Hinduism: The Ancient Texts and Artistic Endeavors of India

“Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma ("eternal spiritual path") began about 4000 years ago in India. It was the religion of an ancient people known as the Aryans ("noble people") whose philosophy, religion, and customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas” (United Religions). Vedas are written in the ancient language of India, called Sanskrit. Vedas means “knowledge” or “sacred lore.” The Vedas gives great intelligence about the variety of Gods from the Vedic period, 2000 to 500 BCE (Molloy,78).

Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why

However, as the Aryans invade, Buddhism decreases in popularity and moves towards China. While Hindus believed in dharma, followers of Buddhism believed in karma. Unlike China, India’s had over a thousand Gods and their religious beliefs rather affected their political system. India didn’t have a complicated government. Instead, it had a caste system and encouraged religion, which made up for the lack of a strong central government and gained loyal civilians. Other than that, Classical India’s belief in reincarnation helped lessen the workload of the government, insuring that people would follow the rules, in order to be reincarnated of a equal or greater being, rather than a lesser one. In the end, India’s priorities were, religion and the their caste

Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, is the third largest religion in the world after Islam and Christianity with close to one billion followers. The followers of the religion are called Hindus and are mainly located in India, and their place of worship is a temple. The religion doesn’t have any one specific founder, however,

Hinduism and Buddhism are among the oldest traditions in the world. Incidentally, both traditions have their roots in India. Since their beginning, both traditions have co-existed peacefully and even spread beyond India in similar patterns. Most people have scattered information about the traditions and make assumptions that they are similar. However, they also have clear distinguishing features. This paper intends to study the similarities and contrasts between the two traditions in various contexts. First, the traditions will be compared and contrasted based on how they began. The development processes of both religions will then be contrasted. The paper will then discuss the similarities and differences between the two religions based on the social and the political roles they played.

Since the beginning of civilization many religions and cultures have come and gone. One of the few that has stood the test of time is Hinduism. Hinduisms base flourishes from the practical view of human life, belief in eternal truth and it’s ability to make small adaptations to it without compromising its core values. Hinduism is the oldest known religion in the world and also the third largest in the world. Most of its one billion followers live in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Even with its immense amount of followers and lengthy existence, many non followers are unaware of its history, beliefs, and practices.

In Chapter ten the history of Hinduism is discussed in America and India. Instead of illustrating the religious doctrines of Hinduism. The author lists statistics about the livelihoods of Asian Indians. For example, there are eighteen different official languages in India. As the author emphasizes that doctrines have nothing to do with Hinduism, but the actions that individuals commit. The orthodoxy is a set of responsibilities that Hindus must carry out. If they wish to be reincarnated into a higher caste. In addition, the origin of Hinduism is mentioned within the chapter. That Hinduism is the only major religion that does not have a founder and has no beginning as there is not a specific known date of when it originated. Moreover, Hinduism is the oldest major religion and is the only polytheistic faith among the five popular creeds.

In ancient India, there were multiple religions, but the two main ones were Buddhism and Hinduism. These two allowed the people to believe in specific philosophies, such as reincarnation in Hinduism, which persuaded people to believe that they could be born into another life. This level of hope made the citizens want to be more courteous and kind to others, so that they could be reborn higher on the scale. This additionally relates to karma in Hinduism, which is the idea that wrongful deeds lead to bad repercussions. During their daily lives, the Hindus had more motivation for life and had strong levels of optimism. In Buddhism, this is also seen through people wanting to achieve the state of Nirvana by performing good and respectable tasks in life. Each person wanted to act the best they could and have a high sense of the future, since they are the ones who are controlling

Throughout India's long and colorful history, there have been a considerable variety of groups who have left their mark on the land and its people. One of the most influential, however, were the Aryans. In fact, some of the Aryan customs still remain in modern-day India, such as cattle demanding great respect, which stems from the Aryan tradition of using such animals as currency (Chamberlain). The Aryans were mainly pastoral, relying on agriculture to survive (Bentley and Ziegler 94). They did not have any sort of writing system; instead, what is known about them is rooted in oral traditions.. This raises the question of religion. The Aryans believed in various gods and, accordingly, had songs, praises, hymns, and

Nachamada Roya Simon 250798336 RS 1023E World Religions Hinduism in India as a polytheistic Religion Is Hinduism a polytheistic or monotheistic religion? This question has lingered in the minds of many individuals and they have given their various thoughts about it. Some people believe that Hinduism is monotheistic because the Hindus believe that ultimately all is one, but looking at it from my point of view I am convinced that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion because they have a pantheon of gods and goddess for different purposes; they also have different sacred texts for various reasons for their different gods. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion because it has various gods for diverse purposes. To illustrate this concept, in the

In Chapter ten the history of Hinduism is discussed in America and India. Instead of illustrating the religious doctrines of Hinduism. The author lists statistics about the livelihoods of Asian Indians. For example, there are eighteen different official languages in India. As the author emphasizes that doctrines have nothing to do with Hinduism, but the actions that individuals commit. The orthodoxy is a set of responsibilities that Hindus must carry out. If they wish to be reincarnated into a higher caste. In addition, the origin of Hinduism is mentioned within the chapter. That Hinduism is the only major religion that does not have a founder and has no beginning as there is not a specific known date of when it originated. Moreover,

It is widely known that the Vedic Era was one of the most influential time periods in ancient history. This is largely due to how the composition of the Vedas was made during this time, which was an essential set of texts that greatly shaped Hinduism. This impact on Hinduism however would not been a success without Sanskrit. During this time Sanskrit was able to completely change the method of communication and along with having influence on the Vedas and Hinduism, Sanskrit, most likely arriving from outside of India encountered Ancient Asia, specifically during the beginning of the Vedic Era, became central to South Asian culture, language and religion by 500 BCE. Other influences of Sanskrit can be observed through culture, language, and belief systems.

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.

India is a very diverse country. It is located in the Asia continent and holds a population of over 1.2 billion people, making it the second largest populated country of the world. Its languages, religions, traditions and food are just an example of this assortment. The national languages for India are English and Hindi even though, “there are about 22 official languages and nearly 400 living languages spoken in various parts of the country” (Zimmermann, 2013). Throughout history, different types of religions have been practiced in India, today, most of its population practices Hindu. “84 percent — of the population identifies as Hindu” (Zimmermann, 2013). Which is believed to not be a religion, but a way of

One of the two main religions in India is Hinduism. It is also the world’s third largest religion with its followers being in the billions. Hinduism however was not founded by an entity or person, time, or book. There are many different beliefs and viewpoints that do not always line up with one another but it only those who practice Hinduism can understand and partake in these discussions. An article written by Christian Violatti explains that it is why such practices such as yoga or meditation is in many displays of Hinduism. These rituals do not exclaim that one practice is better than the other but it does include the gods of this religion however (Violatti 1).