HINDUISM
Section 1
BELIEFS OF HINDUISM
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No single founder
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Grew as a result of the mixed traditions of the Aryans and
the people of the Dravidians (people of Indus River Valley)
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Considered one of the world’s most complex religions
BELIEFS OF HINDUISM (CONT.)
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Polytheism
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Belief in many gods.
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Faith practiced in temples/
shrines
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Everything part of an
unchanging force called
Brahman
BRAHMAN
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A variety of gods give Brahman concrete
form:
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Brahma – the Creator
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Vishnu – the Preserver
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Shiva – the Destroyer
Each god can take many forms, human
or animal, to represent the aspect of
Brahman he/she is associated with.
SACRED TEXT(S)
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No single text
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Most important: Vedas
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Upanishads
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Section of Vedas
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Address mystical questions related to Hinduism
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Uses vivid examples to examine complex ideas about the human soul and
connectedness of all life
MOKSHA
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Ultimate goal of Hindu existence: union with brahman
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To attain moksha:
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Dharma - one’s duty in life
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Reincarnation – rebirth of the soul
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People who live with good karma are reborn in higher levels of existence
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Evil doers and bad karma makes you suffer in a lower existence
HOW TO ACHIEVE MOKSHA
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Ahimsa – nonviolence
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Practice ahimsa to every being, human or animal. Respect life.
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Follow dharma, leading to good karma.
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In general…Be good in life. Lead a good life.
DHARMA
DHARMA
DHARMA
DHARMA
KARMA
KARMA
CASTE SYSTEM
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Social hierarchy in India, followed by Hindus
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Sets social boundaries/groups people are born into
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In traditional Indian society, unchangeable social group into
which a person is born
RULES OF THE CASTE SYSTEM
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To ensure spiritual purity, caste rules governed every aspect of life:
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where people lived,
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where people ate,
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how people dressed,
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how people earned a living.
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forbidden to marry outside their caste.
CASTE SYSTEM
Brahmins
(Priests and scholars)
Ksatriyas
(Warriors and ruling class)
Vaisyas
(farmers and businessmen)
Sudras
(servants)
Untouchables
(Out of caste - Outcast, dirty jobs)
BRAHMIN
KSATRIYA
VAISYA
SUDRA
UNTOUCHABLE
CASTE KEEPS THE “PEACE”
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Ensured stable social order
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Good karma leads to higher caste in next life
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People in the same caste worked together to accomplish same goals
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Carpenter from a lower caste would build home for higher-caste scholar
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New castes and subcastes formed from new occupations and religions
over time
INDIAN SLUMS
INDIAN SLUMS
INDIAN SLUMS
CRUSHING WORK
Hour after hour Untouchtables break rocks
to repair a railbed in Rajasthan. They will
earn one or two dollars a day. Because of
their huge numbers—Untouchables now
number 160 million, or 15 percent of
India's people—many have had to leave
their villages to seek work beyond their
traditional caste occupations. Yet most
Untouchable migrants merely exchange
one kind of backbreaking labor for another,
working in fields, construction sites, brick
kilns, and stone quarries.
ENTRENCHED IRONY
Members of the Untouchable Dhobi
caste beat the impurities out of
clothes on the banks of the Yamuna
River in Delhi. Life's "unclean" tasks,
such as cleaning latrines and digging
graves fall to those born into one of
the hundreds of Untouchable castes.
They face a lifetime of discrimination
and brutality—prejudice that endures
even though Untouchability is officially
banned by the Indian constitution.
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