India's Ancient Religion Summary

Decent Essays
In “India’s Ancient Religion” from World History Magazine, Sean McCollum describes how India’s Hindu religion is inseparable from its society, culture, and history. Hinduism is the major religion of India and is followed by approximately 80% of the population. Although it is the fourth most popular religion in the world, it branches off from many others as Hinduism does not have a central figure. Despite the fact that Hindus don’t have a divine figure, they have hundreds of deities. Hinduism began when Aryan settlers arrived into northern India and brought the teachings of the Vedas. Some of these teachings formed basic beliefs the Hindu’s believe, include kharma, dharma, and reincarnation. These stepping stones create the foundations for the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India - Book Review The nation of India is one of the world’s largest democracies, a regional and upcoming world superpower that is now often compared to the mighty China. Its importance to the international community is magnanimous, but often neglected. The book In spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India is a great and illuminating work on the vast and diverse nature of India. The book is written by the British Edward Luce who among being the Financial times correspondent for five years in India, is also married to an Indian. The books unique structure of vignettes about Luce’s observations he made on the thrilling adventures doesn’t bore the reader.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Philosophy and religion greatly impacted daily life in various civilizations such as India and China in a vast amount of ways. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islamic religions show this impact, evidently. In india, hinduism had changed the way people lived. There was an idea spread through many religions but mostly came from hinduism, reincarnation.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reincarnation effected Hindu followers because what one did in their past life could affect their soul in the future. This gave hope to individuals in lower social classes because they had the chance to improve their life in the future (50). Brahmanism turned into Hinduism when followers began to believe in a more personal experience with a god, other…

    • 237 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hinduism Vs Buddhism

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    They believe in a better realm being promised once someone passes on. Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, going back more than 3,500 years. It is a complex and diverse system of philosophies and traditions. Although there are numerous gods and goddesses one can worship, the emphasis is on an individual spiritual experience. Today, there are nearly one billion Hindus, making Hinduism the world’s third largest religion (Heaven: How Five Religions See It, JJ Streaming Films).…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Moksa and Nirvana: While I explored the concepts of moksa and nirvana, I found that moksa in Hindu traditions and nirvana in early Buddhist traditions, has many similarities and differences. (Add some similarities and differences) I am also going to discuss the general ancient Indian worldview. This includes describing the social hierarchy and order of the Hindu caste system as well as discussing how karma, samsara, moksa, and dharma relate to each other. There are three philosophical schools, four asrama, and three spiritual paths in Hinduism that are all part of the Vedic worldview. I will explain Buddhist concepts such as The Four noble truths, The Noble eightfold path, and the history of the Buddha.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Hinduism In America Essay

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Introduction of Hinduism: Hinduism is the religion of around a billion people. Most of them reside in India, after that in Nepal. There are almost two million in the United States and significant numbers…

    • 1699 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rather than begin “one complete” religion it is a diffusion of century’s worth of religious beliefs and cultural followings merging together as time passed. The name Hinduism was given to the religion because the Persians called every one east of the Indus River Hindu’s and their religious belief thus was named “Hinduism”. Hinduism voices many paths to the same summit and is composed of many religious scriptures. One of these scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita which we read and interpreted in class. The Bhagavad Gita is a religious scripture which is a part of a greater Epic which is the Mahabharata.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paleolithic Social Class

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Hinduism was founded in 2,000 B.C.E. in India, and just like the Egyptians religion it was polytheistic. But one thing that was special about this religion was that it was one of the most strict religions in regards to social class. In Hinduism they had an extremely strict caste system that affected not only the followers of the religion, but also the people who lived in India but didn't follow it. At the top of the caste system was the Brahmins who were the priests, next there was the Kshatriya who were the warriors, then there was the Vaishya who were the merchants or landowners. After the Vaishya the last level in the caste system was the Sudra, who were the peasants or servants.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the country by the law and custom; the Constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of religion to be a fundamental right. Religion in India can be seen all around, because everyone knows that is what makes of India’s philosophy”(Religion in India n.d). It is something that just is and you will be surprised to find someone that will stand up against it like you would in other countries. It is definitely one of their According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism and 14.2% adheres to Islam, while the remaining 6% adheres to other religions (Religions in India). India is composed of a multitude of religions coexisting (though not always peacefully) side by side. "…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to writer Whalen, William J. in article “Hinduism: what do you know about the world’s oldest religion” from the U.S. Catholic journal that Hindu is one of the oldest and, complex religion in the world with different prospect. Writer William explained more details history of Hinduism with current situation of religion. He started with population of India who has majority of Hindus and they believed in Hinduism. According to William, estimated 685 million Hindus follow the Hinduism in the all over the world. In India approximately 80% of Hindu population consider themselves as a followers of Hinduism.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hinduism on the other hand, mainly resides in India and Nepal though like Buddhism its practices and rituals are spread…

    • 1613 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They were being handled like second rate citizens and their equal rights were being taken away a little at a time. In Ancient India and Ancient China the father was always considered to be the head of the household and children were expected to be very obedient. The father had control over everyone in the family. Not only was the family dynamics in society very comparable between these two countries, but the classes with in the society were as well. In Ancient India as in Ancient China there were very distinctive classes amongst the people within the society.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The video "Hinduism (World Religions: A Whirlwind Tour" was not what I expected. I appreciated Professor LD Russell's attempt to try and get the audience to put themselves in Hindu's shoes. It is easy to think that the Trimurti may not be "good" gods because Shiva is the destroyer but if we really stop to think about it, it is not all that different from our God. However, he was all over the place and it was difficult to follow his train of thought. I attempted to watch the video on four separate occassion…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Musallam Almashali Dr. William L. Blizek RELIGION AND FILM December 4, 2017 Eat Pray Love Description: Hinduism is the religion of the major population in both Nepal and India, which is considered the set of religious beliefs, religious traditions, and a way of living. It has no single scripture, no single founders, and no unified set of teachings which make Hinduism different from other religion (Senker n.p.). There are instances wherein this religion is considered the oldest living religion in the world. Since it is one of the prominent and largest religions throughout the world, application and depiction of Hinduism in modern and popular culture is an ordinary thing.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ramayana Paper Hinduism dates back to 2000 B.C.E, where its roots where established in India. Hinduism does not necessarily have a time of origin or founder, but is referred to as timeless, known to have always existed (“Library”). It consists of a compilation of sacred texts known as Santana Dharma, also referred to as “The eternal teaching” (“Library”). In the Indian religion of Hinduism, an extremely important term known as Dharma refers to the moral order of the universe and a code of living that embodies the fundamental principles of law, religion, and duty that governs all reality. Individuals of the Hindu religion pursue the notion that if one follows one 's dharma he or she can eventually achieve what is to be ultimately every Hindis…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays