Encyclopedia of Sanatan Dharma: Society, Politics, Militia, Rituals, and Philosophy of Vedic Civilization

Sanatan Dharma Encyclopedia: Guide to Vedic Civilization and Dharmic Traditions

The Dharmic Tradition

Traditions associated with Dharma generally operated as comprehensive systems encompassing ethics, law, ritual, philosophy, social duty, and cosmic order. Rather than existing as a compartmentalized “religion,” Dharma functioned as an all-encompassing framework connecting individual conduct and social life. Within this broad civilizational context emerged traditions such as Gautama Buddha’s Astanga Path (मार्ग), Jaina Path (मार्ग), Saiva Path (मार्ग), Vaishnava Path (मार्ग), and Sakta Path (मार्ग) etc. (See Invention of Religion by Christians in 350 CE)

Between c. 650–550 BCE, the Bhagavad Gita assumed much of its present form and was incorporated into the Mahabharata, synthesizing philosophy, ethics, duty (dharma), and devotion (bhakti) into a unified framework. Within the broader civilizational continuum of Greater Sanatana Dharma and the Neo-Vedic cultural sphere, often dated between c. 4500 and 600 BCE, the Bhagavad Gita may be regarded as one of the earliest and most influential textual articulations of Hindu Dharma. Its teachings integrated metaphysical inquiry, moral responsibility, social order, and spiritual practice, establishing a foundational reference point for later Hindu philosophical and devotional traditions. (See Hindu Indian Chronology)