Vedism
Vedism denotes the religious life and ritual culture of the Vedic period in ancient India. It describes the beliefs, practices, and social institutions centered on the Vedas, the oldest surviving sacred texts of the Indo-Aryan milieu. In scholarly usage, Vedism is often treated as the pre-Upanishadic form of what would later develop into Hinduism, distinguished by its emphasis on sacrificial ritual and liturgical recitation.
The core scriptures are the four Vedas—Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda—compiled in Vedic Sanskrit and organized
Vedism centers on yajna, or ritual sacrifice, conducted by specialized priests (hotar, adhvaryu, udgātṛ) and attended
The Vedic corpus reflects a broad pantheon and a recurrent emphasis on cosmic order (rita), divine justice,
In the late Vedic period, new ideas in the Upanishadic layer begin to move beyond exclusive ritualism