All religions are based on certain core ideas and these ideas are mostly composed in a form of book so that the upcoming generation can have easy access to the idea of religion. In case of Islam these ideas are compiled in the Quran and in the case of Christianity in the Bible. Similar is the position of Hinduism, the Vedas are considered the guide of Hindu religion.
If we compare the present form of Hindu religion with that of the Vedic period, we find a lot of variation and the most important variation is the worship of the gods Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu in the form of idols. Some people believe that the present form of Hinduism is the outcome of the Puranic tradition and not the Vedic tradition. Now the question arises, how the rituals and sacrifices that were main features of Vedic tradition gave way to idol worship during the later ages?
For this let’s understand the system of Vedic gods. The Vedas mentions a lot of gods and all these gods has some hymns dedicated to them, these hymns were recited during the rituals specially during the fire rituals also known as Yajna. The most important god during the Vedic period was Indira, the god of rain, thunder and war. It was obvious for an agricultural society continuously involved in war to have Indira as the most important god. Lord Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti are also mentioned in the Vedas but not in the form as we know them today. Lord Vishnu was a subordinate god to Indra and was known for protecting the world and granting wishes. Lord Shiva was known as Rudra and was the god of storm and destruction. Devi Shakti is mentioned as Vak in Rig Veda, she is the goddess of creation and maintenance of cosmic order. In our last discussion we understood the fact that the political and economic conditions play an important role in religious beliefs and practices. Similar was the condition here as well, as Rig Vedic society was agricultural society and was frequently involved in war, Lord Indra emerged as the most important deity. Later with the separation of duties the grant of wishes, protection of family and status in society became the influential social factors and this led to the rise of lord Shiva, Shakti and Vishnu. But we still need to understand the introduction of idols in Hindu religion.
There are two important reasons for the introduction of idols in the Hindu religion. The first factor is the assimilation of local tribes in Hinduism. We all know that most of the tribes have their own personal gods and goddesses and many a time these gods are represented in various forms like idols, pictures and natural things like trees, mountains and stones. When these tribal groups became part of Hinduism their practices and ideas were also made part of Hindu religious activities.
Second reason is the development of puranic texts which introduced various personal gods through stories related to them, later these gods were given life like structures based on the idea given in the stories and this is the reason why many people call present form of Hinduism as Puranic Hinduism. It is very important to mention here that Hinduism is the only major religion that do not have a founder and it has developed with time and probably this is the reason that even after facing the foreign invasion for thousands of years Hinduism is not only alive but it has a lot of connecting features from ancient to modern period.
