Indo-European culture produced a vast body of literature, classified as the Vedas (VAY-dahz) and the Epics. The word Veda means “sacred love.” An epic is a long poem that recounts the adventures of heroic figures. So important were these two collections of works that they gave their names to two phases in the ancient history of India: the Vedic Age (c. 1500-c. 1000 B. c.) and the Epic Age (c. 1000-c. 500 b. c.) Like much ancient literature, these began as oral works and were only written down much later.
Most important of the Vedas was the Rig-Veda. The word rig in Sanskrit means “hymn.” The Rig-Veda is a collection of some 1,000 hymns or sacred songs divided into ten
Books. Together, they form a long celebration, praising the gods for delivering the land of the Indus Valley to the conquerors. This concept is similar to parts of the Old Testament, in which the Israelites praised God for delivering them into the Promised Land. The Rig-Veda celebrates the Sun, the Earth, the joys of life—and soma (SOH-muh).
A guru is a spiritual guide in Hinduism. Photograph by Spiros Mantzarlis.
Reuters/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Soma was a type of drink, a cross between alcohol and a drug, which the Indo-Europeans drank in religious ceremonies.
The Sama-Veda (SAH-mah) consists of chants for use in various types of religious rituals. The Yajur-Veda (YAH-zhoor) includes hymns to be sung with the offering of sacrifices. Finally, there is the Atharva-Veda (ah-THAHR-vah), which provides a set of magical spells to help in conceiving children, living a longer life, destroying enemies, and warding off evil spirits.
Just as the Jews later wrote various commentaries, such as the Talmud, to provide better understanding of their scriptures, so were several commentaries attached to the Vedas. The Brahmanas (brah-MAHN-ahz) offer an explanation of various details contained in the Vedas. The Aranyakas (ah-rahn-YAH-kahz), written by a group of priests who retreated to the wilderness, give still more details. Finally, there are the Upanishads (oo-PAHN-i-shahdz), whose name is related to a term for “sitting down before a teacher.” The Upanishads are written in the form of discussions between teachers, or gurus (GOO-rooz), and their students.
Like the Vedas, the Epics were written as poems, but these tell a story as well. The Mahabharata (mah-HAH-bah-rah-tah; the word Bharat is Sanskrit for “India”) consists of more than 200,000 lines, making it the longest epic poem in human history. It is more than ten times as long as the Greeks' Iliad and Odyssey combined. Composed some time between 300 b. c. and A. D. 300, it tells of a long conflict between two families, the Pandavas (pahn-DAH-vahz), who symbolize good, and the
Kauravas (koh-RAH-vahz), who symbolize evil. Its central figure is the prince Krishna (KREEZH-nah), a god in human form; and its most important part is the Bhagavad-Gita (BAH-guh-vahd GEE-tah). In the latter, Krishna, disguised as a charioteer, carries on a long discussion of life, death, and suffering with the prince Arjuna (ahr-ZHOON-ah) just before they go into battle.
Indra, Hindu god of fire and light. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
The Mahabharata abounds in such religious teachings, whereas the Ramayana (rah-mah-YAH-nah), a much shorter work, consists of a simple, straightforward story. It is the tale of how King Rama (RAH-mah), with the help of his monkey Hanuman (hah-NOO-mahn), rescues his wife Sita (SEE-tah) from the clutches of the demon Ravana (rah-VAH-nah.) (The 1995 film The Little Princess begins with the heroine recounting the story of the Ramayana, complete with a dramatization of the tale's plot.) Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as a collection of folk tales called the Puranas (poo-RAH-nahz), have continued to be popular.
World History
