Gods, rituals and religious ideas: An exploration of the Avesta and the R. gveda

This article seeks to study the earliest textual traditions in the Iranian and Indian contexts in a comparative perspective. It focuses on certain key ideas such as heaven and hell, as reflected (or their absence, as the case might be) in the Avesta and ？g Veda, to expose the cultural distinctiveness that the religions may reveal.1 Both of these texts are understood to belong to the same time periods, and there is much in the language cultures that suggest common origins. However, it appears that some earlier ideas, specifically in the Proto-Iranian context, may have affected the religious orientation and ritual beliefs of the people in the region. By focusing on these indicators of cultural variance and adaptation, this article seeks to trace the evolution of specific forms of language cultures, where the shared linguistic affinities are not supported by other cultural traits.