Jamilla Ardon & Lotte van den Heuvel 4AA

The origin of Hinduism lies in India, near the river Indus, which now belongs to Pakistan. The Indians called their belief Dharma; eternal order or truth. Hindu is Persian for Indian, that’s why the belief is called Hinduism. This also proves that Hinduism did originate in India.

We’re not absolutely sure when Hinduism was founded, because there’s no exact date. Because of some archaeologists, we suspect that about years ago, some people already believed in Hinduism. This picture shows the oldest Hindu temple in the world.

In India, the caste system is the base of the social structure, also called the varna and jati system. Varna divides people in 4 different castes, the jati divides people in sub-castes. Because many Hindu's live in India, they are also part of this system.

You belong to a certain caste when your family is part of it. Your birth therefore decides your social status, for example; you are born in a family with teachers, then you belong to the Brahmins.

Karma comes from Hinduism and Buddhism. It means that what you do will have consequences for you. In Hinduism, people believe in reincarnation and they believe that what you do in this life will determine what your next life will look like.

Brahman is the term for “the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world” which cannot be exactly defined. It’s the highest reality for Hindu’s, it is that what you can’t change. Brahman was founded by a philosopher called Shankara in the year 800 (approximately). The picture at the top shows a drop water in water, a common analogy for Brahman.

The ultimate goal is called moska; salvation from samsara. Samsara is the endless reincarnation cycle. In order to do that, the people have to become one with the universal soul and debar all desires on earth.

Hinduism can be considered as both mono- and polytheistic. Hindu’s have many gods and goddesses, but some people say that they’re all different forms of one god. Others say that all gods and goddesses are different. So there are mono- and polytheist ic Hindu’s.

‘Aum’ consists out of 3 letters and it’s symbolic for 3 triads: – Worlds: earth, atmosphere, heaven – Major Hindu gods: Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu – Vedic scriptures: Rg, Yajur, Sama ‘Aum’ can also be described as the “essence of the entire universe”.

In Henotheism, there are multiple gods and goddesses, but one of the is the “leading” one. Subtypes are monolatrism or kathenotheism. The founder of Henotheism, Max Müller, said that Hinduism is a Henotheist religion too. The picture shows Henotheist ideas in Christianity. >

Brahma is the personification of the holy trinity in Hinduism. He is said to have come out of Vishnu’s umbilicus. Brahma is also related to Brahman/Aum, the creator of everything and the student of the Veda’s. Brahma is described as a male god with four faces.

Shiva is worshipped as the supreme God. He is the destroyer and restorer and is the most multifaced God of all hinduist Gods. Shiva belongs to the Trimurti, together with Brahma and Vishnu. Together with the godess Parvati, Shive stands for true love.

Vishnu rules the balance between good and evil and stands for the protector of the universe. There also exists a group of people that only worship Vishnu; the monotheism Vaishnavism. Hinduist say Vishu has reincarnated 9 times and he will do so once again, close to the end of the world.

Durga is the Mother Godness. Durga is also the power behind the creation, protection and destruction of the world. She is worshipped as the Supreme Power and, according to some, Durga is the wife of Shiva. Durga has 3 eyes representing the moon, the sun and fire (desire, action and knowledge).