What is Hinduism? 
Hinduism
is one of the eight main religions. Hinduism is religion that was made
up of a lot of different religions. Hinduism is the main religion of India.
Hindu is the main language of India. The elephant god is the most popular
god. Most people pray to him because he brings them good fortune and he
helps other people. The elephant god is the son of Parvarti and Shiva.
Shiva is the god of dance. The name Hinduism is a European invented name.
The
clothing that Indian women wore was called saris. Vedas are the oldest
Hindu scriptures said when the Indians said their prayers in the temples.
In the temples the Indians dance to Shiva, the lord of dance. The men wore
cloth like clothing. The clothing was a short-sleeved shirt or a long sleeved
shirt with pants that didn’t have pockets. When somebody died they would
cremate him or her. Cremation is when once the person has died they would
put them into a fire and them the ashes were collected. After that the
relatives would get the ashes and they could put them where ever they wanted.
They did this because they thought that the person would be close to the
world. For example, if someone liked to be close to the ocean then the
family would sprinkle the ashes into the ocean. This letting the person
that died is close to what they like, or possibly love. The person in there
after life is thought that if they were bad then they would become in their
second life. If they were bad then they would become something like a beetle
or an animal that nobody likes. If the person was good in their 1st life
they would become something like a well-treated dog or an animal that everybody,
or most people like.
The
Indians also believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is the cycle of rebirth.
Karma is action, thoughts, and words. Moksha is the spiritual perfection.
When a woman is married henna is painted on their hands, feet, and face.
The henna is almost like body paint. It is usually a brownish, tanish color.
The designs are different things. Some of the pictures are of flowers and
plants or other pictures.
The most
famous god is called Krishna. Krishna is known for teasing and tricks.
They believe that when he was a boy he used to trick girls when they went
swimming he would take their clothing and then they would chase him without
clothing on.
The
main religious life is at there houses. They would bathe in holy water
as they prayers. At the age of 12 boys have scarred rope tied around there
neck. As babies boys and girls had their heads shaved and the Aum symbol
was painted on there tongues with honey. October through November is the
festival of lights.
People
carry carts full of religious figures, and they carry them around most
of the time. Rajahs were hereditary rulers. They were like Indian kings.
The priests preformed many important tasks. They preformed the shrauta
using Agni, the fire god. If people are bad, in there second life “Karmic
price” will come and perform evil deeds to haunt them. Even poor people
that didn’t eat would sacrifice their lives just so that they could give
food to their god. Every home has a corner in it that is used for doing
their everyday prayers that they don’t need to go to a temple for.
Hinduism
is the most popular religion in the whole community of India. Hinduism
is still a popular religion today. Many Indians today use this religion,
but not all Indians have this religion. Gandhi is a great leader to all
people even non-Indians. Most Indians are very, very thankful that he got
his point across and then the Indians eventually were treated the same
way as white people. Now everybody is treated the same way. It used to
be that you were treated differently because of your religion. Gandhi used
nonviolence to get his point across.
