05/19/2021 – Does Hinduism Have A Bible?

Does Hinduism have a Bible? That’s kind of a strange way to ask the question. Let’s illuminate. Oh, that’s a good one, right? Hey, this is TenOnReligion.

Hey peeps, it’s Dr. B. with TenOnReligion. This video is closed-captioned here on YouTube and the transcript is available at TenOnReligion.com. Unless two cultures have similar concepts, it’s often difficult to translate a word from one language to another. You only have enough words in your language to say whatever you need to say. If you don’t need to say something, you don’t have a word in your language for that thing. So, to ask the question “Does Hinduism have a Bible?” is a loaded question for two reasons. First, what do we mean by “Bible?” And second, what do we mean by “Hinduism?” “Bible” comes from the Latin for biblia, or books, and is a combination of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, later called by the Christians as the Old and New Testaments. Though religious followers of Christianity have used these sets of documents called the Bible for different reasons and purposes throughout the centuries, for most Christians they are the authoritative set of documents for living a life of faith in the tradition. But the role that the Hindu scriptures play in the life of an adherent is not quite the same as in Christianity.

In ancient India, the situation developed quite differently. First, usage of the word “Hinduism” came about as a result of British colonization and isn’t really a word used in India’s past before the 1800’s. India didn’t segregate themselves by religion, but more by language, caste, and family groupings. The origin of the word “Hindu” is a bit complicated. What is now called the Indus River in modern day Pakistan, was called the Sindhu in the Sanskrit language, the ancient language of India. Sometime just before the height of the ancient Persian Empire during the reign of King Darius I in the 500’s BCE, the “S” in Sindhu changed to an “H” making it “Hindu” and referred to those living on the other side of the river. Around the turn of the millennium two thousand years ago, the suffix “-stan” meaning “land” from the Persian language was added and the area began to be referred to as “Hindustan,” or the land on the other side of the river. Now that’s just the easy part.

The Western classification system of modern world religions developed in the 1800’s. For more details on that see my excellent episode on Confucianism. It’s really good. You should check it out. Like seriously. Anywho, the British started collectively referring to the religion of the people of India as “Hindooism.” (That’s the old British spelling). They even did a census and included religion as part of it, trying to find out how many people in India were Muslim, Christian, Jain, and Sikh, and those who didn’t fit into any of those categories were thrown into this new category called Hinduism. Although the word kind of stuck for outsiders, the people of India used many other ways to self-identify.

But what were the religious texts of ancient Indians? Historically, there were largely two main categories called shruti and smriti. Shruti were those group of texts which were “heard,” meaning they were passed down orally for generations and theoretically had no original human author. These were eventually written down and became known as the Vedas. There were four of them called the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. They were recited in a chanting form using very specific tonal reflections and pitch accents which made it easier to memorize large amounts of material and transmit it accurately across many centuries. Although some of the priests who learned and chanted them didn’t even know what their meaning was. Because of this, they’re not really meant to be read like a text, but sung or chanted by the performer, or experienced by the hearer. Each of these four Vedas had four layers that developed over time. These were called the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and the last one, the Upanishads. Most of the Vedas are hymns and stories of ancient deities along with religious practices and ceremonies. The last section of the four Vedas, the Upanishads, became the basis for much of the religious teachings of modern Indians today. This became known as Vedanta philosophy because the word Vedanta means “the end of the Vedas.”

In addition to the shruti, the “heard,” which are the four Vedas, there were also later texts classified as smriti, or “remembered,” which means they had an author, although for many of them who that author was has been long lost in history. There is a huge amount of material here which is somehow rooted in, or inspired by, the Vedic texts. Three of the most popular smriti texts are the two Hindu epics, the teachings on the goals of human life, and the Puranas. The two Hindu epic poems are the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata is one of the longest known poems in the world with over 100,000 verses and is around six times the length of the Christian Bible. It’s about this great struggle between these two rival clans. By far the most popular section is part of book 6, out of 18 total books. This section is called the Bhagavad Gita and is mostly a conversation between Arjuna, a prince, and his charioteer Krishna, about the morality of fighting in this war. One of the main themes is that there are multiple ways to get to the religious goal through action, knowledge, or devotion. The second Hindu epic, the Ramayana, is a story about Prince Rama and his war with Ravana after he abducted his wife Sita. There are multiple versions of both stories and they are incredibly popular in many southeast Asian countries.

A second part of the smriti are the teaching on the goals of human life, namely dharma (or duties), artha (or career), kama (pleasure), and moksha (liberation). These describe a lot of the aspects of human life some of which involve religious goals which would require its own separate video episode.

Another important part of the smriti are the Puranas, which are texts on a wide range of topics. There is more mythology here along with genealogies of both ancient Indian kings and deities, which are popular sections for scholars to study.

Now this was just the easy version of important Hindu scriptures. There are many other texts which one or another group in Hinduism holds as sacred. It’s a little confusing for an outsider because what is labeled today with the term “Hinduism” is actually a multitude of indigenous traditions in the Indian subcontinent that developed over millennia. The typical Christian may read and study the Bible, or maybe hear it preached in churches on Sunday morning, but this is not really the case for the typical Hindu where devotional practices which are based in Hindu texts are often more important. Hindu scriptures are read and studied by religious scholars, but the average Hindu is probably only familiar with the Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana epics and perhaps a few popular sayings in the Vedas. So, does Hinduism have a Bible? Not really. The number and kind of sacred texts are far more diverse in Hinduism compared to Christianity and the role that scripture plays in Christianity and Hinduism are quite different. And there you have it!

I hope this vlog has helped you better understand this topic. Until next time, stay curious. If you enjoyed this, please like this video and subscribe to the channel. This is TenOnReligion.