Religion
From the point of view of religion, the early days of the Magadhan ascendancy were among the most eventful in Indian history. Great changes took place within the fold of Brahmanism. Old ideas changed. New ones sprang into vigorous life. Popular cults and beliefs obtained recognition at the hands of the upper classes, and humanitarian and theistic movements gathered force and momentum as popular faith in animal sacrifice and barren ritual tended to diminish with the growth of free speculation presaged in the Upanishads. Outside the Brahmanical Holy Land, spiritual leadership passed from the hands of priestly theologians and sacrificers to ascetics and wanderers (Sramana, Parivrajaka) who laid the utmost stress on non-injury to living beings and the cessation of craving for the things of the world.
Greek references to the worship of Zeus Ombrios (Zeus of the rain-storms) probably suggest that the Vedic rain-gods like Indra and Parjanya were still honoured in North-West India. It is to be noted that the deities in question figure prominently in the ritual of the Grihya Sutras. Parjanya finds mention also in the Buddhist Suttantas, which probably describe conditions in the north-east, but the place of Indra was there occupied by Sakra who is co-partner with Brahma, in the lordship over the gods. Brahmanical texts refer to the growing popularity of Vaisravana, Kumara (Karttikeya), and the goddesses Uma-Haimavati and Vasini who are regarded as different aspects of Durga, the mother-goddess, consort of Siva. Side by side with these divinities appear the spirits dwelling in waters, herbs, trees, etc. The mention of Vaisravana points to the influence of the Yaksha cult, the popularity of which is attested both by epic and Buddhist evidence. The cult of trees and of water deities like the Ganges is noted by Curtius and Strabo, and the idea of the Kalpa-vriksha, the tree which will give a man all he wants, occurs prominently in literature, including that of the Jainas.
Most of the deities are now thoroughly anthropomorphised and become quite human in dress, talk and action. With the growth of anthropomorphism came the increased use of images and the construction of temples for daily service. Icons were known to the ancient people of the lower Indus valley, and stray allusions to images have been traced in some Vedic text. But the first undoubted historical reference toShiva image-worship by an Aryan tribe occurs in a passage of Curtius, who states that an image of Herakles was carried in front of the Paurava army as it advanced against Alexander.
Patanjali refers to the exhibition and sale of images of Siva, Skanda, and Visakha by the Mauryas who rose to power at the end of our period. Temples of a primitive kind are mentioned already in the Satapatha-Brahmana but these were not meant for iconic worship. In the epic, however, we have clear references to temples sacred to deities.Blood sacrifices were sometimes offered to some of the gods, but all our authorities bear testimony to a new feeling of pity for living beings. The Mahabharata refers to themahabhrata
rescue by Pandu princes, led by Krishna, of hundreds of kings who were kept for sacrifice in the fortress of Girivraja “as mighty elephants are kept in mountain caves by the lion”. The Grihya Sutras prescribe rules for the substitution of images of meal at a sacrifice for real living creatures. Greek and Latin observers note that Brahmanas do not eat the flesh of animals which help man in his labours. The remark undoubtedly confirms the Indian evidence regarding the growing feeling of reverence for the cow. The doctrine of Ahimsa or non-injury was specially inculcated by the ascetics and wanderers who had great influence over the people especially in Eastern India. An interesting glimpse of the ascetics of Taxila is afforded by the account of Onesikritos who accompanied Alexander to that city in 326 B.c.
Among the most important religious concepts of the period, a prominent place should be assigned to the doctrines of Samsara and Karma, i.e. belief in repeated transmigration and the Law of the Deed. The whole world is conceived as a “perpetual process of creation, destruction and re-birth filling eternity with an ever-lasting rhythm”, and the entire scheme is placed under the Law of Karma which secures that every individual shall reap the fruit of deeds performed in antecedent existences. The operation of the Law might, however, be modified by the grace (prasada) of the Lord, the Ordainer (Isvara, Dhatri), combined with the loving faith (Bhakti) of the worshipper. This new doctrine is preached among others by the Vasudevakas, later called Bhagavatas. They teach Bhakti in Vasudeva, also known as Krishna Devakiputra, who is identified in an Aranyaka with Vishnu and Narayana. He is represented as preaching the doctrines of nishkama Karma (deed done without seeking any reward and loving faith (Bhakti) in a God of Grace (prasada). The religious and philosophical views of his followers are expounded in the Bhagavad Gita which forms part of the sixth book of the Mahabharata. Bhaktas of Vasudeva were known to Panini, and are probably to be identified with the worshippers of the Indian Herakles whose cult was specially popular with the Surasenas of Mathura in the fourth century B.C.
Rival sects also make their appearance, the most notable being the devotees of Siva, later called the Siva-Bhagavatas, Mahesvaras or Pasupatas. In one of the later Upanishads the Svetasvatara -Siva is the lord (Isa or Isana) of the urtiverse-the Bhagavat or the Blessed One, the object of devotion to the faithful. By devoting oneself to him, ignorance is dispelled, the nooses of death are snapped and eternal peace is attained.
The new theistic sects, though preserving their distinct individuality, did not break away altogether from Brahmanism, and attempts at a synthesis were made in the epics and later literature whereby the gods of the Bhagavatas and the Pasupatas or Siva Bhagavatas were recognised as emanations of the supreme divinity of Brahmanism. This leads to the enunciation of the doctrine of Trimurti which, in its mature form, belongs to a later age.
Eastern India saw the rise of a class of wandering teachers who, though believing in the doctrine of transmigration and Karma, rejected the authority of the Vedas and of Vedic priests, denounced the blood sacrifices that constituted so large a part of the Brahmanic ritual, and even denied the existence of God and consequently the efficacy of divine grace. Right conduct, they declared, was the way of getting out of the meshes of Karma and Samsara, and this right conduct included, among other things, the practice of Ahimsa or non-injury to living beings.
It is a notable fact that the greatest of the wandering teachers were, like the lord of the Bhagavatas scions of free Kshatriya clans hailing from the territory that lies on the fringe of the Brahmanical Holy Land. One of them, Vardhamana Mahavira, belonged to the Jnatrika clan of Kundapura or Kundagrama, a suburb of Vaisali in North Bihar. The other, Gautama Buddha, was a prince of the Sakya clan of Kapilavastu near Rummindei in the Nepal Tarai.
