Hinduism

Hinduism Paper

Hum 130

Hinduism Paper

There are many different religions on the Indian continent, some are unified and some are not. The unified religions would consist of Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, while the rest would be all categorized into a signle tradition call Hinduism (Fisher, 2005). The term of Hinduism came about from the British while the region was under there colonial control in the nineteenth century. According to (Fisher, 2005) the alternative label that is preferred today is called Sanatana Dharma which means “ eternal or ageless.”

There are many different deities in India because the feeling is that the divine have many countless faces. That number is more than 330 million and that includes many different aspects of the religion. With all the many different pathways of the religion it is hard to pinpoint a central tradition of what is called Hinduism.

The cultural and societal influences of Hinduism say that the divine would bless, punish or protect the people depending on how they worshipped (Cimpean, 2002-2010). These traditions were passed down to each member so that they could wordship and know the importance of the divine. The many different beliefs have made Hinduism what it is today. The many beliefs have shaped what society is able to see and there is 16 rites that prescribed in scriptures to help ones journey through life.

There is a five step caste system in place within the Hindu religion. These steps are called; Brahmins (the priests or philosophers), Kshatriyas (kings, warriors, and vassals), Vaishyas ( farmers and merchants), Shudra ( manual labor and artisans), Untouchables ( people who did the undesired work). These different caste had very limited contact with eachother. This went on for many years and then Ghandi intervined and renamed the lower class to “children of God” (Fisher, 2005). These roles are hereditary and have very strict rules. These rules were the way that each caste system sacrificed for the sake...