RELS 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Stratification, Quasi, Sannyasa

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 131
• Professor: Aditi Sen- Chowdhury

Document Summary

The problem with the terms - when the british came over they termed the vast majority under. Hinduism (they could distinguish sikhism and islam and grouped everyone else together) The holy trinity - creator, preserver and destroyer. Belief in reincarnation - idea of time, time can be folded death is never the end, it"s a cycle. The rig veda as the holiest of all texts. Vedic (period): includes the vedas, the brahmanas, the aranakyas, and the upanishads. Were originally told orally, written down in the medieval times. Rig veda - humans raw contact with nature. Agni (fire) - carries messages to the gods above. Soma (unknown plant) - close contact with god, gives visions. Storm (varuna) - brings rain with him, faster than the mind. Rain (parjanya) - works with the god of storms. Yama (death) - becomes guardian of hell, he is the first mortal who dies. Indra (king) - king of the gods, tawny coloured.