Winston wrote: ↑February 2nd, 2024, 1:46 pm
Is Vedanta a pure version of Hinduism? It's based on the Upanishads it says. What do you think?
I wouldn't say that Vedanta is a "pure" version of Hinduism even if there ever was such a thing.
In reality, Vedanta is simply one of various philosophical schools which grew out of the intense cosmological speculation and religious milieu of the time of the Upanishads (began roughly around 800 BCE), the others being Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa, etc. Samkhya is the oldest of the Astika philosophical schools and predates Vedanta by a good half a millennium.
Moreover, Vedanta isn't one coherent philosophy and in fact includes a lot of internal disagreement. Some Vedantists are Advaitins (non-dualists) who follow the lineage of Adi Shankara while others are Dvaitins (dualists). Vedantists can't agree on the nature of Brahman, Atman and Prakriti. Then there are some other more complex interpretations of Vedanta such as Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism). So I'd hardly describe Vedanta as a pure philosophy.
Then, in the history of Hinduism's development, there is an obvious discontinuity between the deeply philosophical and ethically conscious Upanishadic Hinduism and the earlier Vedic religion represented in the Rigveda. Most if not all of the refined teachings that we associate with Hinduism today such as the identity of Brahman and Atman, the cycle of samsara, karma and moksha originate from the Upanishads while the earlier Vedic religion proves to be a much cruder and less sophisticated form of religion centered around rituals and fire sacrifice and aimed at obtaining material blessings from the Devas and securing a favorable afterlife in the celestial realm. Early Vedic religion was significantly different to Upanishadic Hinduism.
However, even the Vedic religion isn't the oldest form of Hinduism. It is predated by the Harappan religion, which was the pre-Vedic religion of the Indus Valley civilization. Almost nothing is known about the Harappan religion due to absence of any decipherable script, but what has been found from that period thus far includes a Pashupati statue in a Yoga pose (possibly a proto-Shiva), an unknown goddess statue, and lingam and yoni artifacts. Curiously, the Harappan religion seems to have been quite egalitarian with an absence of sumptuous temples or priestly quarters, a far cry from the subsequent Vedic religion with its Brahminism and caste system.
In light of all of the above, Vedanta is nothing more than one philosophical school which emerged out of a relatively late and mature form of Hinduism -- that of the Upanishadic period --, which in turn constituted quite a radical development from the previous Vedic religion, with even the latter being possibly nothing more than an innovation of an even more ancient and still mostly unknown pre-Vedic religion. I hope that this answers your question.