Class 6 Social Science Notes Chapter 7 Exploring Society India and Beyond

India’s Cultural Roots

Subhāṣhita (Wise Saying)

• Concept: True knowledge is the greatest wealth.
  • Attributes of True Knowledge:
    • Cannot be stolen or confiscated.
    • Not a physical burden (weightless).
    • Grows with use.

Indian Culture Overview

• Age: Several millenniums old.
• Analogy: Like an ancient tree with:
  • Roots: Representing the foundational elements of culture.
  • Trunk: Common core of Indian culture.
  • Branches: Various manifestations such as art, literature, science, medicine, religion, governance, and martial arts.
• Schools of Thought: Groups of thinkers or spiritual seekers with similar ideas about life and the world.

Historical Context

• Cultural Roots:
  • Connected to the Indus, Harappan, or Sindhu-Sarasvatī civilizations.
• Evolution:
  • Hundreds of schools of thought emerged over time.
• Objective:
  • Understanding these early schools helps to better understand India (“India, that is Bharat”).

The Vedas and Vedic Culture

a. What are the Vedas?

• Definition:
  • Veda: Derived from the Sanskrit word vid, meaning ‘knowledge’.
  • Purpose: Represent the most ancient texts of India and among the oldest in the world.
• Four Vedas:
  1. Ṛig Veda
  2. Yajur Veda
  3. Sāma Veda
  4. Atharva Veda
• Content:
  • Composed of thousands of hymns — prayers in the form of poems and songs.
  • Originally recited orally; not written down.
• Origin:
  • Composed in the Sapta Sindhava region.
• Dating and Transmission:
  • Ṛig Veda is the oldest; dates proposed between the 5th to 2nd millennium BCE.
  • Oral transmission for 100 to 200 generations with rigorous memorization and minimal alterations.
  • Recognized in 2008 by UNESCO as ‘a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity’.
• Composers:
  • Rishis: Male seers or sages.
  • Rishikas: Female seers or sages.
• Language and Form:
  • Written in an early form of Sanskrit.
  • Addressed to deities (gods or goddesses) such as Indra, Agni, Varuṇa, Mitra, Sarasvatī, Uṣhas, etc.
• Concepts:
  • Ṛitam: Represents truth and order in human life and the cosmos.
  • The gods and goddesses were seen as manifestations of a single, unified reality, not separate entities.
  • Example Hymn: “ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti…” (The Existent is one, though sages describe it in many ways).
• Values and Teachings:
  • Truth: Often equated with God.
  • Unity and Agreement: The Ṛig Veda’s last mantras emphasize coming together, speaking together, and unified thoughts and purposes among people.

b. Vedic society

Organization

• Structure:
  • Janas: Large groups or clans.
  • Examples: Over 30 listed in the Ṛig Veda, including Bharatas, Purus, Kurus, Yadus, Turvaśhas.
• Regional Association:
  • Each janā was linked to a specific region in the northwest part of the Indian Subcontinent.

Governance

• Limited Information:
  • The Vedas provide few details on governance.
  • Key Terms:
    • Rājā: King or ruler.
    • Sabhā and Samiti: Terms referring to collective gatherings or assemblies.

Professions

• Mentioned Professions:
  • Agriculturist
  • Weaver
  • Potter
  • Builder
  • Carpenter
  • Healer
  • Dancer
  • Barber
  • Priest

c. Vedic Schools of Thought

1. Vedic Rituals (Yajña)

• Purpose: Directed towards various deities (gods or goddesses) for individual or collective benefit and well-being.
• Common Practice: Daily rituals often involved prayers and offerings to Agni, the fire deity.
• Evolution: Over time, these rituals became more complex.

2. Upaniṣhads

• Development: Built upon Vedic concepts and introduced new ideas.
• Key Concepts Introduced:
  • Rebirth (Samsara): The belief in taking birth again and again.
  • Karma: The concept of actions and their results.
• Vedanta:
  • Philosophy: Proposes that everything in the universe, including human life and nature, is one divine essence called brahman (not to be confused with the god Brahmā), sometimes referred to as tat (meaning “that”).
  • Mantras:
    • Aham brahmāsmi: “I am brahman” (I am divine).
    • Tat tvam asi: “You are That.”
• Concept of Ātman (Self):
  • Describes the divine essence residing in every being, ultimately one with brahman.
  • Implication: Everything in the world is interconnected and interdependent.
  • Prayer: Sarve bhavantu sukhinah (“May all creatures be happy”) expresses a wish for universal happiness, freedom from disease, and sorrow.

3. Emergence of New Schools of Thought (1st Millennium BCE)

• Yoga:
  • Purpose: Developed methods to achieve the realization of brahman in one’s consciousness.
• Legacy: These schools of thought became the foundation for modern Hinduism.

Buddhism

1. Emergence of Buddhism

• Context: Developed as a school of thought that did not accept the authority of the Vedas and created its own system.
• Founder: Siddhārtha Gautama, born in Lumbini (modern-day Nepal), approximately in 560 BCE (as chosen in the source material).

2. Life of Siddhārtha Gautama

• Early Life:
  • A young prince who lived a sheltered life in the palace.
• Turning Point:
  • At age 29, during a chariot ride through the city, he encountered an old man, a sick man, and a dead body, which exposed him to the realities of aging, illness, and death.
  • He also saw an ascetic who seemed peaceful and content, which inspired him to leave his royal life.
• Search for Truth:
  • Abandoned his palace, wife, and son to become an ascetic.
  • Traveled on foot, meeting other ascetics and scholars in search of the root cause of human suffering.
  • After meditating under a pipal tree at Bodh Gaya (in present-day Bihar), he attained enlightenment.
  • Realized that avidyā (ignorance) and attachment are the sources of human suffering.

3. Teachings of the Buddha

• Title: Post-enlightenment, Siddhārtha became known as the ‘Buddha,’ meaning ‘the enlightened one’ or ‘the awakened one.’
• Core Teachings:
  • Ahimsa: Emphasized the practice of ahimsa, which is often translated as ‘non-violence,’ but originally means ‘non-hurting’ or ‘non-injuring.’
  • Inner Discipline: Stressed the importance of sincere inner discipline.
  • Purity and Dharma:
    • Buddha stated that true purity is not achieved through external rituals like bathing in sacred rivers, but through the presence of truth and dharma within oneself.
  • Self-Conquest:
    • Taught that conquering oneself is a greater achievement than conquering a thousand men on the battlefield a thousand times.

4. The Sangha

• Foundation: Buddha founded the Sangha, a community of bhikṣhus (monks) and later bhikṣhuṇīs (nuns) who dedicated themselves to practicing and spreading his teachings.
• Impact:
  • Buddha’s influence on India and the whole of Asia was profound and continues to be perceptible today.

Jainism

1. Origins and Founder

• Historical Context: Jainism is an ancient school of thought that became widespread around the same time as Buddhism, though its roots are considered to be much older.
• Founder:
  • Vardhamāna: Born into a royal family near Vaiśhālī in modern-day Bihar in the early 6th century BCE.
  • Renunciation: At the age of 30, Vardhamāna left his home in search of spiritual knowledge.
  • Asceticism: After 12 years of practicing strict asceticism, he achieved ‘infinite knowledge’ or supreme wisdom.
  • Title: Became known as ‘Mahāvīra’, meaning ‘great hero’, and began preaching his realizations.

2. Core Teachings of Jainism

• Ahimsa:
  • Definition: The principle of non-violence, which extends to all living beings. Mahāvīra emphasized that all creatures, whether breathing, living, sentient, or existing, should not be slain, treated with violence, abused, tormented, or driven away.
• Anekāntavāda:
  • Definition: The belief that truth has many aspects and cannot be fully described by any single statement. This principle promotes tolerance and understanding of multiple perspectives.
• Aparigraha:
  • Definition: The principle of non-possession, advocating detachment from material possessions and limiting oneself to what is truly necessary in life.
• Interconnectedness:
  • Jainism insists on the interconnectedness and interdependence of all creatures, from humans to invisible organisms, emphasizing that all life forms support each other and cannot survive independently. This concept aligns with modern scientific understanding of ecological systems.

3. Illustrative Stories

• A Jain Story – Rohineya:
  • Background: Rohineya was a skilled burglar who evaded capture but overheard a sermon by Mahāvīra about liberation from ignorance.
  • Transformation: After being arrested and nearly tricked into confessing his crimes, Rohineya recalled Mahāvīra’s teachings, repented, and sought forgiveness. He became a monk, returned the stolen treasures, and focused on acquiring higher knowledge.
  • Moral: The story highlights the importance of right action and thinking, and the belief that everyone deserves a second chance.

4. Spread of Jainism

• Monastic Life:
  • Jain monks and nuns, similar to their Buddhist counterparts, traveled across the land to spread their teachings. Some founded new monasteries, while others led ascetic lives in caves, with archaeological evidence revealing traces of these early monastic communities.
• Impact: The teachings of Jainism had a significant influence on Indian culture and thought, particularly in areas like ethics, spirituality, and social behavior.

5. Comparison with Other Schools of Thought

• Common Concepts: Although Jainism, Buddhism, and Vedic schools differ in many ways, they share concepts like dharma (duty), karma (action and its consequences), rebirth, and the search for an end to suffering and ignorance.
• Diversity of Thought: The existence of schools like Chārvāka (which believed only in the material world and denied life after death) indicates the wide intellectual and spiritual diversity in ancient India. People were free to choose the belief system that suited them.

6. Philosophical and Ethical Aspects

• Broader Understanding: In English, terms like ‘religion’ may not fully capture the depth of Jainism and similar Indian schools of thought. These systems encompass philosophical, spiritual, ethical, and social aspects, which are integral to understanding Indian civilization.

Folk and Tribal Roots

1. Oral Traditions and Cultural Roots

• Oral Traditions: India has a rich history of oral traditions, where teachings and practices were transmitted through everyday practice without written texts, such as the Vedas.
• Folk and Tribal Traditions: These traditions were passed down by common people (folk traditions) and tribes (tribal traditions).

2. Understanding Tribes

• Definition:
  • A tribe is often considered a social group comprising families or clans that share a tradition of common descent, culture, and language. They typically live as close-knit communities under a chief and do not hold private property.
• Terminology:
  • Ancient India did not have a specific word for “tribe”; different tribes were referred to as janas that lived in specific environments, such as forests or mountains.
  • The Indian Constitution uses the terms “tribes” and “tribal communities” in English and janjāti in Hindi.
• Population:
  • According to the 2011 census, India had 705 tribes spread across most states, with a total population of about 104 million people, surpassing the combined populations of Australia and the United Kingdom.

3. Evolution of Perceptions

• 19th-Century View:
  • Early anthropologists often labeled tribes as “primitive” or “inferior” compared to “civilized” people.
• Modern Understanding:
  • Deeper studies have revealed the rich and complex cultures of tribal communities, leading to the abandonment of such biased judgments.

4. Interaction Between Folk, Tribal, and Hindu Traditions

• Exchange of Beliefs and Practices:
  • There has been a constant interaction between folk and tribal traditions and major schools of thought like Hinduism. This exchange included the sharing of deities, concepts, legends, and rituals.
• Examples of Exchange:
  • Jagannath in Puri (Odisha): Originally a tribal deity, later incorporated into Hindu worship.
  • Mother-Goddess Worship: Various forms of the mother-goddess worshipped across India have tribal origins.
  • Adoption of Hindu Deities by Tribes: Many tribes have their own versions of Hindu epics like the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa.

5. Common Concepts and Beliefs

• Sacredness of Nature:
  • Folk, tribal, and Hindu belief systems often regard elements of nature—such as mountains, rivers, trees, plants, animals, and stones—as sacred due to the belief in a consciousness behind them.
  • Toda Tribe Example: The Toda people of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu consider over thirty peaks in their mountain range as the abodes of gods or goddesses and avoid pointing at them with fingers out of respect.
• Higher Divinity:
  • Despite the multiplicity of deities, many tribal groups have a concept of a supreme being or higher divinity.
  • Examples:
    • Donyipolo (Arunachal Pradesh): A combined form of the Sun and the Moon worshipped as a supreme god.
    • Khandoba (Central India): Worshipped as a higher deity.
    • Singbonga (Munda and Santhal Tribes in Eastern India): A supreme deity believed to have created the world.

6. Mutual Influence Between Tribal Religions and Hinduism

• Interconnected Development:
  • The Indian sociologist André Béteille noted that the thousands of castes and tribes in India have influenced each other in religious beliefs and practices since ancient times.
• Influence on Hinduism:
  • Tribal religions have influenced Hinduism throughout its evolution, not just in its formative phase.
• Mutual Enrichment:
  • The long interaction between these belief systems has led to mutual enrichment, with tribal beliefs and practices playing a significant role in shaping Indian cultural roots.

7. Summary

• Diverse Cultural Roots:
  • Indian culture is a tapestry woven from various traditions, including those of the Vedas, Buddhism, Jainism, and tribal belief systems.
• Shared Concepts:
  • Despite differences in principles and methods, these traditions share important concepts like the sacredness of nature, the search for an end to suffering, and the means of removing ignorance.
• Continued Interaction:
  • Tribal belief systems have interacted with and contributed to the broader Indian cultural landscape for millennia, enriching the country’s spiritual and philosophical heritage.