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| "Not know"; a position asserting that the existence of God cannot be proven |
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| "Non-harm," "nonviolence" |
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| Great Muslim ruler, 16th c. Mughal Empire. Akbar was tolerant |
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| A position asserting that there is no God or gods |
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| The spiritual essence of all individual human beings |
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| Muslim ruler of the 17th c. Destroyed Hindu temples |
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| An earthly embodiment of a deity |
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| A religious literary work about Krishna (deity) (The Song of God; The Celestial Song)—Part of the Mahabharata Conversation between Krishna and Arjuna |
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| Devotion to a deity or guru |
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| The Spiritual discipline or devotion to a deity or guru |
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| God of creation (in Vedic and Upanishad literature) |
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| The spiritual essence of the universe (ultimate reality) = Atman (individual self) in the Upanishads |
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| Member of the priestly class |
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| British East India Company |
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| Europeans (Portuguese, Dutch, French, English) arrived in India in the 1500s. Great Britain became the dominant European power in the eighteenth century. The British East India Company established trading centers along the coast. It took advantage of the decline of the Mughals and became the principal political power in 1757. In 1858, India became part of the British Empire. The last Mughal emperor was exiled. |
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| Bruce Lincoln’s definition of religion |
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| a religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic |
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| One of the major social classes sanctioned by Hinduism |
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| 15th-16th c. spiritual ancestor of the Hare Krishna movement |
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| Characteristics of early Vedic Religion |
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1. polytheism (nature and liturgical deities)
2. Indra (storm god)
3. Varuna (sky god)
4. Rudra-Shiva
5. Agni (fire god, god of sacrifice, chaplain to gods)
6. Soma
7. complex system of ritual sacrifice
8. Purusha |
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| A technique, pioneered by Jacques Derrida, that sets aside ordinary categories of analysis and kars use, instead of unexpected perspectives on cultural elements; it can be used for finding underlying values in a text, film, artwork, cultural practice, or religious phenomenon |
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| Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe |
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| "Goddess"; the Divine Feminine, also called the Great Mother |
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| (duty according to one’s caste and life stage) |
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| The Dravidians were the aboriginal people of India. According to some historians, the Indo-Aryans would be the invaders. This theory is currently under scrutiny |
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| The belief that reality is made of two different principles (spirit and matter); the belief in two gods (good and evil) in conflict |
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| "Awe-inspiring," "distant"; a mother-goddess, a form of Devi. |
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| 1) student; 2) householder; 3) hermit; 4) ascetic |
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| Functional Perspective (Emile Durkheim) |
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Main representative: Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) – French sociologist.
He proposed that humans cannot live without organized social structures. Humans were always born into groups. Religion is a glue that holds a society together. To Durkheim, religious phenomena were symbols and reinforcers of the social order. Religious rituals are occasions for individuals to renew their commitment to the community. |
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| This summer festival honors Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. It includes the carrying of large images of Ganesh into the sea or other body of water |
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| Geography and demography of Modern Hinduism |
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* The great majority of Hindus live on the South Asian subcontinent.
- the heartland of Hinduism is India
- Nepal
- Two Muslim nations Pakistan and Bangladesh contain large Hindu minorities
- Buddhist Sri Lanka also contains a large Hindu minority
- Hindus can be found in Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji, and the Caribbean
* after the decolonization, South Asians moved to other parts of the world. For instance, in North America there are over one million Hindus.
* Altogether there are about 800 million Hindus in the world.
* There has been conversion of Europeans and Americans to Hinduism through yoga traditions that involve training the body for flexibility and mental peace. The most popular Hindu tradition that has attracted Euro-American converts has been the Hare Krishna movement. |
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| Harappa Civilization (where and when did it flourish?) |
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| From about 2500 BCE to 1500 BCE, the Dravidians created an extraordinary civilization at Harappa in the Indus Valley (in modern-day Pakistan) |
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| The spiritual discipline of postures and bodily exercises |
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| Devi, Durga, Kali, Sarasvati, Lakshmi |
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| How do the religions of the Middle east differ from the religions of South Asia and East Asia? |
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| In India and China, life was seen through the metaphors of natural cycles and rhythms of nature. In the Middle east, history and not nature comprises the realm of human experience. The metaphors for religious experience are drawn from history |
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| International Society for Krishna Consciousness |
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| Idealist or Faith Perspective (Rudolph Otto, Mircea Eliade) |
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Religion is the experience and the true reflection of the sacred. The sacred is the realm of the extraordinary and supernatural, the source of the universe and its values.
- there is truly an underlying reality that cannot readily be perceived but some people in all cultures have experienced. |
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| Existing and operating with nature |
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| Indo-Aryans (Indo-Europeans) |
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| Intellectualist Perspective (Edward Tylor, James Frazer) |
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This perspective focuses on religion as a matter of belief and intellectual orientation to the world
- it emphasizes religion as a form of knowledge/belief or control over the world
- is a rational attempt to explain how nature works
- as in the materialistic perspective, religion will disappear as the world embraces scientific rationalism |
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| The spiritual discipline of knowledge and insight |
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| "Dark," a form of Devi; a goddess associated with destruction and rebirth |
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| The moral law of cause and effect that determines the direction of rebirth |
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| The spiritual discipline of selfless action |
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| A god associated with divine playfulness; a form of Vishnu |
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| A form of raja yoga that envisions the individual's energy as a force that is capable of being raised from the center of the body to the head, producing a state of joy |
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| Laws of Manu (ca. 200 BCE – 200 CE) |
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The Laws of Manu prescribe four stages of life for young men of the three higher varna:
- student (brahmacarin). After a an initiatory rite of passage in which they symbolically experience a “second-birth,” a young man is to study the Vedas under the guidance of a teacher.
- householder (grihastha). The man gets married, produces sons, performs the daily sacrifices, and provides for his family welfare.
- forest dweller (vanaprastha). After the children are grown, a man devotes himself to a simple life, studies the Vedas, withdraws from the desires of earthly life. His wife may accompany him but they remain chaste.
- renunciant (sannyasin). This is the final stage. Here he lives alone, without possession. The purpose of this kind of life is to reach moksha (complete freedom from all attachments).
These stages remain the ideal for upper-class Hindu men in modern India. However, not many Hindu men today undertake the rigors of the final two stages |
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| A short sacred phrase, often chanted or used in meditation |
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| Materialistic Perspective (Ludwig Feuerbach, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx) |
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Humans Invented Religion.
- this perspective is antagonistic to religion.
- religion is a collection of superstitions. It is an irrational attempt to control the world. It is untrue.
- the supernatural is imaginary. Only the material world exists.
- religion will disappear as the world embraces scientific rationalism |
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| "Illusion"; what keeps us from seeing reality correctly; the world, viewed inadequately |
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| 16th c. Defied norms of female dharma |
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In 1920 Mohandas K. Gandhi became leader of the Indian National Congress. He
- challenged British rule through a campaign of non-violent resistance
- challenged the traditional caste system
- was a mediator between Hindus and Muslims. |
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| "Liberation" from personal limitation, egotism, and rebirth |
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| The philosophical position that all apparently separate realities are ultimately one; the belief that God and the universe are the same, that the universe is divine |
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| Stories central to religion |
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| A position that us unconcerned with the supernatural, not asserting or denying the existence of any deity |
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| Origins of the term Hinduism (Indus River) |
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What is the origin of the term Hinduism? The word Hinduism comes from Sindhus. Sindhus means great Indus River in Sanskrit.
* Muslims who entered India in the eighth century CE, used Hindu to designate people who lived east of the Indus River.
* Later the British in the nineteenth century used Hindu to designate the non-Muslim natives in census-taking.
* Later, South Asian intellectuals and politicians accepted the term.
- Hinduism is falsely singular |
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| The belief that everything in the universe is divine |
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| Shiva’s spouse and daughter of the mountain Himalaya. Ganesh's mother |
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| An analytical approach that does not seek to find universal structures that might underlie language, religion, art, or other significant areas, but focuses instead on observing carefully the individual elements in cultural phenomena |
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| Offerings and ritual in honor of a deity |
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| Offerings and ritual in honor of a deity |
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| Stories about the exploits of the Trimurti |
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| The "royal" discipline of yoga |
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| founded Brahmo Samaj – Society of God – 19th c. He argued that Hinduism was monotheistic |
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| A god and mythical king; form of Vishnu |
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| (19th - 20th c.): first great global Hindu organization |
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| oldest and most important part of the Vedas |
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| Rituals are beliefs enacted and made real through ceremonies or festivals |
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| The realm of the extraordinary and supernatural, the source of the universe and its values |
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| Highest state of meditation in yoga; state of unity with Brahman |
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| A state of complete inner peace resulting from meditation |
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| The everyday world of change and suffering leading to rebirth |
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| Indo-European language of Aryans. Language of Vedas. |
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| The goddess of wisdom and learning |
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| Semiotic Perspective (Clifford Geertz) |
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Religion is a System of Symbols
- this interpretation seeks to understand religion in its own context in a more subjective fashion
- defines religion as a system of symbols that needs to be deciphered. A symbol is fairly concrete, ordinary, and universal that can represent and help human beings experience something of greater complexity. For instance water can represent cleansing. |
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| A god associated with destruction and rebirth |
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| An analytical approach that looks for the universal structures that underlie language, mental process, mythology, kinship, and religions; this approach sees human activity as largely determined by underlying structures |
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A symbol is fairly concrete, ordinary, and universal that can represent and help human beings experience something of greater complexity
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| (The Vishva Hindu Parishad – The Council of All Hindus) and Ayodhya (1992) |
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Against Vedic Ritualism (ca. 6th BCE)
1. Ascetic Hinduism (reinterpreted Vedas—Upanishads)
2. Buddhism
3. Jainism |
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| "Climbing beyond" (Latin); beyond time and space |
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| "Three forms" of the divine-- the three gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva |
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| Written meditations on the spiritual essence of the universe and the self (600-400 BCE) “sitting near” the guru (teacher) |
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| Varanasi (also called Benares) on the banks of the Ganges river is a city holy to Shiva. It is the destination of millions in life and in death. The body’s cremation at Varanasi brings freedom from rebirth |
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| Four collections of ancient prayers and rituals (ca. 1500-500 BCE) |
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| A god associated with preservation and love |
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| When did Europeans arrive in India? |
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| When did India become independent? |
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| When did India become part of the British Empire? |
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| In 1858, India became part of the British Empire |
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| When did Islam enter India? |
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| Islam entered India in the 8th century CE |
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| When did the Hindu National Congress form? |
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| The political movement for Indian independence started with the foundation of the Hindu Indian National Congress in 1885 |
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| A spiritual discipline; a method for perfecting one's union with the divine. |
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| From the Latin anima, meaning "spirit," "soul," "life force"; a worldview common among oral religions (religions with no written scriptures) that sees all elements of nature as being filled with spirit of spirits |
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| Idealist or Faith Perspective: Argued that religion emerges when people experience “the mystery that causes trembling and fascination.” It is a unique, ineffable experience |
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Idealist or Faith Perspective: wrote of the distinction between the profane – the everyday world and the sacred – the realm of the extraordinary and supernatural, the source of the universe and its values. The profane is unimportant, the sacred is significant. Divine models contained in cosmogonic myths show how life ought to be lived. Ideals can change people.
Problem with this perspective: it tends to present religious beliefs, myths, and symbols as timeless. Eliade found in all religions the same basic categories of thought. More contextual and historical perspective is needed. |
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| Intellectualist Perspective: An English anthropologist. Tylor argues that the one characteristic shared by all religions is the belief in spirits (animism from the Latin anima = spirit). Religion is belief in spiritual beings, that is belief in living, personal powers behind all things. Humans came to believe in spirits through their encounter with death and dreams. Religious teaching arose from a rational effort to explain the world. Animistic beliefs developed into ideas of gods, then to one god. The problem is that animistic beliefs cannot explain the universe. Religion is condemned to disappear. |
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| Intellectualist Perspective: A Scottish anthropologist. Magic is a pseudoscientific attempt to confront and control natural forces. But magic does not always work. Religious conceptions (prayers, pleading) replaced magic. Ultimately, rational scientific thinking replaces religion when people finally understand the laws of nature. |
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Semiotic Perspective: An American anthropologist (b. 1926). Religion is a cultural fact. It is not a mere expression of social needs or economic tensions. Culture is understood as a pattern of meanings or ideas carried in symbols that needs interpretation. Geertz championed what he calls ‘thick description.” A thick description describes rituals and their exact and varied meaning for practitioners.
Geertz is a particularist. He contrasted scripturalist religion and local religion. Religious experiences will differ from one place to another. |
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