REL 101 Class notes, Week 1, Lecture 3

I. Early Indian Religions Timeline

• 2500 BCE: Peak of Indus Valley Civilization
• 1500-1000 BCE: Development of early Vedas (incl Rig Veda)
• 600-200 BCE: Development of Upanishads
• 400-100 BCE: Development of Bhagavad Gita
• 300-800 CE: Development of Puranas, including various versions of the story of Krishna and the Gopis

II. Pre-Vedic Religion: Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization

• Background of Indus Valley Civliazation
• Polytheistic - Poly = "many"; theism = belief in god; polytheism = devotion to many gods
• Among them, male fertility symbols depicted by animals such as bulls and rhinos
• Apparently, there was religious practice in the form of some kind of meditation - yoga

   

II. Vedic Religion

Four Vedas

• Rig Veda
• Sama Veda
• Yajur Veda
• Atharva Veda

Gods of the Rig Veda

• Varuna
• Indra
• Agni
• Soma

Human-Divine relation: Atman-Brahman

Caste (class) system

• Brahmin
• Kshatriya
• Vaishya
• Shudra