India, despite having undergone major changes at various thresholds, has in fact the oldest continuous cultural tradition in the world. The ancient civilization of India differs from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece in the sense that India's culture, despite formidable assaults, has been miraculously preserved and flows down to the contemporary age without a disruptive disjuncture. Concerning this civilizational continuity, Indologist A L Basham writes:

Until the advent of the archaeologist, the peasants of Egypt or Iraq had no knowledge of the culture of his forefathers, and it is doubtful whether his Greek counterpart had any but the vaguest ideas about the glory of Periclean Athens. In each case there had been an almost complete break with the past. On the other hand, the earliest Europeans to visit India found a culture fully conscious of its own antiquity — a culture which indeed exaggerated that antiquity, and claimed not to have fundamentally changed for many thousands of years. To this day, legends known to the humblest Indian recall the names of shadowy chieftains who lived nearly a thousand years before Christ, and the orthodox brāhman in his daily worship repeats hymns composed even earlier.1

In the words of Professor Piggott, this unparalleled continuity suggests, "the unchanging traditions of the temple" rather than "the secular instability of the court."2

What is implied by it is the fact that right from the Harappa period, India was reasonably theocratic in character, thus underpinning ground for bhakti (devotion) as an aesthetic sentiment to flourish. Bhakti has retained a thread from as early as the Harappa period (2500 – 1700 B.C.E.) and became a stand-alone force during Puranic tradition (4th century B.C.E. to about 1000 A.D.). It is for this reason that bhakti tradition is a good way to get a whirlwind tour of India as the bhakti movement is a miniature replica of Indian culture. The study of bhakti as a way to understand India is also thrilling because of its proven ability to have incorporated not absolute monotheism and sealed off irrationalism, but progressivism in varying aspects concerning human lives.

Corroborating claims of Bhakti as an aesthetic sentiment in the Harappan Culture

The larger operative area for this essay is bhakti, a unique anthropomorphic trait of humans. It becomes all the more difficult to compartmentalize bhakti coherently for the simple reason that it is a characteristic feature and innate psychological outpour of humans irrespective of civilization and time period. Anthropomorphism is an innate human trait. However, bhakti as an aesthetic sentiment can be argued to have existed right from the Harappan period, owing to the discovery of idols of human as well as animal figurines.

The ancient Indians who knew their subcontinent as Jambudvipa (the continent of the Jambu tree) or Bharatavarsa (the land of the sons of Bharat) had been practicing polytheism. The most striking deity of the Harappa culture is the horned god of the seals. God is depicted on three recovered specimens. In two of the seals he is seated in a yogic posture on a stool or platform-like structure, while in the third seal on the ground. His legs are drawn up close to the body and the two heels touch against each other. One can also see him adorned with bangles and other ornaments.

Most strikingly vivid of all, is the peculiar headdress, consisting of a pair of horns, which are emerging from his head, with a plant-like object between them. On the largest seal he is surrounded by four animals — an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, and a buffalo and beneath his stool are two deer. The animals, plant-like growth sprouting from the head, and the fact that he is ithyphallic, is reasonable ground to suggest that the figurine is a fertility god. F.O. Schrader claims that the image has small protuberances on the left and right sides, suggesting that the image doesn't signify any human. Sir John Marshall has called this god Proto-Shiva, which has a striking similarity with Pasupathi of later Hinduism. Pasupathi, a fertility god, is also mentioned as having three faces.

Many cone-shaped objects were also found in the Harappa excavation, representing the phallic emblem or linga. But most abundant of all icons was perhaps the icon of the Mother Goddess which was probably kept in every home. The Mother Goddess will reappear after a lapse of over one thousand years from the fall of Harappa. A few other figurines were found, one seemingly in a dancing posture may also constitute deities. Acknowledging a clear stream of continuity, A.L. Basham writes about the religion of Harappan people:

As far as we can reconstruct it from our fragmentary knowledge, the religion of the Harappa people had some features suggesting those characteristics of later Hinduism.3

Institutionalised Bhakti during the Vedic Tradition

The second relevant bracket for analysis of bhakti is the earliest Indian literary source we possess, i.e. the Vedas, most of which were composed in the second half of the 2nd millennium. Authorities such as Sir R. Mortimer Wheeler and John Marshall, who uphold the now contested Aryan Invasion Theory, consider that “the fall of Mohenjo-Daro was the beginning of a new episode in the movement of charioteering people who later changed the face of the civilized world.” For over one thousand years from the dissolution of Harappa (approximately 1600 B.C.), India is almost an archaeological vacuum, for there is little material evidence available to corroborate any claim, except for excavations of Hastinapur, the time of later Vedas (1000-700 B.C.)4

It is due to this reason that literary sources become important. And it is this next stop precisely i.e. Vedic literature that gives insight into the bhakti model of its time. If history is the study of the human past through literary sources and not solely through archaeological findings, then India's history starts with Vedic literature. Neither archaeological findings nor literary constructions on their own are absolute and foolproof signifiers to corroborate a claim and derive meanings of any age lost into oblivion.

The wisdom of Veda was carried forward by the meticulous memory of many generations of Brahmans as well as people other than Brahmans. For Vedas are not a particular heritage of one class or group. A lot of our knowledge of the religion of Vedic people comes from the 1028 hymns of Rig Veda, which is the oldest religious relic in the world and still has considerable significance in the life of a devotee. The Yajur Veda contains sacrificial codes in prose and verse to be performed by Adhvaryu. The Atharva Veda predominantly contains verses on magical spells and incantations. The Sama Veda is a continuation of Rig Veda for liturgical purposes.

Yagya is a vital part of the Vedic period, which etymologically springs from the root 'Yaj,' which has three implications – holiness (refined persona), collection and good cause (social assistance). The Yajur Veda (3/63) depicts Yagya as the best supporter of humankind, giving life, riches, food, energy, flourishing, and joy. In Yagya, there lies the key to accomplishing greatness throughout everyday life, it says. The model of bhakti in Vedic literature comes out as ritual-based devotion for materialistic gain. The priest or Brahman was the possessor of Brahma through this process of reciting the mantra and secondary word formation in Sanskrit. In the later Vedic period the connection of Brahman with speech became more articulate; this meant that common folk had little access to gods in an unmediated way, a scenario which would change in a big way during Puranic tradition.

During the end of the Vedic period, one begins to see a development towards a peculiar conception. Unlike the early Vedic ritualistic conception which holds bhakti as a means to gain material wealth, the later Vedic and Upanisads in particular, moved away, towards mystical identification of Gods.

One such important development was the emergence of Prajapati (the lord of Beings) at the end of the Rig Vedic period. Prajapati, at the end of the Vedic period, was thought of as a primeval man (Purusa) who existed before the foundation of the universe. The man was sacrificed to himself, by the gods. From the body of this divine sacrifice, the universe came into being. As is purported in the hymn, a new attitude to sacrifice has emerged, which appealed to the supernatural mystery. The priest mystically chanted the Primeval sacrifice, and the world was born anew. It was implied that without regular sacrifices, all cosmic processes would come to a halt, and chaos would prevail. This order of the world was determined not so much by the gods, but the priests, who maintained it. This amorphousness and mystical identification with bhakti would be articulated in colorful stories during the next period i.e. Puranic Tradition.

Bhakti as a democratising force during the Puranic Tradition

The next period in the evolution of bhakti begins during the Puranic tradition, the trademark of which was bhakti. Bhakti, as an aesthetic sentiment, is accessible to all as it does not require either the elaborate ritual of Vedas or illustrious cognitive skill to crack the complex philosophical core as found in Upanishads. As is true for any story whose central moment is its followability, not predictability, so does it hold for bhakti.

To understand a tellable, that is, a phenomenon with a storied or narrative structure, or both, requires that one master the technique of followability.5 The major proponent of this theory was Gallie who said that followability is a central feature of narratives. Gallie in a different context writes:

Even if our ability to follow a story is rooted in our emotional life, it is also an intellectual capacity. Some people excel in following and even creating stories while others do not, even though the latter might include those who excel in abstract, systematic studies. The paradigmatic mode of thinking is their thing, not the Narrative one.6

Bhakti was accessible to everyone and this is the chief reason why it progresses in a major way, encompassing not just a vast stretch of land or people, but also Gods. One sees a peculiar moment in Indian history where there is a spike in the syncretism of Gods. This assimilation of Vedic and Upanishadic gods with later gods of Mahabharata and Purana suggests the rise of Puranic tradition and bhakti as a resurging force that made assimilation possible. A.L. Basham also hints towards the union of tribal deities into the mainstream religion. Contrary to Vedas which were not accessible to all sections of the community, and Upanishads which were accessible to those already literate, this new literature (Puranas) was available to all, including men of ‘low caste’ and women. It is due to this reason that bhakti as a methodology was popularised amongst the masses and expanded to a comprehensive movement.

The elements of bhakti as an aesthetic sentiment can be traced back to as early as the Harappan period, but bhakti as a proselytizing tool wielded by a rapidly emerging religion crystallized only during the post-Mauryan and Gupta period. The Gupta period saw the emergence of Puranic tradition, which drew its philosophical core from the Vedas and yet maintained a distinctive thrust and approach.

Bhakti-movement as the largest socio-cultural movement spanned across the Indian subcontinent from the 6th century B.C.E. up until the 17th century. Its magnanimity is to be understood not only in terms of chronological and geographical span but also by taking note that bhakti-movement includes a diverse school of thought. Bhakti by its very nature is originally grounded in emotive experiences of various flavors. It can evoke a sense of transformed identity in which the devotee claims their ordinary state to be a drag, and instead soaks in a pool of either fear-based (folk bhakti), heart-based (emotional bhakti), nationalistic (political bhakti), or Universalist (Vedanta bhakti) devotional flavor. The spectacular rise of Puranic narrative can be ascribed to several strategic factors, some of which had an intrinsic origin in the rich philosophical and storytelling tradition of Vedas, while the others were extrinsic factors like socio-political developments in the Indian subcontinent. Bhakti was philosophically and poetically established not just in religious practices, but also as literary practices. It was readily accessible for those having a weak stomach, particularly its narrative of the childhood and youth of pastoral god Krishna and his play with Gopis.

Raso Vai Sah
[Rasa as Brahman or Truly the lord is Rasa]

(Taittiriya Upanisad, Anand Valli, 7.2)

References

1 Basham, A.L . The wonder that was India; a survey of the culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims. New York, Grove Press Inc. 1954.
2 Piggott, S. Prehistoric India. Harmondsworth, 1950, pp.155.
3 Basham, A.L. The wonder that was India; a survey of the culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims. New York, Grove Press, Inc. 1954, pp.22.
4 Lal. B.B. (4.10.1952) Illustrated London News. pp.55.
5 Gallie, William. Narrative and Historical Understanding. Roberts, Geoffrey (ed.) History and Narrative Reader. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2001, pp. 40-51.
6 Gallie, William. Philosophy and the Historical Understanding. New York. Shocken Books, 1968.