Classic of Indian literature, ancient poet. The image of India in Russian literature: between reality and dream
This chapter deals with ancient literature in the Indo-Aryan languages: Sanskrit, Pali and other Prakrit languages. Ancient literature in other languages is given below, in chapters devoted to individual peoples of South India.
Ancient Indian literature includes a huge number of monuments of a very different nature, which were overwhelmingly created in northern India: religious hymns, historical chronicles, epic poems, fairy tales, classical dramas and poems, scientific treatises, etc.
These sites have not yet been fully studied; it would be more correct to say that their study began only recently. The interest of scientists around the world in these monuments is due to their scientific and educational significance, the rich historical and ethnographic data they contain, their highly artistic form and the fact that they had a noticeable influence not only on the development of the literature of China, Japan, Korea, Burma, Malaya , Indonesia and other countries of Southeast Asia, but also on the literary, philosophical and scientific creativity of many cultural figures from the countries of the Middle East and even Europe.
Dating monuments of ancient Indian literature is extremely difficult because many of them were written down much later than they arose, and many were repeatedly revised over a number of centuries. The names of many poets and the time of their life are unknown; moreover, some famous poets acted under pseudonyms, and the same pseudonyms were often used by the authors of later works.
Many written monuments perished because they were written on tree bark or palm leaves (later they began to write on wooden tablets or on tablets made of copper, gold, ivory, etc.). Therefore, the tradition of oral transmission of texts, so characteristic of India, played a huge role, thanks to which the most ancient of them were preserved.
Vedic literature
Vedic literature is considered to be the oldest in terms of creation time, because most of its monuments belong to the so-called pre-Buddhist era. The language of this literature retains traces of the Indo-Iranian linguistic community, and the name comes from the Sanskrit word veda, which means “knowledge”.
The Vedas are large ancient collections (samhita) of hymns, prayers, magical formulas and spells, which served as the basis for a whole complex of later literary works.
There are four known Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. The language of the Vedas is called Vedic Sanskrit or Vedic language. This is the most ancient form known to us Indian languages. According to the Indian religious tradition, the Vedas were considered the highest revelation and every word of them had to be orally inviolably transmitted from generation to generation of brahmins and sacredly kept in memory.
The Rig Veda in the edition known to modern researchers consists of 1028 hymns (suktas), combined into 10 sections (mandalas). These hymns were created in different time, and their authors were representatives of different social strata. Therefore, their number included folk conspiracies, priestly prayer formulas, and philosophical reasoning. There are even hymns with atheistic content. The meter of the Rigveda hymns is also very diverse and only partially adopted by later Sanskrit poetry.
The hymns of the Rigveda, created over several centuries, reflect many changes in the social structure of the Aryans at the end of the 2nd century.
beginning of the 1st millennium BC e.: the transition of ancient society to new, more advanced forms of economy and life, property stratification within consanguineous communities, the emergence of private property and the formation of class relations.
From the hymns and myths of the Rig Veda, one can judge how strong the remnants of matriarchy were in a society where the head of the clan, the patriarch, had already transferred the social functions that previously belonged to the mother of the clan; how gradually the role of the patriarch in leading the spiritual life of the community passed to the professional priest, the brahman, who for many subsequent centuries became the monopoly bearer of the right to perform religious ceremonies and to study sacred texts.
The Rig Veda contains many narrative inserts that are in the nature of parables, legends or fables. A number of plots from these inserts were used in subsequent centuries by Indian poets and playwrights as the basis for their works. Many hymns of the Rig Veda, addressed to the gods - natural phenomena, are distinguished by their high poetry and beauty.
The Yajurveda consists of prayers and special formulas that were recited by the priests during sacrifices. The ritual of worship had local differences, and there were different schools, which prescribed one or another order of sacrifices, and therefore several versions of the Yajurveda emerged. We know of five options. Four of them are called Black Yajurveda and the fifth is called White Yajurveda. The first four are considered earlier, since they contain not only prayers and sacrificial formulas, as in the fifth, but also specific rules of sacrifice and various explanations for them.
The Yajurveda serves as a source that provides insight not only into religion, but also into many customs that have partially survived to this day.
Atharva Veda (Veda of Witchcraft and Spells) can rightfully be recognized as one of the most interesting monuments Vedic literature. In it, poetry is intertwined with prose, and the language is very original, thanks to the abundance of folk conspiracies and magical formulas contained in it. Many of these spells, addressed to the spirits of waters, forests, diseases, go back to primitive animistic magic and are more ancient than the most ancient hymns of the Rigveda. That is why some Indian theologians even refused to consider the Atharva Veda one of the Vedas (since magic contradicts the essence of later faiths - Buddhism and Hinduism). There are also hymns in the Atharva Veda that reflect more late period Indian history than that reflected in the Rig Veda. There are already special hymns for kings, for their household priests, military leaders, etc.
The Brahmin priests gradually changed the ancient magic formulas The Atharva Vedas adapted them to their doctrine, giving them the character of prayers. Many formulas have retained their great emotional intensity and vivid fantasy.
Also extremely interesting are the ancient ideas about the cosmos and the categories of time and information about traditional medicine contained in the hymns of the Atharva Veda (the latter are studied by modern Indian scientists and doctors).
The hymns of the Samaveda, or Vedas of tunes, are constructed in such a way that they serve as models of the tunes or melodies to which the hymns of others should be sung.
Ved. The tunes and rhythms of the Samaveda formed the basis of the later Indian science of metrical versification and served as the basis for the development of Indian music.
Along with the Vedas, other closely related monuments of Vedic literature were also considered a revelation of the gods: the Brahmanas, Upanishads and Aranyakas.
During the period of the creation of the Vedas, the word “brahman” denoted both the concept of the “world soul” and a prayer or sacrificial formula addressed to the gods and the priest who made the sacrifice and read the prayer. Later, in the process of the development of class society, it came to designate all members of the established Brahmana varna and those theological commentaries that were created by the Brahmana priests in addition to the Vedas. The latter are united under the name Brahmans.
Brahman has survived relatively little big number. The most important in their significance are considered to be two related to the Rig Veda, two to the Yajur Veda, three to the Samaveda and one to the Atharva Veda.
As literary monuments, the Brahmanas are especially valuable for the elements they contain ancient epic: short plot narratives, dialogues and legends. The most colorful of them are included in the Shata-patha-brahmana related to the Yajurveda.
The formation of class relations in ancient India was accompanied by a fierce struggle between the Brahmin priests and the Kshatriya warriors (i.e., between the spiritual and secular authorities) for dominance in the country.
The Brahmanas reflect the desire of the priests to consolidate their social positions, to attribute to themselves the ability to subjugate the gods themselves with the help of sacrifices, prayers and ascetic repentance. Here for the first time it is said that supreme god Prajapati, creating all things, exhaled priests from his mouth (i.e., initially gave them the highest position), made warriors from his arms and chest, traders and farmers from his thighs* and belly, and from his legs - servants and slaves.
In the process of the formation of varnas, the priests introduced more and more religious laws that promised cruel punishments to all “inferiors” for attacks on the rights and privileges of the “superiors”.
The shackles of caste oppression tied up the growth of the productive forces and hindered the development of crafts and trade. But society developed historically, and the need arose to create new creeds and new philosophical concepts. Orders of hermits and sects appeared, heretical teachings arose, preached by members of the Kshatriya varna, as well as “lower” castes. The rational thinking of the people, doubts about the correctness of Brahmanical laws, the search for ways to establish the equality of people, critical anti-Brahmanical and anti-caste thought, which obviously flourished mainly in the non-Aryan ethical environment - all this found its expression in such literary monuments as the Upanishads and Aranyakas - which can be called the first collections of philosophical and theological treatises.
In the Aranyakas, or “forest books,” the people were offered a different path of religious self-improvement than in the Brahmanas. - not giving alms to a brahman and not making countless sacrifices with the help of a brahman ^ but reflecting on the essence of everything earthly and achieving knowledge. Here for the first time the future thesis of Buddhism appears - everyone can approach the divine essence. The appearance of a large number of Aranyakas is associated with the growth of hermitism and asceticism.
The Upanishads, together with the Aranyakas, are designated by the word Vedanta - “the end of the Vedas.” Their content, in comparison with the Brahmans, is distinguished by greater vitality; literary merits are also much higher. The early Upanishads, created around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., consist of prose texts with a small number of poetic inserts. The most valuable of the later Upanishads is considered to be the “Kathaka Upanishad”, which belongs to the Black Yajurveda. The most late group The Upanishad, written in prose, is already close in language and style to the Sanskrit prose of the classical period.
The Upanishads formulate the foundations of the philosophical teaching about the ataman as the soul (and the “world” soul and the personal soul of a person), about the brahman as the absolute essence of the universe, about dharma - the moral law of life, about karma - retribution. Here, for the first time, other dogmas that later became components philosophy of Hinduism._
There is an opinion in science that these monuments reflect the process of introducing into the worldview of the Aryan society concepts characteristic of the local pre-Aryan population and largely directed against Vedic dogmas.
The last section of Vedic literature is the Vedangas and Upavedas. They were created approximately between the 5th century. BC e. and II - III centuries. n. e. Vedangas, or “parts of the Vedas,” are treatises devoted to six areas of ancient Indian science; "Kalpa-vedanga" covers various works about the rules of human life and behavior; “Siksha-vedanga” is the science of language, of phonetics: “Vyakarana” is of grammar; “Nirukta” - about etymology and lexicography; “Chhanda” is about metrics and “Jbtisha” is about astrology.
Each Vedanga includes many treatises and scientific works. These treatises are a further development of those germs of scientific thought that were scattered in abundance in the texts of earlier works of Vedic literature. They are characterized by a very special style - they consist of so-called sutras. Sutras (in Sanskrit - “threads”) are short rules formulated so concisely that without explanatory commentary they are often impossible to understand. Such brevity of wording was necessary to facilitate learning them by heart. The meaning of many early sutras has been lost to science, since the commentary to them was not necessary for memorization and was forgotten by the time writing became widespread, that is, by the time the texts of Vedic literature began to be written down in India.
Of great interest are the Grihya Sutras, or household rules, which contain instructions regarding a person’s daily life, his behavior, family relationships, etc.
Another group of ancient monuments of Indian science are the four Upavedas: “Ayur Veda” - on medicine, “Dhanur Veda” - on warfare, “Gandharva Veda” - on music and “Shilpa Veda” - on architecture and mechanics. Each of these four branches covers a large number of treatises, serving as a body of knowledge accumulated by the people over many centuries. cultural development. The Upavedas and Vedangas formed the basis for the further growth of the main directions of Indian science.
Following the Vedangas and Upavedas, a large number of treatises were created, known as gyastras, i.e. manuals or textbooks.
On the basis of the Kalpa Vedanga, an entire literature on ancient Indian jurisprudence grew, consisting of Dharmashastras - a kind of code of laws, or rather, codes of customary law. The first of them were the result of the development of customary law and its reflection in legislation during the period of formation and growth of class relations in slave-owning India, and the later ones relate to feudal society. One of the most interesting shastras is the Manava-dharmashastra ("Laws of Manu"), which is usually dated to the turn of our era. This work reflects the development of the caste system; it developed the rules of life for members of different castes and issues of relationships between castes. A number of chapters of these “Laws” are aimed at strengthening social and economic life.
mic position of members of the “higher” castes. Here the prohibitions of mutual communication between “higher” and “lower” are very clearly formulated and severe punishments of “lower” are prescribed for insults inflicted on the “higher” and even simply for communicating with the “higher”. But at the same time, well understanding the need for industrial communication between members of different castes, the compilers of these rules accompanied the prohibitions of communication with such explanations as, for example: “The hand of the artisan and the goods put up [for sale] are always clean.” . ." G.
Among the ancient shastras, the Arthashastra, a treatise on politics, economics and government, is also very famous. Its creator is considered to be Kautilya, the minister of the first king from the Maurya dynasty, Chandragupta I (who ruled in Magadha in the 4th century BC). The Arthashastra shows the life of the Indian state with a monarchical system of government, characterized by complex internal and foreign policy and developed economic relations.
There were also shastras on grammar, which to this day serve as the most valuable aids for the study of Sanskrit. The most famous of them are the grammars created by the scientists Panini (5th century BC) and Patanjali (I century BC).
Shastras were also created dedicated to issues theater and drama, religion, art, love and even cosmetics. In them one can find descriptions of the life and everyday life of different strata of Indian society of that era that are very valuable for a historian and especially for an ethnographer.
Epic literature
The first sprouts of the ancient Indian epic should be recognized as prose and poetic narrative insertions into the hymns of the Vedas and Brahmanas - small stories about gods and demons, about kings and sages, about the valor of heroes. Bard storytellers (sushi) kept a large store of these stories and songs in their memory, updating and enriching them over time. One of these heroic songs - a song about the battle between two branches of the royal family - the Pandavas and the Kauravas - for dominance in the country was the semantic core of the great epic poem Mahabharata. This poem is rightly considered whole literature. It included military songs, mythological legends, philosophical discussions, the genealogy of royal families, and fairy tales. The exact time of its occurrence has not yet been determined by researchers. It is believed that it began to take shape as a single poem and became widely known at the turn of the century and in the first centuries of our era.
It is quite possible that it acquired its final form in the Gupta era, i.e. in the 4th-5th centuries. n. e., when a huge empire was created on the basis of early feudal social relations and the need arose to ideologically justify the desire of the rulers to unite the country. One of these factors in that era was the religion of Hinduism, which absorbed many folk cults and was destined to become a pan-Indian religion, and the role of another factor could be played by the epic, permeated with the idea of unifying the country. It was probably during this era that many disparate heroic songs and narratives that arose at different times (and perhaps did not even have a direct relationship to heroes of the poem). Science now knows that the first recording of the Mahabharata as a single poem dates back to this historical period.
In Indian literary and religious tradition, the Mahabharata is often considered one of the Vedas. It was essentially the Veda of the military class - the kshatriyas, to whose lives, thoughts, deeds and exploits it is dedicated. Vishnu, appearing in his avatars (reincarnation of Ravan with the army of Rama. People's lust) as a hero-god and warrior, is one of the central characters of the poem. “Reading the Mahabharata is piety. Therefore, if a believer reads at least one verse, all his sins are forgiven.” “Just as the ocean is better than all lakes, and a cow is the best of animals, so the Mahabharata is better than all,” says the introduction to the poem.
The Mahabharata consists of 18 books. Indian tradition often adds to it as its 19th book the poem “Harivamsha” (History of the Family of Hari), created around the same era. The Mahabharata contains such a large number of plot episodes that for many centuries Indian poets and playwrights turned to it as a source of themes for their works. To this day, storytellers and Brahmin priests read excerpts from this poem to crowds during holidays or on pilgrimage days, it is read and retold to children, and plays based on stories from the Mahabharata are constantly staged by amateur and professional theater groups.
The Mahabharata, in its entirety and in fragments, was repeatedly translated into all modern Indian and many European languages.
Another equally famous epic poem is the Ramayana (The Tale of Rama). The main plot of the Ramayana is found in in brief and in the Mahabharata. The author of the Ramayana is considered to be a semi-mythical person - the poet Valmiki. Perhaps it was he who created the poem in its original form, that is, in the form of a heroic song, but over time the Ramayana grew to a significant size (although it did not reach even a quarter of the volume of the Mahabharata).
The epic Ramayana is unknown to us in its original form. In its final form, it has 24 thousand giloks (couplets), combined into seven books. And like the Mahabharata, it is considered an independent type of literature, since it was the basis for the creation of a wide variety of works that develop, explain and retell its plot in full and in fragments.
In contrast to the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is distinguished by its unity of composition; but like the Mahabharata, it is a work of an epic nature, but in it one can already find the origins of later poetic techniques.
In the form in which it is known to us, it can be considered the prototype of the kavya type of poems widespread in India with heroic content. These kavyas are replete with poetic similes, sometimes intricate turns of phrase, colorful metaphors and long-winded descriptions.
The plot of the Ramayana develops very harmoniously and consistently, and it does not have that huge number of inserted episodes that abound in the Mahabharata.
The content of the poem is dedicated to the life and heroic deeds of Rama, who reigned in the ancient Indian state of Koshala. The poem tells about the childhood of Rama, about his marriage with the beautiful Sita - the daughter of the Earth, about how, due to the intrigue of his father's younger wife, Rama spent 14 years in exile, as the ten-headed Ravana - the ruler of the island of Lanka and the ruler of all demons who sow evil on earth, kidnapped Sita, and how Rama, accompanied by his faithful brother Lakshmana and in alliance with monkeys and bears, attacked Lanka, killed Ravana and thus not only freed Sita, but also delivered all people from the power of evil.
The Ramayana is a heroic, military epic, and its hero Rama is considered one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu on earth. This poem became the bible of the Vaishnavism, and during the era of the medieval reform movement of Vaishnavism, it was arranged and translated into all modern Indian languages (the most popular translation is the Ramayana by Tulsi Das in the Avadhi language, completed by the poet in 1575).
The Ramayana, like the Mahabharata, is the property of the entire Indian people and is firmly rooted in their life, art and religion.
According to legend, the god Brahma himself inspired Valmiki to create the poem and said: “As long as the mountains stand and rivers flow across the earth, the song of Rama will live everywhere.”
These mythical words fully correspond to reality, since in modern India all residents of cities and villages know and love the Ramayana. The names of the heroes of the poem have become household names, and the heroes themselves serve as examples of courage, nobility and loyalty. Acting out certain scenes from the Ramayana is a mandatory element of all all-Indian temple and village festivals.
The poem has been translated into many European languages, both in its entirety and in excerpts.
Epic literature can also include the Puranas - legends about the deeds of gods, demigods and prophets, as well as kings and heroes. Based on the content of the most ancient of the Puranas, we can conclude that they arose in tribal society, while the later ones already contain discussions about castes, about Brahmanical rules and laws, about the gods of the Hindu p&ntheon, etc. The Puranas were also created in the 1st millennium AD . e.
They sometimes touch on issues of everyday life, poetry, theater, etc. Main value many of them consist of historical content, lists and genealogies royal dynasties. It is said, for example, that there is no better source for the study of the Maurya dynasty than the Vishnu Purana, while the Vayu Purana contains an interesting description of the Gupta era, etc.
During the period of the formation of the religious and social system of Hinduism, the Brahmins began to give these folk tales a philosophical and theological meaning that was beneficial to them, and even ordered women and “lower” castes to consider the Puranas as their Veda (because neither of them had the right to listen to or study the real Vedas) .
In total, 18 Puranas are known and a fairly large number of so-called Upapuraanas, which have become the canonical books of various religious sects.
‘ For example, a spell against worms, considered the source of all diseases: “ . . Let the worms with white shoulders be destroyed, as well as the black worms with white hands and the motley ones, and others. And let the male and female worms have their heads crushed with stones and their faces burnt in fire.”
The latest translations into Russian: V. I. Kalyanov. Mahabharata, Adiparva. "P., 1950; see the "Afterword" of this book for earlier Russian translations; B.L. Smirnov. Mahabharata, II. Bhagavad Gita. Ashgabat, 1956; him. Mahabharata, III. Episodes from book III, V. Ashgabat, 1957; him. Mahabharata, I. Two poems from 4 of Book III. Ashgabat, 1959; him. Mahabharata, Mokshadharma. Ashgabat, 1961.
"Art Ancient India"
Introduction
One of the most important tasks of understanding the ancient world is to comprehend the diversity and uniqueness of ancient cultures, distant from the present in time and space. All of them, taken together and representing a certain civilizational whole, with their diversity and uniqueness, significantly influenced the formation and character of modern civilization. It is in this role, with their achievements, the basis for the creation of the current scientific and technological world, that their cultural unity gains significance. It is difficult to imagine a country with a richer mythology than India, and it is difficult to find in any other mythology a combination of deep philosophical abstractions and practical applications of myth, such as yoga, asceticism, instructions in the practice of everyday life.
1. Literature
From what has already been said, it is clear that the central place in ancient Indian culture belongs to the monuments of religious literature. The oldest of them - the Vedas - were not only written down late, but were subsequently transmitted mainly from teacher to student orally. Moreover, over many centuries, the language became so different from the spoken one that extensive books were often memorized with virtually no understanding of their meaning. Established among the Brahmins a complex system memorization and accurate reproduction of literary texts had a significant impact on the entire nature of education and science in ancient India.
The enormous attention paid to the accuracy of the transmission and interpretation of the sacred Vedic texts ultimately led to the emergence of such special disciplines as phonetics and etymology. On this basis, ancient Indian linguistics subsequently developed. Determining the time for sacrifices required observations of heavenly bodies, and the construction of complex altars - knowledge of geometry. Thus, already in late Vedic literature the beginnings of sciences appeared, although they were very original and did not coincide with modern ones not only in their goals, but also in their methods.
Along with the Vedic tradition, the epic tradition also took shape. In their final form, the Mahabharata and Ramayana became a true encyclopedia of Hinduism and an inexhaustible treasury of images for poets and artists of subsequent times. The epic, one might say, still exists in oral form, being accessible to millions of illiterate Indians and having a huge impact on their worldview. By the second half of the 1st millennium BC. The formation of Buddhist literature also includes the Tipitaka of the Theravada school. The works of other schools of Buddhism - the “great vehicle” - have not been fully preserved, sometimes in Sanskrit, but mostly in Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan translations.
The flourishing of ancient Indian culture in the first centuries of the Christian era is expressed in the development of a wide variety of secular genres. Of particular note is Sanskrit drama, intended for both court and city theater. The collection of fables “Panchatantra” was extremely popular. His individual stories are strung one on top of the other, skillfully inserted into a common frame. The Arabic translation of the Panchatantra is known as Kalila and Dimna. The short stories of the Panchatantra and the very method of constructing a literary work influenced many national literatures(“A Thousand and One Nights”, “Decameron”, etc.).
In addition to poetic lyrics, panegyric poems and collections of didactic aphorisms, scientific treatises were often compiled in poetic form, thus facilitating their memorization and oral transmission. A large number of verses were also included in the treatise on politics - the Arthashastra. This treatise vividly depicts court intrigue, treacherous provocations and secret murders. The main goal of political art is seen in the subjugation of surrounding territories, and therefore all neighboring rulers are considered potential opponents, and the neighbors of neighbors are considered potential allies of the “sovereign seeking conquest.”
From works of scientific and didactic literature First of all, mention should be made of the Sanskrit grammar compiled by Panini around the 4th century. BC. Ancient Indian philosophy, which included several competing schools, enjoys well-deserved fame. The main philosophical texts can be dated back to the first centuries of the Christian era, but in some cases a long tradition of development of a particular school can be assumed in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. The achievements of Indians in the field of logic and philosophy of language are especially important; their atomic theories. However, the main goal of philosophy in ancient India was not to generalize the achievements of the natural sciences and expand practical knowledge, but to interpret sacred texts and achieve religious salvation.
2. Architecture
Construction with brick and stone begins mainly in the post-Mauri era. The surviving monuments are associated primarily with Buddhism (for example, cave monasteries in Western India). The halls carved into the rocks reach an area of approximately 500 square meters. m with a height of about 15 m. Their internal design is characteristic, reproducing the traditions of wooden architecture (ceilings and other elements that are unnecessary in buildings made of stone, and especially in caves).
Of the above-ground buildings, the most significant are located in Sanchi. Here, on the top of a large hill, not far from an important political center of the post-Mauri era, was located a huge Buddhist monastery. Little has been preserved from the monastery itself and the hotel for pilgrims. And the main attraction of Sanchi is a large stupa, built in the 2nd–1st centuries. BC. It is surrounded on four cardinal points by carved stone gates depicting scenes from Buddhist legends. Stone stupas are an indispensable part of cave temples, being generally the most characteristic monuments of Buddhist architecture. The largest stupa in Lanka is comparable in size to the Egyptian pyramids.
Almost the most ancient monuments Indian culture (of course, if we do not talk about the period of the Indus civilization) are the columns on which the inscriptions of Ashoka are carved. All columns were made of stone quarried in the vicinity of Varanasi, carefully polished and delivered to remote areas of the Mauryan state. A sculpture crowning a column, for example famous lions, discovers known influence Persian and possibly Greek art. This is obviously explained by the fact that Indian craftsmen at that time were not yet accustomed to working in stone.
3. Sculpture and painting
In the post-Mauri era, local schools of sculpture emerged. The most famous are the schools of Gandhara (Northwest India), the Mathura region (central North India) and one of the Deccan regions (Amaravati school).
The heyday of the Gandhara school, formed under the strong influence of Hellenistic and Roman art, dates back to the first centuries of the Christian era. The Gandhara style, starting from the Kushan era, influenced the Buddhist art of Central and East Asia. IN to a greater extent associated with the traditions of Indian fine art of the Mathura and Amaravati schools. It was on their basis that medieval art developed not only in India itself, but, to a certain extent, in the countries of Southeast Asia. The spread of Great Vehicle Buddhism contributed to the emergence of a vast pantheon of bodhisattva saints. Massive finds of terracotta figurines indicate a widespread demand for works of art related to Buddhism.
Worldwide famous monuments Indian paintings are located in Ajanta (Western India). The cave temples and monasteries of Ajanta were created over a period of almost a thousand years, starting from post-Mauri times. The walls of some halls are covered bright images scenes from Buddhist legends. Remarkable fragments of painting similar to the Ajanta paintings are also found in Sri Lanka. Despite the lack of political unity, the difference in languages and beliefs of the peoples of India, this country during the Middle Ages and modern times preserved the unity of culture that had developed in antiquity. The dominant religion in India - Hinduism - sanctified the traditionalism of the everyday way of life.
The influence of the Buddhist religion, literature, philosophy and art can be traced among many peoples of the medieval East. Ancient Indian medicine and mathematics were famous all over the world, and remarkable achievements in the field of linguistics, logic, and psychology can only now be appreciated.
Indian culture can be compared to a mighty river that originates high in the Himalayas and continues its flow through forests and plains, gardens and farms, villages and cities. Numerous tributaries flow into it, its banks change, but the river itself remains unchanged. Indian culture is equal parts unity and diversity, commitment to tradition and receptivity to the new. Over the centuries-old history, India has had to endure a lot, adapt to a lot, assimilate elements of various cultures, but at the same time it has managed to preserve its ancient heritage.
The nature and climate of the country are unusually diverse; Numerous nationalities live here with their own beliefs, languages and cultures. However, everything has a unique Indian flavor. The source of this unity is elusive. It can be felt, but cannot be understood. In his famous book, The Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Nehru gave a brilliant analysis of the unity and integrity of Indian culture rooted in its amazing diversity.
Already the monuments of the Harappan civilization (3000–1800 BC) already bear those characteristic features that later became associated with India and its culture. This is confirmed by archaeological finds in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The statue of a man deep in thought indicates that the practice of yoga was already known in those days. The smooth surface of the torso and the absence of muscular tension suggest an ancient Indian concept internal energy. The deity depicted on one of the clay seals bears a close resemblance to later images of Shiva. Bracelets similar to those that adorn the hands of the bronze dancer can still be bought in any shop. Recent research has shown that the influence of the Harappan culture spread even to remote areas of Northern and Western India, and the peoples living in the Indus basin maintained close contacts with the Dravidian civilization, which existed long before the Aryans came to India.
Approximately between 2000 and 1600 BC. part of the tribes belonging to the large group of Aryans, or Indo-Aryans, moved to India. They spoke Sanskrit and worshiped gods who personified the elemental forces of nature: Indra the Thunderer, lord of the atmosphere, the god of sacrificial fire Agni and the omniscient Varuna, the punishing judge god and deity of the water element. Hymns dedicated to these and other gods made up four collections - the Vedas. The oldest of them is the Rig Veda (1500–1200 BC), which is characterized by the search for the Supreme reality underlying all the diversity of life. This idea is developed in the dialogues of the Upanishads (900–600 BC). Vedic poetry is characterized by spirituality, superior style and a movement from outer formula to inner experience. Outside the Vedic (Hindu) tradition in the 6th century. BC. two other religions arose. The personality of the Buddha, with his message of love, compassion and harmony, had a tremendous impact on the development of Indian philosophy and culture, although as a religion Buddhism took deeper roots outside of India. The founder of Jainism was Mahavira, whose teachings develop the ideas of liberation and renunciation of any violence. The Jains also made great contributions to the development of Indian art and philosophy.
In 326 BC. Alexander the Great crossed the Indus, and although he soon turned his troops back, the Greek invasion was an important factor in India's rapprochement with the Greco-Roman world. Six years later, King Chandragupta, founder of the Mauryan dynasty, attempted to unite the scattered Indian principalities into a centralized empire with its capital at Pataliputra (now Patna, Bihar). His grandson Ashoka (273–237 BC), disgusted with war, became a devout Buddhist. According to his instructions smooth surface Stone columns were carved with Buddhist sayings calling for compassion and mercy. The capitals terminating the columns are excellent examples of sculpture.
The rulers of the Shungi dynasty (185–149 BC) were orthodox Hindus, but under Kanishka (Kushan dynasty), who ruled northwestern India (78–101), there was a notable revival of Buddhism. Under the Kushans, the Gandhara style, marked by a noticeable influence of antiquity, developed in Buddhist sculpture. Another center of Buddhist art was Mataura, located south of Delhi. During the Gupta Empire (319 – 540), which is called the “golden age” of ancient Indian culture, the political and cultural center again moved to Pataliputra. Some kings of the Gupta dynasty, such as Chandragupta and Skandagupta, were poets and musicians. During the reign of Chandragupta, there lived the greatest poet and playwright who wrote in Sanskrit, Kalidasa. The sculptures of Buddha in Sarnath and the frescoes in the caves of Ajanta (Western India) are considered masterpieces of sculpture and painting of this era. The decline of the Gupta Empire was accompanied by political fragmentation.
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Philosophy reached a very high level of development in ancient India. The most famous school of ancient Indian materialists was the Lokayata. Lokayatikas opposed the main provisions of religious and philosophical schools, against religious “liberation” and the omnipotence of the gods. They considered sensory perception to be the main source of knowledge. The great achievement of ancient Indian philosophy was the atomistic teaching of the Vainishika school. The Samkhya school reflected many achievements in science as one of the largest ancient Indian philosophers was Nacharjuna, who came up with the concept of universal relativity or “universal relativity” or “universal emptiness”, and also laid the foundations of the school of logic in India. Towards the end of antiquity greatest influence The idealistic school of Vedanta was used, but rationalistic concepts played no small role.
The history of ancient Indian literature is usually divided into several stages: Vedic, epic, and the period of classical Sanskrit literature. The first two stages are characterized by the predominance of the oral tradition of text transmission. Genuine encyclopedias Indian life are two great epic poems of ancient India - the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. They depict all aspects of the life of ancient Indians. The epic has absorbed material that, developing orally, poetic tradition, acquired a didactic character and included religious and philosophical works and ideas. In subsequent eras, many prominent Indian artists, including the famous Kalidas, drew their inspiration from these treasures of wisdom of their people.
In the era of classical Sanskrit literature, the collection of stories and parables “Panchatantra”, based on folklore, gained particular popularity. It was translated into many languages, and they became acquainted with it quite early in Russia.
From the literature related to the Buddhist tradition, the work of the poet and playwright Pshvaghosh (1-2 century AD) stands out clearly. The poem "Buddhacharita" written by him was the first artificial epic to appear in Indian literature.
The theory of literary creativity, including poetry, reached a high level in Ancient India. The rules of versification and treatises on the theory of metrics and poetics were developed in detail. Several schools of “poetic science” are emerging, and there are debates about genres, the purpose of literature, and artistic language.
The concept of the divine character of speech influenced the development of the science of language. It was believed that speech lies at the basis of science and the arts. In Panini’s grammar “The Eight Books” the analysis of linguistic material is carried out so deeply and thoroughly that modern scientists find similarities between the theory of the ancient Indians and modern linguistics.
Bibliography
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Philosophy, literature, linguistics of Ancient India
Philosophy, literature, linguistics of Ancient India
Philosophy reached a very high level of development in ancient India. The most famous school of ancient Indian materialists was the Lokayata. Lokayatikas opposed the basic tenets of religious and philosophical schools, against religious liberation and the omnipotence of the gods. They considered sensory perception to be the main source of knowledge. The great achievement of ancient Indian philosophy was the atomistic teaching of the Vainishika school. The Samkhya school reflected many achievements in science. One of the largest ancient Indian philosophers was Nacharjuna, who came up with the concept of universal relativity or universal relativity or universal emptiness, and also laid the foundations of the school of logic in India. By the end of antiquity, the idealistic school of Vedanta enjoyed the greatest influence, but rationalistic concepts played an important role.
Ancient Indian art was closely connected with religion and philosophy. In addition, it was always addressed to the lower caste peasants, with the aim of conveying to them the laws of karma, the requirements of dharma, etc. In poetry, prose, drama, music, the Indian artist identified himself with nature in all its moods, responded to the connection man and the universe. And finally, religious prejudice directed against the statues of gods had a significant influence on the development of Indian art. The Vedas were against the image of a deity, and the image of Buddha appeared in sculpture and painting only in the late period of the development of Buddhism.
The history of ancient Indian literature is usually divided into several stages: Vedic, epic, and the period of classical Sanskrit literature. The first two stages are characterized by the predominance of the oral tradition of text transmission. The true encyclopedias of Indian life are the two great epic poems of Ancient India - the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. They depict all aspects of the life of ancient Indians. The epic absorbed material that, taking shape in the oral and poetic tradition, acquired a didactic character and included religious and philosophical works and ideas. In subsequent eras, many prominent Indian artists, including the famous Kalidas, drew their inspiration from these treasures of wisdom of their people.
The Gupta era was the period of development of ancient Indian theater. Even special treatises on dramaturgy appeared. The tasks of the theater and the acting technique were determined. The Indian theatrical tradition preceded the Greek one.
In the era of classical Sanskrit literature, the collection of stories and parables Panchatantra, based on folklore, gained particular popularity. It was translated into many languages, and they became acquainted with it quite early in Russia.
From the literature related to the Buddhist tradition, the work of the poet and playwright Pshvaghosh (12th century AD) stands out clearly. The poem Buddhacharita written by him was the first artificial epic to appear in Indian literature.
The theory of literary creativity, including poetry, reached a high level in Ancient India. The rules of versification and treatises on the theory of metrics and poetics were developed in detail. Several schools of poetic science are emerging, and there are debates about genres, the purpose of literature, and artistic language.
The concept of the divine character of speech influenced the development of the science of language. It was believed that speech lies at the basis of science and the arts. In Panini's grammar, the Octateuch, the analysis of linguistic material is carried out so deeply and thoroughly that modern scientists find similarities between the theory of the ancient Indians and modern linguistics.
Bibliography
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Introduction 2
Ancient India 2
Religion of Ancient India. 5
Hinduism 6
Buddhism 7
Philosophy 11
Literature of Ancient India 12
VEDAS - the first monument to the thought of ancient Indians 13
Upanishads 14
Mahabharata 16
Architecture, sculpture, painting of Ancient India. 17
Mathematics, astronomy, medicine of Ancient India. 19
Conclusion 20
References: 21
Introduction
It is difficult to imagine a country with a richer mythology than India, and it is difficult to find in any other mythology a combination of deep philosophical abstractions and practical applications of myth, such as yoga, asceticism, instructions in the practice of everyday life.
As part of my essay, I will try to make a quick overview of the richness and diversity of the spiritual quests of the peoples inhabiting Hindustan. One of the reasons is that we are not talking about centuries, but about millennia of development of religious thought.
The remarkable feature of Indian civilization is its continuity: it has been developing continuously for more than 4,500 years. Over such a long period of time, the material and spiritual life of the region's population has undergone changes; these millennia were filled with struggle, ups and downs, which manifested itself in the rise and fall of dynasties, in the spread, prosperity and decline of religious teachings; schools emerged in philosophy, architecture, sculpture, music and dance.
Ancient India
India is one of the cradles of human civilization. It was inhabited in ancient times.
The Indus Valley Civilization, the first of India's highly developed cultures, existed between 2500 and 1500 BC. Its material evidence was discovered in the 1920s in the Indus Valley, most notably in excavations at Mohenjodaro in Sindh and Harappa in Punjab. Archaeological research has revealed remarkable brick buildings, figurines made of stone and metal, jewelry, knives and various seals with pictographic writing that has not yet been deciphered. Metals used included gold, silver, copper, tin and lead; iron remained unknown. Further excavations showed that people at that time were familiar with spinning and weaving, grew barley and wheat, and adopted an urban lifestyle. Invasion at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. people who spoke the Aryan language (Sanskrit), or Aryans for short, marked a turning point in the history of India. The Aryans invaded the Indian subcontinent from the northwest in several waves, pushing the autochthonous population further east and south and settling the lands between the Indus and Jamna rivers. From there they moved east across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, their earlier expansion south stopping before the Vindhya Mountains.
The first centers of Indian culture known to us, Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, and others, existed already in the 3rd millennium BC. on the banks of the Indus. The Harappan culture became the basis, the basis for further cultural and social evolution. Archaeologists have found numerous stone, copper, bronze tools and weapons, indicating the ability to process metals, develop agriculture, knowledge of numerous crafts, writing, and the decimal number system.
In the religion of the Harappan culture, elements were discovered that were included in later religious ideas. In the 2nd millennium, those important religious traditions, which by the beginning of the 1st millennium received literary form, called in the history of the Indian worldview and ritual practice the Vedas. Vedism, or the Vedic religion, already contained features characteristic of later Indian religions, including Buddhism.
These include the idea that all existing living things are interconnected in time by constant transitions from one bodily state to another (transmigration of souls or reincarnation), the doctrine of karma as a force that determines the form of these transitions. The composition of the pantheon of gods, as well as the belief in hell and heaven, turned out to be stable. In later religions, many elements of Vedic symbolism, the veneration of some plants and animals, and most household and family rituals were developed. The Vedic religion already reflected the class stratification of society. She sanctified the inequality of people, declaring that the division of people into varnas (castes in ancient India) was established by the highest deity - Brahma. Social injustice was justified by the doctrine of karma - by the fact that all a person’s misfortunes are to blame for the sins he committed in previous rebirths. She declared the state to be an institution created by the gods, and equated obedience to rulers with the fulfillment of religious duty. Even abundant sacrifices, available only to the rich and noble, allegedly testified to the latter’s greater closeness to the world of the gods, and for the lower varnas, many rituals were generally prohibited.
It reached its real development in 2 thousand BC, in the era of the Rigveda. Based on the large collection “RigVeda”, a unique spiritual and worldview system of Hinduism was created, which became the most important part of Indian culture. During the same era, society was divided into castes. Caste is a phenomenon without which it is impossible to understand the character and originality of Indian culture. The Rig Vedas were based on the moral and legal motives for dividing society into 4 castes: Brahmins (priests); Kshatriyas (magi); Vaishwiv (farmers); Shudras (servants). A whole system of human life and behavior was developed depending on caste. For example, marriage within the same varna (endogamy) was considered legal, and the same applied to the choice of profession or practice of a certain craft.
Indian caste is the result of a long process of formation of industrial, legal and cultural relations between people who are separated by origin, profession, customs and laws.
The period from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. until the first half of the 1st millennium BC, which received the name Vedic in history, was marked by the formation of a class society and state.
In ancient India, the process of state formation was long. Gradually, the tribal aristocracy turned into the top of the emerging early class states, which were formed on a tribal basis. The power of tribal leaders - rajas, who called themselves kings of the tribe - increased. They claimed absolute power over their subjects and often acted as sole rulers - Raja Vishwajanin. To raise the prestige of the rajas and emphasize their special position, complex initiation ceremonies were performed; they were declared bearers of one or another deity. Usually the rulers belonged to the most noble, rich and numerous families.
By the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. In the Ganges Valley, the process of transforming tribal self-government bodies into state ones was completed, but tribal remnants were still strong. The king, although he was the ruler of the people, could not rule without their consent. The most important general affairs of the tribe were decided in a popular assembly called samiti. The leaders and people were represented there. In Vedic literature there are references to another assembly called a sabha, reminiscent of a council of elders. The Sabha and Samiti had certain administrative legislative and judicial powers. In the early Vedic era, the issue of electing a king was decided in the samiti.
Over time, the people are assigned the role of a passive observer in state affairs; royal power becomes hereditary, passing from father to eldest son. With the strengthening of the king's power, sabhas and samiti, as tribal institutions, are replaced by “parishads” - councils under the king. The tsar himself commanded the army, managed state property, and headed the administrative apparatus. This exceptionally high position of the rajas led to the fact that government became sacred.
Simultaneously with the formation of the state, the development of the administrative apparatus took place. All senior positions in the state administration were occupied by representatives of the nobility. The art of government was called dandaniti - “the science of punishment.”
Officials had collective names - virs or ratnins. These included treasurers (samgrahitri), tax collectors (bhagadughis), messengers (palagalas), military leaders (senani), etc.
The population paid taxes (known as bali and shulka). There was also specific system police organization, Vedic texts mention police officers (Jivagribhas and Ugrians). A permanent spy service emerged.
By the end of the Vedic period (end of the 2nd - mid-1st millennium BC), several dozen states emerged in Northern India - Magadha, Koshala, Vriji, Malla, etc.
The largest and most powerful state at that time was Magadha. This state reached its highest power in the 4th - 2nd centuries. BC. under the Mauryan dynasty, which united almost the entire territory of Hindustan under its rule. The Magadha-Mauri era is considered as a special milestone in the development of ancient Indian statehood. This was a period of major political events. The creation of a united Indian state contributed to the communication of different peoples, the interaction of their cultures, and the erasure of narrow tribal boundaries. In the Mauryan era, the foundations of many state institutions were laid, which were developed in the subsequent period; many basic features of the social structure, class-caste organization, and the most important institutions of ancient Indian society and the state arose and took shape. A number of religious and philosophical movements developed, such as Jainism, which questioned Vedic values, and Buddhism, which gradually turned from a sectarian monastic teaching into one of the three world religions.
One of the most important components of the social, social and economic system in the Mauryan period was the community. A significant part of the population - free landowners - united into communities. The most common form of community was rural, although primitive tribal communities still existed in other areas of the empire. For a long time, communities were isolated from each other, but gradually this limitation and isolation was broken.
The ancient Indian state arose as a slave-owning state, however, in its law there is no clear opposition between free and slaves. Slave labor did not play a significant role in the decisive sectors of the economy of ancient India. An essential feature of ancient Indian slavery was the presence of state legislation aimed at limiting the arbitrariness of the owner in relation to slaves. The daily life of Indians was subject to rules established in norms that were more ethical in nature than legal. These norms were of a pronounced religious nature. The most famous are the Laws of Manu (Manu is a mythical god). The exact time when these laws were drafted is unknown. It is assumed that they appeared between the 2nd century. BC. and II century. AD they consist of 2685 articles written in the form of couplets (slokas). A few articles have direct legal content, contained mainly in Chapters VIII and IX (there are 12 chapters in total in the Laws).
Meanwhile, the Mauryan Empire was a conglomerate of tribes and peoples at different stages of development. State and political life based on the principles of Buddhism reached a particular flourishing during the reign of Ashoka (mid-3rd century BC). Ashoka put forward the idea of conquering the world not through a military attack on neighbors, but through the proclamation of the teachings of the Buddha. In culture, a central place was given to religion, which was supposed to spiritually unite a society torn into varnas.
In the first centuries AD. The Mauryas were replaced by the kings of the Indo-Scythian Kushana dynasty (1st-3rd centuries AD). After the collapse of the Kushan state in the 4th century. AD There was a new rise in Magadha, where the Gupta dynasty reigned. Having spread to the 5th century. AD in most of northern India, the Gupta power became the last slave state in this part of the country. During this period, agriculture was improved, crafts developed (making weapons and jewelry, metallurgy, weaving, stone processing, etc.), Buddhism gave way to Hinduism.
One of the most majestic and original cultures that existed on our planet is the Indo-Buddhist philosophy, which was formed mainly in India. The achievements of the ancient Indians in various fields - literature, art, science, philosophy - entered the golden fund of world civilization and had a significant impact on the further development of culture not only in India itself, but also in a number of other countries. Indian influence was especially significant in Southeast, Central Asia and the Far East.
Religion of Ancient India.
The thousand-year-old cultural tradition of India has developed in close connection with the development of the religious ideas of its people. The main religious movement was Hinduism (more than 80% of the Indian population now follows it). The roots of this religion go back to ancient times.
Vedism
The religious and mythological ideas of the tribes of the Vedic era can be judged from the monuments of that period - the Vedas, which contain rich material on mythology, religion, and ritual. Vedic hymns were and are considered sacred texts in India; they were passed down orally from generation to generation and carefully preserved. The set of these beliefs is called Vedism. Vedism was not a pan-Indian religion, but flourished only in Eastern Punjab and Uttar Prodesh, which were inhabited by a group of Indo-Aryan tribes. It was she who was the creator of the Rigveda and other Vedic collections (samhita).
Vedism was characterized by the deification of nature as a whole (by the community of celestial gods) and individual natural and social phenomena: So Indra is the god of thunderstorms and powerful will; Varuna is the god of world order and justice; Agni - god of fire and hearth; Soma is the god of the sacred drink. In total, 33 gods are considered to be the highest Vedic deities. The Indians of the Vedic era divided the whole world into 3 spheres - sky, earth, antarizhna (the space between them), and certain deities were associated with each of these spheres. The gods of the sky included Varuna; to the gods of the earth - Agni and Soma. There was no strict hierarchy of gods; turning to a specific god, the Vedic people endowed him with the characteristics of many gods. The creator of everything: gods, people, earth, sky, sun - was a certain abstract deity Purusha. Everything around - plants, mountains, rivers - was considered divine, and a little later the doctrine of the transmigration of souls appeared. The Vedic people believed that after death the soul of a saint goes to heaven, and the soul of a sinner goes to the land of Yama. Gods, like people, were capable of dying.
Many features of Vedism entered Hinduism; this was a new stage in the development of spiritual life, i.e. emergence of the first religion.
Hinduism
Hinduism embraces a wide variety of beliefs and practices. Hinduism's tolerance for diversity religious forms, perhaps unique among world religions. Hinduism has no church hierarchy or supreme authority; it is a completely decentralized religion. Unlike Christianity or Islam, Hinduism did not have a founder whose teachings were spread by followers. Most of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism were formulated during the time of Christ, but the roots of this religion are even older; Some of the gods that Hindus worship today were worshiped by their ancestors almost 4,000 years ago. Hinduism developed constantly, absorbing and interpreting in its own way the beliefs and rituals of the different peoples with which it came into contact. But, despite this, the demands of social and everyday traditions are extremely strong in Hinduism. Hinduism is extremely intolerant of violations of the many prohibitions and restrictions prescribed in the spheres of public, family and personal life and different for the numerous groups, castes and subcastes into which Hinduism divides the population and the partitions between which are still considered unshakable.
Despite the contradictions between the various variants of Hinduism, they all are based on a few certain fundamental principles.
Beyond the ever-changing physical world there is one universal, unchanging, eternal spirit called Brahman. The soul (Atman) of every creature in the Universe, including the gods, is a particle of this spirit. When the flesh dies, the soul does not die, but passes into another body, where it continues a new life. The fate of the soul in each new life depends on its behavior in previous incarnations. The law of karma says: no sin remains without punishment, no virtue goes without reward; if a person has not received a well-deserved punishment or reward in this life, he will receive it in one of the next. A person’s behavior determines the higher or lower status of the subsequent incarnation; it depends on him whether he will be born in the future as a man, a god, or, say, an insignificant insect.
For most Hindus, an important element of religious beliefs is the host of gods. There are hundreds of deities in Hinduism, from small gods of local significance to great gods whose deeds are known in every Indian family. The most revered are Vishnu: Rama and Krishna, two forms or incarnations of Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (creator, preserver and destroyer at the same time) and the creator god Brahma.
Holy books play a large role in all varieties of Hinduism. Philosophical Hinduism emphasizes classical Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads. Folk Hinduism, honoring both the Vedas and the Upanishads, uses epic poems as sacred texts Ramayana And Mahabharata, often translated from Sanskrit into local languages. Part Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, is known to almost every Hindu. Bhagavad Gita closest to what could be called the general scripture of Hinduism.
Buddhism
Much later than Vedism, Buddhism developed in India. The creator of this teaching was born in 563 in Lumbina into a Kshatriya family.
The story of Buddha is interesting in itself:
GAUTAMA BUDDHA (6th-5th centuries BC). At birth, Buddha received the name Siddhartha, and the name of his clan or family was Gautama. The biography of Siddhartha Gautama is known only as presented by his followers. These traditional accounts, initially transmitted orally, were not written down until several centuries after his death. The most famous tales about the life of Buddha are included in the collection Jataka, compiled around the 2nd century. BC. in the Pali language (one of the most ancient Central Indian languages).
Siddhartha was born in Kapilavastu, in the southern part of what is now Nepal, around the 6th century. BC. His father Shuddhodhana, the head of the noble Shakya clan, belonged to the warrior caste. According to legend, at the birth of a child, his parents were predicted that he would become either a great Ruler or a Teacher of the Universe. The father, firmly determined that his son should be his heir, took all measures to ensure that his son did not see either the signs or the suffering of the world. As a result, Siddhartha spent early years in luxury, as befitted a rich young man. He married cousin Yashodhara, having won her in a competition of agility and strength (swayamvara), in which he put all other participants to shame. Being a meditative person, he soon grew tired of his idle life and turned to religion. At the age of 29, despite the efforts of his father, he nevertheless saw four signs that were to determine his fate. For the first time in his life, he saw old age (a decrepit old man), then illness (a man exhausted by illness), death (a dead body) and true serenity (a wandering mendicant monk). In reality, the people Siddhartha saw were gods who took on this appearance in order to help Siddhartha become a Buddha. Siddhartha was at first very sad, but soon realized that the first three signs indicate the constant presence of suffering in the world. The suffering seemed all the more terrible to him because, according to the beliefs of that time, after death a person was doomed to be born again. Therefore, there was no end to suffering; it was eternal. In the fourth sign, in the serene inner joy of a mendicant monk, Siddhartha saw his future destiny.
Even the happy news of the birth of his son did not make him happy, and one night he left the palace and rode off on his faithful horse Kanthaka. Siddhartha took off his expensive clothes, changed into a monk's dress and soon settled as a hermit in the forest. He then joined five ascetics in the hope that mortification would lead him to insight and peace. After six years of the strictest asceticism, without getting any closer to his goal, Siddhartha parted with the ascetics and began to lead a more moderate lifestyle.
One day, Siddhartha Gautama, who was already thirty-five years old, sat down under a large bo tree (a type of fig tree) near the town of Gaya in eastern India and vowed that he would not move from his place until he solved the riddle of suffering. For forty-nine days he sat under the tree. Friendly gods and spirits fled from him when the tempter Mara, the Buddhist devil, approached. Day after day, Siddhartha resisted various temptations. Mara summoned his demons and unleashed a tornado, flood and earthquake on the meditating Gautama. He ordered his daughters - Desire, Pleasure and Passion - to seduce Gautama with erotic dances. When Mara demanded that Siddhartha provide evidence of his kindness and mercy, Gautama touched the ground with his hand, and the earth said: “I am his witness.”
In the end, Mara and his demons fled, and on the morning of the 49th day, Siddhartha Gautama learned the truth, solved the riddle of suffering and understood what a person must do to overcome it. Fully enlightened, he achieved the utmost detachment from the world (nirvana), which means the cessation of suffering.
He spent another 49 days in meditation under a tree, and then went to the Deer Park near Benares, where he found five ascetics with whom he lived in the forest. Buddha gave his first sermon to them. Soon the Buddha acquired many followers, the most beloved of whom was his cousin Ananda, and organized a community (sangha), essentially a monastic order (bhikkhus - “beggars”). The Buddha instructed dedicated followers in liberation from suffering and achieving nirvana, and the laity in a moral lifestyle. Buddha traveled a lot, returned home for a short time to convert own family and courtiers. Over time, he began to be called Bhagavan (“Lord”), Tathagatha (“Thus Came” or “Thus Gone”) and Shakyamuni (“Sage of the Shakya Family”).
Buddhism in its origins is associated not only with Brahmanism, but also with other religious and religious-philosophical systems of Ancient India.
Initially, elements of the new religious teaching, as the Buddhist tradition claims, were transmitted orally by monks to their students. They began to receive literary form relatively late - in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. The Pali corpus of Buddhist canonical literature, created around 80 BC, has survived. to Sri Lanka and later called “tipitaka” (Sanskrit - “tripitaka”) - “three baskets of the law”.
In the 3rd-1st centuries. BC. and in the first centuries AD. Further development of Buddhism occurs, in particular, a coherent biography of the Buddha is created, and canonical literature is formed. Monastic theologians develop logical “justifications” for the main religious dogmas, often called the “philosophy of Buddhism.” Theological subtleties remained the property of a relatively small circle of monks who had the opportunity to devote all their time to scholastic disputes. At the same time, another, moral and cult side of Buddhism developed, i.e. a "path" that can lead everyone to the end of suffering. This “path” was actually the ideological weapon that helped keep the working masses in obedience for many centuries.
Buddhism enriched religious practice with a technique related to the field of individual cult. This refers to such a form of religious behavior as bhavana - deepening into oneself, into one’s inner world for the purpose of concentrated reflection on the truths of faith, which became further widespread in such directions of Buddhism as “Chan” and “Zen”. Many researchers believe that ethics in Buddhism occupies a central place and this makes it more of an ethical, philosophical teaching, and not a religion. Most concepts in Buddhism are vague and ambiguous, which makes it more flexible and adaptable to local cults and beliefs, capable of transformation. Thus, the followers of Buddha formed numerous monastic communities, which became the main centers for the spread of religion.
By the Mauryan period, two directions took shape in Buddhism: the Sthaviravadins and the Mahasangikas. The latter teaching formed the basis of the Mahayana. The oldest Mahayana texts appear as early as the first century BC. One of the most important in the Mahayana doctrine is the doctrine of the Bodhisattva, a being capable of becoming a Buddha, approaching the achievement of nirvana, but not entering into it out of compassion for people. The division of Buddhism into two branches: Hinayana (“small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“ big cart”) was caused primarily by differences in the socio-political conditions of life in certain parts of India. Hinayana, more closely associated with early Buddhism, recognizes the Buddha as a man who found the path to salvation, which is considered achievable only through withdrawal from the world - monasticism. Mahayana is based on the possibility of salvation not only for hermit monks, but also for lay people, and the emphasis is on active preaching activities and intervention in public and state life. Mahayana, unlike Hinayana, more easily adapted to spread beyond the borders of India, giving rise to many interpretations and movements; Buddha gradually became the highest deity, temples were built in his honor, and religious actions were performed.
An important difference between Hinayana and Mahayana is that Hinayana completely rejects the path to salvation for non-monks who have voluntarily renounced worldly life. In Mahayana important role the cult of bodhisattvas - individuals who are already capable of entering nirvana, but conceal the achievement of the final goal in order to help others, not necessarily monks, in achieving it, thereby replacing the requirement to leave the world with a call to influence it.
Early Buddhism is distinguished by its simplicity of ritual. Its main element is: the cult of Buddha, preaching, veneration of holy places associated with the birth, enlightenment and death of Guatama, worship of stupas - religious buildings where the relics of Buddhism are kept. Mahayana added the veneration of bodhisattvas to the cult of Buddha, thereby complicating the ritual: prayers and various kinds of spells were introduced, sacrifices began to be practiced, and a magnificent ritual arose.
Like any religion, Buddhism contained the idea of salvation - in Buddhism it is called “nirvana”. It is possible to achieve it only by following certain commandments. Life is suffering that arises in connection with desire, the desire for earthly existence and its joys. Therefore, one should give up desires and follow the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path consists of following the following principles.
1. Right View – understanding the “four noble truths”, i.e. suffering, its causes, its cessation and the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
2. Right thought is liberation from lust, evil will, cruelty and unrighteousness.
3. Correct speech - avoiding lies, spreading gossip, rudeness and empty chatter.
4. Right action is abstaining from killing, stealing and sexual immorality.
5. The right lifestyle is the choice of those activities that do not harm anything living.
6. Correct effort - avoiding and overcoming bad inclinations, nurturing and strengthening good and healthy inclinations.
7. Right attention - observing the state of the body, sensations, mind and objects on which the mind concentrates in order to understand and control them.
8. Right concentration - concentration of the mind in meditation to induce certain ecstatic states of consciousness leading to insights.
The ethical side played a huge role in Buddhism. Following the Eightfold Path, a person must rely on himself and not seek outside help. Buddhism did not recognize the existence of God - the creator, on whom everything in the world depends, including human life. The cause of all man's earthly suffering lies in his personal blindness; inability to give up worldly desires. Only by extinguishing all reactions to the world, by destroying one’s own “I,” can nirvana be achieved.
Jainism
The founder of Jainism is considered to be Mahavir Vardhamana(lived in the 6th century BC, there is no more precise date), came from a rich Kshatriya family in Videha (present-day Bihar). At the age of 28, he leaves his home in order to, after 12 years of asceticism and philosophical reasoning, come to the principles of a new teaching. Then he was engaged in preaching activities. At first he found students and numerous followers in Bihar, but soon his teachings spread throughout India. Vardhamana is also called Gina (The winner means the winner over the cycle of rebirth and karma). According to Jain tradition, he was only the last of the 24 teachers - Tirthakars (the creators of the path), whose teachings arose in the distant past. Jain teaching existed for a long time only in the form of an oral tradition, and a canon was compiled relatively late (in the 5th century AD). Therefore, it is not always easy to distinguish the original core of Jain doctrine from later interpretations and additions.
Jain teaching, which (as in other Indian systems) mixes religious speculation with philosophical reasoning, proclaims dualism. The essence of human personality is twofold - material (ajiva) and spiritual (jiva). The connecting link between them is karma , understood as thin matter, which forms the body of karma and enables the soul to unite with gross matter. The connection of inanimate matter with the soul through the bonds of karma leads to the emergence of an individual, and karma constantly accompanies the soul in an endless chain of rebirths. Jains have developed the concept of karma in detail and distinguish between eight types of different karmas, which are based on two fundamental qualities. Evil karmas negatively affect the main properties of the soul, which, according to Jains, it acquired by being perfect in its natural form. Good karmas keep the soul in the cycle of rebirth. And only when a person gradually gets rid of evil and good karmas will he be liberated from the shackles of samsara. Jains believe that man, with the help of his spiritual essence, can control material essence and manage it. Only he himself decides what is good and evil and what to attribute everything that comes his way in life. God is just a soul that once lived in a material body and was freed from the shackles of karma and the chain of rebirths. In the Jain concept, god is not seen as a creator god or a god who intervenes in human affairs.
Liberation of the soul from the influence of karma and samsara is possible only through asceticism and good deeds. Therefore Jainism places great emphasis on developing ethics, traditionally called three jewels (triratna). It talks about right understanding, conditioned by right faith, about right knowledge and the resulting right knowledge, and, finally, about right living. The first two principles relate primarily to faith and knowledge of Jain teachings. Correct life, in the understanding of Jains, is essentially a greater or lesser degree of asceticism. A lot of space in the texts is devoted to the principles, various stages and forms of asceticism. The path to liberating the soul from samsara is complex and multi-phase. The goal is personal salvation, because a person can only free himself, and no one can help him. This explains the egocentric nature of Jain ethics. The ethical principles, developed primarily for members of Jain communities, detail the various oaths taken by monks and nuns. They absolutize, in particular, the principles of non-harm to living beings, principles relating to sexual abstinence, exclusion from worldly wealth; standards of activity, behavior, etc. are determined.
An integral part of the Jain canon are also various speculative constructions, for example, about the ordering of the world. The cosmos, according to Jains, is eternal, it was never created and cannot be destroyed. Ideas about the ordering of the world come from the science of the soul, which is constantly limited by the matter of karma. The souls that are most burdened with it are placed the lowest and, as they get rid of karma, gradually rise higher and higher until they reach the highest limit. In addition, the canon also contains discussions about both basic entities (jiva - ajiva), about the individual components that make up the cosmos, about the so-called environment of rest and movement, about space and time. It contains, among other things, mythological legends that relate to the life and achievements of individual Tirthankars, and legends associated with the personality of Vardhamana, and descriptions of the underworld and the middle world (our Earth).
Over time, two directions emerged in Jainism, which differed, in particular, in their understanding of asceticism. Orthodox views were defended digambaras . (literally: clothed with air, i.e. rejecting clothing), a more moderate approach was proclaimed Svetambara (literally: dressed in white). The influence of Jainism gradually declined, although it survives in India to this day.
Philosophy
Philosophy reached a very high level of development in ancient India. Indian philosophy is truly “living fruit” that continues to nourish the world’s human thought with its juices. Indian philosophy has maintained complete continuity. And no philosophy has had such a strong impact on the West as Indian. Philosophy in India arose from one of the most ancient human civilizations; its thousand-year-old traditions dating back to the 15th-10th centuries. BC e., have survived to this day. The history of Indian philosophy is usually divided into four periods:
1) Vedic period;
2) classical, or Brahman-Buddhist period - from the 6th century. BC e. up to 10th century n. uh;
3) post-classical - 10-18 centuries;
4) new and modern Indian philosophy.
Already in the first monuments in Vedas, Along with hymns in honor of numerous yogis, the concept of a single world order is found - the concept of Rita. Religious and philosophical commentaries on the Vedas - Upanishads contain ideas that largely determined the entire subsequent development of Indian philosophy (about the unity of the integral spiritual substance, brahman, and the individual soul, atman; about the immortality of the soul, which passes from one birth to another, according to the law of karma, or retribution) Along with religious-idealistic The teachings in the Upanishads also reflected the views of materialists and atheists, who rejected the authority of the Vedas, the existence of the soul after the death of a person, and considered one of the material principles to be the fundamental basis of the world. During the classical period, philosophy developed under the strong influence of the Vedas and Upanishads. Since the early Middle Ages, a tradition has developed to divide all philosophical schools into orthodox, which recognized the authority of the Vedas, and heterodox, which rejected the infallibility of the Vedas. Of the orthodox schools, six are considered major: these are Mimamsa, Sankhoya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika And Vedanta. Heterodox schools include Buddhist, Jain and numerous materialistic and atheistic schools, the most common of which was the Charvaka school (Lokaita). Although such a division has historical foundations, it still hides the true spring of the development of philosophy - the struggle between materialism and idealism. Both Buddhist and “orthodox” sources condemn primarily materialistic schools. Shankara, the most eminent philosopher of Vedanta, vehemently attacks both the materialistic ideas of the thinkers of the Samkhya school and the empiricism of the Nyayas and Vaisesikas. He dissociates himself from common sense nnn and draws closer to idealistic and mystical schools. In the womb Buddhism The idealistic schools of the Madhyamikas and Yogacaras fought against the materialistic teachings of the Theraadins and Sarvastivadins. Fierce disputes between various philosophical schools gave rise to the science of the art of argument, the sources of knowledge and reliable knowledge - logic. The first information about Indian logic can be gleaned already from early Buddhist sources (3rd century BC), then logic develops in the Nyaya school, and later in the treatises of Buddhist logicians Digna-gi, Dharmakirti and others. By the end of the classical period Jainism loses its importance, and Buddhism is assimilated Hinduism. At this time, the Vish-Nuit and Shaivite systems of Hinduism developed, which taught that the Brahman of the Upanishads is the god Shiva.
Yoga
Yoga is based on the Vedas and is one of the Vedic philosophical schools. Yoga means “concentration”; the sage Patanjali (2nd century BC) is considered its founder. Yoga is a philosophy and practice. Yoga is an individual path of salvation and is intended to achieve control over feelings and thoughts, primarily through meditation. In the yoga system, faith in God is considered as an element of a theoretical worldview and as a condition for practical activity aimed at liberation from suffering. Connection with the One is necessary to realize one's own unity. Upon successful mastery of meditation, a person comes to a state of samadhi (i.e., a state of complete introversion, achieved after a series of physical and mental exercises and concentration). In addition, yoga also includes rules for eating. Food is divided into three categories according to the three modes of material nature to which it belongs. For example, food in the gunas of ignorance and passion can increase suffering, misfortune, and illness (primarily meat). Yoga teachers pay special attention to the need to develop tolerance towards other teachings.
Literature of Ancient India
The history of ancient Indian literature is usually divided into several stages: Vedic, epic, and the period of classical Sanskrit literature. The first two stages are characterized by the predominance of the oral tradition of text transmission. The true encyclopedias of Indian life are the two great epic poems of Ancient India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. They depict all aspects of the life of ancient Indians. The epic absorbed material that, emerging from the oral poetic tradition, acquired a didactic character and included religious and philosophical works and ideas. In subsequent eras, many prominent Indian artists, including the famous Kalidas, drew their inspiration from these treasures of wisdom of their people.
In the era of classical Sanskrit literature, the collection of stories and parables “Panchatantra”, based on folklore, gained particular popularity. It was translated into many languages, and they became acquainted with it quite early in Russia.
Among the literature attributed to the Buddhist tradition, the work of the poet and playwright Pshvaghosh (1-2 century AD) stands out clearly. The poem "Buddhacharita" written by him was the first artificial epic to appear in Indian literature. The Gupta era was the time of development of ancient Indian theater. Even special treatises on dramaturgy appeared. The tasks of the theater and the acting technique were determined. The Indian theatrical tradition preceded the Greek one.
The theory of literary creativity, including poetry, reached a high level in Ancient India. The rules of versification and treatises on the theory of metrics and poetics were developed in detail. Several schools of “poetic science” are emerging, and there are debates about genres, the purpose of literature, and artistic language.
The concept of the divine character of speech influenced the development of the science of language. It was believed that speech lies at the basis of the sciences and arts. In Panini’s grammar “The Eight Books” the analysis of linguistic material is carried out so deeply and thoroughly that modern scientists find similarities between the theory of the ancient Indians and modern linguistics.
VEDAS - the first monument to the thought of ancient Indians
The first monument of the thought of the ancient Indians was the “VEDAS”, literally meaning “knowledge, knowledge” when translated from Sanskrit. The VEDAS, having emerged between the second and first millennium BC, played a huge, decisive role in the development of the spiritual culture of ancient Indian society, including the development of philosophical thought.
Hindus recognize two types of authoritative religious literature: shruti ("heard"), considered either eternal and self-existent or manifested by divine revelation, and smriti ("memory"), considered a human creation and of lesser authority. Vedic literature includes all the shrutis and some smritis, and primarily four main collections (samhita), each of which is called veda (“sacred knowledge”). Of the Vedas, the oldest and most important is Rigveda (Veda of Hymns), containing 1028 hymns. The hymns consist of an average of ten stanzas each and were sung during rituals dedicated to fire and soma (“sacred libation”); they are grouped into ten sections (mandala), of which sections 2–7 are recognized as the most archaic. The final edition of the monument was probably completed by the 10th century. BC. The main content of the hymns Rigveda is praising the Vedic gods and turning to them with prayers.
Second Veda Samaveda (Veda of Chant), contains 1549 stanzas, almost entirely borrowed from Rigveda and used as chants during sacrifices to Soma (and to the god Soma). Samaveda also contains songbooks (gana) explaining the way these stanzas are performed.
Third Veda Yajurveda (Veda of sacrificial formulas), existing in several editions, was a manual for the priests who directly performed the ritual of sacrifice, accompanied by recitation, prayers and chants of other priests. It consists of stanzas mainly borrowed from Rigveda, and prose formulas (yajus) and was edited later than Rigveda.
Fourth Veda Atharvaveda (Veda of Spells and Incantations), exists in several editions and includes 730 hymns containing about 6,000 stanzas, as well as prose. Language Atharvaveda indicates that it was compiled later Rigveda, from which it borrows some materials. Atharvaveda contains a variety of spells directed against individuals, demons and diseases, or to gain luck in love, increase offspring and material well-being.
After the Vedas were compiled, Vedic sacrifices became even more complex, and the priests composed prose called Brahmanas, in which they detailed and explained the practice of sacrifice, indicated the appropriate Vedic verses for each case, and developed theological and philosophical positions. This aspect of Hinduism is often called Brahmanism. All four Vedas have brahmanas, the most important of them is Shatapatha-brahmana (Brahman of a Hundred Paths), adjacent to one of the editions Yajurveda. In addition to theology and ritual, the Brahmins include many legends, some historical issues and extensive factual data. The Brahmanas are accompanied by esoteric theological texts called Aranyakas ("forest treatises"), intended for the use of older Brahmanas living in forests far from their former surroundings. The Aranyakas are usually associated with the Upanishads, which contain large sections devoted to the mystical interpretation of the universe in relation to man. The Upanishads are the oldest philosophical works India. They, in a relaxed manner, through some story, riddle, dialogue and religious verse, reveal various ideas that later became central to famous Indian philosophical systems ah and influenced Buddhism and Jainism, as well as Hinduism. The sole purpose of the Upanishads was to identify the individual soul with the universal soul. The period of appearance of the Brahmanas with the Upanishads related to them is approximately 8–5 centuries. BC e. In later times other Upanishads were created which were not associated with the Brahmins. With the Upanishads, for many Hindus, with the exception of those who include here the main texts of the six orthodox philosophical systems (darshana), it ends with shruti, i.e. literature is “revelation”.
The remainder of Vedic literature is occupied by the Vedangas ("members of the Vedas"), which are intended to ensure the correct use of Vedic materials and are devoted to phonetics, prosody, grammar, etymology, astronomy and ritual. The latter is called Kalpa and includes writings-sutras (“thread”) - aphorisms transmitted orally and often inaccessible to understanding without an accompanying commentary. Already at this time, the first elements of philosophical consciousness arose, the formation of the first philosophical teachings (both religious-idealistic and materialistic) began.
Upanishads
Upanishads (“to sit near”, i.e. at the feet of the teacher, receiving instructions; or - “secret, intimate knowledge”) - philosophical texts that appeared about one thousand years BC and in form, as a rule, represented the dialogue of a sage - a teacher with his student or with a person seeking the truth and subsequently becoming his student. In total, about 150 Upanishads are known. They are dominated by the problem of the root cause, the first principle of being, with the help of which the origin of all natural and human phenomena is explained. The dominant place in the Upanishads is occupied by teachings that believe that the spiritual principle - Brahman, or Atman - is the primary cause and fundamental principle of existence. Brahman and Atman are usually used as synonyms, although Brahman is more often used to designate God, the omnipresent spirit, and Atman - the soul. Starting from the Upanishads, Brahman and Atman become the central concepts of all Indian philosophy (and above all Vedanta). In some Upanishads, Brahman and Atman are identified with the material root cause of the world - food, breath, material elements (water, air, earth, fire), or with the whole world as a whole. In most Upanishad texts, Brahman and Atman are interpreted as the spiritual absolute, the incorporeal root cause of nature and man.
A common thread running through all the Upanishads is the idea of the identity of the spiritual essence of the subject (man) and the object (nature), which is reflected in the famous saying: “Tat tvam asi” (“You are that”, or “You are one with that”) .
The Upanishads and the ideas expressed in them do not contain a logically consistent and holistic concept. With a general predominance of the explanation of the world as spiritual and incorporeal, they also present other judgments and ideas and, in particular, attempts are made to provide a natural philosophical explanation of the root cause and fundamental basis of the phenomena of the world and the essence of man. Thus, in some texts there is a desire to explain the external and internal world as consisting of four or even five material elements. Sometimes the world is presented as an undifferentiated being, and its development as the sequential passage of certain states by this being: fire, water, earth, or gaseous, liquid, solid. This is precisely what explains all the diversity that is inherent in the world, including human society.
Cognition and acquired knowledge are divided into two levels in the Upanishads: lower and higher. On lowest level You can only know the surrounding reality. This knowledge cannot be true, since its content is fragmentary and incomplete. The highest is the knowledge of truth, i.e. spiritual absolute, this perception of being in its integrity, can be acquired only with the help of mystical intuition, the latter in turn being formed to a large extent thanks to yogic exercises. It is the highest knowledge that gives power over the world.
One of the most important problems in the Upanishads is the study of the essence of man, his psyche, emotional disturbances and forms of behavior. The thinkers of Ancient India noted the complexity of the structure of the human psyche and identified in it such elements as consciousness, will, memory, breathing, irritation, calm, etc. their interrelation and mutual influence are emphasized. An undoubted achievement should be considered the characteristics of various states of the human psyche and, in particular, the waking state, light sleep, deep sleep, and the dependence of these states on the external elements and primary elements of the external world.
In the field of ethics, the Upanishads predominantly preach a passive-contemplative attitude towards the world: the deliverance of the soul from all worldly attachments and worries is proclaimed to be the highest happiness. The Upanishads make a distinction between material and spiritual values, between goodness, as a calm state of the soul, and the base pursuit of sensual pleasures. By the way, it was in the Upanishads that the concept of transmigration of souls (samsara) and retribution for past actions (karma) was first expressed. Here the desire is expressed to determine the cause-and-effect relationship in the chain of human actions. An attempt is also made, with the help of moral principles (dharma), to correct human behavior at every stage of his existence. The Upanishads are essentially the foundation for all or almost all subsequent philosophical movements that appeared in India, since they presented or developed ideas that “nourished” philosophical thought in India for a long time.
Mahabharata
Speaking about the philosophy of Ancient India, one cannot fail to mention the extensive epic poem Mahabharata, translated from Sanskrit “The Great War”, which consists of 18 books telling about the struggle for power between two clans - the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Perhaps this is the longest poem in the world, it includes both the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of Heaven, etc. Along with the narration of this struggle, in various books of the Mahabharata there are texts of philosophical content. Of greatest interest from this point of view are “Bhagavad-Gita”, “Mokshadharma”, “Anugita” and some others (VII century BC - II century AD).
In their content and orientation, most of the philosophical ideas of the Mahabharata represent a continuation and development of the views prevailing in the Upanishads about Brahman-Atman or Purusha as a spiritual absolute and about its comprehension as a means of salvation and deliverance from the shackles of karma and samsara. However, unlike the Upanishads, where philosophy is presented primarily in the form of individual statements and positions with unsettled, sometimes amorphous terminology, already developed and integral philosophical concepts appear in the Mahabharata, giving a more or less unified interpretation of the main ideological problems, ranging from ontological to ethical and sociological, and having a more strictly fixed and more unambiguous conceptual apparatus.
Among these concepts, the teaching of Samkhya and closely related yoga, which were occasionally mentioned already in the Upanishads, acquires the main importance among these concepts in the epic. True, these teachings are presented differently in different parts of the Mahabharata, but everywhere they are based on the position of prakriti, or pradhana (matter, nature), as the source of all existing existence (including the psyche and consciousness) and independent of it and the pure spirit unaffected by its modifications - Purusha (also called Brahman, Atman).
One of the books that is of greatest interest from a philosophical point of view is the Bhagavad Gita (divine song). Unlike the Upanishads, where philosophy is presented in the form individual statements and provisions, already developed and integral philosophical concepts appear here, giving an interpretation of worldview problems. Of primary importance among these concepts is the teaching of Samkhya and the closely related yoga, which were occasionally mentioned in the Upanishads. The basis of the concept is the position of prakrit (matter, nature), as the source of all existence (including the psyche, consciousness) and the pure spirit independent of it - Purusha (also called Brahman, Atman). Thus, the worldview is dualistic, based on the recognition of two principles.
The main content of the Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit: Song of the Blessed One, Vishnu-Krishna) consists of the teachings of the god Krishna. This is a religious and philosophical poem of 700 couplets, divided into 18 chapters and included in the 6th book of the great ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. Built in the form of a dialogue between Arjuna, one of the leaders of the Pandava army in the epic battle of Kurukshetra near Panipat, and his charioteer Krishna, who is considered an avatar (earthly incarnation) of the god Vishnu. Just before the battle, Arjuna ordered Krishna to take him between the two armies lined up for battle. Looking at them, Arjuna became sad, for he realized that tomorrow he would have to fight with his blood brothers, friends, and revered teachers. Krishna, instructing him, says that a warrior should not shy away from fighting for a righteous cause, and adds that one should not be afraid of harming a person, since the main thing in him is the soul, which cannot be destroyed and is united in all people. Krishna then expounds his doctrine of God and the soul and in chapter 11 reveals himself to Arjuna. Convinced and inspired, Arjuna is ready to begin the battle that he is destined to win. IN Bhagavad Gita Various religious and philosophical views have found expression, but its main idea is that the surest way to know God is zealous service to Him (bhakti).
God Krishna, according to Indian mythology, is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu. God Krishna speaks of the need for every person to fulfill his social (varna) functions and duties, to be indifferent to the fruits of worldly activity, and to devote all his thoughts to God. Bhagavad Gita contains important ideas of ancient Indian philosophy: about the mystery of birth and death; about the relationship between prakriti and human nature; about genes (three material principles born of nature: tamas - an inert inert principle, rajas - a passionate, active, exciting principle, sattva - an uplifting, enlightened, conscious principle). Their symbols are black, red and white colors that determine people's lives; about the moral law (dharma) of fulfilling one’s duty; about the path of a yogi (a person who has devoted himself to yoga - the improvement of consciousness); about genuine and non-genuine knowledge. The main virtues of a person are called balance, detachment from passions and desires, and detachment from earthly things.
Architecture, sculpture, painting of Ancient India.
Construction with brick and stone begins mainly in the post-Mauri era. The surviving monuments are primarily associated with Buddhism. Religious architecture is represented by cave complexes, temples and stupas (stone structures in which relics of Buddha were kept). Of the cave complexes, the most interesting are those in the city of Karl and Ellora. The cave temple in Karla is almost 14 m high, 14 m wide and about 38 m long. There are a large number of sculptures and stupas here. The halls carved into the rocks reach an area of approximately 500 square meters. m with a height of about 15 m. Their internal design is characteristic, reproducing the traditions of wooden architecture (ceilings and other elements that are unnecessary in buildings made of stone, and especially in caves).
Of the above-ground buildings, the most significant are located in Sanchi. Here, on the top of a large hill, not far from an important political center of the post-Mauri era, was located a huge Buddhist monastery. Little has been preserved from the monastery itself and the hotel for pilgrims. And the main attraction of Sanchi is the large stupa, built in the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC e. It is surrounded on four cardinal points by carved stone gates depicting scenes from Buddhist legends. Stone stupas are an indispensable part of cave temples, being generally the most characteristic monuments of Buddhist architecture. The largest stupa in Lanka is comparable in size to the Egyptian pyramids.
Perhaps the most ancient monuments of Indian culture (of course, if we do not talk about the period of the Indus civilization) are the columns on which Ashoka’s inscriptions are carved. All columns were made of stone quarried in the vicinity of Varanasi, carefully polished and delivered to remote areas of the Mauryan state. The sculpture crowning the column, such as the famous lions, shows a certain influence of Persian and perhaps Greek art. This is obviously explained by the fact that Indian craftsmen at that time were not yet accustomed to working in stone.
In the post-Mauri era, local schools of sculpture emerged. The most famous are the schools of Gandhara (Northwest India), the Mathura region (central North India) and one of the Deccan regions (Amaravati school).
The heyday of the Gandhara school, formed under the strong influence of Hellenistic and Roman art, dates back to the first centuries of the Christian era. The Gandhara style, starting from the Kushan era, influenced the Buddhist art of Central and East Asia. The schools of Mathura and Amaravati are more closely associated with the traditions of Indian fine art. It was on their basis that medieval art developed not only in India itself, but, to a certain extent, in the countries of Southeast Asia. The spread of Great Vehicle Buddhism contributed to the emergence of a vast pantheon of bodhisattva saints. Massive finds of terracotta figurines indicate a widespread demand for works of art related to Buddhism.
The world-famous monuments of Indian painting are located in Ajanta (Western India). The cave temples and monasteries of Ajanta were created over a period of almost a thousand years, starting from post-Mauri times. The walls of some halls are covered with colorful images of scenes from Buddhist legends. Remarkable fragments of painting similar to the Ajanta paintings are also found in Sri Lanka.
Indian art, religious in its core, stuns the imagination of modern man, a large number of works of which are secular in nature and provide purely aesthetic pleasure. After all, its roots go back to the rich heritage of ancient Indian religions, which absorbed both complex philosophical thought and oral folk tradition. Numerous mythological subjects, artistic images and symbols eloquently testify to these origins of art. Ultimately, they all express the desire to break out of the boundaries of ordinary human life and, having gone through the appropriate stages, achieve spiritual enlightenment, which is defined by such concepts as nirvana, moksha, etc. Indian art- a visual embodiment of this main theme, and therefore his artistic images carry the wisdom of divine revelation.
Another characteristic feature of Old Indian culture is the expression in artistic images of the idea of worshiping the god of love - Kama. This meaning was based on the fact that the Indians considered the marriage of a god and goddess as a process of cosmic creation. Therefore, images of God's punishment in a tight embrace are common in temples.
Mathematics, astronomy, medicine of Ancient India.
Discoveries of ancient Indians in the area exact sciences influenced the development of Arabic and Iranian-Persian sciences. The scientist Aryaphata, who lived in the 5th and early 6th centuries AD, occupies an honorable place in the history of mathematics. The scientist knew the value of “pi” and proposed an original solution to the linear equation. In addition, it was in Ancient India that for the first time the number system became decimal (i.e. from zero). This system formed the basis of modern numbering and arithmetic. Algebra was more developed; and the concepts of “digit”, “sine”, “root” first appeared in Ancient India. The achievements of ancient Indian mathematicians surpassed what was done in these fields of knowledge in Ancient Greece.
Ancient Indian treatises on astronomy indicate a very high development of this science. Regardless of ancient science, the Indian scientist Aryaphata expressed the idea of the Earth rotating around its axis, for which he was angrily condemned by the priests. The introduction of the decimal system facilitated accurate astronomical calculations, although the ancient Indians did not have observatories or telescopes.
Ayurveda, the science of longevity, is still held in high esteem in India. It originated in ancient times. Ancient Indian doctors studied the properties of herbs and the influence of climate on human health. Much attention was paid to personal hygiene and diet. Surgery was also at a high level; it is known about three hundred operations that ancient Indian doctors were able to perform; in addition, 120 surgical instruments are mentioned. Tibetan medicine, popular today, is based on the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda.
Ancient Indian physicians believed that the human body was based on three main vital juices: wind, bile and phlegm - they were identified with the principles of movement, fire and softening. Indian medicine paid special attention to the influence of natural conditions on the human body, as well as heredity. There were also treatises on medical ethics.
Summarizing all these facts, it should be noted that reverence for knowledge is a distinctive feature of Indo-Buddhist culture. Specialists from many countries came to India to study. In a number of cities in India there were universities where religious and philosophical texts, astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine and Sanskrit were studied. But it is characteristic that Euclidean geometry did not appear in Indian science. And this is no coincidence. The Indo-Buddhist cultural tradition was not particularly rational. Indian scientists were not interested in the logic of scientific knowledge; they were more concerned with the secrets of the universe and practical issues of calculation, calendaring and measuring spatial forms.
Conclusion
“As for the Indians, we find that they excelled in astronomy, arithmetic and medicine, and mastered the secrets of the medical art. They carve sculptures and images, they have writing rich in letters... Indians have rich poetry, developed oratory, medicine, philosophy, ethics. The science of astronomy comes from them, and other people borrowed it. From them came the science of thinking.”
Indian culture not only absorbed the achievements of other cultures, but also made no less contribution to world culture. First of all, it should be noted that all of Southeast Asia accepted most their culture from India. In this region, powerful powers with great cultures emerged, leaving such wonderful monuments of their greatness as the Buddhist stupa of Boro-bodur in Java or the Shaivite temples of Angkor in Cambodia. The entire Far East owes Buddhism to India, which contributed to the formation of the unique cultures of China, Korea, Japan and Tibet.
Indian culture also had a strong influence on the West: Goethe and many other writers of the early 19th century. read all the works of ancient Indian literature translated by that time. Since Goethe, most of the great German philosophers have been aware to some extent of the teachings of Indian philosophy. Schopenhauer, who had a great influence on literature and psychology, openly admitted to being influenced by Indian thought and held true Buddhist views, the monistic teachings of Fichte and Hegel would never have taken their form if there had not been a translation of the Upanishads. In the English-speaking world, India's strongest influence came from America, where Emerson, Thoreau and other "New England" writers avidly studied Indian religious literature; they had a huge impact on their contemporaries and followers, especially Walt Whitman. Through Carlyle and other thinkers, German philosophers influenced England in the same way that Americans influenced many late 19th-century writers such as Richard Jeffreys and Edward Carpenter.
In modern India people are respected cultural heritage. This country is characterized by the vitality of ancient traditions and it is not surprising that many achievements of ancient Indian civilization were included in the general cultural fund of Indians. They have become an integral component of world civilization, and India itself remains one of the most beloved and mysterious countries in the world, the “land of the sages.”
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2. D.Yu. Stolyarov, V.V. Kortunov Textbook on cultural studies. M., 1998.
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5. Moliere's Great Encyclopedia. CD.
Digital library Safonovsky College of Information Technologies. Toolkit
ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE
The literature of Ancient India includes myths, legends, hymns to the gods, epics, philosophical treatises, parables and fairy tales. different languages- Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Tamil. It also unites different beliefs - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The literature of the northern part of India was created by the descendants of the warlike Indo-Aryan tribes that invaded around the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. through the Hindu Kush pass into Northwestern India. These tribes called themselves Aryans (translated from Sanskrit as “noble”, “worthy”) in contrast to the dark-skinned aborigines who inhabited the Hindustan Peninsula before their arrival and called Dasa (Sanskrit “enemy”, “slave”). It was the Dasas, pushed to the south of India by the Aryans, who were probably the ancestors of modern Tamils.
In Indian literary texts, no matter what genre they belong to, legends, tales and stories about real events are combined into a single stream, because India did not know historiography. Since ancient times, Indians were not interested in the historical approach to reality - they valued only the spiritual side of life, which is associated with their special religious and philosophical worldview.
Indian culture is one of the oldest in the world, and the literary tradition in India, unlike, for example, the Egyptian, was not interrupted throughout its development. Ancient Indian literature is still considered sacred by Indians today and is perceived as a revelation and at the same time as an instruction for all occasions in life.
VEDIC LITERATURE
The Vedas (Sanskrit “sacred knowledge”) are considered to be the beginning of ancient Indian literature in the North Indian region. There are four of them: Rigveda (Veda of hymns; the word “rich” means “hymn”), Samaveda (Veda of chants; “saman” - “song of praise”, “harmony”), Yajurveda (Veda of sacrificial formulas, ritual sayings and spells; “yaj” " - “sacrifice”, “to make a sacrifice”) and Atharvaveda (Veda of spells, or atharvans; “atharvan” - “priest”). They are addressed to four groups of priests who perform certain functions in the act of sacrifice: the Rig Veda is addressed to the chief priest, who reads hymns and communicates with the gods; Samaveda - a connoisseur of melodies; Yajurveda - "practice", the manipulator of sacrifice; Atharvaveda - to the brahmana who guides the entire process.
Literary Vedas took shape at different times: Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, in 1200-1000. BC e.; the other three - approximately in the 9th-6th centuries. BC e.
The Vedas contain the knowledge of the ancient Indians about gods, people and sacrifice, which connects the earthly and divine worlds. They reflected ancient man’s ideas about the world around him, about space, ritual, social structure, ethical values and morality. In India, the Vedas are sacred and traditionally refer to texts called shruti (Sanskrit: "heard"). Followers of Hinduism understand shruti as a revelation sent by the gods to the sages-rishis. The Rishis are thus considered the legendary founders of poetry, and therefore every poet is illuminated with divine radiance.
Hindu Sanskrit literature forms the most ancient and extensive layer of Indian literature, is distinguished by the greatest originality, has the highest authority and served as a source of ideas, themes and literary norms for a large part of Indian literature, with the exception of Islamic and Christian. It falls into two or three main periods, which chronologically significantly overlap each other: Vedic (up to approximately 2nd century BC); transitional, or epic (5th century BC - 4th century AD, at the same time this is the period of canonical Buddhist Pali and Jain Ardhamagadhi); classical (2nd century AD - up to the present).
Vedic literature. Hindus recognize two types of authoritative religious literature: shruti ("heard"), considered either eternal and self-existent or manifested by divine revelation, and smriti ("memory"), considered a human creation and of lesser authority. Vedic literature includes all the shrutis and some smritis, and primarily four main collections (samhita), each of which is called veda (“sacred knowledge”). Of the Vedas, the oldest and most important is the Rig Veda (Veda of Hymns), containing 1028 hymns. The hymns consist of an average of ten stanzas each and were sung during rituals dedicated to fire and soma (“sacred libation”); they are grouped into ten sections (mandala), of which sections 2–7 are recognized as the most archaic. The final edition of the monument was probably completed by the 10th century. BC. The main content of the Rigveda hymns is the praise of the Vedic gods and prayers to them.
The second Veda, Samaveda (Veda of Chant), contains 1549 verses, almost entirely taken from the Rig Veda and used as chants during sacrifice to Soma (and to the god Soma). The Samaveda also contains song books (gana) that explain the way these verses are sung.
The third Veda, Yajurveda (Veda of sacrificial formulas), existing in several editions, was a guide for the priests who directly performed the ritual of sacrifice, accompanied by recitation, prayers and chants of other priests. It consists of stanzas, mainly borrowed from the Rig Veda, and prose formulas (yajus) and was edited later than the Rig Veda.
The fourth Veda, Atharva Veda (Veda of Spells and Incantations), exists in several editions and includes 730 hymns containing about 6000 stanzas, as well as prose. The language of the Atharva Veda indicates that it was composed later than the Rig Veda, from which it borrows some materials. The Atharva Veda contains a variety of spells directed against individuals, demons and diseases, or to gain luck in love, increase offspring and material well-being.
After the Vedas were compiled, Vedic sacrifices became even more complex, and the priests composed prose called Brahmanas, in which they detailed and explained the practice of sacrifice, indicated the appropriate Vedic verses for each case, and developed theological and philosophical positions. This aspect of Hinduism is often called Brahmanism. All four Vedas have brahmanas, the most important of them is Shatapatha-brahmana (Brahman of a hundred paths), adjacent to one of the editions of the Yajurveda. In addition to theology and ritual, the Brahmins include many legends, some questions historical nature and extensive evidence. The Brahmanas are accompanied by esoteric theological texts called Aranyakas ("forest treatises"), intended for the use of older Brahmanas living in forests far from their former surroundings. The Aranyakas are usually associated with the Upanishads, which contain large sections devoted to the mystical interpretation of the universe in relation to man. The Upanishads are the oldest philosophical works of India. They, in a relaxed manner, through a story, a riddle, a dialogue and a religious verse, reveal various ideas that later became central to the famous Indian philosophical systems and influenced Buddhism and Jainism, as well as Hinduism. The sole purpose of the Upanishads was to identify the individual soul with the universal soul. The period of appearance of the Brahmanas with the Upanishads related to them is approximately 8–5 centuries. BC e. In more late times other Upanishads were created which were not associated with the Brahmins. With the Upanishads, for many Hindus, with the exception of those who include here the main texts of the six orthodox philosophical systems (darshana), it ends with shruti, i.e. literature is “revelation”.
The remainder of Vedic literature is occupied by the Vedangas ("members of the Vedas"), which are intended to ensure the correct use of Vedic materials and are devoted to phonetics, prosody, grammar, etymology, astronomy and ritual. The latter is called Kalpa and includes writings-sutras (“thread”) - aphorisms transmitted orally and often inaccessible to understanding without an accompanying commentary.
Epic literature
The language of later Vedic literature significantly departed from the archaic language of the Rigveda and moved closer to classical Sanskrit. The themes of two Sanskrit epics were also found in rudimentary form in the Vedas, where any plot - be it a religious myth, a historical legend, fairy tale, parable or anecdote - presented in a condensed form. Of the two Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata is a folk epic, born from materials of different times and transformed into a single whole. The Ramayana, a smaller court epic, is attributed to a single author, Valmiki, although it has been subject to subsequent revisions. The formation of epics occurred approximately from the 4th century. BC e. 4th century n. e. Along with the Puranas, both epics are the most influential and representative works that have had a profound impact on medieval and modern Hinduism. The Mahabharata includes the Bhagavad Gita, the most popular text of devotionalist (pious) theistic Hinduism.
Classical Sanskrit literature
Classical Sanskrit follows the rules laid down by grammarians, and above all by Panini, who probably lived in the 4th century. BC e. Sanskrit poets, playwrights and novelists wrote in this language, decorated with complex stylistic turns, and also, using it as a language of scientific description, the authors of treatises on philosophy and other branches of knowledge.
From the Ramayana and other now lost texts of a similar type developed a courtly or artificial epic poetry called kavya. This carefully polished, refined and sophisticated poetic genre was intended to describe any significant - religious or secular - events. The earliest known kavyas were created by the Buddhist monk Ashvaghosha, who lived in the 1st century. n. e. One of the poems is related to the life of Buddha, the other is dedicated to the conversion of Buddha's half-brother to Buddhism. The Kavya genre reached its peak during the Gupta period, 4th to 6th centuries, and this style was used for royal inscriptions. The author of the two most studied lyrical Kavya poems, The Genealogy of Raghu and The Birth of the God of War, is the poet Kalidasa, who probably lived in the 4th century. Another notable creator of poems was Bharavi, who probably composed, in the mid-6th century, the kavya Kirata and Arjuna, which tells the story of the repentance of Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata, caused by the need to win the favor of Shiva and receive a gift of divine weapons. Noteworthy examples of this genre were created until the end of the 12th century.
The historical kavya, which was created starting from the 7th century, is also associated with the artificial court epic. and later. Examples of this genre are more panegyrics than historical chronicles: among them the most successful combines artistic skill and historical value of the Stream of Kings of Kalhana, a Kashmiri poet of the 12th century.
One of the most remarkable achievements of classical Sanskrit literature is drama. The origins of Indian drama are difficult to ascertain, although some of the Rig Vedic hymns contain dramatic dialogues, and the puppet show from which the fully formed drama borrows elements seems to have already existed by the time of the Upanishads. Treatises on theatrical art are mentioned by Panini. The oldest text that has survived only in fragments is considered to be the Prakarana of Shariputra Ashvaghosa. Sanskrit drama appears in its classical form during the Gupta period and later. Sanskrit drama is distinguished by whole line remarkable conventions: she does not know tragedy, death on stage is impossible; social status characters are marked using language - those occupying the highest position (kings and brahmins) speak in Sanskrit, others in conventional Prakrits, which, in turn, vary depending on the gender and position of the speaker; the standard type of drama is vidushaka (clown, buffoon), a poor Brahman who speaks Prakrit instead of Sanskrit, a friend and confidant of the king, but at the same time distinguished by stupidity, gluttony and designed to cause laughter. The language of drama is a mixture of prose and poetry. The action takes place in prose, but the prose text is constantly interspersed with stanzas describing the scenery, the development of the situation, the appearance of a new character and explaining moods and emotional experiences. Drama as an art form is designed to evoke in the viewer one of the eight (nine) feelings - rasa (juice, taste) - love, courage, disgust, anger, fear, sorrow, surprise, fun, peace, of which preference is given to love and courage.
Indian tradition considers Bhasa's dramaturgy to be the earliest. Another significant playwright is King Harsha (r. 606–647), to whom three plays are attributed; king Shudraka, author of the Clay Cart, who probably lived soon after Kalidasa; Bhavabhuti, who lived in the late 12th century, is the author of three surviving plays; Visakhadatta (8th or 9th century), author of the political drama The Rakshasa Ring; Rajashekhara (9th–10th centuries), whose extant works include one piece written entirely in Prakrit (Camphor Garland).
