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Glite Dictionary
🕉️ Old Indian religion 🏛️ Caste-based dominance
Brahmanism

Brahmanism

1 9.9
An ancient Indian religious and social system based on the Vedas and led by Brahmin priests
  • noun
  • /ˈbrɑːmənɪzəm/
  • Specialized
: brahmanismo
  • Historically, Brahmanism laid the foundation for a complex social structure in ancient India.

Examples

  • Many rituals in Brahmanism are still observed in modern Hindu practices.

  • The ancient texts of India discuss Brahmanism as the religious and social system that influences Hinduism.

  • The closest parallel to Yahweh in ancient Brahmanism was Ishvara, a personification and penultimate expression of the absolute Brahman.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

Brahminism
vsBrahmanism
  • Indian
1 9.9

A religious and social system in Hinduism that gives Brahmin priests authority

is older and rooted directly in Vedic rites rather than a later orthodox form
Vedism
vsBrahmanism
  • Specialized
9.9

An ancient Indian religion that worships many gods and follows rituals in the Vedas

focuses more on priestly authority and social order than on ritual worship

Surface Forms

Brahmanism singular
Brahmanisms plural

Morphology

Brahmanism = Brahman (semi-transparent) = Brahman + ism

Formally 'Brahman' + '-ism' indicates a system or doctrine, but the specific historical social meaning tied to the Brahmin priesthood and Vedic practices requires cultural knowledge and may confuse learners who know only the metaphysical sense of 'Brahman'.

Etymology

Brahmanism comes from the ancient Indian word Brahman, which meant 'ultimate spirit', and from Brahmin, the name for the priest class who kept the Vedas. So Brahmanism originally named the old religious system led by those priests and is the ancestor of modern Hinduism.