Hinduism - 12

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12. Cultural synthesis

 

In their great trek to India the colonizing groups of Aryans encountered

races who professed a firm belief in the doctrine of transmigration. It

has indeed been suggested that this doctrine of metempsychosis itself,

the cult of serpent worship, the worship of Ganesa, of Uma or Durga, of

Skanda or Subrahmanya (the hunter-god) were all adopted by the Aryans

from earlier settlers in India. Even the incarnation of Krisna, it has

been said, was an adaptation from an aboriginal deity; his life is an

instance of the mingling of the Aryans and the Yadavas. In any case, it

seems clear that there was a good measure of synthesis of the thoughts

and beliefs of the Aryan and pre-Aryan races.

 

There are widespread traditions of the southern migration of the Vedic

sage, Agastya, the reputed author of several hymns of the Rig-Veda. His

ashrama was located south of the Vindhyas; and he is said to have

introduced the Vedic religion and literature in the South in his

capacity as a unifying factor between the Sanskrit and Dravidian tongues

and ideals. When the Aryan colonizers in the wake of Agastya penetrated

to the South, they found an advanced civilization. The Ramayana

describes Madurai as adorned with golden jewels. The grammarian

Katyayana mentions the Pandyas and the Cholas. Asoka's Buddhist missions

were sent to the Pandya and Chola countries as far as Tamraparni River

in the Tirunelveli District. An extensive commercial and cultural inter

course grew up between the Aryans and the Dravidians, as also between

the Dravidians and countries to the east and west of India.

 

The close contact between the Aryan and Dravidian elements continued all

through history and manifested itself in every aspect of life. There is

strong ground for the supposition that the importance of Siva, Sakti and

Skanda was due largely to Dravidian influence, since the cult of An

(Siva), Amma (Sakti) and Anil (Muruga or Skanda) was a cardinal belief

from the beginning of Dravidian history.

 

These facts illustrate the composite character of Hindu civilization.

The Sama Veda spoke at length of the Vratyastoma (a particular sacrifice

or ritual) by which non-Aryan Vratyas were admitted into Aryan society.

The equalization of castes and communities was, of course, brought to a

head by Gautama Buddha, though he was no opponent of the Brahminical

civilization. Both he and Mahavira, the expounder of Jainism, while

admitting that the Brahmin ideal is the right one, led a crusade against

certain aspects of Brahmin culture. Hindu civilization itself adapted

for its use many ideals and precepts of Buddhism and Jainism. For

instance, among many communities, offerings of rice and ghee took the

place of animal sacrifice - a compromise with the Vedic ritualism. The

early Aryans had, of course, been meat-eaters, but probably under the

influence of Buddhist and Jain ideas many groups of Brahmins as well as

non-Brahmins became vegetarian.

 

Vaisnavism in the South

 

At a later period arose the fully organized Bhakti movement leading to

Vaishnavism and Saivism. The ancient Vaishnava mystics and saints in the

South were known as Alvars, and the Vaishnavism teachers as Acharyas.

They had a powerful exponent of these views in Ramanuja, who attacked

the Advaita interpretation of the Upanishads and gave recognition to

three ultimate realities, God, Soul and Matter, the last two being

dependent on the first.

 

As early as the 2nd century B. C. the renowned Besnagar Column (Vidisha

or Besnagar is a city in Madhya Pradesh) had been erected by a Greek

named Heliodorous, who had been converted to the Bhagavata or Vaishnava

faith of which the Pancharatra doctrines then formed an integral part;

its scriptures were Satvata Samhita, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata

and Vishnu Puranas. The origin of the Pancharatra doctrines which form

the basis of Srivaishnava culture has been traced further back to the

well known Purushasukta of the Rig-Veda. The Satapatha Brahmana refers

to the Pancharatra sacrifices performed by the primeval Narayana, the

idea of Nara and Narayana (Primordial man and the deity Vishnu) being an

integral part of ancient Indian thought. There are more than a dozen

Vaishnava Upanishads. It was in the period from the 10th century up to

the 17th that many Vaishnava works were produced. The Vaishnavas regard

the Pancharatra literature as almost equal to the Vedas.

 

The Vaishnava Samhitas and other works insist on knowledge of and

devotion to, the supreme Godhead rather than on Vedic studies or

sacrifices. It is worthy of note that in the Bhagavata Purana (11th

Skhanda) the Alvars were prefigured or adverted to; several great

devotees of Vishnu, the Purana states, would appear on the banks of the

Tamraparni, Krutamala (Vaigai), Payasvin ( Palar), Kaveri (Cauvery), and

Mahanadi (Periyar).

 

The Alvars lived between the 5th and the 12th centuries. The first group

included Saroyogin or Poygaiyalvar, Bhatayogin or Bhutattalvar,

Mahadyogin or Peyalvar and Bhaktisara or Tirumalisai-Piran. Nammalvar or

Satagopa, who came in the next group, was perhaps the greatest of the

Alvars. Others in this group included Madhurakaviyalvar, Kulasekhara

Perumal, Vishnuchitta (or Periyalvar) and Andal, his adopted daughter.

In the last of the groups were Bhaktanghrirenu (Tondaradippodiyal-var),

Yogivahana (Tiruppanalvar) and Parakala (Tirumangaiyalvar). The Divya

Prabhandha constitutes the collection of the Alvars compositions in the

Tamil language.