MONDAY/TUESDAY
TITLE: THE ORIGINS OF HINDUISM
Do Now:
On this day in history in 2003 Fred Rogers, of
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, died. What was
your favorite tv show as a small child? Who
were your favorite characters ?
AGENDA
Do Now
Origins of
Hinduism Lesson
Hindu Skit
OBJECTIVE
Students will read a Hindu story
and write a script for a skit which
will be performed on Thursday
Rewrite this on the
left side of your
notebook in your
own words
VOCABULARY
Hinduism: the religion of the peoples of India
Brahmanism: the Vedic age religion which
refers to a single spiritual power which lives
in everything
Guru: thinkers and teachers of religious
ideas
Brahman: one supreme God
ROAD MAP
For this entire week we will be looking closely
at the religion of Ancient India: Hinduism
Today: we will look at the origin or start of
Hinduism
Wednesday: we will look at the belief system
of Hinduism
Thursday/Friday: we will look how Hinduism
spread and became a major religion.
ROOTS OF HINDUISM
For more than 2,300 years, Hinduism has
been the major religion of India.
The word Hinduism means “the religion of
people of India.”
VEDIC AGE BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
The Vedas are India’s oldest religious texts
Priests memorized the Vedas and passed
them on orally, later they were written down
The Vedas contained hymns to many gods
and rituals designed to keep the gods happy
They also included sacrifices and the god of
fire, Agni, would “eat” the sacrifices offered
to the gods
BRAHMANISM
Scholars called the Vedic age
religion Brahmanism
Brahmanism was a religion
ruled by priests and rituals.
Their “sacred” knowledge gave
the Brahmins great power and
influence in Indian society
Only Brahmins, or priests from
the highest caste, could perform
rituals.
THE EVOLUTION OF HINDUISM
About 500 B.C. the ways of
worship began to change.
Old gods became less
important and some people
began to doubt that carrying
out the rituals perfectly was
not as important.
They began asking questions
like “Why are we born? How
should we live? What
happens when we die?
UPANISHADS
To answer the
questions, Gurus left
their homes and spent
their days thinking and
talking about religious
ideas
Some were written
down in the Upanishads
UPANISHADS
These writings introduced
2 core beliefs of Hinduism
The belief that there is 1
supreme God
 Other gods are just different
forms of this god
Every person is born with
a soul that is part of
Brahman
 The soul is known as atman
MAHABHARATA AND THE RAMAYANA
These new ideas
became two great epic
poems, the
Mahabharata and
Ramayana
The Mahabharata and
Ramayana explained
Hindu religious ideas to
all people and set the
standard for how to live
MAHABHARATA
The Mahabharata contains over 100,000 stanzas
making it the longest poem
The best loved section is the Bhagavad Gita or
“Song of the Lord ”
FOUR GOALS OF LIFE
Hindus believed that
people are born wanting
four basic things.
All four goals are
desirable, but not all
people achieve all of these
goals in a lifetime .
4 GOALS OF LIFE: PLEASURE
1.Pleasure: People
begin their lives by
wanting pleasure
This may be very
simple such as eating
or a deeper pleasure
such as falling in love
or having a family
4 GOALS OF LIFE: SUCCESS
2. Success: gaining
fame, wealth, or
power, or becoming
important in the
community
4 GOALS OF LIFE: DHARMA
3. Dharma: Hindus
believed in living an
ethical
or
moral
life
The Bhagavad-Gita,
They
must
fulfill
the
says “it is better to do
duties assigned to their
one’s
caste
to theown
bestduty
of their
imperfectly than to do
abilities
another's
People
who do well.”
not follow
their proper dharma
threaten the social order .
4 GOALS OF LIFE: MOKSHA
4. Moksha is the release
from life where a person’s
soul is united with the
universal soul
A persons soul, Atman, and
the Brahman become one
They believed becoming one
with god meant the end to
suffering, pain, fear and
want.
HINDUISM SKITS
You will be divided up into small groups
I will give you a traditional Hindu story which
you need to read and then write a short skit to
teach the rest of the class the message
Each group member must have a speaking part
Be sure to include all the characters
Each skit should only be about 3 min long…We
will present these on Friday!
WEDNESDAY
TITLE: BELIEFS OF HINDUISM
 Do Now:
Create a compare/contrast diagram to
show what you already know about
Hinduism, we will add to this throughout
the week. . We will complete the right
half next week after we learn about
Buddhism.
OBJECTIVE
Students will understand the
basic Hindu beliefs and how
karma influenced their place in
the religion
Rewrite this on the left side of your
notebook in your own words
AGENDA
Do Now
Beliefs of Hinduism
Lesson
Karma Project
VOCABULARY
Reincarnation: the rebirth of a soul in a
newhttp://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/religion/hinduism.htm
body
Karma: the sum of a person’s actions and
consequences, words and thoughts
REINCARNATION
Hindus believed that few people can achieve
moksha in one lifetime
They also believed that when most people die,
their souls are reborn in a new body
They can be reborn in a higher or lower class
and can even be reborn as an animal or insect
OR
The Bhagavad-Gita states
“As a man discards
Worn-out clothes
To put on new
And different one,
So the embodied self (soul)
Discards
Its worn-out bodies
To take on other new ones.”
LAW OF KARMA
How a person is reborn is determined by the law
of Karma
Hindus believed that bad karma would bring
rebirth in a lower class
Good karma brought rebirth in a higher class
Based on your behavior, attitudes and thoughts,
where do you think you would be reborn…higher
or lower and why?
3 PATHS TO GOD
Hinduism lays out 3
paths to moksha
They may choose to
follow only one or up to
3 at a time
They would spend their
entire life trying to
reach moksha
3 PATHS TO GOD: WAY OF KNOWLEDGE
This was traditionally
chosen by Brahmins
1. Way of
Knowledge: they
must fully
understand atman
and Brahman
3 PATHS TO GOD: WAY OF WORKS
2. Way of Works: carrying out religious rituals
and duties which would improve their karma
This path was chosen most by Hindus
They offered prayers and food to the gods at
temple ceremonies
They do good deeds without expecting anything
in return
The Bhagavad-Gita says “he who does the tasks
dictated by duty, caring nothing for the reward of
the action”
3 PATHS TO GOD: WAY OF DEVOTION
Also known as the path of love
3. Way of Devotion: People achieve
moksha by devoting themselves to loving
God
The Bhagavad-Gita suggests that the way
of devotion is superior to the other ways
People on this path may repeat their
god’s name all day long or present gifts
at their god’s temple
SKIT PRACTICE
You need to finish writing your skit today. Use
the rest of the time to practice.
For HOMEWORK: you need to practice your part
so you don’t let the rest of your group down
You will be graded individually for this so you
need to do your part
THURSDAY/FRIDAY
TITLE: SPREAD OF HINDUISM
 Do Now
 On this day in 1872, Yellowstone
National Park was established.
Write about one of the following:
Your favorite camping, hiking or
backpacking trip.
Where you would like to go
camping, hiking or backpacking
OBJECTIVE
Students will understand the spread
of Hinduism and how it became a
major world religion
Rewrite this on the elft side of your
notebook in your own words
AGENDA
Do Now
Spread of Hinduism
Lesson
Skit final practice
Skit presentation
VOCABULARY
Pilgrim: someone who travels to a shrine or
sacred place
HOW HINDUISM SPREAD
Because the
subcontinent of India is
in a vast region, many
people belonged to
different ethnic groups
These ethnic groups all
had their own language,
rulers and religion
Still, most adopted
Hinduism
THE GROWTH OF HINDUISM IN INDIA
Hinduism is very flexible and easy to adapt
People did not have to give up their old
deities or ways or worship
Instead, they would just add them on to the
deities and rituals of Hinduism
Hindus also did not form organized groups or
worship together
They prayed and made offerings at shrines in
their homes or local temples
No matter where Indians went, they could easily
carry the religion with them.
HINDU SECTS
As Hinduism spread, different sects
developed
Three Hindu sects attracted large numbers
of followers and each followed a specific
deity
Vishnu
Shiva
Shakti
HINDUISM IN OTHER PARTS OF ASIA
Over time, Hinduism
spread
Indian merchants set
up trading posts
throughout Southeast
Asia. Wherever they
settled, Hindu priest
traveled with them
Also, migrating people
from northern India
took Hinduism in to
Nepal
WORLDWIDE HINDU COMMUNITIES
Recently, Hinduism spread around
the world and is practiced in about
150 countries
LEGACY OF HINDUISM
Hinduism today is the world’s thirdlargest religion
More than 800 million people follow
its faith
However, India is still the spiritual and
cultural center of Hinduism
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Hinduism has shaped Indian life
Placing flowers or food at a shrine is
a daily ritual
Each year, the entire country takes
part in Hindu religious festivals
Many rivers, mountains, rocks and forest are
connected with legends of gods and gurus
The Ganges River is India’s holiest site
Each year thousands of pilgrims flock to the
Ganges to bath in its waters
Some pilgrims believe the waters will wash away
bad karma
Others believe it will heal diseases or a disability
INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS
Thinkers in ancient
India asked questions
about life and death
that still concern Hindus
today
Because the early Hindu
texts were written in
Sanskrit, that language
became India’s first
language of learning
AESTHETIC TRADITIONS
Hindusim inspired
India's’ first great
works of literature
Today, people all over
the world still read the
Mahabharata and the
Ramayana
These epic poems are
retold in comic books
and movies!
Hinduism also encouraged the
development of arts
Hindu temples are designed around
religious ideas
Detailed carvings of gods and goddesses
decorate temple walls
Hindu temples are centers of art, music,
and dance as well as places of worship.
 You will have 30 minutes to create a comic strip which
tells the importance and practices of Hinduism
 You may choose to focus on the 3 paths to God, the 4
goals of life, the spread of Hinduism…there is a lot of
freedom for creativity.
 Your comic strip must have at least 6 colored pictures and
captions.
PRESENT SKITS
Each group will present their skit
While other groups are presenting you
need to be quietly listening
If you are talking your grade will drop
Please talk loudly enough that
everyone can hear you
EVALUATE PARTNER PARTICIPATION
You will receive a handout which will rate your
group members
Give them a grade number and write a
comment to tell me why you think they
deserve that grade
 Take out a blank piece of paper and label it like this:
Group Member’s Name:
Group Member’s Name:
Grade They Deserve:
Grade They Deserve:
Why they deserve that grade:
Why they deserve that grade:
Group Member’s Name:
My Name:
Grade They Deserve:
Grade I Deserve:
Why they deserve that grade:
Why I deserve that grade: