Sacrifices, debates and new questions

The middle of the first millennium BCE was a turning point in world history. Thinkers emerged in many lands: Zarathustra in Iran, Kong Zi (Confucius) in China, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Greece, and Mahavira and the Buddha in India.

An older tradition was the Vedic sacrifice. The Rigveda contains hymns to gods such as Agni (fire), Indra (a warrior god) and Soma (a plant from which a special drink was made). They were chanted at sacrifices, where people prayed for cattle, sons, good health and long life.

Gradually, people began to ask deeper questions. The Upanishads explored the meaning of the self, the nature of ultimate reality, and what happens after death, including rebirth.

It was an age of lively debate. Buddhist texts mention 64 sects or schools of thought. Teachers travelled from place to place, debating in special huts called kutagarashala (huts with a pointed roof) or in groves; if a teacher won over a rival, the rival's followers might change sides.

Some ideas are known only from their opponents' texts: the Ajivikas (often called fatalists, who believed everything is predetermined) and the Lokayatas (materialists). The Buddha's own teachings, the Tipitaka, were compiled after his death. It was an age of questions.