Brahmanism

Brahmanism was the dominant religion in India during the time in which the Buddha taught. According to modern scholars, it was largely as a reaction to Brahman orthodoxy that religions such as Buddhism and Jainism were formed.

Brahmanism emerged in post-Vedic India (c.900 BCE) under the influence of the dominant priesthood (Brahmans).

Encyclopedia Britannica states:

In the early 1st millennium BCE, Brahmanism emphasized the rites performed by, and the status of, the Brahman, or priestly, class as well as speculation about brahman (the Absolute reality) as theorized in the Upanishads (speculative philosophical texts that are considered to be part of the Vedas, or scriptures). In contrast, the form of Hinduism that emerged after the mid-1st millennium BCE stressed devotion (bhakti) to particular deities such as Shiva and Vishnu.

During the 19th century, the first Western scholars of religion to study Brahmanism employed the term in reference to both the predominant position of the Brahmans and the importance given to brahman (the Sanskrit terms corresponding to Brahman and brahman are etymologically linked). Those and subsequent scholars depicted Brahmanism either as a historical stage in Hinduism’s evolution or as a distinct religious tradition. However, among practicing Hindus, especially within India, Brahmanism is generally viewed as a part of their tradition rather than as a separate religion.

Sources

• Harvey, Peter (2013), An Introduction to Buddhism (Second ed.), Cambridge University Press 

Further reading

• Harvey, Peter (2013), An Introduction to Buddhism (Second ed.), Cambridge University Press , Chapter 1