ORIGINS OF INDIA’S RELIGIONS ANCIENT INDIA

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

Highly Advanced Civilization BCE Complex waterways w/ sewage management Language still undeciphered Intricate system of weights & measures for trading w/ Mesopotamia Large public baths Worshipped Female (presumably Mother) Goddess Statues indicate meditation

ARYAN INVASION THEORY PROS & CONS Why it was believable  The “arya” (noble ones) in the Vedas  The Vedas are Sanskrit – how did Sanskrit reach India?  Sanskrit linguistically similar to ancient Iranian & European language roots  Indus Valley language not Sanskrit  What happened to the Indus Valley civilization? Why it makes no sense  No evidence of conquest or struggle in Indus Valley  Aryans were nomadic cattle herders & horse breeders, not advanced  The Vedas tell of no travel, no homeland outside of India  Centuries of trading could explain diffusion from outside cultures

Sramana  Non-Vedic  Ascetic, focused on individual self-awakening /transcendence  Everyone capable of renouncing worldly life to pursue nirvana  Wandering & begging for alms Brahmancial  Based on the Vedas  Non-ascetic, focused on maintaining dharma (cosmic order & duty), worldly goals  Enforces & legitimizes caste hierarchy  Householding, raising a family, earning a living

Both Sramana & Vedic/Brahmanical Strands are still widely practiced throughout India Sramana: Saddhus/ RenunciatesVedic: Brahmin Priests

Indus Valley Religion = Sramana  Vedic rituals require fire offerings; Indus civilizations had no firepits  Indus Valley statues of yogis resemble Jinas Jainism considers itself within the lineage of the Sramana tradition, thus traces its origin to the Indus Valley civilization, or even prior, making Jainism the oldest living religion in the world (acc. to Jains)

The Vedic religion is un-iconic. At Mohenjodaro and Harappa iconism is everywhere apparent. In the houses of Mohenjodaro the firepit is conspicuously lacking. It is a fact that the Jainas are the first Indian people who took to iconism in their religious worship and made the images of their Tirthankaras which resemble those found at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The Harappa statuette is a male torso in nude form which resembles the torsos found at Lohanipur (Patna).... In the face of similarities, the nude torso of Haapa seems to represent an image of a Jina, probably of Jina Rishabha. T.N. Ramacandran, Jt., Director –General of Indian Archaeology: “we are perhaps recognizing in Harappa statuette a full-fledged Jaina Tirthankara in the characteristic pose of physical abandon (kāyotsarga).” Figures on the Mohenjodaro seals also depict the yogic pose and idea of physical abandonment of the Jainas. These figures are represented as nude in standing kāyotsarga pose with a tríśūla-like decoration on their head and the eye-sight fixed on the tip of the nose, which are the characteristics of an image of a Jina.... (the images on the Indus seals are in yoga posture, and the kāyotsarga yoga posture is peculiarly Jaina). Also some yogi figures on Indus seals have a bull, and the name Rishabha means “bull” and the bull is the emblem of Rishabha. (from The Indus Valley Civilisation and Rishabha By V. G. Nair)