Vedas are not the important
sacred scriptures for the Hindus. The Vedas as a body of scripture contain many
contradictions and they are fragmentary in nature. For most Hindus of
today, scriptures like the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas are
more attractive and appealing than the Vedas. In addition, the gods and
goddesses they worship differ considerably from the Vedic ones.
The collection of hymns called Vedas written in praise
of certain deities by poets over several centuries does not seem to have much
significance for the Hindus of today. Most Vedic gods do not find a place in
Hinduism.
Maharishi
Dayananda Saraswathi fonder of
Arya Samaj was the first thinker and reformer to emphasise the
importance of ‘going back to the Vedas’ in order to bring about social
reforms in society and to purify Hinduism of its many aberrations. Hinduism is
‘Puranic based’. Vedic Gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma and the like,
whom the Vedic people worshipped, hardly have any significance in Hinduism.
Reincarnation was not a Vedic belief.
Belief in reincarnation which is central to Hinduism of today
is not really attested to in the Vedas, though they hint at life
after death. The doctrine of transmigration as elaborated in Hinduism
has no place in the Vedic hymns”. In the early Vedic literature,
there is no express mention of the doctrine of transmigration.
It is in the Upanishads that it appears for the first
time. The Rig Veda speaks of two paths for the souls of the deceased, namely,
the path of the gods (devayana) and the path of the fathers (pitriyana).
Those who go by the former enjoy immortality and there is no return
to physical life after that.
In fact, the Vedic man longed for this state of
life. Whereas those who go by the latter path, unite with the fathers and then
return to earth, after having enjoyed the fruits of his deeds.
Rig
Veda ― consisting of about 10,500 verses ― there is only one occasion where
there is mention of a return to this world after death. What is implied here
is that it cannot be taken as an important teaching of the Rig Veda.
The Avatara and caste system are not
Vedic in origin. The theory of Avatara (‘descend’) of gods which is
very important to modern Hinduism is non-Vedic. The term Avatara (…) is not
found in the earlier Vedic texts, and is absent from the older Sanskrit glossaries”.
The caste system which is so integral to Hinduism
was also not practiced in the Vedic times. There is hardly any
evidence of rigid caste system in the Vedas. It is argued that
the purushasukta hymn of the Rig Veda (X.90)
which is often referred to in order to give a religious sanction to caste
system was a later interpolation. The Vedas, however, speak of
various classes of people, which appear to have been names of
professions, and they were not hereditary.
“The very concept of castes by
birth, upper/lower castes, superior/inferior castes, outcastes,
untouchables, Dalits, etc. are clearly prohibited by Rigveda”.
Taboo on
cow slaughter is not Vedic in origin. The taboo on cow slaughter and beef eating did
not exist in Vedic times. Criteria like taboo on beef-eating or belief in
reincarnation might stamp the Vedic seers as non-Hindus”. The question whether
the Vedic people practiced cow slaughter is debated among Hindu
traditionalists. The cow was a sacred animal that the authors of the Vedas
sacrificed cows and ate beef on special occasions. This argument only substantiates the
view that cow was not an inviolable animal and that beef eating was
not a taboo in Vedic times.
As is clear from the above, several aspects that
are intrinsic to the Hinduism of today, such as, the doctrine of
re-incarnation, avatars (‘descent’) of gods, caste system, taboo on cow
slaughter and beef eating were absent in the Vedic religion. It was shown
by a critical study of the Vedas that the Aryans had no developed idea
of caste system, (.…) The taboo on the use of beef was shown to
be of later origin, that the cow was freely killed for ceremonial and
other purposes in ancient India”.
