Four Traditions Of Hinduism

Hinduism is one of the world oldest, and most complex religions. Hinduism started as early as 8000 BCE, when the cities of the Indus river valley started some of the hindu traditions we see today. This pre-Hindu religion turned into a more modern version of the religion in the year 1500 BCE. In 1500 BCE, the aryans invaded from southeast Asia. When the aryan groups came into india, they brought with them a sacred book or text called the Vedas. The Vedas is a religious text, written in Sanskrit; the writing of the aryans. With this text, they combined their religion with the “pre-hindu” culture and created modern hinduism. The aryans also brought the caste system with them. The caste system is four societal classes, divided by their wealth and

The priests, or Brahmin, are represented as his mouth. Next are the Kshatriyas (warriors or kings) as his arms, the Vaishyas (Merchants or traders) as his legs and lastly the Shudras (laborers) as his feet. This does not represent the fifth group known as the untouchables. The untouchables do the jobs that no one else wants to do like collecting trash or sewage maintenance. The aryans largely based the castes on skin color. Those with lighter skin received a better role in society. Although the caste system is permanent for life, you can move up through reincarnation and karma. When you die, the hindu followers believe that you are reincarnated. They also believe that if you lead a good life, then you move up a caste. This process only stops when one receives moksha, or liberation from life. The Aryans took over the Ganges river area, and made the river a large part of their religion. Not all of the local Indians agreed with the aryan’s ways and were the enemies of the aryans, known as the Dasas. Today Hinduism is still a major religion. There are over 330 million gods and the caste system is still in place in India, despite the modern way of

Throughout India millions actively practice hinduism and still follow the caste system, set up around 3500 years ago. Hinduism started as early as 8000 BCE. This is when the indus river valley civilization was alive. On the indus river two major cities were found, Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa. In these cities were many artifacts, including seals and statues. These seals had pictures of many deities and creatures, similar to the hindu gods today. One of the more common deities found in these cities is the proto-Shiva. The proto Shiva is a seal or statue that resembles the hindu god Shiva very closely. These proto-Gods eventually evolved into the some of the 330 million gods of Hinduism. This evolution started when the aryans brought their religious text, the Vedas. The aryans invaded India and took control. Then they were then able to combine their text with these early forms of hindu gods and traditions to create modern Hinduism. Now over 850 million people follow hinduism in both India, and