The Vedic religion was the belief of the ancient Indians, known as Aryans. These beliefs are expressed in a collection of sacred texts called the Vedas, this is a large body of texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit which lay out the practices of Vedic religion and became the basis of classical Hinduism. Within these texts Vedic practices are laid out, including rituals that must be undertaken. These rituals are explained with such precision to ensure that the rituals are done perfectly, it is believed that they’re the most precise rituals ever written. Followers of this religion therefore must ensure that they follow these rules meticulously if they are to fully engage with the religion. But are these simply just rules that they must follow out of duty or do they have some deeper meaning to them? Frits Staal would suggest that no, these rules do not have any meaning behind them, and I would have to agree with him.
In this essay I will be discussing whether these sacred rituals really do have any meaning behind them. I will first discuss what we really mean by a ritual, as if we do not understand the term we are assessing how are we to decide whether it has meaning? I will then explain the Vedas in more detail and then discuss the Vedic rituals themselves and give an example of one, all before discussing Staal’s input in this area.
Within our society the term ritual is not very well understood, for many of us the term is pejorative. This, of course, may be because it is not a word used often in the western society. The definition of it in the dictionary is ‘a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order’ (Stevenson, 2010), June McDaniel adds that ritual must be ‘the creation of habit’, however this does suggest that ritual is something done naturally and not according to a certain set of rules, which I believe the Vedic rituals do not imply. Many people however assume that a part of a ritual must be taking part in some sort of symbolic activities which refer to something else. For example taking part in a pre-game ritual Haka in New Zealand is referring to the game ahead of them. However, when discussing rituals Frits Staal suggests that ‘their primary concern, if not obsession, is with rules’ and there is therefore no symbolic meanings going through their minds during the ritual (Staal, 1979, p. 3). A theory that many anthropologists support is one which says that rituals are used in preliterate societies to transmit cultural and social values to the younger generations. This idea does support the Vedic’s emphasis on tradition, however traditions do not need to be transmitted through ceremony’s, they can be passed on and transmitted through parents and grandparents. One definition suggested by Roy Rapport reads that a ritual is ‘the performance of more or less invariant sequences of formal acts and utterances not entirely encoded by the performers’ (Rapport, 1999). The Indian tradition offers numerous speculations on a definition but they never seem to come to a consistent theory or final consensus definition of ritual. The Srauta Sutras offers a number of definitions, one which is often quoted says that a ritual must include three elements: the substance, the deity and the renunciation. This shows that what a ritual actually consists of is not clear and if a word cannot be clearly defined then it cannot be fully understood and therefore must not have a meaning to it.
The Vedic sacred text is thought to be one of the oldest religious texts ever created. It is often suggested that truths are divinely revealed and passed down in the Vedas and that ‘The word Veda means knowledge; a Veda is literally a book of knowledge’ (Sharma, 2000, p. 194). It gives a detailed account of the Gods that must be worshiped and how they are to be worshiped. The Vedas give an extremely detailed account on how to undertake rituals to ensure Brahmins do not put a foot wrong. The text is therefore written in exact grammar so that the mantras were spoken correctly and exactly the same every time. Louis Renou emphasized the importance of grammar for Vedic Brahmins and believed that structure and order was linked to the order of the cosmos itself. It was the Vedic people that first discovered Pythagoras as they used it to ensure that the alter was made exactly to the measurements needed. A new alter was made each time a ritual was done as these practices did not take place in particular areas or buildings, they could be done anywhere. Finally, they were very good at astronomy as this ensured that the rituals were done at the right time of the year. Within this text was four collections; The Rig–Veda, this is the most important part and according to many scholars the oldest of the Vedas, it contains 1028 hymns in praise of various deities and it is also known as ‘The book of Mantra’. Next is the Yajur-Veda, this is divided into two sections one which is more recent that the other and it is used in the performance of yajnas (sacrifices). The Sama-Veda is a selection of chants and melodies to be sung during worship and the performance of yajna. The Artha-Veda was written late and includes a compilation of hymns, mantras and incantations. Within the Vedas is a hymn called the Purusha Skuta which is dedicated to Purusha (the cosmic being). It talks about how the world was created from a single person. The body was then sacrificed and separated and each part created a different part of the world. From this, the idea that society should be divided into four categories is given, a functionalist model of society was created and this came to be known as the Caste System. At the top was the Brahmins who were the priests and they performed the rituals, then there’s the Kshatriyas who were the rulers or warriors and they were to fund the yajna, then there was merchants known as Vaishyas and finally the Shudras who were the farmers and workers. Later an extra ‘layer’ was added which was for the people of other emerging cultures whom didn’t fit into any other category.
The Veda is intimately connected with the Vedic ritual and its primary function is to describe and explain the rituals. Scripture also aimed to help the Vedic people gain knowledge and attainment of Brahman, which was known as the transcendent absolute. Within the Veda are Brahmana’s which are texts describing rules for ritual and explanations about them concerning their meaning and purpose. They give a three-fold meaning of ritual: cosmological, an individual’s relationship with family and an individual’s physiological, psychological, intellectual and spiritual levels of existence. This text explains that Vedic mantras are associated with dharma, which can be defined as the eternal law of the cosmos, and Kim Knott adds that dharma is truth, law or duty (Knott, 1998, p. 21). Fire is a central focus of Vedic ritual and is considered both a substance and a deva (God), it is believed to be the transformative link between the worldly and the divine realms. It is used in the Aryans main religious practice of sacrifice. The term ‘sacrifice’ is not confined to the immolation of animals, but refers more widely to any offering into the sacred life. In fact, offerings of milk is more common that the sacrificing of animals. Another important practice that is readily participated in is the sharing of sacrificial meals with each other and with the many supernatural beings or devas.
An example of a traditional Vedic ritual is the Agnicayana ritual. This is dated as originating around 1000 B.C. Preparation for this ritual can take up to a year as the alter must be built to hold the sacred fire as this acts as a gateway to the Gods. This process takes so long as each brick is made from the ground and individually blessed, the alter must also be in a particular shape which is usually the shape of a bird of prey (particularly a falcon) to be dedicated to the God Agni. As previously mentioned, the Vedic rituals are one of the most precise ceremonies to ever take place. The preparation therefore must be perfect and the ceremony must take place at the exact time of the year, for this particular ritual it must happen between the time of the new moon and the full moon. Once the preparation is complete and it is the correct time of year the ritual begins. It is held over 12 days with each day signifying a new layer to the sacred alter and a new sacrifice is given to a certain deity. This is an example of a traditional ritual, however with the rise of centralized monarchies came the fall of great Vedic rituals and the rise of domesticated Vedic ritual. This consisted of domestic sacrifice carried out by the householder and his wife in the home. This became the core of Hindu practice and the place where Vedic ritual survived today.
Frits Staal was a Professor of Philosophy and South and South-Eastern Asian Studies at the University of California. He specialized in the study of Vedic ritual and mantras and the scientific exploration of ritual. Staal defines ritual as something that’s primarily activity that’s governed by explicit rules. He travelled to Panjal village in Kerala to find contemporary Veda to see whether their rituals were still performed the same now as they were years ago and to learn the meaning behind them. Here the Agricayana ritual was performed over 12 days, this is a 3000 year old Vedic ritual and Staal had the opportunity to lead a team in the filming and documenting of this event. Staal observed the preparation of the ritual and was present when it occurred, the whole time trying to understand why these people carry out these rituals. When Staal asked the Brahmins why they do them the responses he received were varied but none which relate to the idea of symbolism. In fact, the main answer that comes across is ‘we act according to the rules because this is our tradition’ (Staal, 1979, p. 4). So it seems that these hugely precise and seemingly important rituals are only performed because that what their elders did and therefore that’s what they must do.
Staals main goal on this expedition was to discover the reasons and the meanings behind these traditional Vedic rituals. After immersing himself within the community, engaging in everyday life of the Vedic people and of course participating in this ritual, Staal still struggled to understand why these rituals are undertaken. He asks why it is so difficult to define the meaning, goals and aims of ritual and he came to the conclusion that it is because it has no meaning, goas or aim, they are simply ‘rules without meaning’. Staal explains that in India through a period of 3000 years the Vedic language changed to Sanskrit and then to Indo-Aryan languages. Through all of this change the Vedic mantras were transmitted without change and he believes that this shows their meaninglessness as meaningless sounds are either remembered or forgotten, they’re not changed. However, Staal does note that rituals ‘lead a life of their own independent of religion, society and language’ (Staal, 1996, p. xiii). Within the Vedic rituals it is not the result that matters, it is ensuring that the performance of the ritual is correct and that the rules are followed exactly. This is the opposite to an ordinary western society as we take a very utilitarian approach and often believe that as long as we got the moral result then it doesn’t really matter how we got there. Staal believes that ritual is pure activity without and meaning behind it. It is therefore done for its own sake, it doesn’t bring anything about and it thus has no function. We can therefore be curious as to why ritual is so readily taken part in. Staal explains that ritual may be meaningless, but this does not mean that it is valueless. Ritual still has a value but it is not instrumental, that is that it does not generate anything, however it does have intrinsic value. He suggested that this particular Vedic ritual was about tradition/authority of the past and the pattern and the desire for order. Furthermore, as Catherine Bell explains in her book ‘Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice’ Staal believes that ritual traditions have the ability to ‘identify groups and distinguish them from one another by means of distinctions as arbitrary as meaningless phonetic variations’ (Bell, 1992, p. 121). He wrote that he thought that to perform a ritual is like dance and he quoted Isadora Duncan – ‘If I could tell you what it meant there would be no point in dancing it’. This is showing that it is not necessarily about having a complete understanding of something, but it is about taking what you need to from it and appreciating the beauty of the performance.
Some scholars have described Hindu practices as superstitious and idolatrous and believe that is would be best if these were removed and the theistic, philosophical and spiritual elements were central. They clearly do not believe that these practices and rituals have any point to them and that the religion would be stronger if it were to have its central teachings around more meaningful topics. I agree with this as I think that you can learn much more about the way to live a life by reading philosophy and theistic texts as you can interpret them and find the deeper meaning for yourself. I agree with this statement that Vedic rituals were only rules without meaning as I believe that in order for something to have a meaning you should be able to fully understand why it needs to take place and what you can get out of it, but with Vedic rituals no one really understands why they are done, they therefore seem to me to be pointless. I have also read that many Hindus accept the status of the Vedas, but many of them haven’t actually read them. For me, this shows that these texts do not actually need to be read as there is not anything to take from them, they seem to just be accepted out of duty. Although I personally believe these rituals have no meaning, I do not think that they have no value. Many people believe that revealed texts and rituals can only be fully understood by those who are totally immersed within a traditional Hindu society. If this is the case then I may have made this conclusion because I haven’t had the opportunity to experience a Hindu society, but from my knowledge, yes, Vedic rituals were only rules without meaning.