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Course: Asian Art Museum > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Hinduism- Roots of Hinduism
- Beliefs of Hinduism
- Hinduism and the practice of faith
- Hindu temples
- Principal texts of Hinduism
- Principal deities of Hinduism
- The Hindu deity Shiva
- Hindu deity Shiva as destroyer of the three cities of the demons
- Hindu Deity Shiva in the Fierce form of Bhairava
- Hindu deity Vishnu
- The Hindu deities Vishnu and Krishna
- The Hindu deity Vishnu in the form of the man-lion Narasimha
- Festival of the Goddess Durga
- Hindu deity Durga victorious over the buffalo demon
- The Hindu deity Ganesha
- Brahmani
- Varanasi: sacred city
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Roots of Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions. It has complex roots, and involves a vast array of practices and a host of deities. Its plethora of forms and beliefs reflects the tremendous diversity of India, where most of its one billion followers reside. Hinduism is more than a religion. It is a culture, a way of life, and a code of behavior. This is reflected in a term Indians use to describe the Hindu religion: Sanatana Dharma, which means eternal faith, or the eternal way things are (truth).
The word Hinduism derives from a Persian term denoting the inhabitants of the land beyond the Indus, a river in present-day Pakistan. By the early nineteenth century the term had entered popular English usage to describe the predominant religious traditions of South Asia, and it is now used by Hindus themselves. Hindu beliefs and practices are enormously diverse, varying over time and among individuals, communities, and regional areas.
Unlike Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism, Hinduism has no historical founder. Its authority rests instead upon a large body of sacred texts that provide Hindus with rules governing rituals, worship, pilgrimage, and daily activities, among many other things. Although the oldest of these texts may date back four thousand years, the earliest surviving Hindu images and temples were created some two thousand years later.
What are the roots of Hinduism?
Hinduism developed over many centuries from a variety of sources: cultural practices, sacred texts, and philosophical movements, as well as local popular beliefs. The combination of these factors is what accounts for the varied and diverse nature of Hindu practices and beliefs. Hinduism developed from several sources:
Prehistoric and Neolithic culture, which left material evidence including abundant rock and cave paintings of bulls and cows, indicating an early interest in the sacred nature of these animals.
The Indus Valley civilization, located in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India, which flourished between approximately 2500 and 1700 B.C.E., and persisted with some regional presence as late as 800 B.C.E. The civilization reached its high point in the cities of Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro. Although the physical remains of these large urban complexes have not produced a great deal of explicit religious imagery, archaeologists have recovered some intriguing items, including an abundance of seals depicting bulls, among these a few exceptional examples illustrating figures seated in yogic positions; terracotta female figures that suggest fertility; and small anthropomorphic sculptures made of stone and bronze. Material evidence found at these sites also includes prototypes of stone linga (phallic emblems of the Hindu god Shiva). Later textual sources assert that indigenous peoples of this area engaged in linga worship.
According to recent theories, Indus Valley peoples migrated to the Gangetic region of India and blended with indigenous cultures, after the decline of civilization in the Indus Valley. A separate group of Indo-European speaking people migrated to the subcontinent from West Asia. These peoples brought with them ritual life including fire sacrifices presided over by priests, and a set of hymns and poems collectively known as the Vedas.
The indigenous beliefs of the pre-Vedic peoples of the subcontinent of India encompassed a variety of local practices based on agrarian fertility cults and local nature spirits. Vedic writings refer to the worship of images, tutelary divinities, and the phallus.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why do they have no founder? There has to be someone who made up all those beliefs!(4 votes)
- we have no named founder because our religion dates back much too old so no one knows from where it originated.(11 votes)
- That four-faced linga in the photo is meant to be a phallic representation of Shiva? It doesn't seem very...phallic...to me. Or am I missing something?
EDIT: Found an answer to my question. The photo shows only a fragment. A more complete four-faced linga looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingam#/media/File:Nepalese_stone_linga_SF_Asian_Art_Museum.JPG(4 votes)- actually the 1st photo was not a fragment. it was a complete linga. the four faced linga was basically a artistic sculpture and shiva lingas are like the first pic(2 votes)
- How long did that masterpiece take to sculpt(3 votes)
- Who created the religion?(1 vote)
- its a way of living that originated revolving around the culture and beliefs of people(3 votes)
- What is the Gangetic region?(2 votes)
- what is going on in the citie of harrapa(2 votes)
- Are there any religions that are older than hinduism?(1 vote)
- Definitely, but they are all extinct. Hinduism is the oldest religion that still exists.(3 votes)
- so they believed in god too but right now india believes in someone different(1 vote)
- The majority of India is Hindu and still believes in God.(3 votes)
- weren't aryans also said to be the founders of Hinduism?(1 vote)
- It is very much a theory of the Aryan invasion. The founder of this theory said in his diary that he made this group of people called Aryans. There is no yet proof. It is known that Hinduism was founded by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization and the Vedic Civilization.(3 votes)
- Again, "A separate group of Indo-European speaking people migrated to the subcontinent from West Asia" is unclear.
In Rig Veda, There are hymns about a battle known as "Battle of Ten Kings" where each king comes from a separate tribe. The wikipedia page mentions the parsu tribe from persia. Other than that, all the other tribes come from Indian Subcontinent. The battle was won by King of Sudas tribe in modern punjab.
Max Mueller, German Indologist appropriated and manipulated ancient Hindu texts by introducing fictitous account of Europeans conquering India. On one hand, I would say he single handedly laid the foundation for World War 1 by creating a fictitous propaganda of Aryan superiority owing to his inferioriy complex.(2 votes)