Hinduism
For Hindus, the purpose of our time on earth is to "realize the divinity of the soul". This mystical aim gives rise to a wide variety of teachings and doctrines. The underlying principles of Hinduism are not easily described, as there is no single philosophy. It is perhaps the only religion whose theoretical principles and practices are so varied. It cannot be traced back to a single founder, nor does it have a single holy book to serve as a basic spiritual guide. The Veda, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gītā form a motley collection of sacred texts. For Hindus, the essential religious path is devotion(bhakti) to one or more chosen deities. Although membership of a sect revering several deities is widespread, devotion to a single god of one's choice is widely accepted. Most followers are therefore polytheists, worshipping all or part of the vast pantheon of deities. In practice, worshippers tend to address their prayers to one god, or several, in a very close personal relationship.
The Veda ("vision" or "knowledge" in Sanskrit) is "revealed knowledge". This knowledge has been transmitted orally from Brahmin to Brahmin since the Vedic period (1500 BC). This knowledge, collected in a set of texts, is said to have been revealed through hearing(shruti) to the Indian sages known as rishi. Hindus believe that the Veda is eternal and singular.
Brahma, the creator
Brahma, the creative god of the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity, symbolizes the aspect of supreme Reality that brings creation forward. He is considered the Creator of the universe. His consort is Sarasvati, the goddess of learning and knowledge. She provides Brahma with the knowledge necessary for the creative process.
Brahma is usually depicted as a bearded deity with four faces and four hands. In popular images, he is shown seated on a lotus. He holds a rosary in his upper right hand, a book in his upper left hand, a kamandalu (water pot) in his lower left hand and bestows grace with his lower right hand. His faces represent the sacred knowledge of the four vedas. They therefore symbolize the fact that Brahma is the source of all knowledge necessary for the creation of the universe. His four arms represent the four directions and the omnipresence and omnipotence of the god. The hands represent the four aspects of the human personality: spirit, intellect, ego and empirical self or conditioned consciousness. The rosary symbolizes the cycle of time through which the world moves from creation to preservation, from preservation to dissolution and from dissolution to new creation. Although essential to the Hindu pantheon, it is only venerated in one temple, the Jagat Pita Brahma Mandir in Pushkar, Rajasthan.
Vishnu, the conservative
Vishnu is the most venerated god in Hinduism. He is responsible for preserving the universe created by Brahma. The origins of the Aryan and Dravidian conquerors' worship of Vishnu are unclear. In the Vedas and the sacred literature of the Aryans, Vishnu is classified among the minor gods. In some Puranic literature, Vishnu is said to be eternal, a unique spirit associated with the primitive waters that were omnipresent in the creation of the Universe.
In Hinduism, the representation of Vishnu as the savior of the world comes late. According to one belief, the powers of Good and Evil (gods and demons) struggle for world domination. When the balance of these powers is destroyed, Vishnu or his avatar descends to earth to restore equality. It is said that 9 descents have already taken place, with the tenth due to occur in the future. The coming of Rāma and Krishna corresponds to the 7th and 8th descents. Vishnu is often depicted as a blue man with four arms. In each of his hands, he holds a wheel(chakra), a conch shell(shanka), a lotus(padma) and a club(gada). The disc symbolizes the power of the mind and has 6 rays, like the 6 petals of the lotus flower. The conch represents the primordial ocean, creation. The lotus corresponds to the unfolding of creation, but also to purity and truth. The club holds the power of knowledge, from which all other powers, both mental and physical, derive. It is also the threatening weapon that sets the believer on the path of spirituality to the detriment of material attraction. Vishnu has a thousand names, and uttering them over and over is an act of devotion.
Shiva, the destroyer
Shiva is a dual god, representing both destruction and regeneration. As a destroyer, he is depicted as a naked ascetic wearing a necklace of skulls and surrounded by a train of demons and snakes. As a reproductive power, he is worshipped in the form of a lingam, a phallic-shaped stone monolith. As a regenerator, he takes the form of a handsome blue man with long hair pulled back in a bun over his forehead, armed with a trident. He is accompanied by a nandi, a bull. In contrast to the representation of Vishnu, Shiva also symbolizes renunciation. He appears as an ascetic practicing meditation, alone in the Himalayas, seated on a tiger skin, dressed in a simple loincloth and covered with sacred ashes. From his long hair flows the source of the Ganges, the sacred river of the Hindus.
Shiva is often portrayed as an asocial being who burned Kāma, the god of love, with a single glance. But this image conceals another. Although he seems hard to reach, Shiva is a loving deity who saves the souls of devotees devoted to him. His wife is Pārvatā, with whom he had two sons: Kartikeya, the god of War, and Ganesh, the elephant-headed god representing wisdom, intelligence and prudence.
Hindu goddesses
The Hindu religion includes women, and many goddesses are ardently worshipped. So it is with Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu. She is particularly celebrated during the Diwali festival, which marks the start of the new year in the Hindu calendar. She symbolizes success and wealth.
Pārvatī, Shiva's wife, is considered the Divine Mother. She has two main facets: the benevolence that brings her help and a powerful, dangerous personality that must be appeased. She is particularly venerated in India, appearing alongside Shiva in temples and processions.
Durgā is one of the epithets of Pārvatī and is considered the shakti ("energy") of the impersonal Absolute. She is worshipped alone, unlike Pārvatī, who is always accompanied by her husband. She is depicted as a warrior equipped with swords and shields, riding a tiger. Her mission is to hunt down demons when the gods are unable to do so.
Kālī, always depicted in black, is the female equivalent of Shiva. She symbolizes destruction and creation. She often presents a terrifying image, with a bloody tongue protruding from her mouth, garlands of human skulls around her neck, a severed head in her hand and brandished weapons dripping with blood. It's a metaphor for the destructive capacity of the divine, the suffering of the world and the return of all things to the goddess at the moment of death.
Hindu rituals
- The pūjā ("respect") consists of a set of ritual offerings (flowers, food, money...) and prayers addressed to the gods. It is performed at sunrise and sunset in temples and on household altars. Pujas can also be celebrated on special occasions, of which there are many in India. Among orthodox Hindus, dawn and dusk are greeted with the recitation of the Gayatri Mantra, the prayer to the sun from the Rig Veda. Personal worship of the gods before the family altar always involves lighting a lamp, offering food and sprinkling incense smoke before holy images and those of the family's deceased, while prayers are mumbled. In the evenings, particularly in rural areas, women sometimes gather for long sessions of sung hymns. Traditionally, the first chapātī (bread cake) baked in the morning is given to a cow or other street animal. Sometimes a handful of grain is also set aside to give to needy people or birds. These small sacrifices and gifts serve to accumulate merit for the family, and to attract the good graces of the gods in the present life or for the next.
- The ārtī is an integral part of the puja ritual. It can be performed 5 times a day, but invariably during the dawn and evening puja. It gives rise to extravagant celebrations in Varanasi, where the ritual takes place on the ghats in front of hundreds of devotees. The ritual features symbolism representing all the facets of material creation that are offered to the god. The flower represents earth, the solid element; water represents the liquid element; the flame represents heat; the peacock feather represents air and movement; the yak-hair fan represents purity, the sublime, all that is above earthly things and therefore space; incense and smoke represent the immateriality of the purified spirit. The flame also represents the power of the divine, and the faithful are purified by its contact. When the priest presents them with the flame, the faithful wrap their hands around it, then pass them in front of their faces in purification and blessing.
The temple
Hindus go to the temple to pray. The basic form of the Hindu sanctuary is a square cell, oriented along the cardinal axes. It features an image or statue of the deity in the center, and is topped by a flat ceiling. Each temple symbolizes the center of the universe, from which the god watches over his domain and helps his followers. Worship is not the work of a congregation, but of individuals or groups of devotees who come to the temple to have a vision(darshan) of the god, to pray and to make an offering. Because the god exists in its entirety in the holy place, any offering that has come close to its representation brings the grace of the divine to the human world when it returns to them. Only trained members of the Brahmin caste are capable of manipulating the deity's power, and most shrines are run by priests who take the offerings, present them directly to the image and then return some of them to the faithful to take home.
The pilgrimage
Northern India boasts numerous holy places associated with the exploits of the gods, the waters of a sacred river or the past presence of holy men. The purāna, or texts of "ancient knowledge", describe countless sacred places and the benefits to be gained by going there as a devotee. For many Indians, pilgrimage is the preferred form of family tourism. For most devotees, pilgrimage involves preliminary vows and fasting, a journey on foot punctuated by religious hymns and songs. On arrival at the site, pilgrims contact a priest who, for a fee, will plan the program of ritual activities. These activities include parikrama or circumambulation around the sacred shrine, yajna or sacrificial offerings, dhyana or spiritual contemplation, pūjā, prārthanā or prayer in the form of endless recitation, bhajan or chanted prayer. The more devout will add dakshināor giving for a moral cause and sevā, voluntary service to the community, devotees or temple. Some pilgrimages attract tens of thousands of devotees, and you may have to wait for hours in line to catch a glimpse of the idol, while the rest of the year the temple is deserted. The most sacred temples have a reservoir of sacred water, which pilgrims immerse themselves in before entering the temple. Stalls overflowing with offerings and religious trinkets line the temple outskirts during the pilgrimage season, and those that are heavily visited all year round.
- The Char Dham. Visiting the 4 sacred temples of Badrinath (Uttarakhand), Dwarka (Gujarat), Puri (Odisha) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu) increases your chances of attaining mōksha (salvation) and ending the cycle of reincarnation. They are located all over India, three of them in the north. A small pilgrimage, the Chota Char Dham, is very popular in North India, and consists of visiting 4 temples located at the source of the Ganges, in Uttarakhand: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
- The Kumbh Mela : every 12 years, this pilgrimage celebrates the revolution of Jupiter and attracts millions of pilgrims. The pilgrimage rotates between 4 holy sites located on the banks of sacred rivers: Prayagraj (at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati rivers), Haridwar (the Ganges), Nashik (the Godavari) and Ujjain (the Shipra). Bathing in the sacred waters during the pilgrimage is tantamount to washing away one's sins.
Other North Indian religions
- Islam. In addition to plundering and seizing power, the first Muslim invaders had the mission of spreading religion. The foundation of the Delhi Sultanate at the end of the 12th century led to some conversions among the wealthy classes, who were anxious to maintain good relations with the occupying power. However, most converts to Islam sought to escape their social situation. While Islam played a predominant role in Delhi until the decline of the Mughal Empire, it did not have the same influence everywhere in the north of the country. Today, 11% of India's population is Muslim. At a time of rising Hindu nationalism, the community is trying to keep a low profile. Islam, with its single dogma based on Koranic revelation, does not mix well with Hinduism, which is based on personal experience and open to all kinds of mysticism.
- Sikhism. This deviant religion of Hinduism was founded by Gurū Nānak in the Punjab in the 15th century. It affirms the oneness of God and the need to forge peaceful links between religions. It outlaws the caste system, child marriage and the sacrifice of widows to their husbands' pyres(sati). Sikhs refer to the Granth Sahib, a compilation of writings by Gurū Nānak and the gurus who succeeded him until the early 18th century. The Sikh community represents 1.7% of the Indian population. The men are easily recognized by their tight turbans, uncut hair and full beards. The women, on the other hand, don't wear a sari, but the salwar kameez, a loose-fitting tunic topped by ankle-length pants. Sikhs all share the surname Singh, which means "lion", but not all Singhs are Sikhs.
- Jainism. Its founder, Mahavir, was the last of 24 pious figures known as tirthankars or "ford crossers". He was a contemporary of Buddha in the 6th century BC. The example of the tirthankars helps devotees to free themselves from the illusions that bind the soul to the world. In addition to this devotion, Jains strive not to harm any form of life. Their mouths are sometimes covered with a handkerchief to prevent them from swallowing insects. They observe a strict vegetarian diet and ritual purity prohibitions (e.g. no leather, no temple entrance during menstruation for women). Religious members of the digambara sect are the most rigorous, living completely naked to mark their total detachment from the materialistic world. Originally, Jainism aimed to escape Brahmanical ritualism and recognized no clergy. Brahmins were able to reclaim the cult and officiate in Jain temples. Jainism is mainly practiced in Gujarat and Rajasthan. While the recommendations for living are rather austere, Jain temples are often sumptuous. Genuine marble lacework, the temples of Ranakpur, Dilwara or Mont Abu attract many visitors from outside the cult.
- Buddhism. One of the great originalities of this religion is that it originated in India, spread throughout most of Asia, aroused interest in the West... and then virtually disappeared from its country of origin. In India, Buddhism is only to be found in the Himalayan regions (Ladakh, Zanskar), among Tibetan refugees and among members of the lower Hindu castes who have converted to escape the system that devalues them. Prince Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni, the Buddha (the Awakened One), was born in 563 B.C. in Lumbini (Nepal). Escaping from his privileged environment, he understood the true nature of Being, suffering, and through meditation discovered the way out: the Eightfold Path or "pure faith, pure will, pure speech, pure action, pure livelihood, pure concentration, pure memory and pure meditation"... Such rigor required a monastic life, and the first disciples were indeed monks. The respect they commanded among the people earned the doctrine great popularity. Sovereigns eventually converted to Buddhism. Emperor Ashoka was one of them, spreading Buddhism throughout the peninsula. This popularization, coupled with the rise of modern Hinduism and its propensity to assimilate the most contradictory doctrines, rapidly gave rise to a complete syncretism between Buddhism and Hinduism. The Buddha himself was considered an avatar of Vishnu, and by the time Muslims razed the last Buddhist monasteries on the Ganges plain at the end of the 12th century, Prince Siddhartha's teachings had already undergone enough reform and re-examination to make it impossible to speak of Indian Buddhism.
- Christianity. The word of Jesus reached India's shores early on, as tradition has it that it was the apostle Thomas who came to deliver it in 52. The Christian community is the third largest in India, with around 2.8 million followers. In North India, it was not until European missionaries arrived. While the English were relatively unsuccessful with their Anglican Church, Catholic missionaries were much more successful with the tribal populations of northeast India. Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the 4 Indian states where Christianity is the dominant religion, with between 75% and 90% of the population following this faith.
