I. Historical Period:

1. The Epic and Classical Periods (400 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.)

a. Indo-Aryan settlement into towns and cities on Gangetic plains

i. Absorbing indigenous religions

b. Mahabharata (and Bhagavad-Gita) (between 400 B.C.E. and 400 C.E.)

c. Ramayana (Between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E.)

d. Dharmashastras (treatises on dharma) – order, stability, refinement of society

i. Laws of Manu (manavadharmashastra)

1. Varnashramadharma = varna-ashrama-dharma

2. Elaboration of the concept of dharma in sacred laws

a. Dharma as structure, samsara as flow. Yugas, samsara (Cf. Manu 1.81-86)

b. Dharma < dhri, “to sustain” – against the perpetual flow, deterioration

3. Dharmashastras

a. Manu Smrti (200 BCE - 100 CE)

b. Two principle ideals: social life should be organized into well-regulated classes; individual life should have definite stages: varna, ashrama, dharma

II. Ashramadharma: Classical Formulation of the Life Cycle

4. Two Major Syntheses: Ashramadharma and the Bhagavadgita

a. Two principle ideals in the Laws of Manu: social life should be organized into well-regulated classes (varnas); individual life should definite stages (ashramas) = Varnashramadharma

a. The Four Ashramas:

i. Brahmacarya – studenthood. Study of Vedas. Lasting about 12 years after initiation (upanayana). Education in home of preceptor, ritual skills, in exchange for service to teacher. Terminates with marriage.

ii. Grhastya – householder. Devoted to enjoyment of life, duties of care for family, acquisition of artha. When cil are adults, temples graying.

iii. Vanaprasthya – life in the forest. Hand over worldly affairs to sons. With wife. Devote oneself to moksha.

iv. Sanyasa – world renunciation. Life of homeless ascetic, possesses nothing, desires nothing but liberation