The Role of Religion in Shaping Civilization free essay sample

After 10,000 BC by the invention of agriculture human race started to live together and social structure started to form but there was the need of some rules and regulation and some form belief system which will be abide by all people. That’s where religion becomes the principles and the only carrier of righteousness a total system of living system socially. And when human started to migrate all over the world and started to invent and discover many thing like wheel, foods, clothes and most importantly city and states and ultimately formed many civilizations. So with the religion human become civilized and it is true that every civilization of ancient and Middle Ages was more or less dependent on religion. We can see it in every civilization religion played an important role, from the valley of Indus to the rain forest of Maya also in Egypt, Rome, Greece and most importantly in Middle East. We will write a custom essay sample on The Role of Religion in Shaping Civilization or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After the early migration from the Africa, human stepped in the fertile land of India where life was very easy to live. So human started to live there and increased generation. In that ancient India human started to worship many natural resources and other things like water, fire, sun etc. which is today’s Hinduism. So worshiping many god and goddess was common in all Indian civilization. We can trace that in Beda, Upanishad and in many other prominent literatures of India. There were many cast system in Ganges Civilization period which shaped the city, political system, social system of that time. Many prominent religions were created in India like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikh and changed its pattern time to time. Architecture, Literature, Political system everything was related to religion. Sanskrit the mother language of many other languages in whole sub-continent mainly was the language of Brahmin priest and written form which was mainly used for various Mantras and Shloks for religious purposes only. The Taj Mahal a Masque like architectural master piece of middle age also piece of Islamic architectural pattern. Not only architecture in the time Mughal empire India the whole India was run under the rule of Mughal which was ultimately an Islamic constitution in whole India. So India is a major example of civilizations and religions and their relation in shaping each other. The same was in the civilization of Maya Modern Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and El Salvador. Mayan people started their civilization 5,000 years ago and from 200 to 900 AD was their classical age. In this high period Mayan people built many cities, established languages, built many architectural monument also in the field of knowledge they invented numerical system, math, medicine and most important was their knowledge of astrology and astronomy. But the most important thing about this peoples of rain forest that religious belief and its implication in the society. Almost in every aspect of society of Maya was bound with religion like politics, social life, astronomy, foods and architecture and many other things. Mayan political system was built with the mixture of religious system, and most of that were to dominant the people easily. Because illiterates peoples in the heart of forest was highly obliged with religion. So it was very easy for ruling class to control the mass people easily. In fact many kings of various states of Maya were priest king and it does indicate king ruled his people with religion. Social system was bounded with many rituals and practices, marital system were based on religion, and it was not only in Maya only in every civilization marital system was based on religion even today also. Mayan astrology was practiced in a religious way to please Gods or else. The temple of Sun in Chichen Itza, Belize was built aligned with the sun to please the sun god and every structure of Maya was related to Gods and goddesses or nature. So the Maya civilization was totally run on religious belief. Religion played a prominent role in shaping the Maya civilization. The role of religion in shaping civilization was very important. Today people’s identity is defined by the religion and world can be divided in parts by religion like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu etc. Rulers used religion to dominant, people used to live happily with each other that are how civilization grew and fall because of religion.