REL1300 Midterm Study Guide Hinduism Key Terms Indus India Hindu the word India itself is derived from Sind the name of the region now what is called Pakistan of the river Sindhu Indus These three terms were given by the British colonizers of India in the 19th century To them Hinduism meant the religion of those Indians who were not Muslim but made up many other religions Harappa in 1926 excavations revealed the remains of several large towns on the banks of the Indus River Two of the towns one named Mohenjo Daro and the other Harappa were more than 480 kilometers apart but shared cultural and agricultural similarities despite the distance Historians believe that the towns were an existence by about 2750 BCE they also had a written language called hieroglyphics and the female figurines also played an important role in worship and development Indo European refers to the family of languages For example the Sanskrit word jnana is a cognate of the English word knowledge there are many other cognates that emphasize the paralleling grammatical structure of Indo European languages Vedas the earliest surviving Indo European composition they were composed around 1500 BCE and the Vedic rishis saw the mantras and transmitted them to their disciples establishing an oral tradition that is continued today o The Vedas are broken down into four collections with four parts each Hymns Rituals Works for the forest Upanishads The Rig Veda Hymn of Man is the earliest section that contains 1 028 hymns o Rig rex reges royal o An elite handbook o The Rig Veda shows ancient liturgical concerns sacrifice ritual rta chaos and harmony and soma o Mythological material Gods like the Greek Gods personalities Upanishads is a time of philosophical reflection that includes questioning and rejecting authoritarian structures Most of the Upanishads take the form of conversations between a teacher and a student between a husband or a wife or between fellow philosophers The Hymn of Man is a creation narrative and the sacrifice of the primordial man It is broken down into four parts of the body o Mouth Brahmins priests o Arms Kshatriyas warriors o Thighs Vaisyas common people o Feet Sudras servants The Upanishads gives us key concepts o Brahma a creator god and a minor deity o Brahman a Supreme Being o Atman a human soul o Caste system the origin of four classes varnas of Hindu society are traced to initial cosmic sacrifice o Karma the literal meaning is action especially ritual action but it is now referred to as a system of rewards and punishments attached to various actions o Samsara karma implies a continuing cycle of death and rebirth or reincarnation and to achieve liberation moksha from this cycle requires a transforming experiential wisdom o Puranas ancient stories it is a type of smrti The Ramayana is a source of inspiration for countless generations it is performed as theatre and as dance in places of Hindu cultural throughout many countries It is the story of Rama The hero of the Ramayana is the young prince Rama who is an exiled prince that performs his duties correctly Sita is Rama s wife and she is a paragon of virtue later stories were created about her as well Mahabharata is the longest poem in the world and it is a story of the great maha struggle among the descendants of a king named Bharata It is a popular segment of the Bhagavad Gita The main part of the story of the story concerns a war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas Among the supporters of the Pandavas is Krishna an avatara incarnation of the god Vishnu all persuasive one who is portrayed as coming to Earth in various forms animal and human to rid the world of evil and establish dharma and righteousness who is among the most beloved figures in Hinduism Though Krishna refuses to take up arms he agrees to serve as charioteer for the warrior Arjuna who is later seen as the human soul quest for salvation Arjuna becomes distressed at the thought of fighting his own kin and puts down his bow but Krishna believes it is best to continue to fight for what is right Krishna then instructs Arjuna to reach the human soul and go on liberation The Gita teaches loving devotion to Krishna and the importance of selfless action Three Ways of Liberation 1 Karma Yoga the way of action 2 Jana Yoga the way of knowledge 3 Bhakti Yoga the way of devotion Shiva emerged as a great god in the post Upanishad era Shiva expresses the manifold aspects of his power by appearing simultaneously in paradoxical roles as creator and destroyer exuberant dancer and austere yogi Destroyer of the worlds Kali the Goddess is fierce and wild a dark disheveled figure who wears a garland of skulls yet even in this manifestation her devotees call her mother Manu in one of the first incarnations avatars Vishnu appears as a fish that saves Manu the primeval man While bathing in the lake Manu finds a small fish in his hand The fish speaks to him and asks him to take him home and put him in a jar The next day the fish expanded to fill the jar now Manu asks the man to be put in a lake which he outgrows overnight Then into a river and ultimately the ocean The fish who is Vishnu then tell Manu that a great flood is coming and that he must build a boat and put his family on it along with the seven sages or rishis and the seed of the animals Manu does what he is told when the flood comes those on the ship survive Puja one of the most significant ways in which Hindus express their devotion to a deity or a spiritual teacher is through rituals performed in the home such worship is called puja like a bell Murtis deities in Hindu temples are treated like kings and queens they are translated into idols icons or objects to be worshipped and they are given ritual baths adorned carried in procession honored with all the marks of hospitality offered to royal guests They are also referred to as figures of gods Laws of Manu claims to be written by Manu and the fish Vishnu and it is a first century dharmashastra It claims that Vishnu the fish gave Manu the obligations dharma and there are four principal groups o Mouth Brahmins priests o Arms Kshatriyas warriors o Thighs Vaisyas common people o Feet Sudras servants Questions 1 Is Hinduism a singular religion No Hinduism is a rather diverse and all encompassing religion There is no single text person confessional statement or dogma for Hinduism The state definition is Not Christian Mu Parsi or Jew emphasizing an umbrella like religion that everyone can be a
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