Thread: Hinduism

Cool.

Evidence for the existence of Hinduism has exists as early as the late neolithic to 5500–2600BCE. In otherwords, when Hinduism actually started is underdispute among some people, though its elements have been seen as early as the late neolithic period.

The soul is immortal and is reincarnated.

So Hindus like to say they are kind, and peaceful, and have good will and blah blah blah...



The Indian caste system describes the social stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent, in which social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups

The caste system was outlawed in 1948

You can clearly see that the priest originally came up with this idea of a caste system so that they may stay at the top (for all their life.)

It was also to keep those at the bottom oppressed.

Of course in modern times I'm sure this has been done away with...to an extent.

Hindus are often vegetarians and it is disrespectful to offer meat or bring it into their home.

Vocabulary revisited.

Hindu Terms
Ātman The real self, the eternal life principle which underlies physical human form.

Brahmā The god of creation. A member of the triad (trimūrti) of principle gods, which includes Visnu and Siva.

Brahman The Ultimate Reality that underlies all of existence.

Brahmin A member of the priestly caste.

Dharma From Sanskrit dhar, "uphold." The order of the universe and the way to maintain that order.

Karma "Action." The universal law that every deed has a consequence that will come back to the doer. Good actions will reap good life circumstances and bad ones will do the opposite. The cumulative effect of one's karma can influence one's position in future rebirths.

Mahaābhārta A national epic of India.

Māyā "Supernatural power." The power that produces the phenomena of physical existence.

Moksha "Release," or "Liberation" from the cycle of endless death and rebirth. The ultimate goal of Hinduism which is attained by overcoming ignorance and desire.

Purānas "Ancient." Non-Vedic Hindu scripture containing mythological accounts of ancient times. It is thought they were compiled between 500 and 1500 CE.

Pūjā "Respect, homage, worship." The offering of food, flowers, incense, and other items to a deity. Often the food will be distributed and consumed afterword and is thought to impart the goodwill of the deity.

Samsāra "Wandering." The continuous cycle of death and reincarnation caused by karma.

Siva "Auspicious." A god of the Hindu trinity that is simultaneously creator, destroyer, and preserver. His creative powers come to life in conjunction with Sakti, his female aspect. He is the supreme yogi and lord of the animals.

Upanishad Literally, "To sit close by," referring to the method of transmission from guru to student. Part of the Vedic texts containing esoteric teachings on the nature of the self (atman) as one with the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) and the way to liberation from the cycle of samsara.

Veda "Knowledge." The scriptures that are the basis of Hindu belief and practice. The Vedas were "heard" or "seen" by priests from a divine source and passed orally through the family line.

Visnu "The pervador." A god of the Hindu trinity that preserves the universe and embodies goodness and mercy.

Yoga "Yoking, joining." The path to liberation from samsara through focusing the mind to experience higher states of consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brahmins priests

Kshatriyas soldiers, king-warrior class

Vaishyas merchants, farmers, Sutras laborers, craftspeople

Harijahns "untouchables"- those thought to be descended from the Harappan aboriginal people-extremely poor and discriminated against

Beliefs revisited

Today, a Hindu can be polytheistic (more than one god), monotheistic (one god), pantheistic (god and the universe are one), agnostic (unsure if god exists), or atheistic (no god) and still claim to be Hindu. This open theology makes it difficult to discuss basic beliefs since there are many ideas about what Hinduism means. However, these universal ideas must be mentioned.

Central to Hinduism are the concepts of reincarnation, the caste system, merging with brahman (or the ultimate reality), finding morality, and reaching Moksha (the peaceful escape from the cycle of reincarnation).

Religious documents include Sruti, (what is heard) and Smriti, (what is remembered). The Sruti include deeply religious things communicated to a seer and recorded. The Vedas, the religious writings, include mantras (hymns of praise), brahmanas (sacrificial rituals) and upanishads (108 sacred teachings). The Smriti include the law (books of laws), puranas (myths, stories, legends) and epics (sets of holy myths including Ramayana and Mahabharata).

The Hindu paths to salvation include the way of works (rituals), the way of knowledge (realization of reality and self-reflection), and the way of devotion (devotion to the god that you choose to follow). If the practitioner follows the paths of these ways, salvation can be achieved.

The higher a person's caste, the more that person is blessed with the benefits and luxuries life has to offer. Although the caste system was outlawed in 1948, it is still important to the Hindu people of India and is still recognized as the proper way to stratify society.

The religion is an extremely hard to research religion.

I NEED someone to come and clarify what it is about. But it is too hard, because not all Hindus are the same.

Devaluation of females:

The status of women is typically discussed on a nation-wide basis. However, about 80% of the citizens of India are Hindu, 14% are Muslim and 6% are of other religions or no religion. Most of the negative behavior towards girls and women across the country can probably be safely attributed to the practices of Hindus.

Infanticide has been widespread in India for centuries. R.J. Rummel reported:

"In India, for example, because of Hindu beliefs and the rigid caste system, young girls were murdered as a matter of course. When demographic statistics were first collected in the nineteenth century, it was discovered that in "some villages, no girl babies were found at all; in a total of thirty others, there were 343 boys to 54 girls. ... [I]n Bombay, the number of girls alive in 1834 was 603." 4

A Reuters article in 2007-JUL reported on the high level in India of:

Female feticide: This is the practice of using ultrasound instruments to determine the sex of a fetus, in order to abort fetuses that are found to be female.
Infanticide: This involves the actual murder of a newborn female, typically because of her gender.
Widespread neglect of girl children.
Mob violence, including murders, victimizing women believed to be evil sorcerers. 5

The Gendercide web site reports:

"A study of Tamil Nadu by the Community Service Guild of Madras ... found that 'female infanticide is rampant' in the state, though only among Hindu (rather than Moslem or Christian) families. 'Of the 1,250 families covered by the study, 740 had only one girl child and 249 agreed directly that they had done away with the unwanted girl child. More than 213 of the families had more than one male child whereas half the respondents had only one daughter." 4,6

"Most strikingly, according to UNICEF, 'A report from Bombay in 1984 on abortions after prenatal sex determination stated that 7,999 out of 8,000 of the aborted fetuses were females. Sex determination has become a lucrative business'." 4,7

Using ultrasound techniques to determine the sex of a fetus with the intent of aborting it if it is female is illegal in India. However, the law is widely ignored because local officials are reluctant to fight the will of the people. 8

Reuters reports that:

"Around 10 million girls have been killed by their parents over the last 20 years, the government says, as female infanticide and foeticide, although illegal, are still prevalent with boys preferred to girls as breadwinners." 5

Data on infanticide is quite unreliable. However, if we assume that the 10 million deaths is an accurate estimate and that the cases involved 98% feticide and 2% infanticide, then the three most serious instances of genocide over the past two decades may have been:

The Rwandan genocide of about 800,000 persons based on tribal identity, and
The religiously-based genocide of about 200,000 in Bosnia Herzegovina, involving mainly Serbian Orthodox Christians targeting Muslims, and
The murder of 200,000 newborn girls in India.

Reuters reports:

"Domestic violence and sexual abuse involving young girls is reported frequently in the country and a 2006 government survey found that 45 percent of girls were married before the legal marriageable age of 18."

"India's adult female literacy rate was 47.8 percent, compared to the adult male rate of 73.4 percent in 2004."

"The sex ratio in the country is still one of the world's lowest, with an average of 933 females recorded for every 1,000 males in the 2001 census."

" 'Education of girls even in big cities was dismal and census figures show that the population of the girl child was dropping,' said Chakraverti, adding that tough laws and education of parents were needed to force change. 'Most cannot complete primary education'." 5

Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, mentioned above, is a Wiccan and social activist. She has been nominated by the government's National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) to head a panel given the task of improving the status of young girls. 5

For more information, we recommend that you Google India infanticide, or India feticide, or India status women



References used:
"The Caste system," at: http://members.tripod.com/
"India's social customs and systems: The caste system," at: http://www.investindia.com/ (Apparently offline)
" 'Untouchables' on Verge of Turning to Christ," Religion Today summaries for 2001-OCT-5.
"Case study: Female Infanticide," Gendercide Watch, at: http://www.gendercide.org/
Bappa Majumdar, "Govt turns to Wiccan queen to save girls", Reuters, 2007-JUL, at: http://wwrn.org/
Malavika Karlekar, "The girl child in India: does she have any rights?," Canadian Woman Studies, 1995-MAR.
Yi Zeng et al., "Causes and Implications of the Recent Increase in the Reported Sex Ratio at Birth in China," Population and Development Review, 19: 2, (1993-JUN), Page 297.
"10 million females illegally aborted in India. Parents desperate to bear son changing nation's demographics," WorldNetDaily, 2006-JUL-07, at: http://www.wnd.com/

What does the mark on the forehead mean?

The colored dot is variously referred to as a "tilaka," "bottu," "bindiya," "kumkum," or "bindi." It is a sign of piety, and a reveals to other people that the wearer is a Hindu. It symbolizes the third eye -- the one focused inwards toward God. Both men and women wear it, although the practice among men is gradually going out of style. In the past, many unmarried women wore black marks, whereas many married women wore red. But in recent times, women often wear dots that match the color of their saris. 4