A Popilar Dictionary of Hinduism Karel Werner

8 A POPULAR DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM
overlapped with that of the Vedic . It was not compiled into a collection
until around 600 B.C. when the Vedic civilization overran also the Vrātya
territory and brahmins made selective use of Vrātya materials to create the
Atharva Veda. In it some of the
insights are foreshadowed,
while its less elevated magic elements and some of its ritual practices also
contributed to the future shape of Hinduism.
Further influences, on a higher level, came from solitary sages and
wanderers, some known even from early references in the Veda (munis,
keśins), who rejected life in society in their pursuit of liberation. There were
among them ascetics ; yogis practising a variety of techniques, among them
meditational absorption (dhyāna); and even speculative philosophers. Some
of them acquired a high reputation and circles of disciples gathered around
them in their forest schools. Around 500 B.C. there emerged from this
background two highly influential movements, namely Jainism and
Buddhism. They almost obliterated for several hundred years the Brahminic
grip on society, partly also as a result of royal patronage, especially under
the Maurya dynasty whose founder, Chandragupta, became a Jain, and its
third ruler, Aśoka, an ardent Buddhist. It was Buddhism which then came to
dominate many parts of India.
7. The Brahminic revival and the ‘birth’ of Hinduism. All the unorthodox
movements catered, in the first place, for those who aspired to personal
liberation through the renunciation of worldly involvement and they were
based in ascetic communities which in the case of Buddhism gradually
developed into monasteries. Therefore there was a considerable gap, both
physically and spiritually, between them and their lay followers who were less
committed to the immediate effort of reaching the goal of liberation, but
found some inspiration in it as a distant prospect, while supporting the monks
materially. Brahmins, on the other hand, lived as family men within the
community ready to cater for all its religious needs, including those which
monks were not willing to meet, such as officiating at births, marriages and
funerals. The previous high authority of the monks in religious matters was,
of course, swept aside by the tide of reformist movements and the loss of
royal patronage and the confidence of the people, and so the brahmins now
made their come-back by incorporating virtually all the innovations into a
new synthesis of an all-embracing and multilevel system. This included not
only the high spiritual teachings, but also the substream of popular and even
tribal cults. The new synthesis thus allowed the simpler worshipper and the
sophisticated thinker alike to choose their own medium of approach to the
divine or to the realization of the final goal.
Renunciation, so important in the unorthodox movements, was not the
way favoured by community-minded brahmins and so it was accommodated
towards the end of the newly elaborated scheme of stages of life. But it was
tolerated in those whose strong commitment led them to become
while still young, and eventually even Hindu monastic orders developed.