ABSTRACT
With the spread of Aryan culture over the whole of India, Vedic religion could establish itself as the most prestigious superstructure for most of the social groups affected by it. But at the same time, during this expansion an enormous range of other forms of religion was encountered, which in turn stimulated new syntheses of a staggering variety. It is not easy to survey or order this mass of material. That the global title of ‘Hinduism’ has been given to it must be regarded as an act of pure despair. In the context of the present survey of the Indian religions, three major aspects may be distinguished very tentatively: popular theism, sophisticated systematisations and esoteric and antinomian movements. The present section attempts to explore the first aspect, whilst the remaining two will be dealt with further below. Because this popular theism has found its primary textual expression in the genre of the Purāṇas, and on a more limited scale in the Epics, it may be referred to as epic-purāṇic religion. Since the literary situation is particularly complex, it appears justified to deal with it separately at the beginning. This is followed by a discussion of the typically epic-purāṇic gods and also of the emergence of a God-concept. A third section will look at typical modes of expressing devotion to these divine beings, and at the ‘Hindu’ religious life generally.
