Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

CRADLE OF RELIGIONS

The followers of Vishnu, Vaishnavites, and the followers of Shiva, Shaivites, constitute the two dominant sects of Hinduism. Within these sects there are smaller groups with their own vari- ations in belief. The Hindu social order is divided into four castes. When the Portuguese came to India in the 16th century they found the Hindu community divided into groups which they called “castas" meaning tribes or clans. The caste system began as a measure of self - protection by the Aryans who feared that assimilation with the dark skinned indigenous population of India, the Dasas, would lead to loss of identity. The Brahmins, the priestly class, constituted the top caste. Next came the Kshatriyas, the warriors and aristocracy. This was followed by the Vaishyas, the petty merchants and cultivators. The Dasas or those of mixed Aryan-Dasa origin made up the fourth caste, the Shudras. Below the Shudras and outside the caste sys- tem were the untouchables who performed very menial and dirty tasks. Unlike the Christian concept of immortality in which the soul is incarnated in a body only once the Hindus believe that the soul passes from one body to another with its new body and life being conditioned by its former behaviour (the theory of Karma). Buddhism which was to become the prevalent religion in Asia was founded by Gautama Buddha (the Enlightened One). He was born in a grove of sal trees called Lumbini near Kapilavastu in the Nepalese Terai in 566 B.C. and lived the life of a young prince until his 29th year when he left his family to become an ascetic. After leading an austere life for six years he began to meditate. On the 49th day he received enlightenment and understood the cause of suffering in the world. He preached his first Sermon at Sarnath (near Benaras) where he gathered his first five disciples. Buddha rejected caste. He also discouraged belief in the existence of a supreme God or creator of the universe. According to Buddhism there is a cosmological scheme which accounts for the existence of the world without the intervention of the creator. The Buddha's end came in a grove near Kusinagara at the age of 80 after an attack of dysentery. His last words were, "All composite things decay. Strive diligently." After the Buddha's death differences of opinion arose over the original teachings of the Buddha resulting in the. followers being divided into two main sects — Mahayana and Hinayana. Mahay- ana Buddhism became popular in India while Hinayana Buddhism went to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from where it spread to Burma, Thai- land and other parts of South-East Asia. Mahayana Buddhism was carried by Indian monks to China and from there to Japan but in India it lost its ground. The Buddha came to be regarded as an in- carnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, and Buddhism gradually lost its individuality. (In 1951 there were 2487 Buddhists in India. But subsequently there have been large-scale conversions of Scheduled Castes to

OVERVIEW "I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroas- trian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is everyday repeated by millions of human beings: 'As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.' Swami Vivekananda - At the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 11th September 1893 India is home to many religions. Four of them - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism — originated in India. Millions of followers of other religions — Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism- enjoy total religious freedom. Everyone in India has the fundamental right, according to the Constitution of India, to profess, practise and propagate any relig- ion without interference from the community or the state. There is no religious or denominational bar to the holding of public office. The majority of the people are Hindus. Hinduism, unlike the other religions of the world, is not a revealed religion. It was not founded by a historical personage as a result of a revelation. It evolved from a variety of cults and beliefs, some of which had a foundation in the Vedic religion of the Aryan settlers in India. The term Hinduism was given currency by the Arabs in the 8th century A.D., when referring to those who followed the prevailing religion of Shiva and Vishnu. The monotheistic philosophy of the Upan- ishads of the Aryans, with its concept of the Absolute or the Universal soul, led to the idea of the Trinity of gods with Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the god who eventually destroys the world when it becomes evil-ridden. Vishnu has manifested himself in various forms or avatars to save the world from evil. He is believed to have manifested himself in nine incarnations so far, the most important being that of Krishna who figures in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. The 10th and final incarnation is yet to come. Vishnu will come in the form of Kalkin, a man mounted on a white horse with a flaming sword in his hand who will punish the wicked, reward the good and restore the golden age. Shiva evolved from the Vedic god Rudra with whom merged elements of a non-Aryan fertility deity Murugan. The phallic symbol, lingam, is an important element of Shiva worship.