In light of a new perspective, Hindu India's recorded history may be conveniently divided into nine eras, each expressing distinct cultural styles.
Because history is essentially continuous, the following chronology is extremely speculative, and the periodization is arbitrary to some extent.
- Although the date of the first four historical eras is speculative, the conventional chronology presented in college textbooks is as well.
- The Vedas must obviously be placed in a time period prior to the benchmark date of 1 900 B C E, as will be demonstrated soon.
How much earlier is unknown with any certainty, though astronomical references in the Vedas, as well as dynastic genealogies (from the Puriinas) and a list of sages in the Briihmanas and Upanishads, support a date of at least two thousand years prior to 1200 B C E, which is the commonly accepted but demonstrably incorrect date for the composition of the Rig-Veda.
- For identical reasons, the creation of the original Briihmanas must be pushed back in time before 1 900 B C E, just as the Vedas must be ascribed to an earlier era.
- In light of all of this, the earliest Upanishads, which are usually believed to have been written soon before the Buddha's time, should be put considerably earlier.
1. Pre-Vedic Period (6500-4500 B C E).
Archaeological excavation in eastern Baluchistan (Pakistan) has uncovered a metropolis the size of Stanford, California, that dates from the middle of the seventh millennium B C E Archaeologists have named this early Neolithic settlement Mehrgarh, and it anticipated later urban civilization along the two major rivers of northern India: the Indus and the now-dry Sarasvati east of it.
- Mehrgarh's population was believed to be about 20,000 people, which was a large number at the time.
- The town seems to have been a center of technical invention and innovation, in addition to being a thriving marketplace for imported and exported products.
- By the fourth millennium B C E, the hardworking inhabitants of Mehrgarh had mass-produced good-quality pottery and were cultivating cotton as early as the fifth millennium B C E Terra-cotta figures from about 2600 B C E show a striking aesthetic similarity to the art of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization as well as later Hinduism.
2. Vedic Period (4500-2500 B C E).
The development and cultural dominance of the wisdom tradition reflected in the hymns of the four Vedas characterize this era.
- The majority of the hymns were written around the fourth millennium B C E, according to astronomical allusions in the Rig-Veda, with some hymns potentially going back to the fifth millennium B C E.
The ultimate bottom limit of the Vedic period is set by a major natural disaster: the drying up of the powerful Sarasvati River over many hundred years, presumably as a consequence of geological and climatic changes.
- Around 3100 B C E, the Yamuna River altered its path and stopped flowing into the Sarasvati, becoming a tributary of the Ganges instead.
- Around 2300 B C E, the Sutlej, the Sarasvati's largest tributary, began to flow into the Ganges.
- The Sarasvati, formerly the largest stream in Northern India, had dried up by 1900 B C E The many settlements along its banks were soon abandoned and eventually buried by the enormous Thar Desert's dunes.
Given the age of the Vedic poems and the fact that the Sanskrit-speaking Aryans were not foreign invaders, we can only come to one conclusion: the Vedic people lived in India at the same time as the so-called Indus civilization.
- Furthermore, the cultural world as reflected in the Vedic hymns is in no way contradicted by the archaeological remnants of that civilization.
- As a result, we must conclude that the inhabitants of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, as well as the hundreds of other cities along the Indus and Sarasvati rivers, were the same as the Vedic Aryans.
- Furthermore, as has been shown, Vedic mathematics impacted Babylonian mathematics, implying that the Shulba-Sutras containing Vedic mathematical theory must have existed about 1800 B C E.
- Because the Sutras are thought to be older than the Brahmanas, the Vedas' chronology may be pushed back to the third millennium B C E to account for these developments.
According to some academics, the epic battle recounted in the Mahabharata, which is traditionally dated to 3102 B C E, marks the end of the Vedic Age (which includes the Brahmanas and Upanishads).
- This marks the start of the Kali-yuga, the dark epoch described in subsequent Puranas, Tantras, and other texts.
- This date, however, is likely too early, and a date for the battle and the final redaction of the four Vedic hymnodies of about 1500 B C E is more plausible.
3. The Brahmanical Age(2500-1500 B C E).
The Vedic civilization moved east to the fertile banks of the Ganges (Ganga) River and its tributaries when the towns along the Sarasvati and Indus rivers collapsed.
- The changing environmental circumstances in the new settlement regions, predictably, resulted in changes in the social structure, which became more complicated.
- During this time, the priestly class evolved into a highly skilled professional elite who quickly came to dominate Vedic culture and religion.
- The Brahmana literature, after which this period is called, captures the priesthood's theological-mythological speculations and ceremonial preoccupations.
- The Aranyakas (ritual texts for forest-dwelling ascetics) and the vast Sutra literature dealing with legal and ethical problems as well as the arts were also created in the last decades of this period.
4. The Upanishadic/Post-Vedic Era (1500-1000 B C E).
We enter a new era with its own unique philosophical and cultural character with the emergence of the first Upanishads.
- They popularized the concept of internalized ritualism, or "inner sacrifice" (antaryajna), in combination with world renunciation.
- We may discern the origins of India's psychospiritual technology in these anonymously written holy texts, which constitute the third level of Vedic revelation (shruti).
- Yet, contrary to popular belief, the Upanishads do not constitute a dramatic departure from Vedic thinking; rather, they simply explain what is hinted at or present in a rudimentary way in the Vedas.
- The end of the Post-Vedic Age is marked by the rise of non-Vedic religions such as Jainism and Buddhism.
5. The Epic or Pre-Classical Period (1000-100 B C E).
India's metaphysical and ethical philosophy was in a state of flux throughout the fifth period of the current chronology.
- It had progressed to the point where the different religious and philosophical systems were able to engage in a fruitful debate.
- At the same time, we can see a positive trend toward unifying the many psychospiritual pathways, particularly the two major orientations of world renunciation (samnyasa) on the one hand and social duty acceptance (dharma) on the other.
This is where Yoga and Samkhya's pre-classical development takes place.
- The lessons contained in the Mahabharata epic, in which the oldest full Yoga book, the Bhagavad-Gita, is incorporated, finest exemplify the integrative, syncretistic ethos.
- The enormous Mahabharata as we know it was written during this time period, but its core, which commemorates the epic battle between the Pandavas and the Kaurvas, dates from a far earlier period.
- Because of the epic's importance throughout this time period, it is also known as the Epic Age.
- Although the Ramayana epic is older than the Mahabharata, its historical core dates from almost thirty generations before the Mahabharata.
6. The Classical Period (100 B C E-500 C E).
The six ancient schools of Hindu philosophy escalated their long-running battle for intellectual dominance throughout this period.
- The Yoga-Surra of Patanjali and the Brahma-Surra of Badarayana were composed in the middle of this era, while the Samkhya marked the conclusion.
- This is also the time when Mahayana Buddhism began to take shape, resulting in a burgeoning interaction between Buddhists and Hindus.
- The fall of the Gupta dynasty, whose final major king, Skan¬dagupta, died about 455 C E, corresponds with the end of the Classical Age.
- The arts and sciences thrived tremendously during the Gupta rulers; whose reign started in 320 C E
- Despite the fact that the monarchs were ardent Vaishnavists, they were tolerant of other faiths, allowing Buddhism to flourish and make its imprint on Indian culture.
- The Chinese emperor Fa-hien was awestruck by the land and its people.
- He describes affluent cities with many charity organizations, as well as rest stops for highway visitors.
7. The Tantric/Puranic Age (500-1300 C E ).
We may see the beginnings of the great cultural revolution of Tantra, or Tantrism, about the middle of the first millennium C E, or perhaps earlier.
This tradition, whose remarkable psychotechnology, is the impressive result of millennia of labor to build a great philosophical and spiritual synthesis from the various divergent approaches that existed at the period.
- Tantra, in particular, may be thought of as combining the highest metaphysical concepts and aspirations with common (rural) beliefs and practices.
- Tantra came to be known as the gospel of the Kali Yuga (dark era).
- Tantric doctrines had spread throughout the Indian subcontinent by the first millennium C E, affecting and transforming the spiritual lives of Hindus, Buddhists, and Jainas equally.
- Tantra, on the one hand, was just a continuation of a millennia-old process of amalgamation and synthesis; on the other, it was really innovative.
- Tantra was of the greatest importance on the level of spiritual practice, while adding nothing to India's intellectual repertory.
It advocated a spiritual lifestyle that was diametrically opposed to much of what had previously been deemed acceptable within the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions.
- Tantra, in particular, gave intellectual legitimacy to the feminine psychosomatic component (known as shakti), which had long been recognized in more local Goddess worship cults.
- This period is also known as the Puranic Age, since the vast encyclopedic collections known as the Purcinas were produced during this time period based on far earlier Puranic traditions (dating back to the Vedic era).
- The Purcinas are holy narratives that have been woven with a network of intellectual, mythological, and ceremonial knowledge.
- Many of these books are influenced by Tantra, and many of them include useful Yoga knowledge.
8. The Age of Sectarianism (1300-1 700 C E).
The Tantric rediscovery of the feminine principle in philosophy and yoga practice paved the way for the bhakti movement, the next phase in India's cultural history.
- This religious devotionalism movement was the climax of the major sectarian groups' monotheistic ambitions, particularly the Vaishnavas and Shaivas; thus the name Sectarian Age.
- The devotional movement, or bhakti-marga, completed the pan-Indian synthesis that had begun during the Pre-Classical/Epic Age by include the emotional component in the psychological/spiritual process.
9. The Modern Era ( 1700-Present).
The syncretistic bhakti movement was followed by the Mughal empire's fall in the first part of the nineteenth century and the increasing political presence of European countries in India, culminating in Queen Victoria's assumption of the title Empress of India in 1880.
- The Queen was enthralled by Hindu mysticism and invited yogins and other spiritual leaders to her court.
Since the establishment of the East India Company in London in 1 600 and the Dutch East India Company two years later, Western secular imperialism has had an increasing effect on India's age-old religious traditions.
- This has resulted in a progressive weakening of the native Scandinavian value system via the adoption of a Western-style (science-oriented and basically materialist) education coupled with new technology.
The following comment by Carl Gustav Jung comes to mind in this regard:
- The European conquest of the East was a massive act of aggression, and it has left us with the responsibility—noblesse oblige—of comprehending the Eastern mentality.
- This is perhaps more important than we know right now.
- However, India's creative brilliance has not been unaffected by these changes.
There has been a potential spiritual revival, which has, among other things, generated a missionary feeling among Hindus for the first time in history:
- There has been a continuous flow of Hindu knowledge, particularly Yoga and Vedanta, to the Euro-American nations since the imposing figure of Swami Vivekananda appeared at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.
- We have never yet struck upon the idea that while we are conquering the Orient from outside, it may be fastening its grip on us from inside, as Jung noted with remarkable perceptiveness.
Much more might be written about the modern resurgence of Hindu tradition and its influence on the West.
- The dates provided are variable, and the above effort at periodization is just an estimate.
- Until the nineteenth century, India's chronology is famously speculative.
Hindu historiographers have a habit of mixing historical truth with mythology, symbolism, and ideology without regard for the accuracy of dates.
- Hindu consciousness and culture have long been praised for their "timelessness" by Western academics.
- This belief, however, has proved to be a major blind spot, since it has prevented thorough examination of the historical material found in the Hindu texts, particularly the 6 Puranas.
A helpful difference may be established between the fundamental orientations of asceticism (tapas), renunciation (samnyasa), and mysticism (yoga) in the widest sense of the word, in addition to the split into religio-spiritual traditions and historical eras. These are common to all of India's religious and philosophical traditions.
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