Transcript Beginnings of Hinduism

Beginnings of Hinduism
pp. 142-9
All information in this PowerPoint is taken from
Banks, James and all. World Adventures in time and Place. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Vocabulary
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Hinduism
Vedas
Caste system
Reincarnation
Dharma
Immortal
Brods over
Prey
subdued
Read aloud
• Ancient Hindu writings tell the story of a father who used
simple examples to teach his son about the meaning of
life. One day he told his son to bring him a fig from a fig
tree. The boy did so, and his father told him to split the
fruit open.
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“What do you see?”
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“These fine {tiny} seeds.,” replied the son.
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“Break one open! What do you see?”
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“Nothing at all, sir!”
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His father said, ‘Out of the finest element , which you
cannot see-out of this finest element comes this big fig
tree!” The boy was similar to the tree, he said. The
father was teaching his son the Hindu belief that all life is
connect by an invisible force.
The Big Picture
• Key part of Hinduism- “link between a
powerful, invisible force and everything in
the world”
• Source – Aryans
• 800 million Hindus
• Various ways of practicing this religion
• Shared history extends back to ancient
times in India
Writings of a New Religion
• 1500 B. C. – Aryans migrate to subcontinent and have little in
common with the Harappans
– Different language
– Different cultures
– Different way of living
• Harappand lived in great cities
• Aryans moved around
• Aryans began to assimilate
– Began to farm
– Began crafts
• Harappans
– Learned holy songs
• Oral tradition
• Collected in books call Vedas or “Books of Knowledge”
– Learned about the world
The Vedas
• Vedas the “building blocks of Hinduism” (p. 143).
• Told
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How to live
Explained life
Polytheistic
How people were created into four different classes
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Priest – mouth
Princes – arms
professionals and merchants - legs
Servants - Feet -
• Different Vedas
– Rig Veda
Hinduism and Culture
The Caste System
• Four classes became the caste system
– Organizes people
– Hundreds of different levels
• Determines person’s place in society
– Rank of the family
• Priestly caste-highest
– Study the Vedas
– Teach others about the Vedas
• Servant caste
- born to serve the other castes
• People control their caste
– People move in a constant circle of birth, death, rebirth –
REINCARNATION
– Bad deeds of one lifetime must be paid for in the next life
– Good deeds are rewarded in the next life
The Importance of Duty
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Dharma – the laws and duties of a caste
Each caste follows dharma from Vedas regarding their cast
Hundreds of rules for each caste
Examples:
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Servants must be cheerful when doing tasks
Merchant must produce and sell what they make
Priests had to work to support their families
Vedas told the jobs each caste could do
• Purpose of Dharmas
– To keep order in society
– Disobeying resulted in ostracism or being “outcastes”
– Outcasts were impure, untouchable and their shadow could not touch
another (cleansing ceremony)
– Children were likewise outside of social castes
Many Paths to Truth
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Hinduism developed many forms
Special tasks
Vegetarianism
Non-Hindu experiences
Hinduism allows for different approaches
– More than one god
– More than one path of truth
• Bhagavad Gita Vishnu says,”
Howsoever,approach me, even so do I accept
them; for on all sides, whatever path they may
choose is mine.”
Hinduism today
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Many gods worshipped
Vishnu – The One that is All
Shiva – The God of Time and Destruction
Devi – The Mother of All Creation
Favorite gods of a family worshipped
today at home, in temples, and at special
festivals.
A Changing of Religion
• Holy books
– Vedas
– Epics
– Adventurous stories
• Changes in caste system
– 1950 – unlawful to mistreat outcastes
Why It Matters
• Hinduism is followed by hundreds of millions of
people
• Began from a blending of cultures
• Honors many gods and goddesses
• Continues to combine different cultures
• Most now live in Present-day India and Pakistan
• Has influenced the arts, science and society
• Became the starting point of another world
religions
Main Ideas
• Hinduism is practiced in many different ways. It
is one of the world’s oldest religions and has
nearly 800 million followers today.
• Aryan newcomers to the Indian subcontinents
introduced sacred songs written in the Vedas.
They became the foundation of Hinduism.
• The Vedas supported a way of dividing society
into four major classes of people. These four
classes developed into the caste system.
Main Ideas (cont.)
• An important theme in Hinduism is
reincarnation. This is the idea that people
live in a constant circle of birth, death and
rebirth.
• By following the dharma, or instructions, of
the case, Hindus believe that people can
break free of the cycle of reincarnation.
Think About It
• What is dharma? Is it the same for all Hindus?
• Why was it important for Hindus to do the duties
expected of their caste?
• FOCUS. What are the Vedas? What role did they play
in the shaping of Indian culture?
• THINKING SKILL Make hree generalizations about what
can happen when different cultures come into contact.
Base your generalizations about what you have learned
about each of the ancient river-valley civilizations.
• WRITING: Suppose you are interviewing a Hindu for a
newspaper article. On a sheet of paper, write a list of
question you would ask.
Indian Dance
• Dance given to people from the gods, goddesses
• Important part of Inadian life
• Purpose
– Story without words
– Created for own sake
– Natya means both dance and drama and both told stories of
Hindu gods and heroes
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Great skills required to perform these dances
Rules taught by Biharata a teacher who lived 1500 years ago.
He even told dancers how to move their eyelashes.
Today’s dance the same of 1000 years ago
Mudras- hand gestures often represent animals, plants or
feelings
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Hindu Terms
Hindu Terms
Atman The real self, the eternal life principle.
Brama The creator god
Brahman Ultimate Reality
Brahmin A member of the priestly caste, the highest class.
Dharma The teachings of virtue and principle
Karma The culminating value of all of one's life actions, good and bad, which together
determine one's next rebirth and death.
Mahabharta One of the national epics of India.
Maya The power that produces the phenomena of physical existence.
Moksha The term for liberation from the bondage of finite existence.
Puranas Part of the Hindu scriptures consisting of myths and legends mixed with historical
events.
Samsara The rebirth of souls passing on from one existence to another until release can be
achieved, reincarnation.
Upanishads Part of the Hindu sacred texts containing treatises on the nature of ultimate
reality and the way to achieve union with the absolute.
Veda The oldest of the Hindu scriptures, consisting of four collections of sacred writings.
Yoga The Hindu path of union with the divine. Any sort of exercise (physical, mental or
spiritual) which promotes one's journey to union with Brahma.
References
McDowell, Josh and Don Stewart, Handbook of Today's Religions. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 1983. Twelfth printing, June 1992.
Written by Sara Wenner, 2001
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