Religions of South Asia

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Religions of South Asia
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Do Now

• Write (2 paragraphs -gt 1 page) a letter to
  someone who has never even heard of your faith
  (or one you are familiar with) describe in
  detail the tenets of your faith.

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Beginnings

• Religious beliefs have foundation in early Indus
  Valley Civilization Aryan culture
• 1st prayers were memorized by priest passed on
  by oral tradition (priests therefore highly
  valued in society)
• Later Sanskrit dev- early Aryan written lang.
• Mod langs of Ind rooted in Sanskrit
• Polytheistic
• Indra most important god of war. Had human
  characteristics. Made world from dead body
  (foundation for idea that body was not YOU)
• Varuna strict figure governed univ punished
  sinners
• Myths of their lives power found in the Vedas

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• Epic Age (900-500 BCE)
• Period of cultural growth societal change
• Aryans spread across Indo-Gangetic Plain
• Est. villages became farmers herders
• Ppl measured wealth in terms of cattle
• Vedas compares cows to Earth rain cows milk
  Sun calf
• Cattle eventually are replaced by copper coins as
  
• Rajahs (hereditary chiefs/princes) rule villages.
  Hold great pwr are only ppl able to make
  sacrifices to gods
• Divide ppl into 4 social classes called varna-
  becomes basis for caste system
• Base for Hindu religion emerges through the Epics

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Origins of Hinduism

• Epic Period named b/c 2 epics written during this
  time. Both are relig texts in Hinduism
• 1) Mahabharata
• the worlds longest poem about war btw 2 Aryan
  families who fought to control kingdom. (cousins)
• Maha great. Mahabharata great history of
  mankind.
• The Bhagavad-Gita is a part of the poem-
• About performing your duty (role) in life w/out
  emotion- idea is central to Hinduism
• Dialogue btw the warrior Arjuna the deity,
  Krishna. Arjunas role in life is a warrior but
  he has to fight family should he???
• Moral actions should be done b/c they are right
  for god (be selfless motiveless). Souls are
  eternal (only killing a body)

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• 2) Ramayana
• About Prince Rama his wife Sita
• Rama is human doesnt know that he is the
  incarnation of the god Vishnu (7th)
• Exiled by stepmom. Sita gets stolen by demon
  king Rama fights for her
• Sita is always faithful. Rama is always brave
• Return victorious to homeland
• Happy ending moral tells role of good man
  good woman
• 4 sacred books total
• Mahabharata Ramayana - sacred in teachings
• Vedas- sacred in sacrifice (earliest text)
• Upanishads- sacred in philosophy

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Tenets

• Hindus believe that every living thing has a soul
  that is part of the Brahman (universal spirit)
• nameless, formless unlimited
• Why many are vegetarians
• Your soul atman- when body dies, atman is
  reborn/ reincarnated
• This cycle of life death samsara
• What you will be reincarnated as is determined by
  your karma- the energy you create by doing good
  deeds/actions. You are creating your next destiny
• dharma your duty in life. You must fulfill your
  duty/dharma to get good karma to proceed to the
  next level
• Purpose is spiritual progress. Goal is moksha
  freedom from cycle of life death.
• Atman is permanently united with Brahman for
  eternity
• body is cremated (ideally along Ganges) to free
  atman--- body is only a vehicle for your soul

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Reincarnation
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• Hindus have as many as 300,000 deities. No one
  worships all of them. Rather they are ways to
  understand the Brahman which is nameless,
  formless unlimited
• (The Inuit have forty-eight different names for
  snow in their language because they know snow
  intimately in its different variations, not
  because they are ignorant of the fact that all
  snow is only one.)
• The 3 most popular gods are
• Brahma the creator of the universe
• Vishnu the preserver of the universe
• Shiva the destroyer of the universe (but not
  bad- destroy so it can be recreated)
• A Cycle!!! Together they are the Hindu Trinity!
• The many different deities of Hinduism reflect
  such an intimate realization of the Divine on
  various levels.

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• The many deities of Hinduism, which may be seen
  as reflecting different aspects of Brahman, are
  represented by images.
• The images helped to tell the religious epics
  their morals to the population (who was vastly
  illiterate)
• The images help make distinctions btw humans and
  the divine.
• The gods are not human humans cannot fully know
  a god therefore, they cannot look human.
• The images also make distinctions so that ppl can
  tell the gods apart.

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• Features such as posture, dress, multiple arms
  and symbolic objects are used to represent each
  deity.
• there may be a range of different ways of
  representing a particular deity, particularly
  when the deity is seen to represent several
  different qualities. In some cases, symbols are
  used to show that a deity belongs to a particular
  'family', e.g. there is a range of deities
  associated with Vishnu. In addition some symbols
  belong to the common heritage of Hinduism or more
  generally of India.
• Each deity is associated with a 'vehicle', a bird
  or animal on which it travels. The vehicles are
  used in Indian religious art to reflect and at
  times to extend the powers or qualities of the
  deity with which it is associated. These are
  often better expressed by an animal than by a
  human being. The vehicle also represents the
  close relationship between all living things.

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• Hinduism contains many feminine forms of the
  Divine like Kali, Durga, Lakshmi and Sarasvati.
• These represent different feminine qualities and
  functions of the Divine which contains both male
  and female energies.
• For example, Kali portrays the destructive
  energy, Lakshmi the nourishing, and Sarasvati the
  creative, while Durga is the Divine Mother in her
  protective role.
• Hinduism recognizes that the Divine contains both
  masculine and feminine attributes.
• Without giving proper honor to the feminine
  qualities a religion must be incomplete and
  one-sided, which must result in its teachings
  having negative consequences.
• Without recognizing the feminine aspect of
  Divinity one cannot claim to know God.
• To recognize the feminine is necessary to restore
  wholeness, completeness and universality

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• Indian Paintings can be broadly classified as the
  murals miniatures.
• Murals are huge works executed on the walls of
  solid structures.
• Miniature paintings are those executed on a very
  small scale on perishable material such as paper,
  cloth, etc., Though this style had been perfected
  by artisans under the various rules, not many
  remain today.

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Spread of Hinduism (cultural diffusion)
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