Mains Practice Question
Q. Religion in India was never static in character but was driven by an inherent dynamic strength. Explain.
(250 words)
13 Jul, 2020 GS Paper 1 Indian Society
Approach
Briefly define religion and describe its importance in India.
Discuss the dynamic nature of religion in India through different religions that evolved through the
ages.
Conclude by summarizing your answer.
Introduction
Religion is the science of relation between man and soul. Morality and ethics have their foundation on
religion. It plays an important part in the lives of the Indians from the earliest times. Religious ideas,
thoughts and practices differed among groups, and transformations and developments took place in the
various religious forms in the course of time. In India religion through ages had assumed different forms in
relation to different groups of people associated with them.
Body
Pre-Vedic and Vedic Religion
From archaeological findings, it seems that people were worshippers of the forces of nature like
the sun and the moon.
The nature of the religious beliefs and practices of the Aryans is also known from the Rig Veda,
They believed in many gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni, Surya and Rudra.
Sacrifices and ritual offering of food and drink to fire in honour of the Gods, constituted the
main religious practices.
The Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda elaborated the different aspects of the sacrificial acts
and this ritualism was further elaborated in the Brahmanas.
The Atharva Veda contained a great deal of animistic beliefs.
Unorthodox religious movements
It includes Jainism and Buddhism along with many other creeds.
Both Buddhism and Jainism were atheistic creeds in the beginning. However, Buddhism endorsed
the doctrine of the Law of Karma
Many of these viewpoints are also found in the major Upanishads.
Theistic Religions
Influence of pre-Vedic and post-Vedic folk elements was most conspicuous in the origin of theistic
religions.
The primary factor that motivated these creeds was Bhakti.
This led to the evolution of different religious sects like Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism.
These sects in course of time came to have a significant impact on the popular forms of Buddhism
and Jainism.
Vaishnava Movement
The history of the Vaishnava movement from the end of the Gupta period till the first decade of the
thirteenth century AD is mainly concerned with South India. The poet-saints known as alvars.
They preached single-minded devotion for Vishnu.
Shaivism Movement
Shaivism had its origin in antiquity unlike Vaishnavism. The Shaiva movement in the South
flourished at the beginning through the activities of many of the 63 saints known in Tamil
as Nayanars.
Panini refers to a group of Shivaworshippers as Shiva-Bhagavata, who were characterised by the
iron lances and clubs they carried and their skin garments.
Minor Religious Movements
Worship of the female principle (Shakti) and of Surya did not achieve equal importance.
In the Vedic age, respect was shown also to the female principle as the Divine Mother, the Goddess
of abundance and personified energy.
However, a clear reference to the exclusive worshippers of the Devi is not to be found until a
comparatively late period.
Conclusion
Every system of religious philosophy in India is a quest for Truth, which is one and the same, always and
everywhere. The modes of approach differ, logic varies, but the purpose remains the same – trying to
reach that Truth. Despite having so many different religions and cultures evolving across different time
periods, India has taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance. Hence, India with its inherent
dynamic strength gave the world so many different religions.
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