Vedas: from Magic to Wisdom (1500-900 BC)
    • Macrocosm-microcosm
    • Ritual Power
    • Polytheism>henotheism>skepticism>the quest
    • Rta>Dharma
  • The Brahmanas (900-600 BC)
    • Supremacy of the sacrificial ritual (Mantra)
    • Ritual + Mantra as the cause of phenomena
    • The evolution of the gods: the demotion of Indra and the rise of Prajapati, Visvakarman, Brhaspati, Vac.
    • Gods become mechanical, controlled by Man
    • "Good" mean carrying out precise ritual
  • The Aranyakas [Forest treatises] (800-600 BC)
    • Sacrifice becomes allegorical
    • Sacrificial field>Yantra or Mandala (geometric design)
    • Individual represents cosmos: The atman (from an = to breath) of the individual is equivalent to the Atman of the universe
  • The Upanishads [also called Vedanta or “end of the Vedas”] (700-500 BC)
    • Description
      • Thirteen principle Upanishads
      • Search for Truth, trial and error, contradictions
      • In the form of dialogues
      • Women and kshatriyas often outwit Brahmans
    • Major concepts
      • Supreme power is "brahman" (literally, devotion or prayer itself, from brh = to swell up, as in prayer. Cf. "Brahman," priest or one who prays)
      • Atman (the breath or soul of the universe, or atman, the breath or soul of the individual) = brahman. TAT TVAM ASI (That art Thou)
      • Monism: a western philosophical equivalent
      • OM, AUM (the sacred sound, the totality of sound, the totality of everything)
      • Manifestation, emanation (instead of creation)
      • Moksha (freedom from samsara, the cycle of transmigration)
      • Maya (illusion, the created or dependent world)
    • Upanishadic ethics, or some answers to "the problem of evil" in Bramanism; namely, if moksha can come from Knowledge (jnana), cannot evil people attain it?
      • Karma (from kr - to do), ones deeds, and how they effect transmigration and rebirth
      • Yoga = discipline, restraint of senses, elimination of desire
      • Advaita or the unity of all life

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Questions or comments? Send e-mail to Chris Sims