History of modern day India

Buddhism is a religion that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 500 B.C.E. It gets the name from the word ‘budhi’ which means ‘to awaken’. The followers of this religion do not believe or pray to a supreme deity, instead focus on attaining enlightenment. Buddhism and Jainism  have a lot in common and are often referred to as sister religions. Both these religions place high importance in the concepts of non-violence and peace. Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha was born in the royal Shakya clan of the Kosala kingdom of Mahajanapadas . His birth year is considered to be between 624 B.C.E and 563 B.C.E., and birth place is considered to be Lumbini or Kapilavastu in Nepal. Very little information is available on the early life of Siddhartha, it is believed that he lived a luxurious life and had also mastered combat skills. At the age of sixteen, Siddhartha married a princess, Yasodhara. The king lavished them with luxuries and they passed t...

Jainism or the Jain Dharma is a religion that teaches that the path to spiritual enlightenment is through disciplined non-violence. Jainism is based on the teachings of 24 Jinas or Tirthankaras, who have attained enlightenment and liberated their souls from the cycle of rebirths. Jina translates to ‘ spiritual victor ’, meaning that these 24 people have battled their natural attachment to the world, including emotions, people and things, to achieve enlightenment. Tirthankara translates to ‘ maker of a ford ’, meaning that the enlightened person has built a ford across the river of rebirth so others can follow him to liberation. What is the cycle of rebirths - samsara? According to Jainism (and also Hinduism) every living being is associated with a soul or jiva, and these souls are trapped in the never ending cycle of rebirths where a soul transfers to different bodies (animal and human) based on its Karma. If the soul has performed good Karma, it gets to...

In the previous post , we saw the various developments during the Vedic age. This post, although a small deviation from following the timeline, is to look at what the Vedas have to say and also about the caste system. All the ancient Hindu texts are classified as Shruti and Smriti at a high level. Shruti translates to “what is heard”, these texts are the ones that have been passed generation over generation by the great sages of Hinduism and are author-less i.e. a single person is not associated with their creation. These holy texts lay down all the principles or Dharma that are to be followed in Hinduism.  The Vedas fall under Shruti along with the Upanishads , which are considered the branches of Vedas. Upanishads are also known as Vedanta, which translates to the end of Veda, meaning they are the conclusion (anta) and the goal of the Veda. There are 108 Upanishads which are divided among the four Vedas. For further details on Upanishads, I wo...