Upon close examination, we discover that the religion of the Vedas was not the religion of the Hindus, nor were the Vedic people Hindus, nor will the Hindus of today approve the replacement of the term ‘Hinduism’ with ‘Vedic Religion’. One can say exactly when the Aryans became Hindus because neither the name Hindu nor its major beliefs and practices existed in the Vedic times.
To this, one must add the marginal place the Vedic gods occupy in today’s Hindu pantheon. Also, as we have seen, the Vedas themselves are not attractive to most of today’s Hindus as sacred texts. The Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad-Gita, Puranas, and Manusmriti may have more to do with the Hinduism of today than the Vedas.
Thus, it is clear that there is no direct ancestry of modern Hinduism traceable in the Vedas, though it does have some influence on it. “The Vedic corpus reflects the archetypal religion of those who called themselves Aryans, and which, although it contributed to facets of latter-day Hinduism, was nevertheless distinct”.
The caste system, which is so integral to Hinduism, was also not practiced in the Vedic times. There is hardly any evidence of a rigid caste system in the Vedas. It is argued that the purushasukta hymn of the Rig Veda (X.90), which is often referred to to give a religious sanction to the caste system, was a later interpolation.
The Vedas, however, speak of various classes of people, which appear to have been names of professions, and they were not hereditary.
“The very concept of castes by birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes, untouchables, Dalits, etc., is clearly prohibited by the Rigveda”.
Rigveda prohibits: ~ “The very concept of castes by birth”.
There is hardly any evidence of a rigid caste system in the Vedas. It is argued that the purushasuktahymn of the Rig Veda (X.90), which is often referred to to give a religious sanction to the caste system, was a later interpolation.
The Vedas, however, speak of various classes of people, which appear to have been names of professions, and they were not hereditary.
The very concepts of castes by birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes, untouchables, Dalits, etc., are clearly prohibited by the Rig-Veda.
The caste system, which is so integral to Hinduism, was also not practiced in the Vedic times.
The Book of Manu was made by Manu Dharma Shastra. The Book of Manu was a book that originated in India in and around the 9th century A.D. This book of Manu was given a false spiritual interpretation by orthodoxy. And this book was projected as ‘Manu Dharma Shastra’ by orthodoxy. It is the Manu Dharma Shastra that is the foundation and cause for caste discrimination.
The orthodoxy that has taken upon the responsibility to maintain, propagate, and perpetuate the authority of caste discriminating principle called Manu Dharma Shastra.
This caste discrimination led to umpteen numbers of castes and sub-castes within the Indian population. Today, because of this, caste discrimination makes the Hindus hate each other, fight each other; therefore, there is no unity among the Hindus.
This caste discriminating tool is used by modern-day politicians to divide and destroy the social fabric of India. The politicians and the orthodox cults preserve and promote Varnashrama Dharma for their own advantage, which is non-Vedic. Orthodox cults and politicians glorify, preserve, enforce, and perpetuate caste discrimination in India.
Hinduism of today is of a much later origin, and a historical view of Indian religions would endorse a dichotomy between Vedic Religion or Sanatana Dharma and contemporary Hinduism.
Hinduism does not have a long ancestry as is often presumed or propagated by the Hindu ideologues. Historically, religions like Buddhism and Jainism can claim greater antiquity than the Hinduism of today.
Hinduism began to take a systematic form from the time of the South Indian Sage Sankara in the 8th century A.D. In this sense, he may be considered the ‘founder’ of Hinduism, but it was not called Hinduism then.
People in India think Hinduism is a religion, and Santana Dharma is Hinduism. But it is not so. - Hinduism has drifted miles away from the Vedic faith so that the two seem to be two distinct faiths
Vedic Religion or Suntan Dharma deserves to be treated on its own as a distinct religion with its sacred texts, rites, rules of social life, beliefs, and practices, without interlinking it with Hinduism.
Perhaps it is right to maintain that the Mimamsa School, which is concerned with the investigation of the Vedic texts, their correct interpretation, and the meticulous performance of the Vedic rituals and ceremonies, has preserved and defended a part of the heritage of the Vedic tradition.
The Vedanta school may also have received a part of its inspiration from the Vedas. For the rest of the Hindu philosophical schools and religious sects, the influence of the Vedas is nominal.
As one goes into the annals of religious history, he finds:-
When we carefully examine the two faiths, it is not difficult to discover that there is no noticeable continuity of Hinduism from the Vedic religion or the Santana Dharma. Hinduism of today cannot be traced in the Vedic literature.
Although the Vedas are revered as sacred texts, many people in India do not know what ‘belief in the Vedas’ means. In most cases, the acquaintance of the Hindus with the Vedas is limited to the few hymns that are recited in temples and household liturgies.
The Vedas, as a body of scripture, contain many contradictions, and they are fragmentary. For Hindus, scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas are more attractive and appealing than the Vedas.
The Gods and Goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones. The collection of hymns called the Vedas, written in praise of certain deities by poets over several centuries, does not seem to have much significance for the Hindus of today.
Hinduism is based on mythology or the Puranas. All the Gods of Hinduism are Puranic Gods with form and attributes.
Vedic Gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma, and the like, whom the Vedic people worshipped, hardly have any significance in present-day Hinduism. The Gods and Goddesses important to the Hindus of today are Ram, Krishna, Kali, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the respective consorts of the last three, namely, Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Shakti. None of these deities figured prominently in the Vedic pantheon, and some of them are non-Vedic.
The major Gods of Hinduism, like Vishnu and Shiva, are non-Aryan in origin. Though they may have belonged to the Vedic tradition, they played no major role in the Vedas.
The more important religious sects of Hinduism, like Vaishnavism, Saivism, and so on, did not have a Vedic origin but had come into existence in comparatively recent times.
The Vedic people worshippers did not use temples and idols as Hindus of today do. For them, the sacrificial rituals were more important than temple or idol worship. The major Hindu feasts of today are based on the epic feats of Rama and Krishna and the Puranic lore on Shiva and the Goddess.
Belief in reincarnation, which is central to Hinduism of today, is not attested to in the Vedas, though they hint at life after death. The doctrine of transmigration, as elaborated in Hinduism, has no place in the Vedic hymns. In the early Vedic literature, there is no express mention of the doctrine of transmigration. It is in the Upanishads that it appears for the first time.
The Rig Veda speaks of two paths for the souls of the deceased, namely, the path of the Gods (devayana) and the path of the fathers (pitriyana). Those who go by the former enjoy immortality, and there is no return to physical life after that. The Vedic man longed for this state of life. Whereas those who go by the latter path unite with the fathers and then return to earth after having enjoyed the fruits of their deeds. Raja further states that in the entire Rig Veda ― consisting of about 10,500 verses ~ there is only one occasion where there is mention of a return to this world after death. What is implied here is that it cannot be taken as an important teaching of the Rig Veda.
The theory of Avatar (‘descend’) of Gods, which is very important to modern Hinduism, is non-Vedic.
“Significantly, the term Avatar […] is not found in the earlier Vedic texts, and is absent from the older Sanskrit glossaries”. The caste system, which is so integral to Hinduism, was also not practiced in the Vedic times. There is hardly any evidence of a rigid caste system in the Vedas. It is argued that the purushasukta hymn of the Rig Veda (X.90), which is often referred to as giving a religious sanction to the caste system, was a later interpolation. The Vedas, however, speak of various classes of people, which appear to have been names of professions, and they were not hereditary.
The very concept of castes by birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes, untouchables, Dalits, etc., is prohibited by the Rigveda.
Vedic Religion deserves to be treated on its own as a distinct religion with its sacred texts, rites, rules of social life, beliefs, and practices, without interlinking it with modern Hinduism. Perhaps it is right to maintain that the Mimamsa school, which is concerned with the investigation of the Vedic texts, their correct interpretation, and the meticulous performance of the Vedic rituals and ceremonies, has preserved and defended a part of the heritage of the Vedic tradition. The Vedanta school may also have received a part of its inspiration from the Vedas. For the rest of the Hindu philosophical schools and religious sects, the influence of the Vedas is nominal.
Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, was the first modern Indian thinker to emphasize the importance of ‘going back to the Vedas’ to bring about social reforms in Hindu society and to purify Hinduism of its many aberrations. The founder of Arya Samaj was the first modern Indian thinker to emphasize the importance of ‘going back to the Vedas’ to bring about social reforms in Hindu society and to purify Hinduism of its many aberrations. :~ Santthosh Kumaar
