BRAHMANISM, a term commonly used to denote a system of religious institutions originated and elaborated by the Brah mans, the sacerdotal and, from an early period, the dominant caste of the Hindu community (see BRAHMAN). The religious belief of the Aryan Hindus has passed through various stages of development broadly distinguished from one another by certain prominent features. The earliest phases of religious thought in India of which a clear idea can now be formed are exhibited in a body of writings, looked upon by later generations in the light of sacred writ, under the collective name of Veda ("knowledge") or Sruti ("revelation"). The Hindu scriptures consist of foul separate collections, or Sarnhitds, of sacred texts, or mantras, in cluding hymns, incantations and sacrificial forms of prayer, viz., the Rich (nom. sing. rik) or Rigveda, the Sidman or Sarnaveda, the Yajus or Yajurveda, and the Atharvan or Atharvaveda. Each of these four text-books has attached to it a body of prose writings, called Brdhmanas (see BRAHMANA), intended to explain the cere monial application of the texts and the origin and import of the sacrificial rites for which these were supposed to have been composed. Usually attached to these works, and in some cases to the Samhitas, are two kinds of appendages, the Aranyakas and Upanishads, the former of which deal generally with the more recondite rites, while the latter are taken up chiefly with speculations on the problems of the universe and the religious aims of man—subjects dealt with in a systematic way. Two of the Samhitas, the Sarnan and the Yajus, are only of sec ondary importance. The hymns of the Rigveda constitute the earliest lyrical effusions of the Aryan settlers in India. They evi dently represent the literary activity of many generations of bards. The tenth (and last) book of the collection has all the characteristics of a later appendage.
The state of religious thought reflected in the hymns of the Rigveda is that of a worship of the grand and striking phenomena of nature regarded in the light of personal conscious beings, en dowed with a power beyond the control of man, though not insen sible to his praises and actions. To the mind of the early Vedic worshipper the Various departments of the surrounding nature are not as yet clearly defined, and the functions which he assigns to their divine representatives continually flow into one another.
While the representatives of the prominent departments of na ture appear to the Vedic bard as co-existing in a state of inde pendence of one another, their relation to the mortal worshipper being the chief subject of his anxiety, a simple method of classi fication was already resorted to at an early period, consisting in a triple division of the deities into gods residing in the sky, in the air, and on earth. At a later stage, this attempt at a polytheistic system is followed up by the promotion of one particular god to the dignity of chief guardian for each of these three regions. On the other hand, a tendency is clearly traceable in some of the hymns towards identifying gods whose functions present a certain degree of similarity of nature ; the first steps from polytheism towards a comprehension of the unity of the divine essence. An other feature of the old Vedic worship tended to a similar result. The great problems of the origin and existence of man and the universe had early begun to engage the Hindu mind ; and in cele brating the praises of the gods the poet frequently attributes to them cosmical functions of the very highest order. At a later stage of thought, enquiring sages tried to solve the problem by conceptions of an independent power, endowed with all the at tributes of a supreme deity, the creator of the universe, including the gods of the pantheon. The names under which this mono theistic idea is put forth are mostly of an attributive character, and indeed some of them, such as Prajdpati ("lord of creatures"), Visvakarman ("all-worker"), occur in the earlier hymns as mere epithets of particular gods. But this theory of a personal creator left many difficulties unsolved. Everything, including man him Also known as the "black one," she enjoys an extensive worship in her own right self, was directed by some inward agent; and it needed but one step to perceive the essential sameness of these spiritual units, and to recognize their being but so many individual manifestations of one universal principle or spiritual essence. Thus a pantheistic conception was arrived at, put forth under various names, such as Purusha ("soul"), Kama ("desire"), Brahman (neutr. ; nom. sing. brahma, "devotion, prayer"). Metaphysical and theosophic speculations, at the time of the composition of the Brahmanas and Upanishads, were in complete possession of the minds of the theologians. The theories crudely suggested in the later hymns are further matured and elaborated ; the tendency towards cath olicity of formula favours the combination of the conflicting monotheistic and pantheistic conceptions ; this compromise, which makes Prajdpati, the personal creator of the world, the manifesta tion of the impersonal Brahma, the universal self-existent soul, leads to the composite pantheistic system which forms the charac teristic dogma of the Brahmanical period (see BRAHMAN).
In the Vedic hymns two classes of society, the royal (or mili tary) and the priestly classes, were evidently recognized as being raised above the level of the Vis, or bulk of the Aryan commu nity. At the time of the hymns, the sacrificial ceremonial had be come sufficiently complicated to call for the creation of a certain number of distinct priestly offices with special duties attached to them. While the position and occupation of the priest were those of a profession, the terms brdhmana and brahmaputra, both de noting "the son of a brahman," are used in certain hymns as syn onyms of brahman. The profession had, therefore, to a certain degree, become hereditary. With the exception of a solitary pas sage in a hymn of the last book, no trace can be found in the Rig veda of that rigid division into four castes, separated from one an other by insurmountable barriers, which in later times constitutes the distinctive feature of Hindu society. The power of the sacer dotal order having been gradually enlarged in proportion to the development of the minutiae of sacrificial ceremonial and the in crease of sacred lore, it began to lay claim to supreme authority in regulating the religious and social life of the people.
The definitive establishment of the Brahmanical hierarchy marks the beginning of the Brahmanical period properly so called. Though the origin and gradual rise of some of the leading insti tutions of this era can be traced in the earlier writings, the chain of their development presents a break at this juncture which no satisfactory materials as yet enable us to fill up. A considerable portion of the literature of this time has apparently been lost ; and several important works, the original composition of which has probably to be assigned to the early days of Brahmanism, such as the institutes of Manu and the two great epics, the Mahabhdrata and Rdmdyana, in their present form, show mani fest traces of a more modern editing. Yet internal evidence shows that Manu's Code of Laws, though merely a metrical recast of older materials, reproduces on the whole pretty faithfully the state of Hindu society depicted in the sources from which it was compiled. The final overthrow of the Kshatriya power was fol lowed by a period of jealous legislation on the part of the Brah mans. The privilege of divine origin was successfully claimed for the later Vedic literature, so imbued with Brahmanic aspirations and pretensions ; and the authority implied in the designation of sruti or revelation removed henceforth the whole body of sacred writings from the sphere of doubt and criticism. The new social order, as a divine institution, was rendered secure by the elabora tion of a system of conventional precepts, partly forming the basis of Manu's Code, which clearly defined the relative position and the duties of the several castes, and determined the penalties to be inflicted on any transgressions of the limits assigned to each of them. These laws are conceived with no sentimental scruples on the part of their authors. On the contrary, the offences corn mitted by Brahmans against other castes are treated with re markable clemency, whilst the punishments inflicted for tres passes on the rights of higher classes are the more severe and inhuman the lower the offender stands in the social scale.
The three first castes, however unequal to each other in privilege and social standing, are yet united by a common bond of sacra mental rites (samskdras). The modes of observing these family rites are laid down in a class of writings called GTihya-sutras, or domestic rules. It is from their participation in the rite of upanayana or investiture with the sacred cord that the three upper classes are called the twice-born. The ceremony is enjoined to take place some time between the eighth and sixteenth year of age in the case of a Brahman, between the eleventh and twenty-second year of a Kshatriya, and between the twelfth and twenty-fourth year of a Vaisya. He who has not been invested with the mark of his class within this time becomes an outcast, unless he is ab solved from his sin by a council of Brahmans, and after due per formance of a purificatory rite resumes the badge of his caste. The duty of the udra is to serve the twice-born classes, and above all the Brahmans. He is excluded from all sacred knowledge, and if he performs sacrificial ceremonies he must do so without using holy mantras. No Brahman must recite a Vedic text where a man of the servile caste might overhear him, nor must he even teach him the laws of expiating sin. The occupations of the Vaisya are those connected with trade, the cultivation of the land, and the breeding of cattle; while those of Kshatriya consist in ruling and defending the people, administering justice, and the duties of the military profession generally. Both share with the Brahman the privilege of reading the Veda, but only so far as it is taught and explained to them by their spiritual preceptor. To the Brahman belongs the right of teaching and expounding the sacred texts, and also that of interpreting and determining the law and the rules of caste. Only in exceptional cases, when no teacher of the sacerdotal class is within reach, the twice-born youth, rather than forego spiritual instruction altogether, may reside in the house of a non-Brahmanical preceptor ; but it is specially enjoined that a pupil, who seeks the path to heaven, should not fail, as soon as circumstances permit, to resort to a Brahman well versed in the Vedas and their appendages.
The self-exaltation of the Brahman class was not altogether due to priestly arrogance and ambition; but it was a natural con sequence of the pantheistic doctrine. To the Brahmanical specu lator the numberless individual existences of animate nature naturally presented a continuous scale of spiritual units from the lowest degradation up to the absolute purity and perfection of the supreme spirit. To attain the ultimate goal immediately from any state of corporeal existence, there was hut one way—sub jection of the senses, purity of life and knowledge of the deity. Those who were habitually engaged in what was most conducive to these spiritual attainments, the Brahmanical class, early learnt to look upon themselves as being foremost in this race for final beatitude. The life marked out for them by this theory of class duties was calculated to promote that complete mortification of the instincts of animal nature which they considered as indis pensable to the final deliverance from sanisara, the revolution of bodily and personal existence.
The pious Brahman, longing to attain this deliverance on the dissolution of his frail body, was enjoined to pass through a suc cession of four orders or stages of life, viz., those of brahrnac/idrin, or religious student ; grihastha (or grihcimedhin), or householder; vanavasin (or vdnaprastha), or anchorite; and sannydsin (or bhikshu), or religious mendicant. Theoretically this course of life was open and even recommended to every twice-born man, his distinctive class-occupations being in that case restricted to the second station, or that of married life. Practically, however, those belonging to the Kshatriya and Vaisya castes were, no doubt, con tented, with few exceptions, to go through a term of studentship in order to obtain a certain amount of religious instruction before entering into the married state, and plying their professional duties. The domestic observances—many of them probably an cient Aryan family customs, surrounded by the Hindus with a certain amount of adventitious ceremonial—were generally per formed by the householder himself, with the assistance of his wife. There is, however, another class of sacrificial ceremonies of a more pretentious and expensive kind, called srauta rites, or rites based on fritu, or revelation, the performance of which, though not indispensable, was yet considered obligatory in certain circumstances (see BRAHMANA). They formed a very powerful weapon in the hands of the priesthood, and were one of the chief sources of their subsistence. However great the religious merit accruing from these sacrificial rites, they were obviously a kind of luxury which only rich people could afford to indulge in. They constituted, as it were, a tax, voluntary perhaps, yet none the less compulsory, levied by the priesthood on the wealthy laity.
The tendency towards a comprehension of the unity of the di vine essence had resulted in a kind of monotheistic notion of the origin of the universe. In the literature of the Brahmana period this conception is generally allowed a prominent place in the pan theistic theories. Yet the state of theological speculation, re flected in these writings, is one of transition. The general drift of thought is essentially pantheistic, but the ancient form of belief still enters largely into it. An ancient classification of the gods represented them as being 33 in number, II in each of the three worlds or regions of nature.
These regions being associated each with the name of one prin cipal deity, this division gave rise at a later time to the notion of a kind of triple divine government, consisting of Agni (fire), Indra (sky), or Vdyu (wind), and Sfirya (sun), as presiding respec tively over the gods on earth, in the atmosphere, and in the sky.
Of this Vedic triad mention is frequently made in the Brahmana writings. On the other hand the term prajdpati (lord of creatures), which in the Rigveda occurs as an epithet of the sun, is also once in the Atharvaveda applied jointly to Indra and Agni.
An abstract, colourless deity like Brahma could awake no sym pathies in the hearts of those accustomed to worship gods of flesh and blood. The priesthood, anxious to retain a firm hold on the minds of the people, recognized and incorporated into their system some of the most prominent objects of popular devotion, and thereby established a kind of catholic creed for the whole com munity subject to the Brahmanical law. At the time of the original composition of the great epics two such deities, Siva or Majiddeva ("the great god") and Vishnu, seem already to have been admitted into the Brahmanical system, where they have ever since retained their place, and both enjoy an extensive worship. As several synonyms are attributed to each of them, in these we may recog nize special names under which the people in different localities worshipped These gods, or deities of a similar nature which, by the agency of popular poetry, or in some other way, came to be com bined with them. The places assigned to them in the pantheistic system were co-ordinate with that of Brahma; the three deities, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, were to represent a triple impersona tion of the divinity, as manifesting itself respectively in the crea tion, preservation and destruction of the universe. In adapting their speculations to the actual state of popular worship, the Brahmans kept the older triad distinctly in view, and by means of it endeavoured to bring their new structure into harmony with the ancient Vedic belief. In his character as destroyer Siva holds his place in the triad, and he must, no doubt, be identified with the Vedic Rudra. Another very important function appears, how ever, to have been early assigned to him, on which much more stress is laid in his modern worship—that of destroyer being more especially exhibited in his consort—viz., the character of a gen erative power, symbolized in the phallic emblem (linga) and in the sacred bull (Nandi), the favourite attendant of the god. This feature being entirely alien from the nature of the Vedic god it has been conjectured with some plausibility that the linga-worship was originally prevalent among the non-Aryan population, and was thence introduced into the worship of Siva. But Siva, in his generative faculty, is the representative of another Vedic god whose nature and attributes go far to account for this particular feature of the modern deity, viz., Pushan, who is frequently in voked, as the lord of nourishment, to bestow food, wealth and other blessings. He is once, jointly with Soma, called the pro genitor of heaven and earth, and is connected with the marriage ceremony, where he is asked to lead the bride to the bridegroom and make her prosperous (Sivatama). As regards Vishnu, this god occupies already a place in the Vedic mythology and though, in his general nature, as a benevolent, genial being, he corresponds on the whole to the later Vishnu, the preserver of the world, the latter exhibits many important features not found in his prototype.
The male nature of the triad was supposed to require to be supplemented by each of the three gods being associated with a female energy (Sakti). Thus V ach or Sarasvati, the goddess of speech and learning, was re garded as the Sakti, or consort of Brahma; Sri or Lakshmi "beauty, fortune," as that of Vishnu ; and Uma or Parvati, the daughter of Himavat, the god of the Himalaya mountain, as that of diva. Psrvati—who has a variety of other names, such as Kali ("the black one"), Diirgd ("the inaccessible, terri ble one"), Mahadevi ("the great goddess")—enjoyed an extensive worship of her own.
A compromise was thus effected between the esoteric doctrine of the metaphysician and some of the most prevalent forms of popular worship, resulting in what was henceforth to constitute the orthodox system of belief of the Brahmanical community. Yet the Vedic pantheon formed part and parcel of that sacred revelation (sruti) which was looked upon as the divine source of all religious and social law (smriti, "tradition"), and the foundation of the sacrificial ceremonial on which the priestly authority so largely depended. The existence of the old gods is, therefore, recognized, but in a very different way from that of the triple divinity, which represents the immediate manifestation of the eternal, infinite soul—with the old traditional gods are of this world, individual spirits or portions of the Brahma like men and other creatures, only higher in degree. To them an intermediate sphere, the heaven of Indra (the svarloka or svarga), is assigned to which man may raise himself by fulfilling the holy ordinances; but they are subject to the same laws of being ; they, like men, are liable to be born again in some lower states, and, therefore, like them, yearn for emancipation from the necessity of future individual existence. It is a sacred duty of man to worship these superior beings by invocations and sacrificial observances, as it is to honour the pitris ("the fathers"), the spirits of the de parted ancestors. The spirits of the dead, on being judged by Yama, either pass through a term of enjoyment in a region midway between the earth and the heaven of the gods, or undergo their measure of punishment in the nether world, situated somewhere in the southern region, before they return to the earth to animate new bodies. In Vedic mythology Yama was considered to have been the first mortal who died, and "espied the way to" the celestial abodes, and in virtue of precedence to have become the ruler of the departed ; in some passages, however, he is already regarded as the god of death.
The most prominent of the old gods were regarded as the ap pointed Lokapalas, or guardians of the world ; and presided over the four cardinal and the intermediate points of the compass. Thus Indra, the chief of the gods, was regarded as the regent of the east ; Agni, the fire (ignis), was in the same way associated with the south-east ; Yama with the south; Surya, the sun(`HXios), with the south-west ; Varuna, originally the representative of the all-embracing heaven (Ovpavos) or atmosphere, now the god of the ocean, with the west; Vayu (or Pavana), the wind, with the north-west ; Kubera, the god of wealth, with the north ; and Soma (or Chandra) with the north-east.
Orthodox Brahmanical scholasticism makes the attainment of final emancipation (mukti, moksha) dependent on perfect knowl edge of the divine essence. This knowledge can only be obtained by complete abstraction of the mind from external objects and intense meditation on the divinity which again presupposes the total extinction of all sensual instincts by means of austere prac tices (tapas). The chosen few who succeed in gaining complete mastery over their senses, and a full knowledge_ of the divine nature, become absorbed into the universal soul immediately on the dissolution of the body. Those who have still a residuum, however slight, of ignorance and worldliness left in them at the time of their death, pass to the world of Brahma, where their souls, invested with subtile corporeal frames, await their reunion with the Eternal Being.
The pantheistic doctrine which thus forms the foundation of the Brahmanical system of belief found its most complete expo sition in one of the six orthodox darsanas, or philosophical systems, the Vedanta philosophy. These systems are considered as orthodox inasmuch as they recognize the Veda as the revealed source of religious belief, even if they involve the denial of the existence of a personal creator of the world (see SANSKRIT: Vedanta).
The philosophical tenets of Buddhism (q.v.) (about the 6th cen tury B.c.) probably did not cause any great uneasiness to the orthodox theologians. But, Gautama altogether denied the revealed character of the Veda and the efficiency of the Brahmanical cere monies deduced from it, and rejected the claims of the sacerdotal class to be the repositories and divinely appointed teachers of sacred knowledge. One of the chief effects these views produced on the worship of the old gods was the rapid decline of the au thority of the orthodox Brahmanical dogma, and a considerable development of sectarianism. (See HINDUISM.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-C. Lassen, lndische Alterthumskunde (1847-62) ; Bibliography.-C. Lassen, lndische Alterthumskunde (1847-62) ; M. Muller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature (1859) ; Elphin stone, History of India, ed. by E. B. Cowell (1866) ; J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts (1868-84) ; H. H. Wilson, Essays on the Religion of the Hindus (1904).