BESIDES India’s mythological literature as contained in Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Panchtantra, Jatakas etc, there is that great sphere of Indian life and letters which only ancient philosophical literature enables us to reconstruct. Ancient Indian philosophy derives its fundamental character from the ideals associated with the spiritual outlook of India. Their character is essentially religious, which is doubtless due to the nature and the attitude of the Indian people.
Their religiosity is also due to the fact that almost the whole corpus of ancient philosophical writings, except those of heterodox sects, proceed from priestly circles and bear their impress. At the same time, through these streams of ancient Indian literature – essentially mingled not only with religion but with the way of society, schools of thought, and much more – one reaches the Indian soul, even in a depth in which ontological and existential ‘constructs’ of action and inaction, of good and bad, of virtue and vice, and much more are conceptualised and explained.
Most ancient phase
Indian philosophy begins in its most ancient phase consisting of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Arayanks, Upanishads, Sutras, Shrutis and Shastras. The Vedas are the earliest works composed prior to their compilation, being directed towards the sacred and interpreted with commentaries by Brahmanic priesthood. They are from before the Greek or Israelite or Egyptian works, representing the earliest extant documents of the human mind. They are not merely a revealed scripture, but the unfolding of the human mind in earliest stages of thought – a collection of existing knowledge of the day, a medley of hymns & prayers to deities, rituals for sacrifice & magic, and nature poetry.
The first of the four Vedas, the Rigveda (others being Sama, Yajur, Atharva), reveals the first outpourings of the human mind, the glow of poetry and rapture at nature’s loveliness and mystery – a compendium of old legends, epical chants and incantations, all adapted to sacrifice and consecrated by tradition. Vedic hymns and prayers are a poetic testament of a people’s collective reaction to the wonder and awe of existence. In Vedic philosophy is the genesis of that civilisation and culture which flowered in India. Rabindranath Tagore’s remarks are very apt: from these dim beginnings of long ago flow the rivers of Indian thought and philosophy, of Indian life and culture and literature.
Indo-Aryan thought
The second stage in the evolution of ancient philosophy begins around 800 BC with the composition of Upanishads which go a step further in the development of Indo-Aryan thought. Although for the most part formed outside priestly circles, there is no break with the past, which is rather taken as a starting-point for further progress. The Upanishads are instinct with a spirit of inquiry, of mental adventure, of a passion for finding out the truth about things.
Their unique quality is an earnest sincerity of tone, as of friends conferring on matters of deep concern. The approach to a problem is by way of catechism, with its vigour of thought, the questioning, and the rationalistic background. They discourage interest in magic and supernatural knowledge & rituals & ceremonies.
The crux of the Upanishads is dependence on truth: Truth wins over (Satyamev Jayate), not falsehood. With truth is paved the road to the Divine. Their yearning is for light and understanding, knowledge and enlightenment: a journey from unreal to real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. In Aitereya Brahmana, the hymn about this endless journey ends with the refrain: charaiveti, charaiveti (march along, march along). Upanishads typically emphasize self-realisation, or knowledge of individual self and absolute self, both being the same in essence (monism).
