Religions of India - Hinduism

India was called Hindustan until partition and independence, and Hindu is the natural first religion to take a look at here, as 85% of India's population is Hindu.

Hindu is a little unusual in the religious world as it has no founder and no one central figure (as Mohamed is to islam and Jesus Christ is to Christianity, for example). In fact, there are a host of gods and goddesses that each play a part, and that each attract followers. There are sacred texts, but not one definitive one (as for the Bible or Koran). Hindu's have no problem depicting their deities, and are very creative in how they are depicted.

The three key gods are Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the sustainer, and Shiva the destroyer. Each of these three have consorts: Brahma's is Saraswati, the goddess of learning; Vishnu's is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; and Shiva's is Parvati, goddess of love, among many other things. It's not easy for the uninitiated to recognize each when confronted with Hindu art. Shiva has 1008 names and takes many forms, sometimes has a snake wrapped around his head and sometimes holds a trident and sometimes has a bull named Nandi nearby. He is often coloured blue, but not always. Brahma is sometimes seated on a lotus,but sometimes he just sits in meditation, and sometimes there is a swan on hand. Vishnu is often depicted with four arms, and sometimes with a man-bird creature.

But wait, there's more.

There is also Ganesh, the god of good fortune, who is the son of Parvati and Shiva but grew up in the absence of his father and so Shiva didn't know him. Standing guard for his bathing mother, Ganesh prevented Shiva (who he didn't know was his father) from entering. In fury Shiva chopped off Ganesh's head, only to find out that he had killed his own son. Promising the distraught Parvati that he would replace Ganesh's head with the first creature he came across, which was an elephant, Ganesh is now easy to identify, with his elephant head on his human body. His image is often found above the front doors of houses and hotels, to attract good things and repel bad.

There is also Krishna, one of Vishnu's incarnations sent to earth to fight for good and against evil.  Also generally depicted in the colour blue, Krishna is often playing the flute, and has an eye for the ladies.

Hanuman is the king of the monkeys, but takes on many forms. Rama is another incarnation of Vishnu. Devi is known as the devine mother, but can also be depicted as Durga and Kali, a particularly fierce character devoted to hunting out evil. There are many many more and it is most confusing, especially as some animals and plants are also sacred, connected to specific gods and goddesses and thus depicted in artworks. Cows, cobras, banyan trees, mango trees. The lotus flower, India's national flower, is not only believed to be the centre of the universe (originally) but also has the distinction of being able to thrive in the most polluted waters, something Indians can relate to, having so many disgustingly polluted rivers and lakes and streams throughout the country.

There are few Brahma temples in India, but the hub is in Pushkar, on the edges of the Thar desert. Pushkar is a small town surrounding a lake that has 52 ghats (a series of steps leading to the lake) for spiritual bathing and blessing ceremonies.

devotees 

ghats and temples ring Pushkar's lake

taking part in our own Branhman blessing ceremony

a bathing pool in the foreground

Brahma's devotees traditionally painted their houses a pale blue colour, and Jodhpur is known as the blue city as there are so many of these houses even now. The city encourages people to paint their homes blue, not only to uphold the tradition and city brand, but also people find the colour helps repel mosquitoes and turns the temperature down a notch inside, a positive attribute in a city that can reach 50 degrees Celsius in the summer.

blue houses in Jodhpur

There are many more temples devoted to Vishnu and Shiva, and the other characters. Visitors must remove their shoes to visit, although socks are sometimes okay, and there are often elaborate ceremonies. Shoulders and knees are to be covered by both men and women, and sometimes heads.  Sometimes photography is forbidden and other times it is okay - it all seem quite arbitrary. People have prayer spaces in their homes devoted to the deity of their choice.

Hindu married men wear a red band around their wrist, and married women have a 1-2-inch red line along the central part of their hair, from their forehead back, as long as their husbands are alive. Hinduism does involve a lot of ritual. For example, Hindus believe that we are all made up for 5 elements: air, fire, water, earth and the space above us. So when someone dies, the body is immediately cremated, as the soul is already on its way to its next incarnation and cremation is the fastest way to speed the soul onward. Bodies are placed on a pyre in a river - the Ganges being the most holy - and set on fire. Prayers and mantras are spoken. The ashes are spread on the water - again, the Ganges is preferred. Following the cremation there are about 10 days of mourning, after which time there is a ceremony, to which fruit is brought to the family. In this way, our bodies go back to the 5 elements.

detail on the Jagdish temple devoted to Vishnu, in Udaipur

Earthly creatures below, and dancing gods and goddesses,
larger in form, above

A typical Hindu temple in Rajasthan

early morning ceremony, with chanting getting faster and louder
before the clock hits the time signalling teh curtain opesn and the
relevant god or goddess is revealed

women holding lanterns of light

an enormous early morning throng at this temple in Jaipur

the scene outside every temple.