Information on Hindu Religions in India

Religions in India - Hinduism

Hinduism, with its mega family of gods and goddesses, extends back at least three millennia. Like Buddhists, Hindus believe in reincarnation. Hindus also share the Buddhist goal: liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth and the attainment of nirvana. Hinduism also espouses a similar relationship between dharma (truth) and karma (action). If one fulfills one's as-signed duty and moral obligations to society, one will be rewarded iii the next life. Sacrifice is an essential part of dharma. An offering to a god blesses the worshipper in return. Sacrifice also calls for the relinquishment of one's individuality, which the Hindu believes frees the atman (universal consciousness) and allows the realization of nirvana. This theory explains the important ritual attached to cremation: The head of the deceased is ignited first to free the atman for the journey that will, it is hoped, end in heaven. Devout Hindus also practice yoga, which they consider an indispensable expression of faith. Yoga, which literally means "union," is a series of complex mental and physical exercises that rid the practitioner of all thought to experience a sense of detachment from the realities of the physical world. Strictures underlying dharma and karma also help to explain the tolerance of the caste system that divides all Hindus into four segregated rankings: Brahmans (priests), Ksatriyas (nobles and warriors), Vaisya (tradesmen), and Shudras (menial laborers). Panchamas (the filth), more commonly known as "Untouchables," fell outside the system, and now prefer to be called Dalits, or the "oppressed." A member of one of the castes who accidently touched a Panchama was considered polluted until he went through purification rites. 

To most Westerners, the caste system seems like fuel for revolution, but it was a complex way of ordering society. Still, for the lowest categories, the system was doubt-less very cruel. While it is said that they accepted their fate, seeing it as a direct result of their karma in previous births, poetry by lower-caste devotees from as early as the 12th century explicitly rejects caste. Centuries passed before the Untouchables found a way to come back from exclusion. The catalysts were Mahatma Gandhi and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit leader in India who was one of the principal authors of the Indian Constitution. Despite their frequent disagreements, Gandhi's and Ambedkar's efforts changed the way modern India (and the rest of the Hindu world) think about caste and saw to it that discrimination based on caste was legally abolished in 1947. Practically speaking, though, it still regulates much of Hindu behavior, such as marriage practices, despite matchmaking advertisements in major Indian newspapers that proclaim "Caste no bar.”

Hindu Temple

Sabha Mandapa - VII

As in Buddhism, the Hindu temple is filled with symbols of belief. Before the structure is built, a priest traces a mandato, which represents the cosmos, and determines the placement of all rooms and icons. The center of the temple, called the inner sanctum, represents the egg or womb from which all life originates. This is where the sacred deity resides. The vimana (spire) is directly over the inner sanctum. It draws the attention of the devout to the heavenly realm and its connection with the sacred deity. 

Many festivals take place in the temple's mandapa (a front porch that may be an elaborate pillared pavilion or a simple overhang). Devotees congregate in the mandapa until the deity is revealed. Water is the agent of purification. Ideally, a temple is constructed by a river or lake, but if no natural water source is available, a large tank is built with steps around it. Before the devout Hindu worships, he takes a ritual dip to rid himself of impurities. Daily worship—usually performed at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight—is imbued with sacred traditions. Ancient rituals combine into an elaborate pageantry, with a touching gentleness toward the god's idol. 

Hindu Pantheon

The Hindu pantheon is dominated by three gods—Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu—along with their numerous avatars (in-carnations). Brahma, the Creator of the World and the Progenitor of All Living Things, has four heads and four arms, each one holding sway over a quarter of the universe. The four heads also signify the four Vedas, the most sacred Hindu holy books, which put forth the concept of re-birth. Brahma is the god of wisdom; the rosary that he counts in one hand represents time, and his lotus seat represents the earth. Brahma's vehicle is the swan, a symbol of the freedom that comes with knowledge. His consort is Sarasvati, the goddess of learning. Unlike Shiva and Vishnu, Brahma has no avatars. 

Shiva is the God of Destruction—destruction that gives rise to creation, just as the seedling tears apart the seed. This is why Shiva is also called the God of Creation and Sexual Powers and is often worshiped in the form of a lingam (phallic symbol). Images of Shiva have distinctive elements, like the third eye in the middle of his forehead, the tiger skins wrapped around his loins, and the serpents coiled around his body. Shiva often carries a weapon, a trident, or bow, fashioned from a human skull. Cosmic Shiva, a common manifestation of Shiva, shows him as a dancer, with four hands poised and surrounded by a ring that represents the earth. Since one foot holds down Apasmara, the demon of ignorance, his dance ensures perpetual creation. His mount, Nandi, the sacred bull, usually guards the entrance to a Shiva temple. Priests who pray to Shiva have three horizontal stripes painted on their forehead. Vishnu priests have three vertical stripes. 

Shiva's consort is the most powerful Hindu goddess. With each avatar she assumes, her name and image change. When she is benevolent Parvati, wife of Shiva, she's beautiful. As Durga, the goddess of battle, she holds weapons of retribution in each of 10 hands. As Kali, the terrible black goddess who conquered time, she wears a necklace of skulls and dangles her red tongue. Devotees must appease her with sacrifices, formerly humans. Now, she accepts considerably less. 

Ganesh, Shiva and Parvati's son, is the popular god of wealth and good fortune. He has the head of an elephant because, one legend claims, Shiva, unaware he was a father, returned from a trip just after Parvati told Ganesh to guard the house while she slept. When Shiva approached, Ganesh blocked the entrance. Shiva lopped off his head. When he discovered Ganesh was his son, he ordered the servants into the forest to take the head of the first creature they saw—an elephant. 

The preserver of the universe, Vishnu, has nine known avatars; a 10th is prophesied. Each successive avatar reflects a step up the evolutionary cycle, beginning with the fish and moving up to the ninth, Buddha, accepted by the all-embracing Hindus as a figure within their own pantheon. Vishnu's most popular incarnations are Rama and Krishna, the sixth and seventh, respectively, who are the two gods embodying humanity. 

Vishnu appears with four arms that signify the four cardinal directions and his command over the realms they encompass. In one hand, he carries the lotus, the symbol of the universe. The conch shell held in a second hand represents the evolutionary nature of all existence. A wheel in the third hand refers to the rotation of the earth, with each spoke honoring a specific season of the year. In his fourth hand, Vishnu often holds a weapon to protect him from demons. A common image of Vishnu has him lying on a bed of coils formed by his serpent Ananta, who symbolizes time. Creation will begin when Vishnu wakes up. Vishnu has two consorts: Bhudevi, the goddess of earth, and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, who rose from the foam of the ocean like Venus. Lakshmi assumes a different name with each of Vishnu's avatars. When he's Rama, she's Sita; when he's Krishna, she's Radha.

Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, slew the 10-headed demon Ravana, who had kidnapped Sita. This episode, including her rescue by Hanuman, the monkey god and Rama's faithful servant, is celebrated at Dussehra, one of India's most festive holidays. Krishna, a central figure in another great Hindu epic, Mahabharata, is a playful boy god. He plays the flute, has a weakness for teasing young girls, and is colored blue. An embodiment of a human love that has the power to de-stroy all pain, Krishna represents the ideal man and lover. 

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