essay

The archaeology of Hinduism

archaeology and world religion • London • Published In 2001 • Pages: 33-60

By: Chakrabarti, Dilip K..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

The founding texts for the Hindu religion, dating 1500-1000 BC, are the four Vedas: the Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Believing Hinduism was never a static religion, the author traces a number of associated traditional ritual behaviors in order to better understand its evolution. The early archaeological record from 9000 BC on is also examined, with the majority evidence dating from the Early Indus into the historic period. The use of ritual spaces is also explored—especially sacred places that have been used continuously for thousands of years—along with the reasons for their locations.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Theological systems

Sacred objects and places

Ritual

Spirits and gods

Routes

Historical reconstruction

traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Vedic

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

2016

RegionThe area the document pertains to

Asia

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

South Asia

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

essay

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Indologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

Sarah Berry; 2014

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

no date given

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

6000-2000 BP

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

India and Pakistan

NotesAdditional notes

Dilip Chakrabarti

Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60)

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

00059239

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Indus civilization