RLGN1322 Introduction to Eastern Religions - respond to one of the 3 following prompts. It should be approximately 1500 words in length.It will be double spaced, 12 point font.It should follow a cons

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication A concise introduction to world religions / edited by Willard G. Oxtoby, Roy C. Amore, Amir Hussain, Alan F. Segal. -- Third edition.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-900855-1 (pbk.) 1. Religions--Textbooks.  I. Oxtoby, Willard G. (Willard Gurdon), 1933-, editor  II. Amore, Roy C., 1942-, author, editor  III. Hussain, Amir, author, editor  IV. Segal, Alan F., 1945-2011, editor  V. Title: World religions.

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Printed and bound in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 — 18 17 16 15 900855_00_FM.indd 4 06/01/15 9:44 PM Vasudha Narayanan Hindu Traditions 900855_06_ch06.indd 280 12/14/14 9:20 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 281 Numbers Approximately 950 million to 1 billion around the world.

Distribution Primarily India; large numbers in other regions of South Asia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, and many parts of Southeast Asia.

Principal Historical Periods c. 2500 – 600 BCE Indus Valley civilization; composition of the Vedas c. 500 BCE –1000 CE Composition of epics and P urana s 600 –1600 Devotional poetry in local languages, building of major temples in South and South- east Asia 13th–18th centuries Northern India under Muslim rule mid-1700s–1947 British colonial period Founders and Leaders Important f gures include Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha, Ramananda, Chaitanya, Swami Narayanan, Ramakrishna, and Vivekananda. Among the hundreds of teachers who have attracted follow- ings in the last century alone are Aurobindo, Ramana Maharishi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Sathya Sai Baba, Anandamayi Ma, and Ma Amritananda Mayi. Deities Hindu philosophy recognizes a supreme being (the ineffable Brahman) who is not limited by gender and number and who may take countless forms; classical rhetoric typically refers to 330 million.

Some sectarian traditions identify the supreme deity as Vishnu, some as Shiva, and some as a form of the Goddess. The supreme being may be understood as male, female, androgynous, or beyond gender.

There are also many local deities.

Authoritative Texts The Vedas are technically considered the most authoritative texts, though the epics (the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , including the Bhagavad Gita ), the P urana s , and several works in regional languages have also been very important.

Noteworthy Teachings Hindus in general recognize a supreme being, vari- ously conceived—personal for some, impersonal for others. Most think of the human soul as immortal and believe that when it reaches liberation it will be freed from the shackles of karma and rebirth.

Specif c teachings vary depending on sectarian tra- dition, region, and community. Traditions at a Glance A Hindu wedding in Florida . The earliest compositions in any Hindu tradition are the Ve d a s : four collections of hymns and texts that are said to have been “revealed” to rishis (visionaries or seers) through both sight and sound; thus the sacred words are called shruti hearing the sacred is characteristic of all Hindu traditions. When Hindus go on a pilgrimage or visit a temple, they seek an experience known as a darshana : to see and be seen by a particular deity or guru. But Hindus also believe in the impor- tance of uttering prayers aloud. Reciting from ancient texts, telling stories of the gods, chanting prayers, singing devotional songs, or meditating on a holy mantra —these are just some of the ways in which Hindus actively live their tradition through its sacred words. In short, Hindus experience the divine through both sight and sound. Although sacred texts have been important, for most 900855_06_ch06.indd 281 12/14/14 9:20 PM 282 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsHindus the primary source of knowledge about their traditions has been performance: rituals, recitations, music, dance, and theatre. It is hard to identify common denominators in Hinduism. While some texts and some deities are widely accepted, there is no single text, deity, or teacher that all Hindus consider supremely authoritative. Similarly, there are many local deities who may or may not be identif ed with pan- Indian gods. The Hindu tradition is in fact many traditions encompassing hundreds of commun- ities and sectarian movements, each of which has its own hallowed canon, its own sacred place, and its own concept of the supreme deity. “Hinduism” The term “Hinduism” is frequently used as a f uid shorthand for diverse philosophies, arts, branches of knowledge, and practices associated with people and communities that have some connection with the Indian sub-continent and do not explicitly self-identify with another religious tradition.

Knowledge of the Vedas is not required to qualify as Hindu; there are probably millions of people in India who have never heard of them. Yet all those people would be considered Hindu as long they do not belong to a faith tradition that explicitly denies the exalted status of the Vedas. For many Hindus, plurality of beliefs and practices is a way of life. The word “Hinduism,” like “India” itself, is derived from “Sind”: the name of the region—now India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To them, “Hinduism” meant the religion of those Indians—the majority—who were not Muslims, although a few smaller groups, including Jainas, Parsis, Christians, Jews, and sometimes Sikhs, were also recognized. As a term for a religious iden- tity, “Hinduism” did not become popular until the nineteenth century. There are approximately a billion Hindus in the world today. Yet when they are asked about their religious identity, they are more likely to refer to their caste or community than to Hinduism.

Under Indian law, the term “Hindu” applies not only to members of a Hindu “denomination” such as Vira Shaiva or Brahmo Samaj, but also to “any other person domiciled in the territories to which [the Hindu Family Act] extends who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi, or Jew religions to be Hindu. Thus while we can make some generalizations and trace some important lines of historical continuity, we must keep in mind their limitations. The very concept of religion in the Western, post-Enlightenment sense is only loosely appli- cable to the Hindu tradition The Sanskrit word dharma comes close to “religion” in that it refers to righteousness, justice, faith, duty, and religious and social obligation, but it does not cover everything that that is sacred for Hindus. Many things—from astrology to music and dance, from phonetics to plants—may be essential to an individual Hindu’s tradition. Therefore this discussion will include a number of features not usually covered by the term “religion” in the Western world.

Origins In the early twentieth century Hinduism was believed to have grown from a fusion of the I ndig- enous religions of the Indus Valley with the faith of an Indo-European people usually thought to have migrated there sometime between 1750 and 1500 BCE . More recently, however, some scholars have argued that the Indo-Europeans (“Aryans”) originated in other parts of Asia, while others suggest that the subcontinent itself was their original homeland. 900855_06_ch06.indd 282 12/14/14 9:20 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 283 c. 3300–1900 BCE Evidence of Indus Valley civilization (early to mature phases) c. 1750?–1500 Earliest Vedic compositions c. 600 Production of Upanishads c. 500 Production of Hindu epics begins 326 Alexander the Great comes to the Northwest border of India c. 272 Accession of King Ashoka c. 200 First contacts with Southeast Asia c. 200 BCE –200 CE Composition of Bhagavad Gita c. 200 CE Compilation of Laws of Manu and Natya Sastra completed c. 500 Beginnings of tantric tradition c. 700–900 Alvars and Nayanmars, Tamil bhakti poets c. 700–800 Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta c. 10 0 8 –1023 Mahmud of Ghazni raids kingdoms in India several times, strips temples of their wealth; Somnath Temple in Gujarat destroyed 1017 Traditional birth date of Ramanuja, Vaishnava philosopher (d. 1137) 11 0 0 – 115 0 Angkor Wat built in Cambodia c. 1400 Major endowments at Tirumala–Tirupati temple 1486 Birth of Chaitanya, Bengali Vaishnava bhakti leader (d. 1583) c. 1543 Birth of Tulsidas, North Indian bhakti poet (d. 1623) 17 57 British rule established in Calcutta 182 8 Ram Mohan Roy founds Brahmo Samaj 1836 Birth of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (d. 1886) 1875 Dayananda Sarasvati founds Ar ya Samaj 1893 Vivekananda attends World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago 19 0 5 – 6 Vedanta Temple built in San Francisco 1926 Birth of Sathya Sai Baba 19 47 Partition of India and Pakistan on religious lines, resulting in almost a million deaths 1959 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi brings Transcendental Meditation to America and Europe 19 6 5 A.C. Bhaktivedenta Swami Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON , sails to America 197 7 Hindu temples consecrated in New York and Pittsburgh Timeline The Harappa Culture In 1926 excavations revealed the remains of several large towns on the banks of the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. Two of these towns, known today as Mohenjo Daro (“Mound of the Dead”) and Harappa, were more than 480 kilometres (300 miles) apart. Yet archaeological evidence 900855_06_ch06.indd 283 12/14/14 9:21 PM 284 A Concise Introduction to World Religions suggested a certain uniformity in the culture across the entire northwestern part of the subconti- nent. Although that culture is still widely identif ed with the Indus Valley, some scholars now call it the Harappa culture because it extends well beyond the Indus basin itself.It is generally believed that the towns were in existence by about 2750 BCE . Inscriptions on carved seals show that there was a written language, although no reading of it is universally accepted. Clearly the Harappans were impressive builders. At Mohenjo Daro there is a huge swim- ming-pool-like structure, surrounded by porticos and f ights of stairs, that scholars believe was designed for religious rituals of some sort. In addition, some houses appear to have included a room with a f re altar, and there are carvings of what looks like a mother goddess that may have been used for offerings of incense. Excavations around the Indus River have uncovered seals show- ing a man seated in a position that resembles a yoga posture, wearing a headdress that suggests he could be a prototype of the god who came to be known as Shiva. Other seals show a horned f gure emerging from a pipal tree, in front of which stand seven f gures with long braids who have been tentatively identif ed as either holy men or goddesses. What might have brought the Indus Valley civilization to an end? Some think it was the arrival of the Indo-Europeans around 1750 BCE . Others suggest that f ooding, drying of the river, or epi- demics might have driven the people farther east. Whatever the answer, the fragmentary evidence found in the Indus Valley suggests that some features of Hinduism may have originated well before 175 0 BCE .

We know even less of the early history in other parts of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, schol- ars have noticed correspondences between sites that were inhabited 4,000 or 5,000 years ago and sites that are of religious signif cance today. It seems likely that at least some elements of Hinduism as we know it have been present for as long as f ve millennia. The Indo-Europeans The language of the Vedas is an early form of Sanskrit, a member of the language family known as Indo-European. Western scholars in the nineteenth century noted similarities between some Indian and European languages in both grammar and vocabulary. For example, the Sanskrit word jnana is a cognate of the English word “ knowledge”; thus “lack of knowledge” is ajn ana in Sanskrit and “ ign orance” in English. There are hundreds of similar cognates, including the words for “father” and “mother.” Based on this evidence, many scholars believe that the Indo-Europeans (also known as “Ary- ans”) originated in Central Asia and that the migration began around 2000 BCE . Others think they originated in the region of modern Turkey and began spreading out as much as 4,000 years earlier. Yet another school of thought holds that Indo-Europeans originated on the Indian subcon- tinent. Proponents of this theory base their arguments on astronomical data and evidence concern- ing a great river that they identify as the legendary Sarasvati. According to the ancient Hindu text known as the R ig Ve d a , the Sarasvati had f ve Aryan tribes living on its banks; yet geological evi- dence shows that it was dry by the time the Aryans were supposed to have entered India (c. 1750 BCE ). If the Aryans were actually there before the Sarasvati dried up, their dates must be pushed back at least as far as the time of the Harappan civilization. None of the evidence is conclusive, and some theories on the origins of the Indo-Europeans have been motivated by political, racial, religious, and nationalist agendas. What we do know is that the Indo-Europeans composed many poems and, eventually, manuals on rituals and philosophy. They committed these traditions to memory and passed them from generation to generation orally. 900855_06_ch06.indd 284 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 285 The Vedas The Vedas (from the Sanskrit for “knowledge”) are the works collectively known as shruti (“t h at rishis “saw” the mantras and transmitted them to their disciples, starting an oral tradition that has continued to the present. INDIAN OCEAN ARABIAN SEA Bay of Bengal MOUTH OF THE GANGA SRI LANKA Rameswaram Kanya Kumari Madurai Srírangam Mysore PondicherryMahabalipuram Kanchipuram Madras Tirumala-Tirupati TAMILNADU ORISSA GUJARAT RAJASTHAN BENGAL MADHYA PRADESH UTTAR PRADESH MT ABU GREAT INDIAN DESERT NAGA HILLS ARAKAN RANGE Mohenjo- DaroHarappa KARNATAKA ANDHRA PRADESH Pandharpur Bombay Dwaraka NasikUjjain Delhi Haridwar Brindavan Mathura Agra PrayagAyodhya Khajuraho MAHARASHTRA Puri I N D I A Varanasi Patna Gaya Calcutta Ganga Ganga Indus Jehlum Chenab Ravi Beas Sutlej Yamuna CHINA AFG HANIST AN SULAIMAN RANGES KERALA H I M A L A Y A S Chidambaram Guruvayur Mount Kailas Kamakhya Nathdwara Sabarimala Vaishno Devi PAKISTAN City Hindu pilgrimage site Mountain pass Indus Valley city Early Vedic culture Late Vedic culture Mountains Map 6.1 Hinduism Source: Adapted from Nielsen et al. 1993: 85. 900855_06_ch06.indd 285 12/14/14 9:21 PM 286 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsTraditionally regarded as revealed scripture, the Vedas are now generally thought to have been composed between roughly 1500 BCE (possibly 1750 BCE ) and 600 BCE . There are four Vedic col- lections: Rig, Sama , Yaj ur , and Atharva. Each of these consists of four sections: hymns ( Samhitas; the earliest parts), directions for the performance of sacred rituals ( Brahmanas forest” ( Aranyaka s ), and philosophical works called the Upanishads The earliest section of the R ig Ve d a contains 1,028 hymns. The hymns of the S a m a Ve d a and Yaj ur Ve d a are largely borrowed from the Rig , and the S a m a Ve d a was meant to be sung. The Upanishads are the most recent sections of each collection, composed around 600 BCE . The Atharva Veda differs from the other three in that it includes material used for purposes other than sacrif cial rituals, such as incantations and remedies to ward off illness and evil spirits; one verse (7.38) refers to the use of herbs to make a lover return, and another (7.50) requests luck in gambling. Although the term “Vedas” denotes the whole corpus, some Western scholars have used “Veda” only for the hymns, the samhita portion of each collection. This narrower use of the term is generally not accepted by Hindus. The Status of the Vedas Almost all educated Hindus would describe the Vedas as their most sacred texts; yet most would be hard pressed to describe their contents. The Vedas are not books that people keep in their homes.

A few Vedic hymns are recited regularly, and the philosophical sections have often been com- mented on, but the rest of the contents are known only to a handful of ritual specialists and San- skrit scholars. The Vedas are particularly signif cant to the brahmins —the class that historically has considered itself the “highest” in Hindu society—who reserved for themselves the authority to teach them. Though members of two other classes were technically “allowed” to study the Vedas, in time this privilege was lost or in some cases, abandoned. Historically, the Vedas were treated as “revealed” scripture, though the source of the revelation was not necessarily a deity. All medieval schools agreed that the Vedas have a transcendental aspect and an authoritative nature. Where they differed was on the question of their origin. The Nyaya (“logic”) school of philosophy believed that the Vedas were composed by God, but others, such as the Mimamsa and Vedanta schools, held that they are eternal, coeval with God. The supreme source of knowledge, the Vedas have served as manuals of ritual for all Hindu traditions, and some sections have been passed down without major changes for more than 2,000 years. Interpretations have not been static, however. In every generation, specialists have worked to make the texts’ messages relevant to the particular time and place. The highest honour that could be given to any Hindu religious text was to describe it as another “Veda.” Among the works that have been accorded this title are the epic Mahabharata; Bharata’s Nat ya Sa stra , a treatise on dance and performance composed around the beginning of the Common Era; and a number of Tamil-language compositions from South India, especially the Tir uvaymoli Periya Puranam (twelfth century), a col- lection of the life stories of saints who were devotees of Shiva. These texts made no attempt either to ect the wis- dom embodied in the original Vedas, making their eternal truth relevant to a new place and time.

The Vedic Hymns samhitas; only the later Vedic hymns 900855_06_ch06.indd 286 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 287 address them directly. Rather, the earliest hymns speak of deities who were later superseded, and many of the stories they allude to would not be familiar to most Hindus today.Indra, for instance, was a warrior god who battled other cosmic powers. Agni was the god of f re who served as a messenger, carrying to the deities the offerings that humans placed in the sac- rif cial f re. Soma was the name of a god identif ed with the moon, but also of a plant-based elixir used for ritual purposes. Sarasvati, as we have seen, was the name of a great river. But Sarasvati was also a goddess described in the R ig Ve d a as beautiful and fortunate, the inspirer of noble thoughts. By the time the Brahmanas were composed, Sarasvati had taken over the attributes formerly associated with the goddess Vac The early hymns typically offer praise to the gods; thus the river Indus is praised for giving cattle, children, horses, and food. But many of them also include petitions—not for salvation or eternal bliss (in fact, the idea of an afterlife is rarely mentioned), but for a good and happy life on this earth. Thus a woman poet named Ghosa asks to be cured of her white-tinted skin, so that she may marry and live happily with her husband. One of the dominant features of Vedic religious life was the ritual sacrif ce, typically performed using f re. From simple domestic affairs to elaborate community events, these sacrif ces were con- ducted by ritual specialists and priests. A delicate connection was understood to exist between the rituals and the maintenance of cosmic and earthly order, or rta : truth and justice, the rightness of things that makes harmony and peace possible on earth and in the heavens. A number of hymns composed around 1000 BCE speculate on the origins of life. “The Creation Hymn” (see Document box) expresses wonder at the creation of the universe from nothing and suggests that perhaps no one knows how it all came to be. Document There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? In whose protection? Was there water, bottomlessly deep? There was neither death nor immortality then.

There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.

That one breathed, windless, by its own impulse.

Other than that there was nothing beyond. Darkness was hidden by darkness in the begin- ning; with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.

The life force that was covered with emptiness, that one arose through the power of heat. Desire came upon that one in the beginning; that was the f rst seed of mind. Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom found the bond of existence in non-existence.

Their cord was extended across. Was there below? Was there above? There were seed-placers; there were powers. There was impulse beneath; there was giving-forth above. Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?

Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?

The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen? Whence this creation has arisen—perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not—the one who looks down on it, in the highest heaven, only he knows—or perhaps he does not know (Doniger O’Flaherty 1981: 25–6).

The Creation Hymn, R ig Veda 10.129 900855_06_ch06.indd 287 12/14/14 9:21 PM 288 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsAnother account, however, describes how the universe itself was created through the cosmic sac- rif ce of the primeval man (Purusha). This account, the “Hymn to the Supreme Person,” has f gured continuously in the tradition for some 3,000 years. Straining to capture inf nity in words, the composer uses the notion of “a thousand” to evoke what cannot be measured or perhaps even imagined:

(1) The cosmic person has a thousand heads a thousand eyes and feet It covers the earth on all sides and extends ten f nger-lengths beyond (2) The cosmic person is everything all that has been and will be. . . .

Various elements of the universe are said to have arisen from this sacrif ce: (13) From his mind came the moon from his eye, the sun Indra and Agni from his mouth the wind came from his breath.

(14) From his navel came space from his head, the sky from his feet, earth; from his ears, the four directions thus the worlds were created.

In this context an idea is introduced that will change forever the religious and social countenance of the Hindu tradition: (12) From his mouth came the priestly class from his arms, the rulers.

The producers came from his legs; from his feet came the servant class.

Thus the origins of the four classes ( varnas) of Hindu society are traced to the initial cosmic sacri- f ce. Although this verse is the f rst explicit reference to what came to be called the caste system, it is likely that the stratif cation of society had taken place long before the R ig Ve d a was composed. The Upanishads By the time of the Aranyaka s and Upanishads, in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE , the early Vedic emphasis on placating the gods through ritual sacrif ce had given way to critical philoso- phical inquiry. This period, around the time of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Jaina teacher Maha- vira, was one of intellectual ferment, of questioning—and rejecting—authoritarian structures. Yet the Upanishads do not totally reject the early hymns and sacrif cial rituals. Instead, they rethink and reformulate them. Thus some rituals are interpreted allegorically, and the symbolic structures of the sacrif ces are analyzed in some detail. 900855_06_ch06.indd 288 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 289 Most of the Upanishads take the form of conversations—between a teacher and a student, between a husband and wife, or between fellow philosophers. In the beginning of one study ses- Taittiriya Upanishad 11.1.1). After years of Vedic instruction, a departing student receives moving advice from his guru (teacher):

Speak the truth. Practice virtue. Do not neglect to study every day. Do not neglect truth, virtue, studying or teaching. . . . Be one to whom your mother is a god, your father is a god, your teacher is a god, a guest is like a god. . . . Give with faith . . . give liberally, give with modesty . . . give with sympathy. . . . This is the command. This is the teaching. This is the secret of the Veda. . . . ( Taittiriya Upanishad 6) Karma and Samsara It is in the Upanishads that we f nd the earliest discussions of several concepts central to the later Hindu tradition, among them the concept of karma . The literal meaning of “karma” is “action,” especially ritual action, but in these texts the word eventually comes to refer the rewards and pun- ishments attached to various actions. This system of cause and effect may require several lifetimes to work out. Thus the concept of karma implies a continuing cycle of death and rebirth or reincar- nation called samsara. To achieve liberation ( moksha) from this cycle, according to the Upanishads , requires a transforming experiential wisdom. Those who attain that wisdom become immortal. A frequent theme of the Upanishads is the quest for a unifying truth. This “higher” knowledge is clearly distinguished from the “lower” knowledge that can be conceptualized and expressed in words. Its nature cannot be taught: it can only be evoked, as in this question posed by the seeker in the Mundaka Upanishad Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of the Yaj ur V e d a ref ects the quest for enlightenment in these lines:

Lead me from the unreal to reality Lead me from darkness to light Lead me from death to immortality Om, let there be peace, peace, peace.

learning or conceptual knowledge. It is only through the experience of enlightenment that one is freed from the birth-and-death cycle.

Atman and Brahman At the heart of that higher wisdom is experiential knowledge of the relationship between the human soul ( Atman) and the Supreme Being ( Brahman). Brahman pervades and at the same time transcends not only human thought but the universe itself. To know Brahman is to enter a new state of consciousness. The Taittiriya Upanishad associates Brahman with existence or truth, knowledge, inf nity, consciousness, and bliss; elsewhere Brahman is described as the hidden, inner controller of the human soul. Many passages of the Upanishads discuss the relationship between Atman and Brahman, but invariably they suggest rather than specify the connection between the two. In a famous passage of the Chandogya Upanishad, a father has his son dissolve salt in water and tells him that Brahman 900855_06_ch06.indd 289 12/14/14 9:21 PM 290 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsand Atman are united in the same way. The father ends this lesson with a famous dictum—tat years later, philosophers still differed in their interpretations of this passage. For Shankara in the eighth century, “you are that” indicated that Brahman and Atman were identical. Yet for Ramanuja in the eleventh century, it meant that the two were inseparably united but not identical. Some passages of the Upanishads refer to Brahman as the hidden, inner controller of the human soul (Atman); others, as the frame or loom on which the universe is woven. Women in the Vedas Three female poets— Ghosa, Apala, and Lopamudra—are named in the early part of the Vedas, and the Upanishads mention several women who took part in the quest for ultimate truth. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , for instance, Maitreyi, the wife of the sage Yajnavalkya, questions him in depth about the nature of reality, and a woman philosopher named Gargi Vachaknavi challenges a male scholar in a public debate. Stone shrine (c. 1500 CE), modelled after a wooden processional chariot, in the Vitthala (Vishnu) temple complex in 900855_06_ch06.indd 290 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 291 These women were probably among the teachers through whom the sacred knowledge was transmitted. While the fathers of the teachers listed in the Upanishads are frequently named, in some cases the teachers are identif ed as the sons of particular women. In the Brihadaranyaka Upa- nishad This suggests that some teachers may have received spiritual instruction from their mothers. Classical Hinduism The literature that was composed after the Vedas, starting around 500 BCE , was recognized to be of human origin and was loosely called smrti less authoritative than the “revealed” shruti , this material was still considered inspired, and it has played a far more important role in the lives of Hindus. Several texts are classif ed as smrti : epics ( itihasas ), ancient stories ( Purana s), and codes of law and ethics ( dharmashastras).

Ramayana (“Story of Rama”) and the Mahabharata encounter with Hindu scripture. The Ramayana The Ramayana has been memorized, recited, sung, and performed on stage, often in dance, for 2,500 years. Its hero is the young prince Rama, whose father, Dasaratha, has decided to abdicate in favour of his son. On the eve of the coronation, however, a heartbroken Dasaratha is forced to exile Rama because of an earlier promise made to one of his wives. Rama accepts cheerfully and leaves for the forest, accompanied by his beautiful wife, Sita, and his half-brother Lakshmana, who Document Vidagdha Shakalyah asked: “Yajnavalkya, how many gods are there?” He answered . . . in line with the formulaic [mantra], “. . . three hundred and three, and three and three thousand.” “Yes, but Yajnavalkya, how many gods are there, really?” “Thirty-three.” “Yes, but really, how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?” “ S i x .” “Yes, but really, how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?” “Three.” . . .

“Yes, but really, how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?” “One and a half.” “Yes, but really, how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?” “ O n e .” “Yes, but who are those three hundred and three and three thousand and three?” “They are but the powers of the gods; there are only thirty-three gods” ( Brihadaranyaka Upanishad How Many Gods Are There? 900855_06_ch06.indd 291 12/14/14 9:21 PM 292 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsboth refuse to be separated from him. Bharata, the brother who has now been named king, returns from a trip to discover that Rama has gone into exile and his father has died of grief. He f nds Rama and begs him to return, but Rama refuses because he feels he must respect his father’s decision to banish him. He asks Bharata to rule as his regent.While in the forest, Sita is captured by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. Rama sets out to search for her with the aid of his brother and a group of monkeys led by Hanuman, a monkey with divine ancestry. It is Hanuman who f nds Sita and reports her whereabouts to Rama, who, with the monkeys’ help, goes to war with Ravana. After a long battle, Rama kills Ravana and is reunited with Sita. They eventually return to the capital and are crowned. Rama is considered the ideal son, husband, and king, and in later centuries he came to be seen as an incarnation of Vishnu. Sita too has been idealized both for her own qualities and for her relationship with her husband. In a sequel to the Ramayana , however, Rama’s subjects become suspicious about Sita’s virtue following her captivity in Ravana’s grove. Because there is no way to prove her innocence, and possibly because he does not want to create a legal precedent for excusing a wife who has slept outside her husband’s home, Rama banishes his own wife, who by now is pregnant. The exiled Sita gives birth to twin sons. Some years later, the twins prepare to meet Rama in battle, and it is then that Sita tells them he is their father. There is a brief reunion. Rama asks Sita to prove her innocence in public by undergoing some ordeal, but Sita refuses and asks Mother Earth to take her back. She is then swallowed by the ground. Many Hindus have considered Sita the ideal wife because she follows her husband to the forest.

Others see her as a model of strength and virtue in her own right. She complies with her husband as he does with her; their love is one worthy of emulation. Yet she is also a woman who stands her ground when her husband asks her to prove her virtue. On one occasion, in Lanka, she acqui- esces, but the second time she gently but f rmly refuses and so rules out any possibility of reunion.

The tale has sometimes been retold from Sita’s viewpoint under the title Sitayana, and even conserv- ative commentators agree with the time-honoured saying “sitayas charitam mahat” (“the deeds of Sita are indeed great”). Temples dedicated to Rama and Sita are found in many parts of the world. The Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita With approximately 100,000 verses, the Mahabharata is said to be the longest poem in the world. It is not found in many homes, but many people own copies of an extract from it called the Bhagavad Gita. The Mahabharata is the story of the great struggle among the descendants of a king named Bharata. The main part of the story concerns a war between two families, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Though they are cousins, the Kauravas try to cheat the Pandavas out of their share of the kingdom and will not accept peace. A battle ensues in which all the major kingdoms are forced to take sides. Krishna, by this time considered to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu, is on the side of the Pandavas, but refuses to f ght but agrees to serve as charioteer for the warrior Arjuna, who would come to be seen as representing the human soul in quest of liberation. Just as the war is about to begin, Arjuna, who has won several battles, puts down his bow and asks Krishna whether it is correct to take up arms against one’s own kin. Krishna replies that it is correct to f ght for what is right; peaceful means must be tried, but if they fail one must f ght for 18chapters, constitutes the Bhagavad Gita .

The Gita teaches both loving devotion to Krishna and the importance of self ess action. It was probably written sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE , and for centuries people learned it by 900855_06_ch06.indd 292 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 293 heart. In verses that are still recited at Hindu funerals, Krishna describes the soul as existing beyond the reach of the mind and the senses, unaffected by physical nature. Just as human beings exchange old clothes for new ones, so the human soul discards one body and puts on another through the ages, until it acquires the knowledge that will free it forever from the cycle of birth and death.

Document On the immortality of the soul:

Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self is enduring, indestructible, and immeasurable; therefore, Arjuna, f ght the battle!

He who thinks this self a killer and he who thinks it killed, both fail to understand it does not kill, nor is it killed.

It is not born, it does not die; having been, it will never not be; unborn, enduring, constant, and primordial, it is not killed when the body is killed. . . .

As a man discards worn-out clothes to put on new and different ones, so the embodied self discards its worn-out bodies to take on other new ones.

Weapons do not cut it, f re does not burn it, waters do not wet it, wind does not wither it. It cannot be cut or burned; it cannot be wet or withered; it is enduring, all-pervasive, f xed, immovable, and timeless. . . .

On the way of action:

Be intent on action, not on the fruits of action; avoid attraction to the fruits and attachment to inaction!

Perform actions, f rm in discipline, relinquishing attachment; be impartial to failure and suc- cess—this equanimity is called discipline. . . .

When he shows no preference in fortune or misfor- tune and neither exults nor hates, his insight is sure. . . .

On the mystery and purpose of incarnation:

Whenever sacred duty decays and chaos prevails, then, I create myself, Arjuna. To protect men of virtue and destroy men who do evil to set the standard of sacred duty, I appear in age after age. . . .

On the nature of God and the way of devotion:

Always glorifying me, striving, f rm in their vows, paying me homage with devotion, they worship me, always disciplined. . . .

I am the universal father, mother, granter of all, grandfather, object of knowledge, purif er, holy syllable OM, threefold sacred love.

I am the way, sustainer, lord, witness, shelter, ref- uge, friend, source, dissolution, stability, trea- sure, and unchanging seed.

I am heat that withholds and sends down the rains; I am immortality and death; both being and non- being am I. . . .

The leaf or f ower or fruit or water that he offers with devotion, I take from the man of self-restraint in response to his devotion.

Whatever you do—what you take, what you offer, what you give, what penances you perform—do as an offering to me, Arjuna!

You will be freed from the bonds of action, from the fruit of fortune and misfortune; armed with the discipline of renunciation, yourself liberated, you will join me. . . .

Keep me in your mind and devotion, sacrif ce to me, bow to me, discipline your self toward me, and you will reach me!

87) From the Bhagavad Gita 900855_06_ch06.indd 293 12/14/14 9:21 PM 294 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsThus Arjuna is told not to grieve at what is about to take place; but he is also warned that if he does not f ght for righteousness, he will be guilty of moral cowardice and will have to face the consequences of quitting at a time when it was his duty (dharma) to protect the people by waging a just war. Krishna also makes several statements about himself in the Gita that mark an important shift in Hindu theology. The Upanishads presented the Supreme Being, Brahman, as beyond human conceptualization, but in the Gita Krishna speaks of himself as both a personal god, one so f lled with love for human beings that he will incarnate himself to protect them, and the ultimate deity, the origin, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe. The Three Ways to Liberation In the course of the Gita , Krishna describes three ways to liberation from the cycle of birth and death: the way of action, the way of knowledge, and the way of devotion. (Some Hindus would argue that they are three aspects of the same way.) Each way ( marga) is also a discipline (yoga).

The way of action ( karma yoga) is the path of unself sh duty, performed neither in fear of pun- ishment nor in hope of reward. To expect a reward leads to bondage and unhappiness, since even if we do receive it, we will not be satisf ed for long. Soon that goal will be replaced with another, leading to further action—and further accumulation of karma, which only leads to further rebirth.

Other books of the time taught that even the “good” karma acquired by performing good deeds is ultimately bad, because, to enjoy it, we must be reborn. A thirteenth-century Hindu philosopher, Pillai Lokacharya, described good karma as “golden handcuffs.” Therefore Krishna urges Arjuna to act without attachment to the consequences. Krishna also explains the way of knowledge ( jnana yoga), through which we may achieve a transforming wisdom that also destroys our past karma. True knowledge is insight into the real nature of the universe. Later philosophers say that when we hear scripture, ask questions, clarify doubts, and eventually meditate on this knowledge, we achieve liberation. The third way—the one emphasized most throughout the Gita bhakti yoga ). If there is a general amnesty offered to those who sin, it is through devotion. Ultimately, Krishna promises that he will forgive all our sins if we surrender and devote ourselves to him ( Gita 18: 6 6).

The Deities of Classical Hinduism The period of the Gupta empire (c. 320 –540) was one of great cultural and scholarly activity. In mathematics the concept of zero was introduced, along with the decimal system. Around 499 Aryabhatta established both the value of pi (3.14) and the length of the solar year (365.3586 days); he also proposed that the E arth is spherical and rotates on its axis. Contact with Greek and Roman trade missions from the Mediterranean increased, and coastal towns f ourished, particularly in southern India. Meanwhile, Hindus, Jainas, and Buddhists all composed poems and plays that reveal a great deal about the religious life of the time. Hinduism had not been dormant during the previous seven centuries, but it had been over- shadowed to some degree by Buddhism. Now, under the Guptas, Buddhist inf uences receded and Hindu sectarian traditions became popular. Eventually, some Hindu texts would even assimilate the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu. 900855_06_ch06.indd 294 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 295 Precisely when the transition occurred is not clear, but from the Gupta era onward three deities become increasingly prominent: Vishnu, Shiva, and Shiva’s consort, variously known as Parvati, Durga, Devi, or simply “the Goddess.” Devotees who give primacy to Vishnu are termed Vaish- navas; those who focus on Shiva are termed Shaivas; and some followers of the Goddess are called Shaktas, in reference to her role as the shakti (“power”) of her divine consort.

Starting around 300 BCE and continuing until roughly 1000 CE , texts called the P urana s (from the Sanskrit for “old”) retold the “old tales” of the Hindu tradition, shifting the emphasis away from the major Vedic gods and goddesses in favour of other deities. As these gods moved to the forefront, the Hindu tradition as we know it today crystallized. Vishnu Vishnu (“the all-pervasive one”) is portrayed as coming to Earth in various forms, animal and human, to rid the world of evil and establish dharma or righteousness. In the f rst of these The Hindola Torana at Gyaraspur, Madhya Pradesh, dates from the tenth or eleventh century and was probably a gateway to a temple. The ten incarnations of Vishnu are carved on the pillars. Gyaraspur is near the famous Buddhist 900855_06_ch06.indd 295 12/14/14 9:21 PM 296 A Concise Introduction to World Religions incarnations ( avatara s) he appears as a f sh who saves Manu, the primeval man. This story was originally part of the Vedic literature, but is expanded in the P urana s .

While bathing in a lake, Manu f nds a small f sh in his hand. The f sh speaks to him and asks him to take it home and put it in a jar. The next day it has expanded to f ll the jar. Now Manu is asked to put the f sh into a lake, which it outgrows, then into a river, and f nally into the ocean. The f sh, who is really Vishnu, then tells Manu that a great f ood is coming, and that he must build a boat and put his family in it, along with the seven sages or rishis , and “the seeds of all the animals.” Manu does as he is told, and when the f ood sweeps the E arth, those on the ship survive. This story is strongly reminiscent of f ood myths in other religious traditions. Eventually, Vishnu will have ten incarnations in the present cycle of creation. Nine are said to have taken place already, and the tenth is expected at the end of this age. Some of the earliest carvings in India, in the Udayagiri caves of Madhya Pradesh, dated c. 400 CE , depict Vishnu’s second and third incarnations, as a tortoise and as a boar who saves the earth goddess Bhu. His seventh incarnation was Rama, the hero of the epic, and according to some narratives the ninth Vishnu in his boar incarnation, saving the earth goddess Bhu from the demon Hiranyaksha; Udayagiri caves, Madhya Pradesh, India, c. 401 CE 900855_06_ch06.indd 296 12/14/14 9:21 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 297 was Krishna, whom we have already met in the Bhagavad Gita. The P urana s tell many stories about Krishna: the delightful infant, the mischievous toddler who steals the butter he loves, the youth who steals the hearts of the cowherd girls and dances away the moonlit nights in their company.

Some of the later P urana s celebrate the love of Krishna and his beloved Radha.

In many other incarnations Vishnu is accompanied by his consort Sri (Lakshmi), the goddess of good fortune, who blesses her worshippers not only with wealth but, eventually, with liberation.

All stores display pictures of her, and so do most homes.

Shiva Like Vishnu, Shiva emerged as a great god in the post-Upanishadic era. Unlike Vishnu, however, he does not reveal himself sequentially, in a series of incarnations. Instead, Shiva expresses the manifold aspects of his power by appearing simultaneously in paradoxical roles: as creator and destroyer, exuberant dancer and austere yogi. The wedding portrait of Shiva and his divine con- sort, Parvati, is an important part of his tradition, and his creative energy is often represented in the symbolic form of a linga : an upright stone shaft placed in a receptacle, yoni , that symbolizes the womb. Stories of Shiva and his local manifestations—for instance, as Sundaresvara in the city of Madurai—are popular throughout India.

The Goddess The great Goddess also appears in multiple forms, although the lines between them are not always clearly def ned (Western scholars tend to emphasize the distinctions, while Hindus tend to blur them). Though many goddesses appear in the Vedas, none of them were all-powerful. Likewise, the epics and the early P urana s honour many consort goddesses, but no supreme female deity. It is only in the later P urana s that we begin to see explicit references to worship of a goddess as the ultimate power, the creator of the universe, and the redeemer of human beings. She was some- times considered to be the shakti or power of Shiva, but often her independence from the male deity was emphasized. The most familiar manifestation of the Goddess is Parvati, the wife of Shiva. Durga is her war- rior aspect, represented iconographically with a smiling countenance and a handful of weapons.

As Kali, the Goddess is f erce and wild, a dark, dishevelled f gure who wears a garland of skulls; yet even in this manifestation, her devotees call her “mother.” In addition there are countless local goddesses with distinctive names and histories. Festivals like the autumn celebration of Navaratri (“nine nights”) are dedicated to the Goddess, and millions of Hindus offer her devo- tions every day.

Sarasvati In the P urana s the Vedic goddess Sarasvati becomes the goddess of learning. Although she is the consort of a creator god named Brahma (a minor deity, not to be confused with Brahman), por- traits usually depict her alone, without any male god. She is a beautiful young woman, radiant with wisdom, sitting gracefully on a rock beside a river. She has four hands; two of them hold a stringed musical instrument called a vina , another holds a string of beads, and the last holds a manuscript. The vina symbolizes music and the manuscript learning, while the beads signify the 900855_06_ch06.indd 297 12/14/14 9:21 PM 298 A Concise Introduction to World Religionscounting and recitation of holy names, which leads to transformative knowledge. All these themes would eventually coalesce to form the composite picture of Sarasvati as the patron goddess of arts and education, music and letters. Other Popular Deities Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is probably the most beloved of all the Hindu gods. He removes obstacles and hindrances, and no new project or venture begins without a prayer to him. Murugan, another son of Shiva, is popular among Tamil-speaking people in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Canada. And the monkey god Hanuman, a model devotee of Rama and Sita, is everyone’s protector.In South India, Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi are frequently known by local names. Thus Vishnu is known in the Tirupati hills and Srirangam as Venkateshwara (“lord of the Venkata hill”) or Ranga- that links it with a particular place. Sri or Lakshmi is called the mother of all creation, who bestows 900855_06_ch06.indd 298 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 299 wisdom and salvation and is grace incarnate. Many teachers have composed hymns celebrating her compassion and wisdom. Vedanta Desika (1268 –1369) describes her thus:She fulf lls all [our] desires. She is noble, she gives prosperity, she is f lled with good thoughts; she gives righteousness, pleasure, attainment and liberation. She gives the high- est state (parinirvana) . . . she helps one cross the ocean of life and death. . . .

The Hindu “Trinity” In the symbolism of trimurti into one form with three faces or are represented as equal. This has sometimes been interpreted as implying a polytheistic belief in three gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. It is true that the trimurti concept brings together the three great functions of a supreme god and distributes them among three distinct deities. But this interpretation is mislead- ing in two ways. First, it suggests that Hindus give equal importance to all three gods, when in practice most focus their devotions on a single supreme deity (whether Shiva, Vishnu, the Goddess, or a local deity who may be unknown in other parts of India) and consider the other deities secondary.

Furthermore, Brahma is not worshipped as a supreme deity. Though portrayed in mythology as the creator god, he is only the agent of the supreme deity who created him; that deity, at whose pleasure Brahma creates the universe, may be Vishnu, Shiva, or the Goddess, depending on the worshipper’s sect. Second, the “polytheistic” interpretation of trimurti suggests that creation, preservation, and destruction are functions that can be performed separately. But in fact these functions are three parts of an integrated process for which one particular supreme god is responsible. In this context, destruction is not unplanned, nor is it f nal: it is simply one phase in the ongoing evolution and devolution of the universe. The cycle of creation will continue as long as there are souls caught up in the wheel of life and death. It is in this sense that devotees of Shiva, Vishnu, or the Goddess see their chosen deity as the creator, maintainer, and destroyer of the universe.

Ages of Time The P urana s refer to those cosmic cycles of creation and destruction as the days and nights of Brahma. Each day of Brahma contains approximately 4,320 million earthly years, and the nights of Brahma are equally long. A year of Brahma is made up of 360 such days, and Brahma lives for 100 years. Each cycle therefore amounts to 311,040,000 million earthly years, at the end of which the entire cosmos is drawn into the body of Vishnu or Shiva (depending on which P urana one is reading), where it remains until another Brahma is evolved. Each day of Brahma contains 14 secondary cycles of creation and destruction called manavan- tara s , each of which lasts 306,720,000 years. During the long intervals between manavantaras , the world is recreated and a new Manu or primeval man appears and once again begins the human race. Each manavantara in turn contains 71 great eons ( maha yugas), each of which is divided into four eons ( yugas). A single eon is the basic cycle. The golden age ( krta yuga) lasts 1,728,000 earthly years. During this time dharma or righteousness is envisioned as a bull standing f rmly on all four legs. The Treta age is shorter, 1,296,000 earthly years; dharma is then on three legs. The Dvapara 900855_06_ch06.indd 299 12/14/14 9:22 PM 300 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsage lasts half as long as the golden age; thus for 864,000 earthly years dharma hops on two legs.

Finally, during the kali yuga , the worst of all possible ages, dharma is reduced to one leg. This age lasts for 432,000 earthly years, during which the world becomes progressively worse. It is in this degenerate kali yuga—which, according to traditional Hindu reckoning, began around 3102 BCE — that we live today. There is a steady decline in morality, life span, and human satisfaction through the yugas. At the end of the kali yuga —still a long time off—there will be no righteousness, no virtue, no trace of justice. When the world ends, seven scorching suns will dry up the oceans, torrential rains will fall, and eventually the cosmos will be absorbed into Vishnu until the next cycle of creation begins.

The P urana s deal with astronomical units of time; the age of the E arth itself is inf nitesimally small in relation to the eons of time that the universe goes through. Individual beings may end their own cycles of birth and death by attaining moksha , but this has no effect on the cycles of creation and destruction of the universe. Temple architecture sometimes ref ects the Puranic cycles of time. At the great Vishnu temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, for instance, the causeways and passages were designed so that their measurements (when calculated in the units used in the building of the temple) represent the num- bers of years in various cycles of time. Caste and the Dharmashastras “Caste” is a shorthand for the thousands of social and occupational divisions that have developed from the simple fourfold structure laid out in the “Hymn to the Supreme Person”: priests, rulers, merchants, and servants. There are more than 1,000 jatis (“birth groups”) in India, and people routinely identify themselves by their jati . Ritual practices, dietary rules, and sometimes dialects differ between castes, and inter-caste marriage is rare. By the early Common Era, many treatises had been written regarding the nature of righteousness, moral duty, and law. These dharmashastras are the foundations of later Hindu laws. The most famous is the Manava Dharmashastra The dharmashastras set out the roles and duties of the four principal castes that make up Hindu society: brahmins (priests), kshatriyas (rulers, warriors), vaishyas (merchants), and shudras (s er- vants). The brahmins were (and are still) the priestly class, the only group in Hindu society sup- posedly authorized to teach the Vedas. Although not all members of the brahmin community were priests, all enjoyed the power and prestige associated with spiritual learning. The dharma of the kshatriya class, which was permitted to study the Vedas but not to teach them, was to protect the people and the country. In the Hindu tradition, lines of descent are all-important. Thus many kings sought to conf rm their legitimacy by tracing their ancestry to the primeval progenitors of humanity— either the sun or the moon—and even usurpers of thrones invoked divine antecedents. Later Hindu rituals explicitly emphasized kshatriya families’ divine connections. The Laws of Manu describe in detail the duties of a king. He must strive to conquer his senses, for only those who have conquered their own senses can lead or control others, and must shun not only the vices of pleasure—hunting, gambling, drinking, women—but also the vices of wrath, such as violence, envy, and slander. The dharma of the vaishya (mercantile) class made them responsible for most commercial transactions, as well as agriculture. The power of wealth and economic decisions lay with the vaishyas, who were likewise permitted only to study the Vedas. 900855_06_ch06.indd 300 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 301 The duty of the last class mentioned formally in the dharmashastras, the shudras, is to serve the other classes; they would not be permitted to accumulate wealth even if they had the opportunity to do so. As the Laws of Manu put it, “The seniority of brahmins comes from sacred knowledge, that of kshatriyas from valour, vaishyas from wealth, and shudras, only from old age.” In practice, however, the caste system is far more complex and f exible than the dharmashastras suggest. For example, the Vellalas of South India wielded considerable economic and political power, even though the brahmins considered them shudras. They were wealthy landowners, and the dharmashastra prohibitions do not seem to have had any effect on their fortunes.

Although they emphasize the importance of marrying within one’s own class, the dharma- shastras recognize that mixed marriages do take place, and so they list the kind of sub-castes that emerge from various permutations. A marriage is generally acceptable if the male partner is of a higher caste, but if the woman is higher, their offspring are considered to be of a lower caste than either parent. caste system either because they originated in mixed marriages in the distant past or, more often, because they are associated with occupations deemed polluting, such as dealing with corpses or working with animal hides (the English word “pariah” comes from the Tamil for “drummer”—an outcaste occupation because drums were made of animal hides). Until the nineteenth century, caste was only one factor among the many considered in the judicial process and in society itself.

Legal cases were decided with reference to the immediate circumstances, and local customs were no less important than written texts—sometimes more so. It was India’s British colonial rulers who, assuming that the caste laws were binding, attributed a new authority to them. The caste system is such a strong social force in India that even non-Hindu communities such as the Christians, Jainas, and Sikhs have been inf uenced by it. Nadar Christians from the south, for instance, will marry only people of the same caste, and similar restrictions are observed all over India. In Southeast Asia, on the other hand, the caste system bears little resemblance to the Indian model: although inscriptions after the eighth century show that brahmins were honoured, the rest of society seems to have been organized in different ways, and the king sometimes awarded specif c caste status to various groups. The caste system still functions to a limited extent in some diasporas but has been signif cantly diluted among Hindus in North America. The Stages and Goals of Life The dharma texts of the classical period recognized four stages of life ( ashramas) for males from the three higher classes in society. First, during studenthood, a boy was to remain celibate and concentrate on learning. Education was to be provided for all those who desired it, and families were to support students. Although the early epics suggest that girls could also become students, it is likely that this right had been withdrawn by the time the Laws of Manu were codif ed. In the next stage the young man was to repay his debts to society and his forefathers, and his spiritual debt to the gods, by marrying and earning a living to support his family and other stu- dents. It was the householder’s duty to work and lead a conjugal life with his partner in dharma.

Few men went beyond these two stages, and it is likely that most people never had the opportunity to study at all. Nevertheless, the Laws of Manu describes two more stages. When a man’s children have grown and become householders themselves, he and his wife may retire to the forest and live a simple 900855_06_ch06.indd 301 12/14/14 9:22 PM 302 A Concise Introduction to World Religionslife. Finally, in the last stage, an elderly man would renounce the material world altogether and take up the ascetic life of the samnyasin . His former personality was now dead; he owned nothing, relied on food given as alms, and spent the rest of his days seeking enlightenment and cultivating detachment from life. This kind of formal renunciation became rare with the increasing popularity of the Bhagavad Gita , which stresses controlled engagement with the world.

The literature of the period just before the beginning of the Common Era also recognized a number of aims that human beings strive for. These are neither good nor bad in themselves, but may become immoral if they are pursued at an inappropriate time of life or with inappropriate intensity. The aims are dharma, the discharging of one’s duties; artha , prosperity and power; kama , sensual pleasure of many types, including sexual pleasure and the appreciation of beauty; and f nally, moksha , or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The last was sometimes seen as belonging to a different category, but texts like the Gita made it clear that we may strive for libera- tion even in daily work as long as we act without attachment. Attitudes towards Women The Hindu scriptures were written by men, and many of their statements about women’s position in society may seem contradictory, alternately honouring, respecting, and even venerating women, but also scorning them. The Laws of Manu make it only too clear that by the early Common Era women no longer enjoyed the relatively high status suggested in the Vedas. For example: “Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife” ( Manu 5.154). Male commentators through the centuries have quoted such statements approvingly. The text goes on to say that a wife is the goddess of fortune and auspiciousness ( Manu 9.26) and that only if women are honoured will the gods be pleased ( Manu 3.56). On balance, however, the negative statements outweigh the positive ones. Perhaps the most famous of his pronouncements on women is the following:

By a girl, by a young woman or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead, to her sons; a woman must never be independent (Manu 8).

Statements like that, and the weight given to them by later commentators, did much to shape Western notions of Hindu women. As inf uential as Manu has been in some communities and at certain times, however, the views it presents cannot be considered prescriptive or nor- mative. In fact, Manu ’s dictates were not necessarily followed. As we will see, medieval women were more than dutiful wives: they composed poetry, endowed temples, gave religious advice and wrote scholarly works, including commentary on scripture. Far from being ostracized or condemned, those women were respected, honoured, and in some cases even venerated.

Despite Manu and its proponents, many women of some socio-economic groups enjoyed both religious and f nancial independence and made substantial contributions to literature and the f n e a r t s . Some of the contradictions in Hindu thinking about women can be traced to the concept of auspiciousness. “Auspiciousness” refers primarily to prosperity in this life—above all, wealth and 900855_06_ch06.indd 302 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 303 progeny. Thus cattle, elephants, kings, and married women with the potential to bear children are all auspicious, as are birth and marriage rituals, because they are associated with the goals of dharma, artha, and kama . There is also a second level of auspiciousness, however, that is related to the fourth and ultimate human goal: moksha . The two levels of auspiciousness have been implicit in Hindu religious literature and rituals. In many contexts, women have auspiciousness in different degrees, which determine the degree of their acceptance in society. The ideal is the sumangali , the married woman who is a full partner in dharma, artha , and kama , through whom children are born, and wealth and religious merit are accumulated. Only a married woman may be called Sr imati (the one with sri or auspiciousness). Traditionally, a Hindu death. While some of these notions are still adhered to in Hindu life, a woman’s position in society depends on a variety of factors, including religious culture.

Schools and Communities of Theology Vedanta Six schools of “philosophy” are recognized within the Hindu tradition—Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaishe- shika, Mimamsa, Yoga, and Vedanta—and elements of all six can be seen in modern Hinduism.

Although popularly called “philosophy,” these traditions are closer to theological schools, as they build on many Hindu texts. Yoga has attracted a wide popular following in recent years, but as a philosophical school Vedanta is by far the most important. Although the term “Vedanta” (“end of the Vedas”) traditionally denoted the Upanishads , in popular usage it more often refers to systems of thought based on a coherent interpretation of the Upanishads , Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutra s (roughly 500 aphorisms summarizing the teachings of those texts). An important early interpreter of Vedanta was Shankara (f . c. 800). For him, reality is non-dual ( advaita ): the only reality is Brahman, and this reality cannot be described because it is without attributes. Brahman and Atman (the human soul) are identical; Shankara interprets the phrase “you are that” literally and upholds the unity of what most people perceive as two distinct entities.

Under the inf uence of maya (often translated as “illusion”) we believe we are different from Brah- man, but when the illusion is dispelled, the soul is liberated by the realization of its true nature.

Liberation, therefore, is the removal of ignorance and the dispelling of illusion through transform- ing knowledge. We can achieve liberation while still embodied; those who attain that goal act without binding desire and help others to achieve liberation. But f nal release will come only after the death of the body. Shankara also posits three levels of reality. He recognizes that humans believe life to be real, but points out that when we are asleep we also believe that what happens in our dreams is real. Only on waking do we discover that what we dreamt was not real. So too in this cycle of life and death, we believe that everything we experience is real. And it is—until we are liberated and wake up to the truth. One might argue that the dream seems true only to the individual dreamer, whereas the phenomenal world appears real to millions who seem to share the same reality. But the school of Shankara would say that our limited reality is the result of ignorance and illusion. With the trans- formative knowledge spoken of in the Upanishads, we recognize that we are in reality Brahman and are liberated from the cycle of life and death. But that cycle goes on for the other souls still caught in the snares of maya. 900855_06_ch06.indd 303 12/14/14 9:22 PM 304 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsShankara’s philosophy was criticized by later philosophers such as Ramanuja and Madhva. One of their principal objections involved the status of maya . If maya is real, then there are two realities, Brahman and maya ; and if maya is unreal, it cannot be the cause of the cosmic delusion attributed to it. Shankara himself circumvents this objection, however, by saying that maya is indescribable, neither real nor unreal, and his followers would say that in the ultimate state of liberation, which is totally ineffable, such criticisms are not valid in any case. sizes that devotion to Vishnu leads to ultimate liberation. He challenges Shankara’s interpretation of scripture, especially regarding maya , and his belief that the supreme reality (Brahman) is with- out attributes. For Ramanuja, Vishnu (whose name means “all-pervasive”) is immanent throughout the universe, pervading all souls and material substances, but also transcending them. Thus from one viewpoint there is a single reality, Brahman; but from another viewpoint Brahman is qualif ed by souls and matter. Since the human soul is the body and the servant of Brahman, who (accord- ing to Ramanuja) is also the supreme deity Vishnu, liberation is portrayed not as the realization The temple tower at Tirukoshtiyur, Tamilnadu. One of the 108 places sung about by the Alvars, this temple was made famous by Ramanuja in the eleventh century CE. Given a secret mantra that would grant salvation, he is said to have climbed the tower and shouted the mantra aloud so that all the 900855_06_ch06.indd 304 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 305 that the soul and Brahman are the same, but rather as the intuitive, joyful realization of the soul’s relationship with the lord. Sri Vaishnavas differ from other Hindus in that they hold sacred not only Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas and Gita , but also the Tamil compositions of the Alvars : 12 South Indian poet-saints who lived between the eighth and tenth centuries CE . Specif cally, the Sri Vaishnavas call the Tir u- vaymoli of Nammalvar the “Tamil Veda” and refer to their scriptural heritage as dual Vedic theology.

They also revere Ramanuja, whose image is found in many of their temples. The philosopher Madhva (c. 1199–1278) is unique in classifying some souls as eternally bound. For him there are different grades of enjoyment and bliss even in liberation. He is also explicitly dualistic, holding that the human soul and Brahman are ultimately separate, not iden- tical in anyway. Yo g a Historically, “Yoga” has had many meanings, but in general it is the physical and mental discipline through which practitioners “yoke” their spirit to the divine. Its origins are obscure, though (as we saw) some scholars have suggested that seals from the Harappan culture portray a man sitting in what looks like a yogic position. For many Hindus the classic yoga text is a collection of short, aphoristic fragments from the early Common Era called the Yo ga Sut ra s , attributed to Patanjali, who is said to have lived in the second century BCE . It’s likely that yoga had been an important feature of religious life in India for centuries before the text was written. Patanjali’s yoga is a system of moral, mental, and physical discipline and meditation with a particular object, either physical or mental, as the “single point” of focus. It is described as having yama , consists of restraints: avoidance of violence, falsehood, stealing, sexual activity, and avarice. (The same prohibitions are part of the “right con- duct” taught by the Jaina tradition.) The second, niyama , consists of positive practices such as purity (internal and external), equanimity, asceticism, the theoretical study of yoga, and the effort to make God the focus of one’s activities. In addition, Patanjali recommends a number of bodily postures and breathing techniques. A crucial aspect of yoga practice is learning to detach the mind from the domination of external sensory stimuli. Perfection in concentration ( dharana) and meditation ( dhyana) lead to samadhi : absorption into and union with the divine, culminating in emancipation from the cycle of life and death. This state is variously described as a coming together and transcending of polarities; empty and full, neither life nor death, and yet both. Although Patanjali’s yoga is widely considered the classical form, there are numerous variations. “Yoga” is often used to designate any form of meditation or practice with ascetic tendencies, and in broad terms it may refer to any path that leads to f nal emancipation. Thus in the Bhagavad Gita the way of action is called karma yoga and the way of devotion is bhakti yoga . In some interpretations, the eight “limbs” of classical yoga are not present; bhakti yoga simply comes to mean bhakti marga, the way of devotion. In this context yoga becomes a way of self-abnegation, in which the worshipper seeks union with the Supreme Being through passionate devotion. Some philosophers, including Ramanuja, have said that bhakti yoga includes elements of Patanjali’s yoga, but many Hindus use the term “yoga” much more loosely. Few religious teachers have regarded Patanjali’s yoga as a separate path to liberation. 900855_06_ch06.indd 305 12/14/14 9:22 PM 306 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Tantra The term tantra refers to a body of ritual practices and the texts interpreting them; it may be derived from a word meaning “to stretch” or “expand.” Tantra appears to be independent of the Vedic tradition, having gained importance in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions around the f fth century. The Shaiva, Shakta, and Vaishnava communities all have their own tantric texts. Tantra is diff cult to def ne, because of its esoteric nature, its regional and sectarian variations, and its interpenetration with other systems of philosophy and practice. In general, tantric systems have four components: jnana (knowledge of the deities and divine powers), yoga (pr a x i s); kr iya (praxis and rituals), and char ya (conduct and behaviour). Shaivas, Shaktas, and Vaishnavas incorpor ated ele- ments of tantra in their own practice. For example, when an image of a deity is installed in a temple, a large geometric drawing ( yantra or mandala ) representing deities and the cosmos is drawn on the f oor and used as an object of meditation and ritual. Worship of the deities in temples is to large extent based on tantric texts and practices. The use of mantra s —words or short, formulaic phrases that are said to have transformational potency—is also important in the practice of tantra. Some forms of tantric yoga centre on the shakti or power of the Goddess, which is said to lie coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine. When awakened, this power rises through six thousand-petalled lotus. The ultimate aim is to allow this power to unite with the divine being in the thousand-petalled lotus. When this union is achieved, the practitioner is granted visions and psychic powers that eventually lead to liberation ( moksha).

There are many types of tantrism, but the main division is between “left-” and “right-handed” schools. As the left hand is considered inauspicious, the term “left-handed” was applied to tantrism involving the ritual performance of activities forbidden in everyday life, such as drinking liquor, eating f handed” tantrism is more conservative.

Hinduism in Southeast Asia Hindu culture today is associated almost exclusively with the Indian peninsula, but until the four- teenth century, Hindu inf uences were strong across Southeast Asia. Extensive trade links were established by the second century CE , and cultural connections were widespread. Many Sanskrit inscriptions and thousands of icons and sculptures portraying Hindu deities indicate that Hindu- ism was pervasive in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Java, Indonesia, and Bali. One of the largest Hindu temples in the world is Angkor Wat, built and dedicated to Vishnu in the twelfth century, and kings and queens of Cambodia had names reminiscent of Indian–Hindu royalty, including Jayavarman, Indravarman, and Indira-lakshmi. Even so, Hindu traditions in Southeast Asia have distinctive local characteristics. The Khmer people of Cambodia, for instance, emphasized some gods (such as Hari-Hara) and stories that were not so important in India. And although temples in Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia are often similar to their Indian counterparts in their basic design, they are strikingly different in effect. Icons of deities such as Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, and Ganesha have been found all over South- east Asia. In Cambodia, Shiva is sometimes depicted with two wives, Uma and Ganga. While the P urana s say that the river Ganga resides in his hair, other narratives treat the river itself as a deity, a consort of Shiva. For this reason local rivers in Cambodia came to be considered holy, and their identif cation with the Ganga was emphasized in rock carvings on their banks. 900855_06_ch06.indd 306 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 307 Knowledge of Indian Vaishnava texts, including the two epics, was widespread among the elite, and carvings of Vishnu in various incarnations can be found in temples across Southeast Asia.

The Prambanan temple near Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is one of many in the region whose walls are carved with scenes from the Ramayana and the P urana s. It also has shrines for Brahma and Vishnu, although the main shrine is dedicated to Shiva. In fact, most of the temples in Southeast Asia were home to more than one deity. Even though Hinduism was largely displaced by Buddhism by the f fteenth century, and is not widely practised today except in Bali and among descendants of Indian immigrants, cultural tradi- tions associated with it linger. Dances based on stories from the Ramayana are part of almost every cultural event, and names of Indian origin are still common in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. South Indian Devotion (Bhakti) The standard portrait of Vedic and classical Hinduism is based on the culture of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. But South India had a f ourishing cultural life of its own by 400 BCE and possibly earlier. It was here that an entirely new type of Hindu devotion ( bhakti) emerged and spread throughout India.

Vishnu reclining on a snake called Ananta, surrounded by Shiva lingas; carved on the rocks in Cambodia’s Kbal Spean 900855_06_ch06.indd 307 12/14/14 9:22 PM 308 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsA sophisticated body of literature in the Tamil language existed 2,000 years ago. Its earliest compo- nents are a number of poems on secular themes that fall into two groups: one dealing with the outer ( puram ) world of warfare and honour, the other with the inner ( akam) world of love and romance.

Religious literature apparently f ourished after the f fth century, with several poems addressed to Vishnu, Shiva, and Murugan (the son of Shiva and Parvati). The bhakti movement began when poet-devotees of Vishnu and Shiva began singing the praises of their deities not in formal Sanskrit but in Tamil—the mother tongue of the people, the language of intimacy and powerful emotion.

This represented a major shift in Hindu culture. By the twelfth century, 75 of these devotees had been recognized as saints: 63 devotees of Shiva known as the Nayanmars (“masters”) and 12 devotees of Vishnu known as the Alvars (“those vernacular songs of the Alvars were introduced into the temple liturgy as early as the tenth cen- tury, challenging orthodox claims that Sanskrit was the exclusive vehicle for revelation and theo- logical communication. Moreover, brahmin theologians honoured their authors as ideal devotees.

This was extraordinarily signif cant, for some of the Alvars came from lower-caste (perhaps even outcaste) backgrounds, and one of them—Andal—was a woman. Selections from their works, collected in the eleventh century as the Sacred Collect of Four Thousand Verses, are recited daily by the Sri Vaishnava community, which considers them the Tamil equivalents of the Sanskrit Vedas. The poems of the Alvars follow the literary conventions of earlier Tamil poetry, incorporating the symbolism of the akam and puram poems. Vishnu is seen as a lover and a king, accessible and remote, gracious and grand. In their songs of devotion, the Alvars seek from Vishnu both Document who is worshipped in many South Indian temples dedi- cated to Vishnu. Every December, her passionate poetry is broadcast over radio stations in Tamilnadu and Kar- nataka. Tradition says that she refused to marry and longed for union with Vishnu—a wish that her biogra- phers claim was fulf lled. Thus in her life as well as her work Andal represents a radical alternative to Manu’s view of women and their role. Icons of Andal can be found in major South Indian Hindu temples across North America as well as in many other parts of the world.

A thousand elephants circle, as Narana, Lord of virtues, walks in front of me.

Golden jars brim with water; Festive f ags and pennants f y through this town, eager to welcome him— I saw this in a dream, my friend!

Drums beat happy sounds; conches were blown.

Under the canopy strung heavy with pearls, Madhusudha, my love, f lled with virtue, came and clasped the palm of my hand I saw this in a dream, my friend!

Those with eloquent mouths recited the good Vedas, With mantras they placed the green leaves and the grass in a circle.

The lord, strong as a raging elephant, softly held my hand as we circled the f re.

I saw this in a dream, my friend!

( Nachchiyar Tirumoli 1.1 and 1.6 –7; trans. Vasudha Narayanan) From the Songs of Andal 900855_06_ch06.indd 308 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 309 the embrace of the beloved and the protection of the king. Many incidents from the Ramayana, Mahabharata , and P urana s make their way into the Alvars’ songs, along with some stories not found in any of these sources. Above all, the poets focus on the supremacy of Vishnu–Narayana, empha- sizing how his incarnation as Rama or Krishna and his presence in the temple show his desire to save all beings. In the eighth century, Kulacekara Alvar expressed his longing to see Rama in the temple at Tillai (the modern city of Chidambaram):

In the beautiful city of Ayodhya, encircled by towers, a f ame that lit up all the worlds appeared in the Solar race and gave life to all the heavens.

This warrior, with dazzling eyes, Rama, dark as a cloud, the First One, My Lord, is in Chitrakuta, city of Tillai.

When is the day when my eyes can behold him and rejoice? ( Perumal Tirumoli 10.1) Sometimes the Alvars identify themselves with characters from the epics or the P urana s , expressing their longing for Vishnu by speaking in the voice of one who is separated from Rama or Krishna. A royal devotee of Rama, Kulacekara Alvar, imagines the grief felt by Rama’s father Dasaratha after banishing his son to the forest:

Without hearing him call me “Father” with pride and with love, Without clasping his chest adorned with gems to mine, Without embracing him, without smoothing his forehead, Without seeing his graceful gait, majestic like the elephant, Without seeing his face [glowing] like the lotus,I, wretched one, having lost my son, my lord, Still live ( Perumal Tirumoli 9.6).

Many of the Tamil saints, both Vaishnava and Shaiva, travelled all over South India and parts of the north, visiting temples in which their chosen deity was enshrined. In this way pilgrimage became an important part of the Hindu tradition. Eventually, 108 sites came to be known as sacred places where Vishnu abides, and the number was even higher for the Shaivas, some of whom split from the mainstream in the twelfth century to form a new sect in what is now the state of Karna- Shaivas chose to express their devotion to Shiva symbolically, by carrying a small linga .

North Indian Bhakti North Indian bhakti resembled its southern counterpart both in its use of vernacular languages and in the fact that it was open to people of every caste, but it differed in the focus of devotion. Whereas 900855_06_ch06.indd 309 12/14/14 9:22 PM 310 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsSouth Indian bhakti was generally addressed to either Vishnu or Shiva, the object of devotion in the north was often Rama or Krishna ( avatara s of Vishnu), and sometimes the divine being with- out a form. An early exponent of Krishna devotion was the twelfth-century poet Jayadeva, whose Sanskrit work Gita Govinda (“Song of the Cowherd”) extols the love of Radha and Krishna; it also The sometimes synergistic relationship that developed between Hindus and Muslims in northern India (see Focus box, p. 311) was ref ected in the delightful, sometimes poignant works composed in the vernacular by poet-singers of the Sant (“holy person” or “truth”) tradition. Empha- sizing the nirguna (“without attributes”) Brahman of the Upanishads , the Sants held the divinity to be without form. Hence their worship had nothing to do with physical images, and—unlike the Tamil poet-saints, who travelled from temple to temple precisely in order to express their devotion to local manifestations of their chosen deity—they expressed their devotion either in poetry or in silent meditation. They also rejected distinctions between religious communities. Among the most important Sant poets was Kabir (1440-1518?), who is said to have been both Hindu and Muslim. In his insistence that God is beyond the particularities of any religious com- munity, Kabir had much in common with a Punjabi religious leader named Nanak (1469–1539) and a Suf reabsorbed into the general populations of Hindus and Muslims, but Nanak ’s ultimately formed a separate community: the Sikhs. Kabir was one of several Sant poets whose works became part of the Sikh scripture. With the spread of the North Indian bhakti movement, powerful devotional works in vernacular languages made the classic teachings accessible to everyone. Two important f gures in this movement were Surdas and Tulsidas. Surdas (c. 1483 –1563) was a blind singer and poet whose Hindi composi- tions celebrate Radha’s devotion to the youthful Krishna as a model of bhakti . Tu l s id a s (15 43?–162 3) is perhaps best-known for his Lake of the Deeds of Rama , a Hindi retelling of the Ramayana that many people still quote from, and that formed the basis for a blockbuster TV serial in the 1980s. Document Although philosophical texts say that the soul is beyond gender, devotional poets have often used the language of human love to express their feelings for the divine. In the fol- lowing extract from the Tiruvaymoli— the ninth- century poet Nammalvar speaks in the voice of a young girl who longs for Vishnu as she would for a human lover (the indented lines refer to various incarnations of Vishnu).

Where do I go from here?

I can’t stand the soft bells, the gentle breeze, the dark water-lily, darkness that conquers day, dulcet notes, jasmines, the refreshing air.

The Lord, my beguiling one, who creates, bores through, swallows and spews this earth, who measures here and beyond, does not come.

Why should I live? ( Tir uvaymoli 9.9.2; t r a n s. Va s ud h a Narayanan) From the Tiruvaymoli 900855_06_ch06.indd 310 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 311 A Bengali contemporary of Surdas was Chaitanya (1486 Krishna-Chaitanya, “he whose consciousness is Krishna.” Like many theologians who have emphasized bhakti, he maintained that humans in the present degenerate age cannot fulf ll all the requirements of religious action and duty; therefore the only way to liberation is through trusting devotion to a gracious deity. For Chaitanya, however, the ultimate goal was not liberation from attachment in the traditional sense but rather the active enjoyment of his intense love of Krishna—a spiritual love equivalent to the passion that the cowherd girls felt for him. Chaitanya is said to have led people through the streets, singing about his lord and urging others to join him in chanting Krishna’s names. Chait- anya’s movement was revived in the 1800s and eventually led to the formation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness ( ISKCON the Hare Krishnas’ theology, locating divine grace in Krishna, and their practice, centred on devo- tional chanting, can be traced directly to Chaitanya. Colonialism and Beyond route from Europe to India. When he landed in the western city of Calicut in 1498, he opened the way for a long line of traders, missionaries, and, eventually, rulers. Before long, the Dutch, English, and French were also travelling to India and establishing settlements there. Early European research Islam arrived in India around the middle of the eighth century CE . In southern India the f rst Mus- lims were seafaring Arab traders who visited the region’s many ports on their way to and from South- east Asia. Over time, a minority Muslim population became established that was well integrated into the larger society. Early encounters in northern India took a more hostile form. The invasions led by Mahmud of Ghazni (971–1030) and Muhammad of Ghor (1150- 1206) paved the way for the installation of Ghor’s general Qutbuddin Aibak as the f rst Muslim ruler in northern India. The plundering and destruction of sacred Hindu monuments such as the Somnath temple in Gujarat in 1025 have long been a part of the Hindu collective memory. On the other hand, the synergy made possible by the conf uence of cultural inf uences from the Middle East and India gave rise to extraordinary innovations in all the arts.

The period of Mughal rule, from the early six- teenth century to the early eighteenth, was charac- terized by a growing sense of “Hindu” identity in North India (although “Hindu” was not yet the stan- dard term that it would become under the British).

There was also growing antagonism against Mus- lim rulers, especially Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor, who imposed severe hardship on large segments of the population. It was in this politi- cal climate that several leaders emerged to f ght for Hindus’ religious and political freedom. Notable among them was Shivaji (c. 1630 – 80) from what is now Maharashtra. A hero of national proportions, he is credited with developing the concept of self- rule for Hindus. Focus Hindu–Muslim Relations 900855_06_ch06.indd 311 12/14/14 9:22 PM 312 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsinto Indian languages, especially Sanskrit, led to the historical reconstruction of the movements of the Indo-European people from Central Asia and pioneered the theory of a common Indo-Euro- pean ancestry. This was the f rst glimpse that Hindus received of their pre-Vedic history.In time the foreign powers became involved in local politics. As the Mughal empire disinte- grated in the early 1700s, many chieftains enlisted English or French help in their efforts to acquire land. Eventually large parts of the Indian subcontinent were loosely united under British control.

In the past, most rulers, Hindu or Muslim, had accepted a large degree of local autonomy, but the British—despite their policy of “religious neutrality”—did not recognize the importance of local Document Go naked if you want, Put on animal skins.

What does it matter till you see the inward Ram?

If the union yogis seek Came from roaming about in the buff, Every deer in the forest would be saved. . . .

Pundit, how can you be so dumb?

You’re going to drown, along with all your kin Unless you start speaking of Ram.

Ved a s, P urana s —why read them?

It’s like loading an ass with sandalwood!

Unless you catch on and learn how Ram’s name goes, How will you reach the end of the road?

You slaughter living beings and call it religion:

Hey brother, what would irreligion be?

“Great Saint”—that’s how you love to greet each other:

Who then would you call a murderer?

Your mind is blind. You’ve no knowledge of yourselves.

Tell me, brother, how can you teach anyone else?

Wisdom is a thing you sell for worldly gain, So there goes your human birth—in vain (Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988: 50 From Kabir Document Mirabai (1450?–1547) was a Rajput princess in Gujarat.

A devotee of Krishna, she wrote passionate poetry about her love for him.

Sister, I had a dream that I wed the Lord of those who live in need:

Five hundred sixty thousand people came and the Lord of Braj was the groom.

In dream they set up a wedding arch; in dream he grasped my hand; in dream he led me around the wedding f re and I became unshakably his bride.

Mira’s been granted her mountain-lifting Lord:

from living past lives, a prize (Caturvedi, no. 27; Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988: 137).

From Mirabai 900855_06_ch06.indd 312 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 313 tradition or practice. At the same time, foreign missionaries were severely critical not only of what they called Hindu “idolatry,” but of the caste system and practices such as sati (self-immolation of however—some Hindu intellectuals were equally convinced of the need for reform.

The Brahmo Samaj Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) was born into an orthodox brahmin family in western Bengal. He is said to have studied the Qur’an as well as the Vedas, and may also have explored Buddhism.

Eventually joining the East India Company, he became familiar with the Christian scriptures and formed close ties with members of the Unitarian movement. He rejected the Christian belief in Jesus as the son of God, but admired him as a compassionate human being, and in 1820 he pub- lished a book, The Precepts of Jesus: The Guide to Peace and Happiness , that emphasized the compat- ibility of Jesus’ moral teachings with the Hindu tradition. Roy believed that if Hindus could read their own scriptures they would recognize that practices such as sati were not part of the classic tradition. Therefore he translated extracts from Sanskrit texts into Bengali and English and distributed them for free. In 1828 he established a society to hold regular discussions on the nature of Brahman as it is presented in the Upanishad s. This ism, humanism, and social reform. Although Roy rejected most of the stories from the epics and the P urana s as myths that stood in the way of reason and social reform, he drew on the Vedas, particularly the Upanishads , to defend Hinduism against the attacks of Christian missionaries. At the same time, with the Unitarians, he accused the missionaries of straying from monotheism in teaching the doctrine of the Trinity (God as father, son, and holy spirit). A pioneer in the area of women’s rights, including the right to education, he fought to abolish sati and child marriage. He also founded a number of periodicals and educational institutions. The Brahmo Samaj has never become a “mainstream” movement. Nevertheless, it revitalized Hinduism by calling attention both to inhumane practices and to the need for education and reform, and in so doing played a major part in the modernization of Indian society.

The Arya Samaj 83). Born into a brahmin family in Gujarat, he left home at the age of 21 to take up the life of an ascetic. After 15 years as a wandering yogi, he studied Sanskrit under a charismatic guru named Virajananda, who taught that the only true Hindu scriptures were the early Vedas and rejected what he perceived as later additions to the tradition, including the worship of images. On leaving his teacher, Dayananda promised that he would work to reform Hinduism in accordance with the true teachings of the Ved a s. Dayananda believed that the Vedas were literally revealed by God, and that the vision they pre- sented could be revived by stripping away later human accretions such as votive rituals and social customs, and teaching young people about their true Vedic heritage. To that end, he founded many educational institutions. Dayananda also believed that the Vedic teachings were not at variance with science or reason.

He rejected the notion of a personal saviour god; in fact, he rejected any anthropomorphic vision 900855_06_ch06.indd 313 12/14/14 9:22 PM 314 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsof the divine, and believed that the human soul is in some way coeval with the deity. In his view, the ideal was not renunciation but a full, active life of service to other humans: working to uplift humanity would promote the welfare of both the body and the soul. The Ramakrishna Movement Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836 – 86; born Gadadhar Chatterjee) was a Bengali raised in the Vaishnava bhakti tradition, cultivating ecstatic trance experiences. In his early twenties he was employed as a priest at a temple to the goddess Kali, and by his account he experienced the Divine Mother as an ocean of love. From the age of 25 he took instruction in tantra as well as Vedanta. He concluded that all religions lead in the same direction and that all are equally true. Following his death, his disciples in Calcutta formed the Ramakrishna Mission to spread his member of the Brahmo Samaj who believed that Western science could help India make material progress, while Indian spirituality could help the West along the path to enlightenment. As a Hindu participant in the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and later as a lecturer advaita) Vedanta in which Brahman is the only reality. As a consequence of the attention he attracted, it was this philosophy that the West generally came to consider the def nitive form of Hinduism. Under Vivekananda’s leadership, the movement established a monastic order and a philan- thropic mission, both dedicated to humanitarian service. In keeping with Ramakrishna’s ecu- menical vision, it encouraged non-sectarian worship. It also ignored caste distinctions, founding hundreds of educational and medical institutions that were open to all. The introduction of a hospitals had been run by Christian missionaries. The monastic wing of the movement maintains that renunciation promotes spiritual growth.

Unlike other monastic orders, however, it insists that its members not withdraw from the world but live in and for it, giving humanitarian service to others.

The Struggle for India’s Independence Hindus and Muslims came together to f ght for independence from British colonial rule. The earli- est eruption was India’s First War of Independence, known in Europe as the failed “sepoy mutiny” of 1857. The struggle would continue for another 90 years. Of the many leaders, Hindu and Mus- lim, who contributed to the achievement of independence in 1947, undoubtedly the best known is the one to whom Rabindranath Tagore, India’s famed poet and Nobel laureate, gave the title Born in Gujarat and trained as a barrister in England, Gandhi practised law in South Africa from 1893 to 1915. It was in response to the racial discrimination faced by the Indian minority there that he began experimenting with civil disobedience and passive resistance as vehicles for protest. After his return to India, where he became the leader of the Indian National Con- gress in 1921, he combined the techniques he had developed in South Africa with practices drawn from India’s Hindu and Jaina religious traditions and applied them to the campaign for India’s freedom. 900855_06_ch06.indd 314 12/14/14 9:22 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 315 In particular, Gandhi emphasized the principle of non-violence (ahimsa) and developed a strat- egy of non-violent resistance called satyagraha weapon. Gandhi’s fasts drew attention to social injustices and the atrocities perpetrated by the British authorities. Faced with brutality, he refused to retaliate, saying that “An eye for an eye Bhagavad Gita , which he understood as an allegory of the conf ict between good and evil within human beings. It remained his guide throughout his life. In addition to his political work, Gandhi promoted social reform, especially with respect to the people then known as “untouchables.” He gave the generic name “Harijan” (“children of God”) to outcaste communities such as the Dalits. Although outcastes today reject the name as patronizing, it drew attention to the discrimination built into the traditional structure of Hindu society. Gandhi’s efforts to promote peace between Muslims and Hindus in the context of the struggle for independence were less successful. Many Indians hold that the British followed a “divide and such as leadership and electoral representation eventually led the Muslims to demand their own independent state in the northwest, where they appeared to form the majority of the population.

The name of the new country, Pakistan, means “land of the pure,” but is also an acronym repre- senting the regions involved: Punjab, Afghania (an old name for the North Western Frontier prov- ince), Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan. The violence that accompanied the partition some 12 million people displaced and 1 million killed—representing a major failure for Gandhi. Within a few months, on 30 January 1948, he was assassinated by a Hindu incensed by what he perceived to be Gandhi’s support for the Muslim notably in the US civil rights movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. Independence and the Secular State Although India is a secular state, personal and /or family law differs depending on the religious trad- “in all suits regarding inheritance, marriage, caste and other religious usages or institutions, the laws of the Koran with respect to the Mohamedans and those of the Shaster [ dharmashastra] with respect to the Gentoos [an archaic term for the inhabitants of India] shall invariably be adhered t o.” Dharmashastra Western sense; nevertheless, they became the framework for “Hindu” law under the British. In an effort to accommodate the different religions, the British and later the Indian government upheld the traditional legal structures of Islam, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism (a Persian tradition ple marry, divorce, adopt children, inherit property, etc., all depends on their religious aff liation.

Legislation was passed in the 1950s to codify the Hindu laws regarding marriage, succession, and so on, but the fact that the new laws did not ref ect the diversity of the Hindu traditions led to further tensions between Hindus and Muslims because the laws in the other traditions were not codif ed. Despite calls for a uniform civil code with the same laws for all citizens, the different legal regimes remain in effect today. 900855_06_ch06.indd 315 12/14/14 9:23 PM 316 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Contemporary Religious Leaders For more than 2,000 years Hindus have venerated holy men and women. The Taittiriya Upanishad exhorts a departing student to think of his acharya (religious instructor) as a god, and there have been countless other gurus, ascetics, mediums, storytellers, and sadhus (“holy men”) who have commanded anything from obedience to veneration. For many Hindus, religious experience is mediated by someone they believe to be in some way divine. Followers of Sri Sathya Sai Baba (Sathya Narayan Raju, 1926 Andhra Pradesh in the south, believe him to be an avatara . The heads of the monasteries estab- lished by Shankara in the eighth century continue to exercise considerable inf uence in some Hindu communities, as do a number of orator-commentators whose interpretation of the ancient scriptures shows the dynamic and adaptable nature of the Hindu tradition. All achar yas are gurus, but not all gurus are achar yas . Gurus, unlike achar yas, are not neces- sarily connected to any sectarian tradition, and they tend to emphasize “universal” and humanist messages, stressing the divinity in all human beings and encouraging their followers to transcend caste and community distinctions. Another difference is that whereas achar yas are almost invari- ably male, many women have been gurus. An example is Ma Amritananda Mayi (“Ammachi”; b.

1953), the leader of a movement that sponsors an international network of charitable, humanitar- ian, educational, and medical institutions. Known as the “hugging guru,” she is one of the most popular religious leaders in the world today. Many charismatic teachers are called swami (“master”) by their followers. Others take their titles from the ancient Vedic “seers” known as rishis . An example is the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement: Maharishi (“great seer”) Mahesh Yogi (1911?–2008) was one of the most inf uential teachers in the Western world.

Practices, Rituals, and Arts Many Hindus are fond of the dictum that “Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life.” While most know very little about the texts, beliefs, and philosophies of their tradition, they have generally observed the practices all their lives. Performances of various kinds—music and dance, drama and enactments of devotional poetry—are just as important as rituals, since it is through them that most Hindus learn the stories of the epics and P urana s .

Temple Worship It is not clear when temple worship began. The Vedic literature says nothing about temples, although the Harappa civilization does appear to have set some buildings apart for worship. South India has a number of temples that have survived from about the f fth century CE , but in the north many older temples were destroyed by either invaders or Muslim rulers. However, cave carvings depicting incarnations of Vishnu and icons of Shiva suggest that worship at public shrines was established by the early f fth century. Some temples to Shiva and Vishnu in Southeast Asia may date from the same period. Deities in Hindu temples are treated like kings and queens. The murtis —variously translated as “idols,” “icons,” “forms,” or “objects to be worshipped”—are given ritual baths, adorned, carried in procession, and honoured with all the marks of hospitality offered to royal guests, including music 900855_06_ch06.indd 316 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 317 and dance to entertain them. In the Srirangam temple in South India, there are special festivities 250 days a year. This treatment ref ects the fact that for many Hindus murtis are not symbols but the deities themselves, fully present and accessible: direct analogues to Vishnu’s incarnations as Rama or Krishna. The presence of a deity in the temple does not detract from his or her presence in heaven, immanence in the world, or presence in a human soul. The deity is always complete and whole, no matter how many forms he or she may be manifest in at any given time. Others, however, believe that the image in a temple is only a symbol of a higher reality. This their devotion— even though they believe it is transforming wisdom, not bhakti , that leads to lib- eration. But some sects—including the Brahmo Samaj and Vira Shaivas—reject images altogether. A temple has a correlation to the universe itself and to the body of divine beings; for Sri Vaish- navas, the temple is heaven on earth. In South India, even a single glimpse of the temple tower is said to be enough to destroy one’s sins.

The strings of owers sold outside temples may be worn by devotees themselves or presented to the deities inside 900855_06_ch06.indd 317 12/14/14 9:23 PM 318 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsGenerally, in Hinduism, there is no congregational prayer. Rather, the priest prays on behalf of the devotees, presents offerings of fruit, f owers, or coconut to the deity, and then gives back some of those blessed objects to the devotees. The food thus presented is now pra sad a a gift from the deity. In some temples devotees must buy the prasada , but in others it is provided at no charge from endowments made in the past. Patrons frequently earmark their donations for particular charitable purposes or functions in the temple, and their donations are inscribed on stones of the temple walls. Such inscriptions are an important source of information about the past. For example, an inscription in Tirumala-Tirupati (Tiruvenkatam) says that in the year 966 a woman called Samavai donated two parcels of land and ordered that the revenues derived from them be used to celebrate festivals and consecrate a silver processional image of Vishnu (known here as Venkateshwara). The fact that she was able to make such donations suggests a certain in - dependence both of lifestyle and of income. Some of the largest Shiva and Vishnu temples are found in the region of the Khmer empire, which stretched from modern Cambodia to parts of Thai- land and Laos. Although there are striking similarities to Indian temples, these temples have their own architectural idiom. Shiva temples are shaped like mountains; the large mountain-temples at Bakheng and Bakong in the Siem Reap area of Cambodia, for instance, look more like the Buddhist Angkor Wat in northern Cambodia was built by King Suryavarman II in honour of Vishnu. Its unusual three-level structure may indicate a connection with South India, which also has a handful of three-storeyed Vishnu temples 900855_06_ch06.indd 318 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 319 temple of Borubodur in Indonesia, than their counterparts in India. The large Vishnu temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, like many temples in India (and Central America as well), is situated and built according to astronomical calculations: the sun rises directly behind the central tower at the time of the spring and autumn equinoxes.

Sculptural and Pictorial Symbolism The Naga One of the earliest symbols in the Hindu tradition may be the naga (serpent). In many towns and villages there are sacred trees surrounded with small stone images of intertwined snakes. Women worship at these open-air shrines when they want to make a wish regarding a matter such as child- birth. Nagas are also important in the iconography of Shiva and Vishnu, and Cambodian narratives trace the origins of the kingdom to the union of a naga princess and a Hindu prince from India.

The Dance of Shiva Shiva is often portrayed as a cosmic dancer known as Nataraja, the king of the dance. In this form Shiva is the archetype of both the dancer and the ascetic, symbolizing mastery over universal energy on the one hand and absolute inner tranquillity on the other.

In the classic Nataraja representation, Shiva has four hands. One of the right hands holds an hourglass-shaped drum, symbolizing sound—both speech and the divine truth heard through revelation. The other right hand is making a gesture that grants fearlessness to devotees. One of the left hands holds a f ame, symbolizing the destruction of the world at the end of time. The feet grant salvation and are worshipped to obtain union with Shiva. The left foot, representing the refuge of the devotee, is raised, signifying liberation. The other left hand points to this foot. Dancing through the creation and destruction of the cosmos, Shiva–Nataraja is the master of both the f erce, violent dance that gives rise to energy, and the gentle, lyric dance representing tenderness and grace. The entire universe shakes when he dances; Krishna sings for him, the snake around his neck sways, and drops of the Ganga River, which he holds in his hair, fall to the earth.

The Linga In temples, Shiva is usually represented by a linga . Although linga is generally translated as “phal- lus,” Hindus do not normally think of it as a physical object. Rather, it symbolizes the spiritual potential in all of creation, and specif cally the creative energies of Shiva. The union of the yoni and linga is a reminder that male and female forces are united in generating the universe. Although Shiva is characterized as the “destroyer” in some literature, it is his creative role that is represented in thetemple.

Erotic Sculpture People from other cultures have often been shocked by Hindu temple sculptures celebrating kama , sensual love. Probably the most famous examples are found at Khajuraho (c. 1000 CE ) in Madhya Pradesh and Konarak (c. 1250), in the eastern coastal state of Orissa. While some art historians have 900855_06_ch06.indd 319 12/14/14 9:23 PM 320 A Concise Introduction to World Religionssuggested that such scenes illustrate passages from various myths and texts such as the P urana s , or are symbols of fertility, others have speculated that the sculptures may have been intended to serve an educational purpose for young men who as students were isolated from society, preparing them for adult life in a world where spouses were expected to be partners in kama as well as dharma. Forehead Marks Perhaps the most common visual sign of Hindu culture is the forehead mark, especially the red dot (bindi ) traditionally worn by married women. At the simplest level, bindis are decorative: unmar- ried and Christian women wear them as well, and in recent years, the traditional dot of red kum- kum powder has been largely replaced by stickers in many shapes and colours. Yet the bindi ’s value is more than cosmetic: married women see it as a symbol of their role in society. In many parts of India, male ascetics and temple priests also wear forehead marks. As with many elements in Hinduism, the meaning of such marks depends on the gender, marital status, and sect of the person wearing it, the occasion, and, occasionally, his or her caste. Marks denoting aff liation to a 900855_06_ch06.indd 320 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 321 particular deity may be made with white clay, sandalwood paste, f ower petals, or ash. In general, followers of Vishnu, Krishna, and Lakshmi wear vertical marks; worshippers of Shiva and Parvati wear horizontal or slightly curved crescent marks made of ash or other substances with a red dot in the middle; and a combination of dots and crescents usually indicates allegiance to the Goddess (Devi) in one of her many manifestations.

Domestic Worship One of the most signif cant ways in which Hindus express their devotion to a deity or a spiritual teacher is through rituals (puja) performed in the home. Many households set aside some space— puja typically consists of simple acts in which all family members can take part, such as lighting oil lamps and incense sticks, reciting prayers, or offering food to the deity. More elaborate rituals, however—such as the puja offered to Satyanarayana (a manifestation of Vishnu) on full-moon days—may involve a priest or other specialist. A number of domestic rituals are specif c to the women of the household. In many parts of India, women gather on certain days of the year to celebrate the goddess by fasting and feasting, and then perform “auspiciousness” rituals for the happiness of the entire family. Other women’s rituals are found only in certain geographic regions. In the south, for example, women will often gather before a major family celebration (such as a wedding) to ask for the blessing of female ancestors who have had the good fortune to die before their husbands and therefore have preserved their status as sumanga- lis or “auspicious women.” And in the north, during some domestic festivals such as Navaratri (see below) prepubescent girls are venerated by older women as temporary manifestations of the Goddess. In the home as in the temple, speaking a prayer or singing a hymn, worshippers link themselves with the devotional community extending through time. Thus in Sri Vaishnava worship, devotees who recite a verse of Andal’s are to some extent participating in her own devotion.

Ayurvedic Medicine Medicine made great progress in the Hindu world in the f rst millennium. One of the most important systems was called Ay u r ve d a : the veda (knowledge) of enhancing life. The physician promotes both longevity and quality of life. The prototype is a deity called Dhanavantari, sometimes identif ed as an incarnation of Vishnu. The South Indian parallel to Ayurveda is the Tamil system called Siddha. Ayurveda is considered to be an ancillary to the Vedas. An early compendium on healing, by a physician named Charaka (c. third century BCE ), says that every human being should have three desires: the will to live, the drive for prosperity, and an aspiration to reach the world beyond. As with many other subjects, treatises on healing and medicine are often framed as conversations between two sages or between a god and a sage. Both Charaka and the surgeon Sushruta claimed that their theories had been transmitted to them by the gods. They understood illness as a lack of balance among three elements: air, phlegm, and bile. This analytic approach recalls Greek and Chinese medical theories of roughly the same period. The Sushruta Samhita begins by declaring that the physician’s aim is “to cure the diseases of the sick, to protect the healthy, to prolong life,” while the Charaka Samhita includes a detailed statement of the ethics required of a physician. In these respects, the ancient roots of Ayurvedic medicine seem strikingly modern. 900855_06_ch06.indd 321 12/14/14 9:23 PM 322 A Concise Introduction to World Religions The Annual Festival Cycle In the Hindu tradition there is a festival of some kind almost every month of the year. The most popular are the birthdays of Rama, Krishna, and Ganesha; the precise dates vary from year to year with the lunar calendar, but they always fall within the same periods.Some festivals have been specif c to certain regions. Holi, for instance, is a North Indian fes- tival celebrated in March or April with bonf res to enact the destruction of evil, and exuberant The Hindu tradition is preoccupied with food: not just what kind of food is eaten, where and when, but how it is prepared, who prepares it, who has the right to be offered it f rst, and who may be given the leftovers. Certain dates and lunar phases require either feasting or fasting, and there are different types of fast: some demand abstention from all food, others only from grain or rice. According to some texts, liberation can be attained simply by observing the right kinds of fast. Contrary to a common Western stereotype, most Hindus are not vegetarians. The strictest vegetarians are generally the Vaishnavas, who are found all over India. In addition, most brahmins are vegetarian— except in Bengal, Orissa, and Kashmir. In the West, members of ISKCON not only abstain from meat, f sh, and fowl, but also avoid vegetables such as onions and garlic, which are thought to have neg- ative properties. These dietary prohibitions and habits are based on the idea that food ref ects the general qualities of nature: purity, energy, and inertia. Pure foods such as dairy products and many vegetables are thought to foster spiritual inclinations. By contrast, meat, poultry, and onions are believed to give rise to pas- sion and action, while stale food and liquor are seen as encouraging sloth. Thus a strict vegetarian diet is prescribed for those who seek to cultivate spiritual tranquillity and avoid passion. Weddings, funerals, ancestral rites, and birth- days require the use of auspicious spices such as turmeric. What one feeds the forefathers is different from what one feeds the gods and human beings; life-promoting rituals call for different foods from rituals associated with death; and the latter must not include non-traditional ingredients such as potatoes and red pepper (both introduced to India by Europeans). Various regional traditions also rely on different foods to rectify imbalances of “cold” and “heat” in the body.

In addition, the nature of a given food is thought to be inf uenced by the inherent qualities of the per- son who cooks it. For this reason it was common even in the mid-twentieth century for strictly obser- vant Hindus to eat only food prepared by people of their own caste. Beyond the practicalities of use or avoidance, food appears in Hindu thought as an important symbol of spiritual experience. The idea of a mystical union between food and the person who eats it is suggested in the Taittiriya Upanishad (part of the Yaj ur Ve d a):

Oh, wonderful! Oh, wonderful!

Oh, Wonderful!

I am food! I am food! I am food!

I am a food-eater! I am a food-eater! I am a food-eater! (Taittiriya Upanishad III.10.5) This passage has usually been interpreted as refer- ring to the experience of the Vedic sacrif cer, who identif es himself with Brahman both as food and as eater. Focus The Signi cance of Food 900855_06_ch06.indd 322 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 323 throwing of coloured powder to sym- bolize the vibrant colours of spring. It is now popular all over the world with tens of thousands of people–not all Hindu–joining in the celebrations. It commemorates Vishnu’s incarnation as a man-lion in order to save the life of his devotee Prahlada as well as his incarna- tion, as a dwarf-brahmin, is celebrated in the state of Kerala in a late-summer festival called Onam. Other festivals, like Navaratri and Deepavali (known as Diwali in some areas), are more or less pan-Hindu. A detailed discussion of Navaratri will give us an idea of the variations in observance across differ- ent communities.

Navaratri The festival of Navaratri (“nine nights”) begins on the new moon that appears between 15 September and 14 October and is celebrated all over India, but in different ways and for different reasons. In Tamilnadu it is largely a celebration of womanhood.

Exquisite dolls representing the god- desses Sarasvati, Lakshmi, and Durga are arranged in elaborate tableaux depicting scenes from the epics and P urana s . Every evening, women and children dressed in bright silks visit one another, admire the dolls, play musical instruments, and sing classical songs in praise of one or another of the goddesses. On the last two days—a special countrywide holiday—large pictures of Lakshmi and Sarasvati, draped with garlands of fresh f owers, are placed in front of the display of dolls and worshipped. In West Bengal, the festival commemorates the goddess Durga’s killing of the buffalo-demon Mahisa. Local communities make extravagant statues of Durga for her spirit to inhabit; then, after nine nights, they immerse the statues in water to symbolize her return to the formless state. In Gujarat, Navaratri is celebrated with two special dances. In the circular dance called gar- bha , a sacred lamp is kept in the centre of the circle as a manifestation of the goddess. The second dance, called dandiya , is performed with sticks and recalls the dance that Krishna is said to have performed with the cowherd girls. Society / Corbis). 900855_06_ch06.indd 323 12/14/14 9:23 PM 324 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsAccording to some traditions, it was during the same nine nights and ten days that Rama battled Ravana. In Ramnagar, Varanasi on the river Ganga, people act out the story of the Ramayana , with little boys in the parts of Rama and his brothers, and on the tenth day celebrate Rama’s victory. Some Hindus believe that it was on the ninth day of Navaratri that Arjuna found the weapons he had hidden a year before and paid respect to them before entering battle. Because of this story, the last two days, dedicated to Lakshmi and Sarasvati, celebrate the importance of weapons and machines in life: cars and buses are draped with garlands, while computers and typewriters are blessed with sacred powders. On the ninth day South Indians honour Sarasvati, the patron of learning and music. Musical instruments, writing devices, and textbooks are placed in front of her image, to be blessed by her for the rest of the year. In many parts of India, the last day of the festival is dedicated to Lakshmi. This is a time for fresh starts—to begin new ventures and acquire new knowledge—and to honour traditional teachers. On the last days of Navaratri, the fortune of learning, the wealth of wisdom, and the joy of music are said to be given by the grace of the goddesses. While most Indians do celebrate Navaratri, then, it is in different ways and for different reasons. Deepavali Deepa means “lamp” and vali lace of lights.” It is celebrated at the time of the new moon between 15 October and 14 November.

Hindu families all over the world decorate their houses with lights, set off f recrackers, and wear new clothes. In some parts of India, Deepavali marks the beginning of a new year, but that is only one of several reasons for the festival. As in the case of Navaratri, the signif cance of Deepavali varies from region to region. In South India, for instance, the festival celebrates the dawn when Krishna is said to have killed Narakasura, a demon from the nether world, thus ensuring the victory of light over darkness. In North India, Deepavali marks the return of Rama to Ayodhya and his coronation. And in Gujarat it is the beginning of the new year, when new account books are opened and new clothes are worn.

Presents are exchanged in some communities, and it is generally a time of feasting. In Tamilnadu, people say that the river Ganga itself is present in all the waters on Deepavali day. They get up at three or four in the morning for a special purifying bath, and members of some communities greet one another by asking “Have you had a bath in the river Ganga?” Whatever the local customs may be, the celebrations are always family-centred.

Life-Cycle Rites Every culture has its rites of passage: rituals that mark the transitions from one stage of life to another. In some of the dharmashastras the discussion of the life-cycle sacraments begins with the birth of a child. In others the f rst sacrament is marriage, for it is in this context that each new life is expected to begin. Two factors are important to note in discussing life-cycle rites. First, not all are pan-Hindu, and even those that are do not necessarily have the same importance in all communities. Some of the rites discussed here are practised only by the “upper” castes and higher economic classes. Second, many important rites, especially those involving girls or women, are not discussed in the classical 900855_06_ch06.indd 324 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 325 texts—possibly because those texts were written by men, for whom women were merely partners.

It may also be that some of these rites developed after the texts were written. We will discuss the normative dharmashastra sacraments f rst, and then look at a few rites of passage with more local- ized importance. Certain kinds of people, animals, rituals, smells, sounds, and foods are considered auspicious in that they are thought to bring about good fortune and a good quality of existence. Auspicious times are chosen for the performance of all sacraments; these times depend on the horoscope of the person concerned, which is cast at birth.

Birth Rituals The cycle of sacraments ( sam skara s; literally, “perfecting”) begins before birth. The time of con- ception, the rituals administered to a pregnant woman, and her behaviour during pregnancy are all thought to condition the personality of the child. The Upanishads describe specif c rituals to be followed to produce a learned daughter or a heroic son (though in later times daughters were rarely desired). Although the conception sacrament has been largely discarded, it survives in some communities as one of the rituals observed on the wedding night. Some dharmashastras suggest that it is a husband’s duty to approach his wife for intercourse at particular times of the month. At the moment of birth, care is taken to note the exact time, to ensure an accurate horoscope.

In the f rst ceremony performed after the birth, father prays for the intellectual well-being of the child and longevity for himself and the child: “May we see a hundred autumns, may we hear a hundred autumns.” Initiation Rituals The upper classes were generally called “twice born,” in reference to the initiatory rite in which their young males were spiritually reborn as sons of their religious teachers (whether a similar ini- tiation was performed for girls in the early Vedic era is unclear). This rite, the upanayana, marked rst of the four stages in life. It takes two days to complete.

On the f rst day, the boy is bathed in water into which the essence of all the sacred waters has been invoked through the recitation of verses from the Ve d a s. This ritual is called “peace brought on the waters”, and it ends with repeated requests for shanti (peace): for the individual, the soul, the body, the divine beings, the family, the community, and the entire E arth. On the second day the boy is given a sacred “thread” or cord to wear over his left shoulder. Some think it represents an upper garment that the student would wear when he was f t to perform a sacrif ce; others, that it symbol- izes an umbilical cord connecting the boy to his teacher—the spiritual parent through whom he will be reborn. The boy is now taught how to thank the E arth for his food and ask divine beings to bless it. Then comes the actual imparting of the sacred teaching. As the boy sits with his father, a sacred mantra is given to him that he will be expected to chant 108 times in succession, three times each day. Although it is very short—“I meditate on the brilliance of the sun; may it illumine my mind”—this Gayatr i or sun mantra is considered the most important of all mantras and has become popular among many sections of Hindu society. The boy is then taken outside and shown the sun, the source of light, knowledge, and immortality. He must twine his f ngers in a particular way to ward off the harmful rays while looking directly at its heart. 900855_06_ch06.indd 325 12/14/14 9:23 PM 326 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Weddings According to the dharmashastras, a man is born with debts to the sages, the gods, and the ancestors.

His wife helps him repay these debts, and without her a man cannot fully perform his religious obligations. For the woman, there is no higher ideal than to be a faithful wife. Before a wedding can be arranged, the parents of the prospective bride must f nd a suitable bridegroom; for this they used to rely on the help of friends and extended family, but today the search is often conducted through the internet and social media. Ideally, he will come from the same geographic region, speak the same language, and belong to the same community, though he must belong to a different clan. He should be compatible with the bride in education, looks, age, and outlook, and the two families should be of similar socio-economic status. When a potential husband is found, the families sometimes compare the young people’s horo- scopes, not only to assess compatibility and character but also to balance the ups and downs in their future lives. When the horoscopes are compatible, the young people (and their families) meet to decide whether they like each other. At this point both parties may either opt out or request more time to get acquainted. Obviously, arranged marriages are less common today than in earlier centuries. Now that men and women increasingly study and work together, a couple may meet and decide to get married with or without their families’ approval. Such marriages often cross boundaries of caste and com- munity— even language and geography. To be legally binding, the marriage ceremony must include several basic features: an exchange of f ower garlands, the gift of the girl by her parents, the clasping of hands, sapta padi (t a k- to the bride. Some weddings include lavish exchanges of presents with friends and extended family members, processions on horseback or in antique cars, and entertainment. At particular moments the couple’s close relatives have active roles to play, but the guests are free to come and go as they please. The ceremony itself lasts several hours and for the bride may involve several changes of elaborate clothing and jewels. Often the couple sits on a platform near a f re, to which offerings are made. The bride’s father quotes from the Ramayana, reciting the words spoken by Sita’s father as he gives her in marriage to Rama: “This is Sita, my daughter; she will be your partner in dharma.” In many communities, though not all, the groom’s family then presents the bride with a “gift of auspiciousness”—a gold necklace, a string of black beads, or a simple yellow thread carrying the insignia of the particular god that the family worships—that she will wear for the duration of her marriage. There is no equivalent symbol for the groom, although men who have put on the sacred thread will wear a double set of threads after they marry. In the central rite of the wedding, the bride and groom take seven steps around the f re together as he recites a series of verses from the Vedas, concluding as follows:

You have taken seven steps with me; be my friend. We who have taken seven steps together have become companions. I have attained your friendship; I shall not forsake that friend- ship. Do not discard our relationship.

It is worth noting that these passages refer to the wife as the husband’s partner in dharma and his companion in love. 900855_06_ch06.indd 326 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 327 Later in the evening the new husband and wife are taken outside for a ritual called “the sighting of Arundhati.” In Indian astrology, the seven brightest stars of the Great Bear constellation (the Big Dipper) represent the seven sages, one of whom (Vasistha) is accompanied by a star identif ed as his remain close through the years, so the newlyweds are urged to stay together forever. Funeral Rites Except for infants and ascetics (who may be buried), cremation by f re is the f nal sacrament in most communities. No f re is to be lit or tended in the house where the death occurred until the cremation f re has been lit, and the family of the deceased is considered to live in a state of pol- lution for a period that varies from 12 days to almost a year. Although each religious community (Shaiva, Vaishnava, etc.) has its own list of scriptures to recite from, most funeral rituals will also include portions of the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita .

The rituals are usually performed by the eldest son of the deceased. For the f rst few days the spirit of the deceased is a preta tion, the spirit is offered water, as well as balls of rice for sustenance. Some of these rituals go back to the earliest Vedic times, when the dead were thought to need food for the journey to the afterlife on the far side of the moon. After the designated period of time, the injunctions relating to pollution are lifted in an “adop- tion of auspiciousness” ceremony. On every new-moon day, the departed soul is offered food in the form of libations with sesame seeds and water. After a year, the anniversary of the death is marked with further ceremonies, and the family is then freed of all constraints.

Women’s Rituals Most women’s rituals are domestic, undertaken for the welfare of the family and earthly happiness, but a few are intended solely for personal liberation. Many practices—worship at home shrines or temples, pilgrimages, the singing of devotional songs—are similar to those undertaken by men, but some are unique to married women whose husbands are alive. Underlying many of the rites is the notion that women are powerful and that the rites they perform have potency. Though many women’s rituals share certain features, there are considerable differences among communities, castes, and regions.

Early History Early Sanskrit texts tell of women lighting and tending the sacrif cial f re used to make ritual offerings to the gods. They also refer to women ascetics, who would presumably have undergone renunciatory rites similar to those required of men. These privileges appear to have disappeared by the beginning of the Common Era, however.

Calendrical Rituals Many traditional women’s rituals are no longer practised today, but a number of votive rituals are still observed on particular days. These rituals involve the welfare of others—whether the husband 900855_06_ch06.indd 327 12/14/14 9:23 PM 328 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsand children, the extended family, or the community. Although Sanskrit manuals say that perform- ing these rites will enable a woman to attain f nal liberation from the cycle of birth and death, most participants ask only for more worldly rewards, such as marriage, or a long life for their husbands.After prayers to the family deity, the women may distribute emblems of auspiciousness such as betel leaves, bananas, coconuts, turmeric, and kumkum powder. The rituals may take anywhere between a few minutes and f ve days to complete, with periods of fasting alternating with com- munal eating. In South India married women were traditionally enjoined to stay celibate during the month of and other ritual items to the temples of local goddesses and perform rites in their honour for the benef t of the entire family. Others cook rice and milk dishes in the temples of the local goddesses and distribute the food. In the temple of Draupadi Amman, women and men alike enter a trance In North India many women’s rites focus on the welfare of male relatives. In late summer, for example, girls tie a protective cord around the wrists of their brothers. And in October–November, women undertake two fasts for the well-being of their husbands, as well as one for the health of their sons. These daytime fasts are broken only after the moon rises.

Karva Chauth is a North Indian festival celebrating married women’s devotion to their husbands. Participants observe 900855_06_ch06.indd 328 12/14/14 9:23 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 329 Women’s Life-Cycle Rituals In the upper castes the standard life-cycle rituals associated with childhood, marriage, and death are much the same for both sexes. There are many other sacraments associated with women, how- ever, that have not received scriptural ratif cation. Some of these rites are specif c to certain regions and communities. period, since this “blossoming” meant that she was ready for marriage. Today urban communi- ties tend to consider this tradition old-fashioned, but it is still practised in rural areas. The girl is showered with gifts of money or clothing by her family, and the ritual celebration often resembles a mini-wedding. Special rituals may also attend pregnancy, especially the f rst. In a popular South Indian ritual, the pregnant woman is dressed in a silk sari, and women of all ages slip bangles onto her arm. In earlier days a bangle-seller was invited and the woman’s parents gave all the guests glass bracelets that were supposed to safeguard them from evil spirits. owers, to enhance the natural radi- ance that is often said to accompany pregnancy. In the Hindu tradition women often wear f owers these acknowledge the importance of a woman’s body and celebrate its life-bearing potential.

Women and Pollution With a few exceptions (among them the Vira Shaiva), most Hindu communities have traditionally regarded menstruation as physically polluting. Menstruating women were excluded from every- day life, and even though strict segregation is no longer widespread, vestiges of the old attitudes remain. Most communities still do not permit menstruating women to attend a place of worship or participate in any religious ritual, and even Vira Shaiva households may prohibit menstruating women from cooking. Virtually all Hindu women take a purifying ritual bath on the fourth day, but many of these observances have been discarded when Hindus migrate to other countries. The same concept of pollution extends to childbirth. Even though the birth of a child is a happy and auspicious occasion, it is thought to render the entire family ritually impure. For several days after the birth, the family cannot go to a temple or celebrate an auspicious event.

The Performing Arts The performing arts are central to the practice and transmission of the Hindu traditions. The knowledge related to music and dance was considered to be an ancillary branch of the Vedas.

A treatise on theatre and dance called the Natya Sastra is attributed to a legendary sage named Bharata, but was said to have originated with the creator god Brahma, who took the reading text from the Rig Veda, the music from the Sama Veda, gestures and make up from the Yajur Veda, and emotional acting from the Atharava Veda and combined them to create the f fth Veda. In oral tradition, the very name “Bharata” is said to incorporate the main elements of music and dance:

Bha- stands for “ bhava” or expression; -ra- for “raga” or melody; and -ta for “tala” or rhythm.

Acting, music, and dance have even been considered ways to liberation. Classical dance requires total control of the body—the same control that is central to the physical discipline of yoga. The- oretically speaking, all dance is divine, but many dances are explicitly devotional in tone. This is 900855_06_ch06.indd 329 12/14/14 9:23 PM 330 A Concise Introduction to World Religionsparticularly true of Bharata Natyam, the classical dance form of South India. While the dancer expresses the human soul’s longing for union with the Lord in passionate terms, the audience may also participate in the divine joy of movement, whether that of the dancer, of Krishna with his cowherd friends, or of Shiva Nataraja, the King of the Dance, and through this participation attain the frame of mind that leads to liberation. Sanskrit texts such as the Natya Sastra usually make a distinction between classical and folk dance, but sometimes the boundaries have been f uid, and both forms have derived inspiration from each other. A striking example of public singing and dancing (though originally performed in the home) is the garbha dance of Gujarat, in which women and young girls celebrate the Mother Goddess by dancing around a garbha : a clay pot holding a lamp. Garbha means “womb,” the source of all creative energy; it is the Mother Goddess who is present in the lamp inside the clay pot. It seems that when the focus is on moksha (liberation), rather than dharma (issues of righteousness), women have more freedom to take part in public activities. The androcentric controls imposed on the public activities of women are simply bypassed in contexts where the focus is on the potential for liberation that is inherent in all human beings; thus even though society may disapprove of a woman who has rejected marriage, the women poets who rejected marriage in favour of union with their deity are venerated. To study dance forms such as Bharata Natyam, Manipuri, Kathak, Kathakali, or Kuchipudi— classical forms from differ- ent regions of India—is not only to learn a f ne art. Through them dancers (and audiences) learn not only the stories of the Hindu gods but their physical appearance, their insignia, their demeanour. Whether in India or outside, in Fiji, Trinidad, or South Africa, the classical dances intro- duce new generations to the affective ethos of the Hindu trad itions. To watch them is to know the body languages of Hindu heroes and heroines, and to learn to per- form them is to plug into patterns of Indian corporeal knowledge. At the same time the dances offer insight into the allegorical structures of Hindu devotional songs, in which the love between the deity and the human being is often portrayed as the love between a man and a woman. One Hindu text says that dance invites the blessings of the righteous, counsels the fool, cheers the Dancing the garbha during Navaratri celebrations in Mumbai (© DIVYAKANT SOLANKI / epa / Corbis). 900855_06_ch06.indd 330 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 331 depressed, enhances happiness for women, and gives prosperity in this world and in the next; above all, it pleases Vishnu.The ostensible reason for the “revelation” of the treatise on dance was to make the Vedas acces- sible to all human beings. However, it is interesting to note that after the f fteenth century (possibly earlier), the only women who sang and danced in public seem to have been courtesans. This was apparently not the case in earlier times; even as late as the twelfth century, sculptures of women dancers, perhaps royalty, adorned the niches of the Belur temple in Karnataka. The apparent pro- hibition against women from “decent families” dancing in public may have come from a gradual coalescence of the conservative attitudes explicit in many Hindu texts and Islamic mores, as well as the puritanical perspectives of Christian missionaries from Europe. As for sound, it has been part of Hindu worship since the time of the Vedas. The holy word “ om ,” which is chanted at the beginning and end of all Hindu and Jaina prayers and recitations of scripture, and is central to Buddhist practice as well, is perceived to be f lled with power. It is understood to have three sounds, a–u–m , with the diphthong au producing an o sound. The sound of om , which begins deep in the body and ends at the lips, is considered auspicious. Its history in the Hindu tradition is ancient; the Mandukya Upanishad discusses its meaning and power. Hindu philosophers and sectarian communities all agree that om is the most sacred sound.

Yet that sound does not have a particular meaning. Almost every Hindu community has spec- ulated about the meaning of om . Some say it represents the supreme reality or Brahman. Many philosophers have believed that om was present at the beginning of the manifest universe and that it contains the essence of true knowledge. Some say that its three sounds represent the three worlds: earth, atmosphere, and heaven. Others say that they represent the essence of the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur, and Sama). According to followers of the non-dualist philosopher Shankara, the three sounds a , u, and m have the following experiential meanings:

• A stands for the world that we see when we are awake, the person who is experiencing it, and the waking experience.

• U stands for the dream world, the dreamer, and the dream experience.

• M represents the sleep world, the sleeper, and the sleep experience.

These three states we experience on this earth, while a fourth, unspoken syllable represents the state of liberation. Some Vaishnava devotees, on the other hand, say that a represents Vishnu, u denotes the human being, and m denotes the relationship between the two. Other Vaishnavas say that the sounds rep- resent Vishnu, Sri, and the devotee. In a sense, then, the sound of om is a whole greater than the sum of its parts, exceeding in signif cance the many meanings attributed to it. Music, too, been perceived as sacred in both origin and function since the time of the Sama Veda. Knowledge of the nature of sound and its proper expression was therefore considered to be religious knowledge. The Vedas specify the different pitches and tones in which the verses were to be recited. The exalted status of the Sama Veda was in part a ref ection of the melodious sounds produced when it is sung according to the instructions. Classical music was largely religious in nature. Treatises on music refer to a divine line of teach- ers, frequently beginning with the deities Shiva and Parvati, and honour Sarasvati as the patron goddess of the f ne arts. Some later Puranas say that Vishnu and Sri are manifested as Nada Brah- man or the Supreme Being in the form of sound. 900855_06_ch06.indd 331 12/14/14 9:24 PM 332 A Concise Introduction to World ReligionsProperly controlled and articulated, sound itself is said to induce a religious experience. Thus the sound of a hymn was considered no less important than the words. Nadopasana , meditation through sound, became a popular religious practice. The Alvars composed their poems to be sung and danced, and many devotional poet-composers addressed their songs to the deities. Recent Developments Global Hinduism, Interaction, and Adaptation Ideas, texts, sectarian movements, rituals, and arts connected with the religion that we now call “Hinduism” have been travelling to other parts of the world for more than two millennia. Hindu- ism is a global religion in at least three ways. There are sizeable numbers of Hindus in almost every part of the world who trace their roots to the Indian subcontinent; people in various countries have accepted Hindu teachers, doctrines, beliefs, or practices; and Hindu ideas and practices have been separated from the name “Hindu” and become part of cultures outside India. An example of the last point can be seen in the United States. Since the New England Transcendentalists of the early nineteenth century, generations of Americans have engaged with ideas, philosophies, and practices rooted in Hindu traditions without identifying them as such: instead, ideas such as reincarnation and practices such as meditation and yoga have been described as “spiritual” or “universal.” One could say that Hinduism comes in both brand name and generic forms. It is rare to f nd a generic Hindu in India; everyone belongs to a particular caste, community, and sectarian group, all of which are further sub-divided along linguistic and geographic lines. However, Hindu texts and practices have been mined for messages applicable to all human beings. Thus Hindu teachers beginning with Vivekananda and Yogananda, who travelled to North America in the late nine- teenth and early twentieth centuries, have stressed the “timeless” and “universal” quality of Hindu concepts and practices.

The Hindu Diaspora There have been at least three major waves of Hindu migration outside the Indian sub-continent.

The f rst was a gradual process that took place over several centuries in the f rst millennium and probably involved very small groups of inf uential elites who carried Hindu ideas and practices to Southeast Asia. The second major migration was the movement of workers (free or indentured) seeking employment in the nineteenth century. The third large wave began in the second half of the twentieth century and has been more varied in its composition The watershed year in the US was 1965, when immigration laws were relaxed to allow skilled, educated professionals such as engi- neers, physicians, and, later, software professionals to enter the country. Since 1965 diasporic com- munities in Europe and the Americas have also received political refugees and members of second diasporas (descendants of earlier immigrants from India who are now immigrating themselves).

Temples in the Diaspora Perhaps the most noticeable feature of global Hindu communities is the tremendous amount of time, money, and energy they devote to the building of temples. Since the 1970s in particular, Hindu immigrants to North America have been transforming their new homes into sacred places. 900855_06_ch06.indd 332 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 333 Places of worship were established as early as 1906 in the San Francisco area, but the f rst really ambitious attempt to reproduce the traditional architecture and atmosphere of a Vaishnava sacred place came in 1976 with the construction of the Sri Venkateshwara temple in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Since then, other Venkateshwara temples or shrines have been established in many parts of the United States and Canada.) The Penn Hills temple enshrines a manifestation of Vishnu as Venkateshwara, lord of the hill in the South Indian state of Andhra help, backing, and blessing of one of the oldest, richest, and most popular temples in India, the Venkateshwara temple at Tiruvenkatam. Devotees celebrate the signif cance of having Venkatesh- wara dwelling on American soil with his consort Sri (known locally as Padmavati, “the lady of the verse is sung in Sanskrit:

Victory to Govinda [Krishna], who lives in America, Victory to Govinda, who is united with Radha who lives on Penn Hills, Victory to the Teacher, Victory to Vitthala-Krishna.

Drawing on Puranic lore, the Penn Hills devotees think of their temple’s physical location—at where the rivers Ganga and Yamuna meet the underground Sarasvati. The particular place from which Hindu immigrants come has an inf uence on the kinds of temples they build. In Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe such as France and Switzerland, the numbers of Tamil-speaking immigrants, among them political refugees from Sri Lanka, are ref ected in an emphasis on Tamil deities. Temples and shrines dedicated to Murugan, the son of Shiva and Parvati, and an important deity among Tamil-speaking people, are popular in many parts of Canada; both Toronto (Richmond Hill) and Montreal have Murugan temples, but also have shrines to other deities within the main temple to accommodate their devotees. The icon of Murugan in the Richmond Hill temple is said to be the tallest in the world. This temple also claims to have been the f rst in North America to consecrate images of the Vaishnava philosopher Ramanuja and the 12 Alvars. People from other parts of India as well as second-diaspora Hindus from Guyana, Trinidad, and South Africa have also built temples in the Toronto area, making this one of the most diverse areas for Hindu worship in the world. North American temples do their best to replicate the traditional pattern of activities: the morn- ing wake-up prayers, the offering of food to the deity, worship, and the recitation of prayers at specif c points of the day; however, community participation tends to be limited to weekends, since many devotees must travel signif cant distances. Although a few seasonal festivals, such as Navaratri and Deepavali are celebrated at the traditional times, for the most part temples try to plan big events around the North American holiday calendar. Thus in the United States most of the major festivals are scheduled to take advantage of the long weekends between Memorial Day (May) and Labor Day (September). In addition to serving as places of worship, temples in the diaspora serve as community cen- tres, with regular newsletters and website updates to provide “outreach.” They also help to educate the diaspora-born in their ancestral traditions through language and religion classes, lectures, study circles, classical music and dance lessons, and summer camps. In addition, perhaps because many of their founding trustees have been physicians, temples in Canada, the US, and Australia 900855_06_ch06.indd 333 12/14/14 9:24 PM 334 A Concise Introduction to World Religions frequently organize events such as blood drives and health screenings. In the home country, temples do not serve any of these functions. Hinduism and the Environment The history of environmental activism in India is sometimes traced back as far as the late f fteenth century, when a guru named Jambho—inspired by the pastoral life of Krishna the cowherd— taught his followers to minimize harm to the natural world. The community he established took the name Bishnoi, after his 29 (“bish-noi”) most important teachings, which included everything from vegetarianism to water conservation and the protection of trees. Based in Rajasthan, the Bish- noi have followed those teachings for more than 500 years.Today, growing numbers of Hindu leaders and institutions are drawing on the classic texts to encourage eco-activism. Billboards at the Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala-Tirupati, for instance, proclaim that “Trees, when protected, protect us,” and temple authorities draw attention to a line from the Matsya Purana in which the goddess Parvati declares that “One tree is equal to ten sons.” 900855_06_ch06.indd 334 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 335 In a culture where sons are so highly prized, this statement is striking. The Tirumala-Tirupati temple also maintains a large nursery in which tree saplings are grown to be given as prasada to pilgrims, who are encouraged to plant them at home. Many environmental activists take inspira- tion from a section of the Yajur Veda known as the Song of Peace :

May there be peace in the skies, peace in the atmosphere, peace on earth, peace in the waters. May the healing plants and trees bring peace; may there be peace [on and from] the world, the deity. May there be peace in the world, peace on peace. May that peace come to me! (Yajur Veda 36.17) Modern Reproductive Technology Of all the technological innovations developed in recent years, those associated with reproduction tend to be among the most controversial. Yet Hindus generally appear to be quite accepting of intervention in this area. In the case of assisted reproduction, this is probably not surprising: the traditional teachings have always emphasized that reproduction is a primary duty. Thus many Hindus today accept artif cial insemination, although for most couples the husband is the only acceptable donor. The ethical considerations become more complex where contraception and gender selection are concerned. For thousands of years, male children have been more welcome than females, largely because of the traditional duty to the ancestors: in a patriarchal, patrilineal society, sons would continue the family line and could be counted on to look after their parents in old age, whereas Although Indian law forbids the use of sonograms and amniocentesis for the purpose of sex selec- tion, the ratio of female to male births has dropped signif cantly in recent years. The dharmashastra texts maintain that the unborn fetus has life; according to popular belief and stories from the P urana s , it is even capable of hearing and learning from the conversations that take place around it. Nevertheless, abortions are legal in India and are accepted without any strong dissent from religious leaders or prolonged editorial, legislative, or judicial debate. Thus it appears that some teachings of the dharma texts do not have any compelling authority for Hindus today.

Summar y Through music, dance, stories, rituals, and celebrations, through architecture and literature, the Hindu traditions continue to be practised and transmitted all over the world. The dynamism of these traditions is unmistakable. Scholars continue to interpret Vedanta. People still experience possession by deities, situate their homes in auspicious directions, and choose astrologically correct times for weddings. Ancient manuscripts are still being restored and edited, and new technologies are making the literature accessible to virtually everyone; the tradition conf ning the sacred word to particular castes is gone forever. In short, Hinduism continues to adapt to the world around it. 900855_06_ch06.indd 335 12/14/14 9:24 PM 336 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Religion (Sect)Te x t (s) Composition/ CompilationCompilation/ Revision Use Hinduism Vedas (Sanskrit) Composed between c.

1500 and 600 BCE Considered the most authoritative of all texts.

Parts of the Vedas were used in both domestic and temple rituals.

Upanishads : the last section of the Vedas, focusing on philosophy (Sanskrit) c. 6th century BCE .

Most Vedanta philosophers used these texts in commentaries or wrote commentaries on them. The commentarial tradition continues today. Philosophical Kamakhya, Assam One of the most important sites where the power of the Goddess is said to be felt. The temple is ded- icated to the goddess Kamakhya, a form of Shakti / Parvati / Durga.

Badrinath, Uttaranchal One of 108 places sacred to the Sri Vaishnava com- munity, located high in the Himalayas, with a tem- ple of Vishnu in the form of the sages Nara and Narayana.

Srirangam, Tamilnadu An island temple-town where Vishnu, here called of the Alvars.

Madurai, Tamilnadu A large city that is home to dozens of temples, includ- ing a famous complex dedicated to the Meenakshi (a local form of Parvati) and Sundaresvara (Shiva). Tirumala-Tirupati (also known as Tiruvenkatam), Andhra Pradesh One of the most important pilgrimage sites in India, dedicated to Venkateshwara (Vishnu).

Puri, Orissa The site of a famous festival celebrating Lord Jagan- nath (a form of Vishnu) and his siblings, during which his image is rolled through the streets on a huge chariot. This event is the source of the English word “ juggernaut.” Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Also known as Banaras; one of the holiest cities in India, located on the river Ganga. After cremation, many Hindus’ ashes are brought here to be ritually submerged in the waters.

Mount Kailas, Tibet A peak in the Himalayan range, said to be the abode of Lord Shiva; sacred to Jainas and Buddhists as well as Hindus. Sites S a c r e d Te x t s 900855_06_ch06.indd 336 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 337 Religion (Sect)Te x t (s) Composition/ CompilationCompilation/ Revision Use Ramayana (Sanskrit) c. 5th century BCE –1s t century CE Very approximate dates Periodically rendered in local languages. Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas in Hindi is ver y important. Doctrinal, ritual, performative, inspirational, devotional, narrative, educational Mahabharata (Sanskrit) c. 5th century BCE –2nd century CE Doctrinal, ritual, narrative, performative, inspirational, devotional, educational Bhagavad Gita (part of the Mahabharata ; Sanskrit) c. 2nd century BCE –2nd century CE Extensive tradition of commentary. Doctrinal, ritual, performative, devotional, inspirational, narrative, educational Puranas (Sanskrit) 1st millennium CE Often recreated in local languages. Doctrinal, ritual, devotional, narrative, inspirational, educational Vaishnava, (speci cally Gaudiya and ISKCON ) Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit)c. 1st millennium CE Doctrinal, ritual, devotional, narrative, inspirational, educational Dharmasutras followed by the Dharmashastras.

Many texts, of which the Manava Dharmashastra important (Sanskrit). Dharmasutras composed in the 1st millennium BCE ; dharmashastras in the 1st millennium CE Extensive tradition of commentary. Medathithi CE?) commented on Manu. Ritual, moral, and legal prescriptions on all aspects of life: personal, domestic, and public; discussions of right behaviour Yoga Sutras of Patanjali c. 200 BCE —30 0 CE Commentarial tradition. Classical philosophical text for yoga Vaishnava (Tamil) Nalayira Divya Prabandham Sacred Collect of 4,000 verses by the Alvars (Tamil) CE; said to have been “revealed” in 11th century. Extensive commentarial tradition.

Doctrinal, ritual, performative, devotional, inspirational, narrative, educational use Shaiva (Tamil) Tirumurai c. 8th–12th centuries Devotional and philosophical use Vaishnava Poems of Surdas (Hindi/ Braj Bhasha) 16th century Doctrinal, ritual, performative, devotional, inspirational, narrative, educational use Vaishnava (Marathi) Dnyaneshwari or Jnaneswari Composed by Dnyaneshwar, c. 13th century Doctrinal, devotional, and educational use Sacred Texts (Continued) 900855_06_ch06.indd 337 12/14/14 9:24 PM 338 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Discussion Questions 1. What is the origin of the word “Hindu”? What elements of the Harappa culture suggest connections with Hindu traditions?

2. Why are the Ramayana and Mahabharata central to Hinduism?

3. What role do sacred texts play in Hinduism?

4. Identify some of the deities, major and minor, that Hindus worship. How is it that Hindus describe themselves as monotheistic?

5. Who or what is Brahman? What is the relationship between Brahman and deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, and the Goddess?

6. What is bhakti ? What role does it play in Hinduism?

7. What are the three ways to liberation discussed in the Bhagavad Gita ?

8. Describe some of the distinctive features of Hinduism as it developed in Southeast Asia.

9. What is the role of the performing arts in Hinduism?

10. What are the primary ways in which women historically contributed to various Hindu traditions?

Glossar y acharya The leading teacher of a sect or the head of a monastery.

advaita Shankara’s school of philoso- phy, which holds that there is only one ultimate reality, the indescribable Brah- man, with which the Atman or self is identical.

Alvars Twelve devotional poets whose works are central to the South Indian bhakti tradition.

artha Prosperity; one of the three clas- sical aims in life.

ashramas Four stages in the life of an upper-class male: student, householder, forest-dweller, and ascetic.

Atman The individual self, held by Upanishadic and Vedantic thought to be identical with Brahman, the world-soul.

avatara A “descent” or incarnation of a deity in earthly form.

Ay u r ve d a A system of traditional med- icine, understood as a teaching trans- mitted from the sages. Bhagavad Gita A section of the Mahabharata epic recounting a conver- sation between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna, in which Krishna explains the nature of God and the human soul.

bhakti Loving devotion to a deity seen as a gracious being who enters the world for the benef t of humans.

Brahma The creator god; not to be con- fused with Brahman Brahman The world-soul, sometimes understood in impersonal terms; not to be confused with Brahma.

Brahmana s Texts regarding ritual.

brahmin A member of the priestly class.

darshana Seeing and being seen by the deity (in the temple) or by a holy teacher; the experience of beholding with faith.

Deepavali (Diwali) Festival of light in October–November, when lamps are lit.

devanagari The alphabet used to write Sanskrit and northern Indian vernacular languages such as Hindi and Bengali.

dharma Religious and social duty, including both righteousness and faith.

guru A spiritual teacher.

Holi Spring festival celebrated by throwing brightly coloured water or powder.

jnana Knowledge; along with action and devotion, one of the three avenues to liberation explained in the Bhagavad Gita .

kama Sensual (not merely sexual) plea- sure; one of the three classical aims of life.

karma Action, good and bad, as it is believed to determine the quality of rebirth in future lives.

kshatriya A member of the warrior class in ancient Hindu society.

linga A conical or cylindrical stone col- umn, symbolizing the creative energies of the god Shiva. 900855_06_ch06.indd 338 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 339 Mahabharata A very long epic poem, one section of which is the Bhagavad Gita.

mantra An expression of one or more syllables, chanted repeatedly as a focus of concentration in devotion.

moksha Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; one of the three clas- sical aims in life.

murti A form or personif cation in which divinity is manifested.

Navaratri ”Nine nights”; an autumn festival honouring the Goddess.

om A syllable chanted in meditation, interpreted as representing ultimate reality, or the universe, or the relation- ship of the devotee to the deity.

pra sada A gift from the deity, espe- cially food that has been presented to the god’s temple image, blessed, and returned to the devotee.

puja Ritual household worship of the deity, commonly involving oil lamps, incense, prayers, and food offerings.

Purana s “Old tales,” stories about dei- ties that became important after the Ved ic p er io d. Ramayana An epic recounting the life of Lord Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu.

rishi A seer; the composers of the ancient Vedic hymns are considered rishis .

sadhu A holy man.

samnyasin A religious ascetic; one who has reached the last of the four stages of life for a Hindu male; see ashramas .

samsara The continuing cycle of re-births.

sati The self-sacrif ce of a widow who throws herself onto her deceased hus- band’s funeral pyre.

shruti “What is heard”; the sacred lit- erature of the Vedic and Upanishadic periods, recited orally by the brahmin priests for many centuries before it was written down.

shudra A member of the lowest of the four major classes, usually translated as “servant,” though some groups within the shudra class could be quite prosperous.

smrti “What is remembered,” a body of ancient Hindu literature, including the epics, P urana s , and law codes, formed after the shruti and passed down in written form.

tantra An esoteric school outside the Vedic and brahminical tradition, which emerged around the f fth century and centred on a number of controversial ritual practices, some of them sexual.

upanayana The initiation of a young brahmin boy into ritual responsibility, in which he is given a cord to wear over his left shoulder and a mantra to recite and is sent to beg for food for the day.

Upanishads Philosophical texts in the form of reported conversations on the theory of the Vedic ritual and the nature of knowledge, composed around the sixth century BCE .

vaishya A member of the third or mer- cantile class in the ancient fourfold class structure.

Ve d a s The four collections of hymns and ritual texts that constitute the old- est and most highly respected Hindu sacred literature.

yoga A practice and discipline that may involve a philosophical system and mental concentration as well as physi- cal postures and exercises. Further Reading Baird, Robert D. 1993. Religions and Law in Independent India .

New Delhi: Manohar. Takes up some problems of the status of various groups.

———, ed. 1995. Religion in Modern India . 3rd ed. New Delhi:

Manohar. Good individual chapters on nineteenth- and twenti- eth-century sectarian movements.

Basham, Arthur Llewellyn. 1954. The Wonder That Was India .

London: Sidgwick & Jackson. Arguably still the def nitive introduction to the pre-Muslim culture of the subcontinent.

Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism . 5 vols. 2009–13. Knut Jacobsen (chief editor), Helene Basu, Angelika Malinar, and Vasudha Narayanan, (associate editors). Leiden: Brill. An excellent and comprehensive resource on the Hindu traditions.

Bryant, Edwin. 2003. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate . New York: Oxford Univer- sity Press. A balanced and thorough discussion of a controver- sial topic. ———, ed. Krishna: A Sourcebook . 2007. New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press. A good introduction to one of the most important deities in the Hindu tradition from a variety of sectarian and regional perspectives.

Bryant, Edwin, and Maria Eckstrand. 2004. The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant .

New York: Columbia University Press. An eclectic collection of essays on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Chapple, Christopher, and Mary Evelyn Tucker, eds. 2000. Hin- duism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water .

Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School. Part of an important series in which various traditions address current environmental issues.

Coward, Harold. 2005. Human Rights and the World’s Major Reli- gions . Vol. 4. The Hindu Tradition . Westchester Books. A good introduction to an important topic. 900855_06_ch06.indd 339 12/14/14 9:24 PM 340 A Concise Introduction to World Religions Craven, Roy C. 1976. A Concise History of Indian Art. New York:

P r aeger. Remains one of the best introductions to Indian art.

Dalmia, Vasudha, and Heinrich von Steitencron. 1995. eds. Rep- resenting Hinduism: The Construction of Religious Traditions and National Identity . New Delhi: Sage. A good set of essays discussing whether Hinduism is one or many traditions.

Dimock, Edward C., Jr, and Denise Levertov, trans. 1967. In Praise of Krishna: Songs from the Bengali . Garden City, NY:

Doubleday. Lyrical expressions of devotion from eastern India.

Doniger O’Flaherty, Wendy, ed. and trans. 1988. Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism . Manchester: Manchester Univer- sity Press. A good sourcebook in a rather compressed format, covering the main phases of the Hindu tradition.

Eck, Diana L. 1981. Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India .

Chambersburg, PA: Anima Books. On the signif cance of com- ing into the presence of the deity; brief but authoritative.

Embree, Ainslie T., ed. Sources of Indian Tradition . 2nd ed. 2 vols.

New York: Columbia University Press. 1988. Expands on the de Bar y f rst edition but drops a few items in the process.

Erndl, Kathleen M. 1993. Victory to the Mother: The Hindu God- dess of Northwest India in Myth, Ritual, and Symbol . New York: Oxford University Press. Well focused on one region.

Findly, Ellison B. 1985. “Gargi at the King’s Court: Women and Philosophic Innovation in Ancient India.” In Yvonne Y.

Haddad and Ellison B. Findly, eds. Women, Religion and Social Change , 37–58. Albany: State University of New York Press. Shows that intellectual activity was not entirely limited to males.

Flood, Gavin. ed. The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism . Lon- don: Blackwell, 2003. Good essays on a variety of topics in the Hindu tradition.

González-Reimann, Luis. 2009. “Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology and Cosmography.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism vol.

1, 411–28.

Hawley, John S. and Mark Juergensmeyer. 1988. Songs of the Saints of India . New York: Oxford University Press. Excellent translations of the works of four medieval saints of North India.

Hawley, John S., and Donna M. Wulff. 1982. The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India . Berkeley: Berkeley Reli- gious Studies Series. Another useful work on feminine aspects of the Hindu tradition.

———. 1996. Devi: Goddesses of India . Berkeley: University of California Press. Expands on the theme of the previous work.

Huntington, Susan L. 1985. The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain . New York: Weatherhill. A good introduction to ancient Indian monuments.

Jackson, William J., trans. 1991. Tyagaraja: Life and Lyrics . Delhi:

Oxford University Press.

Leslie, Julia, ed. 1991. Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women . Lon- don: Pinter; Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. A coherent set of essays on the subject.

Lopez, Donald S., Jr., ed. 1995. Religions of India in Practice .

Princeton: Princeton University Press. A sourcebook contain- ing a f ne range of material; strong on ritual.

Manu, Patrick Olivelle, and Suman Olivelle. 2005. Manu’s Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-Dhar- masastra . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Marglin, Frédérique, and John B. Carman, eds. 1985. Purity and Auspiciousness in Indian Society . Leiden: E.J. Brill. A useful collection, in an anthropological series.

Miller, Barbara Stoler, trans. 1977. Love Song of the Dark Lord: Jaya de va’s Gitagovind a . New York: Columbia University Press. An important bhakti text.

———, trans. 1986. The Bhagavad Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in time of War . New York: Columbia University Press. A good transla- tion, accessible to undergraduates.

Mittal, Sushil, and Gene Thursby, eds. 2004. The Hindu World.

Routledge. Fairly comprehensive coverage, using Sanskrit terms, concepts, and categories.

Narayan, R.K. 1972. Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Ver- sion of the Indian Epic . New York: Viking. A useful point of access to this classic.

Narayanan, Vasudha. 1994. The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual Practice . Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. The ritual use of the Tir uvaymoli among India’s scheduled castes as well as brahmins.

———. 1996. “‘One Tree Is Equal to Ten Sons’: Hindu Responses to the Problems of Ecology, Population, and Consumption.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 65: 291–332 . Dis- cusses some classic resources for addressing concerns of today.

Nelson, Lance E. ed. 1998. Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India . Albany: State University of New York Press. One of the earliest and best collections of essays on an important topic.

Olivelle, Patrick, trans. 1996. Upanisads . New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press.

———, trans. 1997. The Pancatantra: The Book of India’s Folk Wisdom . New York: Oxford University Press.

———, trans. 1999. Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Atastamba, Gautama, Baudhyayana, and Vasistha . New York: Oxford University Press. This and the two foregoing items are lucid translations of inf uential texts.

Orr, Leslie C. 2000. Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu . New York: Oxford University Press. A useful corrective to prescriptive male writ- ings in Sanskrit on Hindu women.

Patton, Laurie L., ed. 2002. Jewels of Authority: Women and Text in the Hindu Tradition . New York: Oxford University Press. A wide-ranging collection of essays on Hindu and Buddhist wom- en’s relationship to sacred text and mantras.

Pechilis, Karen, ed. 2004. The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States . New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press. A good set of essays on women gurus, with an excellent introduction by the editor.

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, and Charles A. Moore, eds. 1957. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy . Princeton: Princeton Uni- versity Press. A ver y good anthology of philosophical texts.

Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti. 1953. Mahabharata . Bombay:

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. A sampling from this vast epic.

Ramanujan, A.K. 1979. Speaking of Siva . Harmondsworth: Pen- guin. Lyrical and moving translations of Kannada poems written by three men and one woman saint from twelfth and thirteenth centur y south India. 900855_06_ch06.indd 340 12/14/14 9:24 PM Hindu Traditions | Narayanan 341 ———, trans. 1981. Hymns for the Drowning: Poems for Vishnu by Nammawvar . Princeton: Princeton University Press. An excellent source for Tamil bhakti .

Rangacharya, Adya, trans. 1986. The Natyasastra: English Trans- lation with Critical Notes. Bangalore: IBH Prakashana. A text fth Veda, important for the role of the performing arts in modern Hindu tradition.

Richman, Paula, ed. 1991. Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia . Berkeley: University of California Press. Ref ects the importance of the Ramayana in vernacular South Asian traditions.

———, ed. 2000. Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradi- tion. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Soneji, Davesh, ed. 2012. Bharatanatyam: A Reader . New York:

Oxford University Press. A scholarly and multi-disciplinar y set of essays on the most popular classical form of dance in India.

Sweetman, Will. 2003. Mapping Hinduism: “Hinduism” and the Sudy of Indian Religions, 1600 –1776 . Halle: Franckesche Stiftungen.

Tharu, Susie, and K. Lalita. 1991. Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Present . New York: Feminist Press. A must-read for all those interested in hearing women’s voices from the past. Includes literature not necessarily perceived to be religious or Hindu.

von Stietencron, Heinrich. 1989. “Hinduism: On the Proper Use of a Deceptive Term.” In Günther D. Sontheimer and Her- mann Kulke, eds. Hinduism Reconsidered , 11–27. New Delhi:

Manohar. One of the best discussions of the nomenclature of “Hinduism.” Waghorne, Joanne P., Norman Cutler, and Vasudha Narayanan, eds. 1985. Gods of Flesh, Gods of Stone: The Embodiment of Divinity in India . New York: Columbia University Press.

Explores a range of forms in which Hindus see deity manifested.

Williams, Raymond Brady, ed. 1992. A Sacred Thread: Modern Transmission of Hindu Traditions in India and Abroad . Cham- bersburg, PA: Anima. A good description of the diaspora in the 1970s and 1980s.

Wujastyk, Dominik, intro. and trans. 1998. The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings. Delhi:

Penguin. Useful for the relationship between traditional Indian medicine and religion.

Zimmer, Heinrich. 1946. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization . New York: Pantheon. A classic study, still often cited. Recommended Websites w w w.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm Free online translations (mostly late-nineteenth to early-twentieth centur y) of the Vedas, epics, P urana s , Yo ga Sut ra s , smrti literature, etc.

w w w.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia Ver y good links for South Asian culture, religions, and histor y.

w w w.harappa.com/har/har0.html Many links to various aspects of the Indus Civilization.

w w w.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/result_browse. aspx?topic=569&pid=361 A meta-site with links to many useful resources, including course syllabi.

w w w.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00 generallinks/index. html A good site with links to many resources on South Asia.

http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu An on-the-ground look at a “virtual village” in North India. w w w.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/index.htm Links to articles on various topics in Hinduism from an ISKCON perspective.

w w w.sathyasai.org The off cial site of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, maintained by his devotees.

http://prapatti.com Texts and MP3 audios of several Tamil and Sanskrit Vaishnava prayers.

w w w.hindupedia.com/en/Main_Page An online encyclopedia offering “a traditional perspective” on the Hindu religion and way of life.

w w w.hinduismtoday.com A popular magazine based in Hawaii, rooted in the classical Shaiva tradition, but offering articles of interest to Hindus all over the world. References Carman, John B., and Vasudha Narayanan, trans. 1989. The Tamil Veda: Pillan’s Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Doniger O’Flaherty, Wendy, ed. and trans. 1981. The Rig Veda: An Antholog y, One Hundred and Eight Hymns . Harmondsworth:

Penguin. Hawley, John S., and Mark Juergensmeyer, trans. 1988.

Songs of the Saints of India . New York: Oxford University Press.

Miller, Barbara Stoler, trans. 1986. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War . New York: Columbia University Press.

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, trans. 1953. The Principal Upanisads .

London: Allen and Unwin. 900855_06_ch06.indd 341 12/14/14 9:25 PM