The Rabbit Hole
All records

06Dharmic

Hindu Traditions

Reality and cosmos expressed cyclically; varies enormously by school.

Architecture

Cyclic cosmos, self-doctrine varies

Open the circuit

Cyclic expression of cosmos. Lokas, beings, often Meru. Death changes embodiment. Self/ātman is school-dependent, so the inner socket is not one part.

  1. 01

    Cyclical reality

    Varies enormously by school. Not one agreed substance or single maker.

  2. 02

    Meru cosmos and lokas

    Mount Meru appears in cosmological traditions. Many realms.

  3. 03

    Devas, asuras, others

    A populated cosmos. Divine appearance in human form is common in narrative, not a single rule.

  4. 04

    Ātman / self (varies)

    The human inner architecture is not agreed across schools.

  5. 05

    Changed embodiment

    Rebirth is claimed. Its meaning — bondage, fruit, path — varies.

Time
Repeated cosmic cycles. Destruction and renewal as structure.
Agents
Devas, asuras, and many other beings; teachers and schools as knowing-path.
Human slot
A being in cyclic embodiment whose self-theory depends on the school — not a single socket.
Break
Ignorance, bondage to rebirth, or asura-conflict depending on stream — not one anti-God across the whole.

Recorded claims

An evidence label is shown only where the kind of source is already established. No label means unclassified. A label is not a judgment. Source Needed means no source is attached yet. It does not mean the claim is false, weak, or disproven.

  1. Origin / Reality

    Reality and cosmos expressed cyclically; varies enormously by school.

    Source Needed

  2. Human Nature

    Ātman/self concepts vary by school.

    Source Needed

  3. Death / Afterlife

    Death changes embodiment or state.

    Source Needed

  4. Rebirth

    Yes.

    Source Needed

  5. Other Beings

    Devas, asuras, and many other beings.

    Source Needed

  6. Other Realms

    Many lokas/realms.

    Source Needed

  7. World Structure / Axis

    Mount Meru in cosmological traditions.

    Source Needed

  8. Destruction / Reset

    Repeated cosmic cycles.

    Source Needed

  9. How Truth Is Known

    Scripture, philosophy, teachers, practice, direct realization.

    Source Needed
Sources & EvidenceShowNo source is attached yet. Source Needed is a research gap, not a judgment.

The tradition or source

What that source says. Not a scholar’s retelling, and not a SCARCE inference.

None attached.

A modern researcher

What a scholar or other modern writer says about the source. Not the source’s own words.

None attached.

SCARCE

What this project infers or sets beside the records. Not what the source said.

None attached.

Central sources

How we know

Where the evidence comes from, and how far it is from the people it describes. The labels are not a score. They do not rank traditions. A manuscript year, a tradition’s own claim, and a date from the ground are kept apart on the timeline.

The Vedas were carried orally. The oldest manuscripts of them are medieval, many centuries after any plausible date of composition. A few names of Vedic-like gods appear in a Mitanni treaty of about the 14th century BCE. That is a linguistic trace, not a Veda.

The tradition may be much older than the oldest manuscript. Scholarly dates for the Rigveda, often set in the second millennium BCE, are reconstructions, not colophons. Schools (Vedānta and others) are later and disagree. Do not treat a medieval copy, or a modern textbook, as the first utterance.

Original evidence → transmission / copy → translation / documentation → modern interpretation

  1. 01

    Original evidence

    Recorded oral tradition

    The earliest evidence for the hymns as texts is the oral tradition itself, which does not leave an autograph. No Vedic manuscript from the composition period survives.

  2. 02

    Transmission / copy

    Later copy of earlier text

    Surviving manuscripts are late copies. Epics and Purāṇas are further, later traditional texts, not the saṃhitās.

  3. 03

    Translation / documentation

    Modern scholarly reconstruction

    Modern translations depend on those late copies and on commentarial readings. A translation is not the recited Veda.

  4. 04

    Modern interpretation

    Modern scholarly reconstruction

    “Hinduism” as one religion is a modern umbrella over many schools. The chart’s cell says the accounts vary. That caution is required by the evidence, not added for style.

The twenty-one questions

Asked of every system. Gaps are recorded as gaps. Nothing here is filled in to make a pattern prettier.

  1. 01

    Where are we?

    In a cosmos expressed cyclically. Cosmological traditions often place Mount Meru at the axis; accounts vary enormously by school.

    Read every system on this question

  2. 02

    What is reality made of?

    Varies enormously by school. Reality is expressed cyclically; ontologies range across ātman, Brahman, prakṛti, and other accounts.

    Read every system on this question

  3. 03

    What is a human being?

    Accounts of ātman/self vary by school. The human is not a single agreed substance across the traditions.

    Read every system on this question

  4. 04

    What is consciousness?

    Varies by school. Self/ātman accounts range from a permanent self to other analyses; consciousness is not one agreed item across Hindu traditions.

    Read every system on this question

  5. 05

    Where did humanity come from?

    Varies enormously by school. Humanity belongs to a cyclically expressed cosmos rather than a single agreed origin tale.

    Read every system on this question

  6. 06

    What happens at death?

    Death changes embodiment or state.

    Read every system on this question

  7. 07

    Does consciousness return to embodiment?

    Yes.

    Read every system on this question

  8. 08

    Where is consciousness between lives?

    Death changes embodiment or state. A single between-lives geography is not agreed across schools in this record.

    Read every system on this question

  9. 09

    Are there nonhuman intelligent beings?

    Yes. Devas, asuras, and many other beings.

    Read every system on this question

  10. 10

    Can those beings become human or appear human?

    Devas, asuras, and many other beings populate the cosmos. Divine descent and appearance in human form are prominent in many narratives, but schools differ.

    Read every system on this question

  11. 11

    Are there multiple realms or worlds?

    Many lokas/realms.

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  12. 12

    Is there a central mountain, tree, pillar, axis, heart, or sacred center?

    Mount Meru appears in cosmological traditions.

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  13. 13

    Is the world itself alive?

    Varies by school. A living cosmic order is available in some streams; it is not a single Hindu doctrine in this chart.

    Read every system on this question

  14. 14

    Has civilization or the world been destroyed or reset before?

    Repeated cosmic cycles — destruction and renewal as structure, not a single end.

    Read every system on this question

  15. 15

    Does history operate linearly or cyclically?

    Cyclical. Repeated cosmic cycles.

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  16. 16

    Is there an opposing positive/negative force?

    Devas and asuras appear as opposing classes in many narratives. This is not identical to a single cosmic dualism across all schools.

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  17. 17

    What is humanity supposed to become?

    Varies by school: realization of ātman/Brahman, right action, liberation from rebirth, or other ends. There is no single “supposed to become.”

    Read every system on this question

  18. 18

    Is reincarnation a destination, punishment, school, growth process, or something else?

    Yes, rebirth is claimed. Its meaning varies by school — bondage, fruit of action, a field of dharma, or a path toward liberation — not one agreed function.

    Read every system on this question

  19. 19

    What lies beyond the visible world?

    Many lokas/realms; devas, asuras, and many other beings.

    Read every system on this question

  20. 20

    How does this tradition claim humans can know any of this?

    Scripture, philosophy, teachers, practice, direct realization.

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  21. 21

    Does the structure or motion of the heavens correspond to events, conditions, or consciousness within the human realm?

    Jyotiṣa is a major Indian stream in which celestial pattern and human life are read together. It is not identical with every Hindu school’s metaphysics.

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  22. 22

    Why did humanity forget?

    Not recorded in this chart.

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Structures where this record appears