Good answers Willy! Comments interwoven. On Jul 12, 2009, at 10:21 AM, WillyTex wrote:
4. What, if any, defines its architecture? Give examples. The Vedic culture was agrarian in nature and pastoral, charactrerized by the herding of cattle. They lived in small villages along rivers such as the Indus, Yamuna, Ganga, and Saraswati. The Vedics during this time didn't have any temples or architecture. The oldest example of edifice architecture in India is the Lomas Rishi Cave in Barabar. Read more: Barabar Caves: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barabar_Caves 5. Please name 10 sculptural examples and/or artworks that could define their main art/religious icons. Please name 10 other sculptural examples and/or artworks that you consider to be mistakenly attributed to Vedic culture. There are no sculptural or art examples from the Vedic period. The Vedic culture may be evidenced by the Ochre Coloured Pottery Culture and the Ghandara Grave Culture. The 'Buddha' statue came much later, after the invasion by Darius. 'The Art and Architecture of India' By Benjamin Rowley Penguin, 1953
The aberration coined "Sthapatya-veda is actually a recasting of indigenous Shaivite vastu and later re-appropriated indigenous building traditions.
6. In which period precisely do you place Vedic culture? The Vedic period was during the later part of the Iron Age. Some scholars place the Vedic period in the second and first millennia BCE, and continuing up to the 6th century BCE, up to the time of the historical Buddha. This is based almost totally on literary evidence. The Rig Vedic society share many characteristics with the early Iranians and Mittani cultures. Read more: Vedic Period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_period 7. In which region(s) do you place it? The Vedic culture apparently centered in the northern and northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It stretched from Ghandara to Anga, from the Himalayas down to the Vindhya. 8. Do they use astrology and if so what was it called, and what defines it from other forms of astrology in the region? Astrology came much later during the late Vedic period and the Gupta period.
Actually this is another example of Vedic Brahmins re-appropriating and recasting earlier traditions as part of an attempt to fashion a mythical Vedism. The same with Ayurveda and other "upa-vedas", all are derived from earlier upa-agamas, not the vedas.
