印度文化-Indian Culture [5]
论文作者:www.51lunwen.org论文属性:学期论文 termpaper登出时间:2015-05-30编辑:xiaoni2000点击率:19124
论文字数:7652论文编号:org201505281505135836语种:英语 English地区:印度价格:免费论文
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摘要:本文是一篇学期论文,主要介绍了印度文化的渊源历史。
cial element in the creative power of the sacrifice was the power of tapas (heat or fervor). The tapas was seen as the most fundamental source of creative energy. It was what was behind the sacrifice that allowed it to be so effective. By increasing tapas, the efficacy of the ritual was increased. The physical heat of the priest and the intensity with which he performed the ritual was seen as evidence of the presence of tapas. For this reason, priests would often partake in ascetic practices prior to the ritual in hopes to increase his tapas. [17]
As time went on, more and more attention was paid to the idea that there was some type of unifying, underlying power beneath the sacrifice. The power of the mantras and hymns, the power of tapas, and the power of the sacrificial actions performed during the ceremony were all connected in some way. This underlying reality came to be known as brahman. Brahman is the very essence of the cosmos and is what lay beneath the surface of ritual.
The sustaining power of the universe is what was being dealt with in the sacrifice. Brahman was not to be treated lightly. For this reason, the standards for ritual knowledge and ritual purity reached an apex. Without proper knowledge of the intricate workings of the sacrifice and proper procedures for purification, the ritual risked either ineffectiveness or dangerous consequences. It was imperative then that the priests were meticulously attentive to detail in carrying out the sacrifice.
The specific roles of the various priests became even more codified and a specific priest was assigned as the brahman priest. His principal role was to utter mantras throughout the ceremony that were believed to protect the brahman and assure the potency of the ritual. He was removed from the physical actions of the ritual, but he held the power of brahman in his words. [18]
At this time there were several types of rituals that varied in degree of complexity and violence. Probably the most elaborate of all Vedic rituals was the horse sacrifice. It involved a great deal of time to plan because the chosen horse (or horses) was to roam the countryside for one year before it was ritually slaughtered. It was quite violent because it involved the blood sacrifice of a large animal. It also required a considerable amount of space to perform all of the necessary ritual actions. This was certainly a great divergence from the simple offering ceremonies that had been conducted by the early Aryans centuries before. Meticulously planned, elaborately performed sacrifices had become the quintessential religious expression of Vedic society.
Around 800 BCE there began to be a shift in Indian religious thought. No one doubted the power of the sacrifice to maintain the worldly order; however, some people began to wonder if earthly gain was the ultimate goal. Hopkins states that “the ability of the ritual to bring results was never questioned, but the value of those results was increasingly uncertain.” [19] Some began to think of the earthly realm as more of a trap from which we must be liberated than that which should be maintained. Material gain prohibited one from seeing the ultimate truth, the ground of reality, brahman. Material wealth would eventually disappear and the physical world was in constant flux. Brahman was the only thing constant and it became the goal beyond the material worl
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