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Popular Culture Review
and ending the cycle of birth and death). The worldly and spiritual pursuits,
accordingly, call for proper behaviors, observance of prescribed rituals and
ceremonies, seeking of knowledge of self and God, and achieving soulliberation through faith, devotion, and surrender to the guru and the Supreme
Being.^
Historically, Bhakti has always been a part of popular Indian culture
and a preferred path for soul liberation. The roots of the Bhakti tradition are
ancient and go back to the times before the arrival of the Aiyans in about 2500
B.C. This has been evidenced through excavations in the Indus Valley
Civilization in India and Pakistan in 1921. Worship of various deities was
common in those days and was performed near sources of water, such as
riverbanks, bathing tanks, etc. Worship was more on an individual rather than a
collective basis. Homes were also important venues of practicing Bhakti, and
Bhakti occupied a prominent place in the lives of the people.^
With the arrival of the Aryans in about 2500 B.C., Yajnas^ and other
ritualistic practices became common to appease gods and earn their favors.
These practices assured for the practitioner luxmy and comfort in this life and a
place in the heaven after death. Bhakti tradition weakened somewhat during this
period under the pressure of new ritualistic practices. Popular Indian culture
changed, adopting Aryan practices. This trend continued for a long time, up to
the beginning of the Upanishadic period in 800 B.C. Vedas and Vedic practices
were being examined all along and Upanishads presented commentaries and
summaries of the Hindu philosophies and practices. Conceptions of Atman
(self). Brahman (formless God), and Ishvar (God with form) developed, and
soul-liberation (rather than an abode in the heaven) became a preferred goal of
the religious austerities and practices. As the knowledge-based spiritual path
{Jnand) became more popular. Brahmins gained tremendous power during this
period as a preeminent class, and elite culture flourished at the cost of popular
Indian culture. Classical and popular cultural traditions parted ways, and a gulf
emerged between them. Relative to the social and societal considerations,
common people became relatively insignificant and looked pale against the
preeminence and glamour of Brahmins.^
Between 600 and 500 B.C., atheistic, materialistic, naturalistic, and
heterodox philosophies developed. Examples were the Charvaka and other
Lokayata^® schools. Jainism, and Buddhism. The Charvaka School solely
emphasized materialism, naturalism, and living for material ends, away from
Vedic injimctions and practices. Jainism and Buddhism denied the authority of
the Vedas, advocated ]Z\