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The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s12: Vedic Ethics Through Western Eyes

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s12

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Vedic Ethics Through Western Eyes

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It is interesting to observe that according to Sylvain Lévi⁴² nothing is more "brutal and materialistic than the theology of the Brāhmaṇas." There is said to be "no morality" in it. The sacrifice which regulates the relations of man with the gods is alleged to be a "mechanical operation." Its efficacy is considered to be due to the "magical action of the priest." The initiation which regenerates is supposed to be a "faithful picture of conception, gestation and child-birth." A religion so crude and coarse, says he, implies a people of semi-savages (*une religion aussi grossière suppose un people de demi-sauvages*). The notions are alleged to be marked by "savage realism."

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⁴² Lévi: *La Doctrine du Sacrifice dans les Brahmanas* (Paris, 1898), pp. 9-10.

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While Lévi sees nothing but "savage realism" and semi-savage men and women in the *Brāhmaṇas*, Hillebrandt has found legion of parallels and identities between the peoples of India and those of Europe on the strength of the domestic and other ceremonies.

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According to Hillebrandt⁴³ the general opinion among scholars to the effect that the rituals owed their origin to the megalomania and egotistic interests of the priests is wrong. He takes an anthropological viewpoint and observes that this ritual arose out of the customs and rites of the folk. The ceremonies belonged to the people and were developed by them as parts of their life. The priests only systematized them. Their contribution to the tradition by way of new creations is very little.

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⁴³ Ritualliteratur in *Grundriss der indoarischen Philologie und Altertumskunde*, III. Band, 2. Heft, pp. 2-8.

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It is possible to think of morality in Vedic India in other terms than those of "savages". "The laws of the gods are expressed", says Hopkins,⁴⁴ "in the regular rotation of seasons and their corresponding sacrifices, for the sacrifice is ordered according to days and seasons. Each day illustrates the ‘laws divine’ incorporate in the sacrifice, and pious men are like gods in ‘not diminishing the laws’, which give security and peace. Very likely, there was the feeling that the sacrifice even helped preserve the order of the universe, as later it was seriously believed that the sun would not rise unless the morning rite was performed. But what is more important is the recognition that the laws of the gods effect peace and security on earth as in heaven.”

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⁴⁴ *The Ethics of India* (New Haven 1924) p. 37.

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According to Albert Schweitzer in *Die Weltanschauung der indischen Denker* or “The World-View of Indian Thinkers” (Munich 1935) morality is alleged to be entirely lacking in the *Samhitās*, *Brāhmaṇas* and *Upaniṣads*. This position is contested by M. Winternitz⁴⁵ who refers to the concept of the *ṛta* (“order”) in the *Rig Veda*. The duty of the rich towards the poor is most emphatically insisted upon, says he, in the *Rig Veda* (X, 117). There the man who does not give from his wealth to the poor is described as “eating alone” and “he alone” is known to be “guilty”. Incidentally, it is worth while to observe that Hindu positivism is admitted by Winternitz in the statement that Brāhmaṇism has never given its whole-hearted consent to the ascetic ideal of world-contempt and of renouncing all worldly desires and actions.

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⁴⁵ “Ethics in Brahmanical Literature” (*Prabuddha Bharata*, Calcutta, February 1936).

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