The Vedic Ritual

The Vedic Ritual, a period spanning from 1500-500 BCE, is characterized by their belief in a mechanistic world. In this world, anything can be solved through a certain ritual performed by the Vedic priests. This period’s idea of dharma, meaning the cosmic social order, led to a society focused on community ritual and an idea that every person had a definitive role in society. On the other hand, the Upanishad Philosophy, spanning from 500-00 CE, exhibits a shift in focus compared to the Vedic Ritual. This period is characterized by renouncing society and becoming anti-sacrifice, a movement completely opposite from the Vedic Ritual. The shift in focus among several facets between the Vedic period and the Upanishad period brought on the development …show more content…
Because there was an emphasis on a mechanical and cosmic social order, the Vedic people believed they were created to fulfill a certain role in society, and their role must be fulfilled in order to keep the universe going. The Vedic society was divided into two major groups—the Aryans and the Dasas. Under the Aryan group were the priest class (Brahmins), the warriors, policemen, and kings (Kshatriya), and the commoners (Vaishya). The servants, outcasts, and people outside of the Vedic system were the Dasas. The leaders of the Vedic society were the Vedic priests because they were the only ones responsible for performing rituals. Since it was believed that everything could be remedied through rituals, the Vedic priests were the protectors of the community. Therefore, the Vedic priests were responsible for the weather, for preventing disease, for keeping the gods happy through sacrifice, and for protecting the community from the …show more content…
During the Upanishadic period, movements of nonviolence and vegetarianism became more enforced. While animal sacrifice was heavily employed during the Vedic period, the Upanishadic period brought forth the idea of “what goes around comes around”, especially in relation to the treatment of cows. Doniger writes that humans and cattle traded places long ago, and as a result, cattle willingly undertook to supply humans with food and clothing but also, apparently, won the boon of eating humans in the other world. This idea implies the notion of rebirth—if humans eat cows, the cows will be humans in their next lives and eat humans who were reborn as cows. This idea established a reciprocal relationship between cows and humans, making humans vulnerable to the sufferings of animals when they are reborn, where their vulnerability relies solely on their good or bad actions in their current lives. This new philosophy emphasized personal and ethical action over rituals to redeem one from wrongdoings in their lives. Therefore, instead of relying on rituals to determine one’s fate, a person is fully responsible for his or her actions, which will then determine his or her next