Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There were minor
yagnas
and major ones. The earliest Vedic
writings, the Samhitas, refer to a 'Cosmic
yagna
,' the ritual of nature's
cycles: sunshine, clouds, rain, the growth and death of vegetation,
and so on. The
yagna
obviously related to far more than ritual
sacrifice and sacred fires. In fact, the entire eighteenth chapter of the
Yajur Veda
explains
yagnas
as any selfless action that contributed to
society's general good. A large number of verses end with the same
refrain -
yagnena kalpatam
- concerning each person's duty to
continue exploring new ways to use nature's limitless resources for
the common good.
Out of this came a frenzy of exploration and discovery perhaps
only equalled by that seen over the past century or so, but with very
different consequences. Flora and fauna were studied intensively,
their multifarious uses - medicine, pigment, food, textile, labour -
carefully documented. Organic and inorganic resources were
surveyed. What were essentially the foundations for a welfare state
were even laid. The science and craft of agriculture were developed;
animals were domesticated; countless natural resources were
adapted for use as food, clothing, tools, utensils, housing. The list is
endless. And all of this dynamic activity stemmed from the
yagnashalas
, the ritual centres that served as open-air laboratories,
observatories, and academies. There, anything and everything that
might advance and enlighten society was studied.
To subjugate and destroy a culture, of course, which is a major
facet of every imperial adventure, you
have
to regard it as worthless,
savage and primitive. You can then avoid the guilt that could
otherwise spoil everything. Not coincidentally in this context, the
age of Darwin was also the great age of the British Raj in India.
Subjugated, certainly, the Vedic spiritual science was never totally
destroyed. Aspects of it survived at the core of many later religions.
The original pure form itself, after so many millennia, is practised
by isolated groups and expounded by holy men like Sathya Sai
Baba and Ramana Maharshi. Even some of the chants and hymns -
in a language related to, but more ancient than, Sanskrit - are recited
during ritual ceremonies. Vedic pundits in different parts of the
country - some of whom are unable to read the original texts for
themselves - can still recite from memory ten thousand or more
