Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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reborn into Aryan-hood, viz., the resurrection of the notion of the
purity of Aryan blood after the inter-mixture of ethnic stocks had cast
doubts about its validity. All the same, the pretence was maintained
even in the face of these contradictions; because the paramount need
was for upholding the inequality of the social order which was justified
on the supposed superiority of the Aryan blood.
3. Religion
Religion, in its true sense, cannot have anything to do with caste
formation or its consolidation. Had it been the driving urge of an
impelling common religious faith or doctrine, it should have atleast
welded Neo-Brahmanism into one religious whole, and not left it, as it
was, a loose amorphous mass of creeds and cults. There is very little
in common between Vediasm and Puranic Neo-Brahmanism. Image
and temple worship, pilgrimages to the Tirthas, veneration for the cow
and abstinence from intoxicants and meat, were altogether unknown
to the Vedic Aryans. Linga worship is not mentioned by Fa Hain and
Hiuen Thasang. 15 Image and temple worship are surmised to have been
borrowed from the Sudras; 16 and Devi, Bhairon and Hanuman worship
from, the Dravidians. 17 Some writers go so far as to say that many of
the important beliefs and practices of Brahmanical Hinduism, e.g.
worship of Siva and Uma, of Vishnu and Sri Yoga Philosophy and
practices, also came from the non-Aryan source. 18 Human sacrifice
was not characterstic of the Vedic religion, though it was admittedly a
constant practice of the worship of Siva and Durga from the time of
the Epics downwards. 19 Many deities, religious cults and myths, derived
from the races beyond the Brahmanical pale, 20 became a part and parcel
of popular Neo-Brahmanism.
This process of syncretism, which was a great factor in the
development of Neo-Brahmanism precisely is. ‘And indeed, the
doctrinal fluidity of Hinduism is not incidental but, rather, the
doctrinal fluidity of Hinduism is not incidental but, rather, the
central issue of “religion” as we conceive it.’ 20 Obviously, as there
was no unity of religious beliefs or practices, religion could