Vedic Rituals and Beliefs

Lesson 5 of 13 • 7 upvotes • 7:08mins

Abhyudaya Kelkar

What Vedic people practiced in the form of religious rituals is a matter of curiosity and rightly so. After a span of three and a half millennia, many practices survive amidst severe foreign invasions, pillage and destruction, assimilation and addition. It is quite an incredible fact that despite of many odds, the practices survived and are still in vogue. But what was their initial or original form? Let us peep into the past and look for it. The most important segment will be that of Vedic deities – the various Gods and Goddesses that Vedic people worshipped. That pantheon is substantially different from what we today see and practice. Another important issue is the 16 samkaras we occasionally come across or mention in layman’s language. Here we will discuss it into detail too. It is noteworthy that this lesson is also equally important for your preparation of ‘the Culture of India’ in GS. So it has double use in GS. One, as an ingredient of history and the other, as a segment of Indian Culture.