CBSE Class 6 — Notes, Chapters & Practice Quizzes

Chapter 7: India's Cultural Roots

Summary

Indian culture is several millenniums old, like an ancient tree with many roots and branches that share a common trunk of values. Among its earliest roots are the Vedas — the Ṛig, Yajur, Sāma and Atharva Vedas — thousands of hymns composed by rishis and rishikas in early Sanskrit and passed down orally with great accuracy (UNESCO recognised Vedic chanting in 2008). Vedic society was organised in janas (clans). The Upaniṣhads introduced ideas such as rebirth, karma, ātman (the Self) and brahman (the one divine essence), forming the Vedanta and Yoga schools, the foundations of Hinduism. Other schools rejected the authority of the Vedas: Buddhism, founded by Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha), taught that ignorance and attachment cause suffering and stressed ahimsa and inner discipline; Jainism, taught by Mahāvīra, stressed ahimsa, anekāntavāda (many-sidedness of truth) and aparigraha (non-possession). Though different, these schools shared concepts like dharma, karma and rebirth. India also has rich folk and tribal traditions, transmitted orally, which have interacted with the major schools for millenniums, exchanging deities, legends and rituals, and regarding nature as sacred while often holding a concept of a supreme being.

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