Great Indian Religion

Author(s): G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co

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THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. Special families were distinguished by symbols, such as the number and arrangement of their locks of hair, or their being shaven in peculiar ways.
As to morals under this régime, it appears that one wife was the rule, while a plurality was tolerated; women Morate might marry a second time, and appear to
a.se have had some freedom of choice. Immorality was by no means unknown, and Indra is said to have declared that “the mind of a woman was ungovernable, and her temper fickle." Untruth was condemned, and the gods were said to punish lying; thieves and robbers are mentioned as infesting the highways or stealing secretly. Liberality and fidelity were held in high esteem.
How forcible is the contrast between the beneficence and the brightness, the helpfulness and the kindliness of the gods, as imagined by the earlier Aryans, and the severity, the ruthlessness, the cruelty, afterwards associated with Hindu gods. Direct access to the gods, direct bene. fits in return for prayer and offerings; intensity of prayer and meditation, fervency of petition, inevitably securing blessing, these are cardinal features of the early Hindu religion.
The Sama-Veda, and the Yajur Veda are smaller collections formed mainly out of the Rig Veda, but considerThe other ably modified; the former in verse, relating to
Vedas. the Soma offering, the latter in prose, relating to the other sacrifices. The Yajur-Veda belongs to a period when the Aryans had progressed into Eastern India, and when the Brahmans had acquired supremacy. The fourth great Vedic collection, the Atharva-Veda, belongs to a still later period, probably that of the Brahmanas, and contains the hymns and services then in use, modified or developed from the Vedic time. They exhibit a growth of belief in evil powers, and contain a series of formulas designed to protect against these, and against diseases and noxious animals and plants, together with cursings of enemies, and magic verses about all kinds of daily events, designed to counteract unfavourable events. This Veda contains a great number of words used by the people.