Abstract
The oldest source of Indian thought about justice, morality and ethics is the four Vedas, which have affinity with the Egyptian concept of maat and that of Asha in the Gathas. Rta provides the pathways that protect humans against evil and ignorance. The sacred scripture is that the process of achieving justice, stability, tranquility, security and prosperity for individuals and their collectivities is rule based. Gods and goddesses of the Rig Veda were assigned the protection of Rta. These deities are guardians, keepers and protectors of Rta and live by it and act according to its rules themselves. A feature of the Rig Veda is that it envisions the building of a just, moral, ethical society as achievable by individuals and their collectivities through rule compliance, without assigning a significant government role. in this regard to an organized government.
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Notes
- 1.
Books (Mandalas) 2–8 are considered to be the oldest, book 9 is selections from 2–8, and book 10 is considered a later addition to the Rig Veda (Jamison and Brereton 2014, p. 10).
- 2.
In Rig Veda, there is intimation that achieving such a state was the result of a transformative internal heat (Tapas) generated by fasting, isolation, sitting by fire and other forms of sensory deprivation (reminiscent of the Native Americans of the plains in pursuit of “vision quest”) that catapulted normal perception (of mundane and profane state of consciousness) to supernormal (sacred realm of divine) state of consciousness. Also, in Rig Veda there are verses that indicate that seers (rishis) ingested the juice of Soma plant obtained by pressing the branches of the Soma plant (Haoma of the Zoroastrians), a holy drink that created Tapas (sacred internal heat) which, in turn, made the process of transformation of consciousness possible; see, for example, Rig Veda: Book 8, Hymn 59, Verse 5; Book 9, 113, 2; Book 10, 109, 4; and 10, 154, 2–5. See also Bhattacharya 1993; Murdock 1983; Wasson 1968. Jamison and Brereton (2014, p. 20), referencing Hymn 9.113. 2, suggest that in this verse the seer explains that the Soma is pressed “with real words of truth, with trust, and with fervor.” Hence, the physical pressing of the Soma plant is imbued with the sacred by the purity of the intention of the seers, by confidence in the sacredness of their action and by the truth of their speech which empowers Soma juice to “strengthen the gods and to give life to mortals. Words, commitment, and ritual combine to make Soma real.” On Soma and Haoma, see further Flattery and Schwartz 1989; Houban 2003.
- 3.
The term “Aryan” refers to groups who formed the Indo-Iranians whose origin has been traced to Airyana Vaeja (in Avesta) or Arya Vartha (in the Vedas), the Aryan homeland. They are said to have separated sometime in 4000–3000 BC. The reason for the separation is not known with any degree of certainty. Speculation by scholars suggest it may have been due to deep differences in religious beliefs (as mentioned above, the Gathas hint at this conflict) or climatic changes or environmental degradation (see K. E. Eduljee “Aryan Homeland,” Zoroastrian Heritage, available at heritageinstitute.com ); on the Aryan homeland and Rig Veda, see Shendge 1996 and Lal 2005. Shendge (Chapter II) suggests that Iran, rather than the Central Asian steppes, was the original homeland of the Aryans, especially the northeastern province of Azerbaijan where she locates Zarathustra. From there, she hypothesizes, the Aryans moved north, south and east. The latter migrants, after moving from southern western Iran, Elam and southern Mesopotamia (settled by Arab migrants called Al-‘Ubaid, see Woolley 1965, pp. 1–20), occupied regions abandoned by the Indus/Harappan civilization. They were the Asuras that were defeated by the migrating Aryans when they moved to Northeastern India.
- 4.
Shendge’s explanation is based on her understanding of the Rig Vedic hymns: 1.51.8; 2.11.19; 4.30.18; 6.22.10; 6.33.3; 6.60.6; 7.83.1; 8.51.9; 10.83.1 (Shendge 1996, pp. 31–34).
- 5.
It is important to note that a number of contemporary scholars who, based on archaeological evidence of Saraswati-Indus civilization (Harappan civilization) discovered in Baluchistan and northwest Pakistan as well as in eastern parts of India, tend to cast doubt on the “Aryan invasion theory” and hint that evidence from archaeological sites such as Mohenjadaro in Pakistan and other sites suggest that the Saraswati-Indus civilization (Harappan civilization) may have developed independent of the Aryans and were indigenous to India dating back to 8000 BC (see, e.g., Gupta 1996; see also Anthony 2007; Bryant 2001, 2004; Bryant and Patton 2005). Shendge (1996, pp. 91–96) argues that the Harappan/Indus civilization dates to 4000 BC. There was, she suggests, a post-Harappan civilization, Asuras, who had migrated from southern Iran (province of Khusistan) and southern Mesopotamia to eastern Iran (Sistan and Baluchistan) to the Sindhu, Saraswati and Indus river valleys. Asuras were defeated by the new Aryan migrants.
- 6.
See Jamison and Brereton 2014. Shendge (1996, pp. 4–5) questions this linguistic assertion suggesting that the origin of Sanskrit may be traced to Akkadians and Mesopotamia rather than to the Indo-European language. She asserts that the biases of the “Indo-Europeanists” led them to relate European languages to Sanskrit and never studied connections between Sanskrit and Semitic languages of upper Mesopotamia. On the contrary, she finds that some of the most important words of Rig Veda, such as Rta, are the same in Akkadian (Shendge 1996, Chapter 8). She finds it astonishing that the language of the Rig Veda is not studied in relation to the languages of the nearby regions such as Mesopotamia but with that of faraway regions of Europe. This bias has far-reaching implications for the study of the origin, culture, language and socio-political-economic institutions of Pre-Axial civilizations.
- 7.
The nineteenth- and twentieth-century Indian scholars of Rig Veda argued that the sacred text has a monotheistic conception and that all gods and goddesses in Rig Veda represent various dimensions of the One Ultimate Reality (see, e.g., Rig Veda: 1, 164.46), the Brahman, who finds an inner expression in the consciousness of humans as Atman, conceived of as the inner principle of humans. Ignorance and preoccupation with the physical manifestation of reality veils the identity of Brahman and Atman for ordinary humans. They interpreted Veda hymns to say that discovery of this unity is the ultimate goal and liberation of humans. But this knowledge transcends ordinary human sense and reason. Discovering this unity, and the removal of the distinction between Brahman and Atman, is possible only through direct intuition and communication with the Divine (see Singh 2009, pp. 49–52). Urumpakal (1972) calls this particular belief as “monistic” (God inside all). It has also been referred to as “henotheism” (One God with many manifestations). Among these scholars, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (who became the president of India in the 1960s), an influential philosopher and Vedic scholar, argued that the conception of God in the Rig Veda is monotheistic and that human life was a struggle between light and dark forces and the search for Ultimate Reality (see Samartha 1964; Urumpakal 1972; Schilpp 1992; de Nicholas 2003). A number of crucial verses of some hymns in the Rig Veda, for example, 6.36.4; 8.1.27; 1.164.46; 1.94.13, appear to support the thesis that, at the core, the Rig Vedic people were monotheistic. Perhaps, in a parallel movement to distortions that occurred in the monotheistic thoughts of Zarathustra after his passing to create Zoroastrian paganism, the monotheistic belief of the Rig Vedic people was distorted to produce later non-monotheistic religions of India.
- 8.
Social organizational structure of Rig Vedic people was based on the family (called Kula) as its basic unit. A collection of family units formed a village (called Grama). The chief of the village was called Gramini. A clan was formed by a group of villages. A community, called Jana, was formed by a collection of clans. The chief of the Jana was called Rajana whose main responsibility was the protection of the community. To perform this responsibility, he collected offerings called Bali. The most important social assembly of the Rig Vedic people was Vidatha at the level of the community, Jana. The assembly was apparently where the most important decisions affecting the members were taken (see also Shendge 1977). Two other social/political institutions are mentioned in the Rig Veda: Samiti, a sort of consultative assembly of the tribe with the duty of electing a king, and Sabha, an assembly of the elders and most influential members of the tribe. This assembly, apparently, discussed economic, social and political issues affecting the tribe.
- 9.
Shendge (1996, pp. 97–104) finds an Akkadian origin for the word Rta.
- 10.
By comparison, Indra, the warrior-deity and the king of the gods, appears in 289 hymns, and, the next deity in importance, Agni, appears in 218 hymns in the Rig Veda.
- 11.
In the form of means of self-mortification through acts of sensory deprivation, isolation, sitting by the fire in contemplation and fasting, or through animal sacrifice.
- 12.
The unification of Atman and Brahman.
- 13.
“Adityas” are “Asuras.” The word “Adityas” is translated as “no-bondage,” meaning that these deities are supportive of justice, freedom and security, while the word “Danavas” is translated as “bondage” or “enclosure” to indicate the darkness of their being and their animosity to truth, justice, freedom and security (see Heckman 1980). For this cosmological narrative, see the following passages in the Rig Veda: 1.32.4 and 6; 1.52.6; 1.105.15; 2.11.5; 3.30; 3.41.9; 3.51.8; 4.17.3; 4.42; 5.30.5; 5.31.3; 6.21.3; 7.21.7; 10.124.5; and 10.152.23.
- 14.
On the issues of trade and the origin of the Harappan and post-Harappan civilizations, please see the books and articles in the list of references at the end of this section.
- 15.
To the question why then “the Asura culture came to be known as ‘Aryan’,” she responds that, for one thing, the Asura culture was Aryanized due to the fact that the Aryan newcomers defeated the old Aryans (Asuras) who had already settled the area. After their defeat, Asuras were demonized by the Aryans. Thereafter, they adopted and claimed the Asura culture as their own as conquerors (Shendge 1996, especially Chapters 2 and 9).
- 16.
For verses of the Rig Veda referring to “the womb of Rta,” see 1.43.9; 1.64.4; 1.144.2; 1.164.2; 2.34.13; 3.2.11; 3.7.2; 3.51. 8 and 14; 3.54.6; 3.55.12; 3.62.18; 3.63.12; 4.21.3; 4.42.4; 4.51.8; 5.41.1; 7.36.1 and 5; 7.53.2; 9.13.9; 9.39.6; 9.72.6; 9.73.1; 9.86.25; 10.8.3; 10.65.8; 10.85.24; and 10.100.10. See also Heckman 1980, pp. 29–31.
- 17.
Based on his understanding of Rig Veda: 1.46.11; 3.2.8; 6.51.3; 6.55.1; 8.12.3; and 10.132.6.
- 18.
Singh 2009, pp. 51–52 and p. 65.
- 19.
See the Rig Veda 1.24.15; 10.90.12; 10.117.1; 10.117.5; 10.117.7; 10.117.8.
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Mirakhor, A., Askari, H. (2019). Conception of Justice: Pre-Axial India. In: Conceptions of Justice from Earliest History to Islam. Political Economy of Islam. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54303-5_3
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