hinduism

\ {{background{{

  • originated in the indus river valley
  • indus: from this word you get hindu, hindi
  • no common agreed upon structure, not everything is specific to every hindu
  • almost like a family of religions
  • 80% of indians are hindu
  • hinduism is more of an ethnic religion

{{the vedic age: aryan roots of hinduism{{

  • aryans move from central asia into india   * when they come in, they run into the dravidians   * dravidian speaking peoples sort of pushed south   * eventually aryans take a good portion of the area   * not nomadic people anymore, settle around the ganges   * develop their writing system - sanskrit     * what we know about the aryans is noted in the vedas       * vedas: not only religious scripture but also aryan history       * oldest veda: rig veda
  • development of gods   * gods sort of mirrored (zeus and indra)
  • ahimsa (non violence)   * in the past they believed in sacrifice   * not anymore
  • asceticism   * hoping to calm or placate an angry god by showing penance   * this develops into just discipline and body training     * yoga: remnant of early asceticism
  • aryanism/aryan religion   * “brahman” (brahmanism?)

{{the meaning of life: reincarnation{{

  • reincarnation   * belief that when you die, you reincarnate   * eventually you want to leave this cycle and join brahmin   * samsara

  • brahman - the great world soul   * people that are closer to moksha are brahmin   * what you have to do, the actions you have to take depend on your class or varna

  • dharma   * varna     * based on varna, you have what you’re supposed to do     * loosely translated into caste system - but that's not really it     * color associated with this as well       * aryans - lighter skin       * dravidians - darker skin       * varna means color       * this is are economic divisions and socioeconomic differences

cows!

  • were the sacred beast
  • big part of religion
  • cows might date back to harappan civilization
  • highest in the class system

{{hindu beliefs{{

  • 5 virtues   * purity   * non-violence
  • the pantheon:   * many indians see themselves as monotheistic as they believe that all these gods and goddesses are forms or reincarnations of that great world soul   * triumvirate- three powerful/main gods     * brahma (the creator)       * four arms, four heads       * not as commonly worshiped as the other two       * consort/wife: saraswati - goddess of knowledge and the arts     * vishnu (the preserver)       * blue       * consort/wife: lakshmi - goddess of wealth and prosperity         * incarnation of krishna and rama     * shiva (the destroyer)       * also blue       * you need the destroyer for the cycle of reincarnation       * consort/wife: parvati - incarnations of the divine mother - goddess of power and motherhood…also has some incarnations herself       * has a third eye, trident, snakes       * parvati - her other aspects         * durga

mother in a fierce way

overseer of seasons

  • kali

the master of death and time and change

dark blue or black

appeared over the anger of durga in order to slay demons

  • other gods!   * ganesha - god of intellect and the remover of obstacles     * elephant head     * son of shiva and parvati   * hanuman - monkey god who assists rama     * example of loving devotion to somebody     * becomes god of martial arts later
  • sacred writings   * the vedas     * 4 vedas     * originally passed orally until sanskrit was developed     * has like hymns recited at rituals   * the upanishads     * basically commentaries of the vedas   * two really important epics     * mahabharata       * very long poem       * describes in detail the war between cousins between the control of the kingdom a long time ago       * a morality tale about dharma and doing your duty         * most famous section: bhagavad gita

about krishna and arjuna

states values such as reincarnation and duty

  • ramayana   * about a legendary ruler named rama (incarnation of vishnu)   * banished from the kingdom and is forced to live as a hermit     * rama is basically perfect and sita is super loyal and the perfect counterpart     * good vs evil     * generosity over being selfish     * one of the heros is hanuman

puja: worship

  • in the aryan times, favored the priest class   * couldn’t really get moksha unless you reincarnated     * moksha is the release and becomes one w the great world soul
  • puja is usually a independent act
  • the temple in hinduism are for the gods and there are priests that go and attend to the gods   * not really a space for community gathering   * many would have like a shrine at home   * pilgrimage to the river ganga, which is really holy and will purify
  • bc there are so many gods and types of hinduism two popular holy days are:   * diwali     * light vs dark     * festival of light     * associated with lakshmi   * holi     * ancient     * celebrates lord vishnu     * spring festival
  • shiva nataraja: lord of the dance   * tandavam   * lots of symbols and etc present

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