Hinduism and Buddhism

In reaction to the exclusionary nature of Hinduism, Buddhism was born around 500 or 600 B.C. Its originator was a man named Gauttama Siddhartha, the Buddha. The religion he created did not rely on the rituals of Hinduism, although it was not a complete break with the spiritual texts of Hinduism. Rather, it was more of a varying interpretation of the meaning of one of these texts in particular. Nonetheless, despite the widespread nature of Buddhism throughout the world, Hinduism remains the dominant religion in India. This appears to be largely due to an attempt by its adherents to make it more accessible to those who previously had been excluded from its power base.

Hinduism has an ancient history in India. Between 1800 and 1500 B.C., India was invaded by the "Aryans" ("noble ones") who entered India from Central Asia and from the region to the east of the Caspian Sea (Herman 37). They brought w

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the gods to grant their favors to the inhabitants of the house (Ch'en 3). Over time, however, the rituals became more and more complicated and elaborate and entailed many altars and numerous presiding priests (Ch'en 3). In addition, the purpose of the ritual began to change. Instead of prevailing upon the gods to grant some special favors, persons performing the ritual would now attempt to compel or coerce the gods into doing what they wanted the gods to do (Ch'en 3). Consequently, the ritual now appeared as a sacred science, possessing mysterious powers capable of controlling the universe and the gods. To achieve this control, each person was required to scrupulously observe and perform the ceremonies. But because only priests could perform the complicated rituals correctly, their positions as the dominant element in society became enhanced and consolidated (Ch'en 3). Thus, Brahmanism, the religion of the Vedas, evolved from ordinary brahminism--a religion that centered exclusively around a priestly-controlled ritual sacrifice--into extraordinary brahminism--a religion that centered around power. It became a religion of the few; a religion for those who could afford the sometimes enormous fees charged by the brahmins and ne
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2573
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)