Hinduism By Harshini Reddy

Religions in India There are many religions in India. The three main religions are Hinduism,Islam, and Christianity. Some people also follow Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism. Buddhists pray to Buddha. Sikhs pray to Guru Nanak. Jains pray to Mahaveer. Hindus pray to a lot of different gods.

Gods and Goddesses There are a lot of different gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Some of these gods and goddesses are Ganesha , Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma , Lakshmi , Parvati , Venkateswara , Sri Devi , Bhoo Devi , Saraswati , Gayatri Devi , Rama , Sita , Krishna , Radha and many more. Ganesha = Remover of obstacles Vishnu = Protector of the universe Shiva = Destroyer of Bad Lakshmi = Wealth Saraswati = Knowledge Brahma = Creator of the universe Parvati = Adored by married women for a happy married life Ganesha

Vishnu Vishnu’s Role Vishnu is the protector of the universe. His role is to return to Earth in troubled times. Hindus believe that he has returned 9 times and once again he will return near the end of the Earth.

Holidays There are a lot of different holidays in Hinduism.There is Diwali, the festival of lights. Holi, the festival of colors and many more. My personal favorite is Diwali because we get to light firecrackers and candles. Holi is when we throw colored water at each other.

Beliefs One belief is that no one should look at the moon on Ganesh Chaturti. Ganesh Chaturti is Ganesha’s birthday because one night Ganesha ate a lot of food on his birthday and his stomach broke and the moon was laughing at him. Ganesha cursed him by saying that no one can look at him, yet the moon begged for forgiveness. So Ganesha said only on this day if people look at the moon than they will be blamed for things that he/she didn’t do. If you do look at the moon on this day and you listen to a certain story then the curse will be lifted.

Bhajans and Prayers Bhajans are devotional songs that people sing to god. Prayers are chants that they say to god. There are many prayers and bhajans. Here is a short prayer that we say to Saraswati Devi : yaakundenu tushaara haara daavalaa yaa shubra vastravrita yaa veena vara danda manditakara yaa sweta padmaasana yaa brahma achyutha shankara prabhritibhir devai sandaa vandita saa maam paatu saraswati bhagavati nishesha jaadyaapaaha

Food Pure veg is when you don’t eat egg and meat. Veg is when you eat egg. Non veg is when you eat meat. In India there are lots of different types of food. There is spicy food and sweet food. We do not eat pork , beef and turkey. We do not eat beef because we honor cows. My favorite sweet is gulab jamoon. It is very sweet and tasty.

Temples Temples are where we go to pray. In different languages they might call it something different but in my language we call temples gudi.

Animals In hinduism we think that many animals are sacred. THese are some of the animals.Peacocks , cows , elephants and turtles.

Thank You!!!!!!! Namaste