What Is Hinduism? Hinduism, known as Sanātana Dharma, (सनातन धर्म) and Vaidika-Dharma by most Hindus, is a worldwide religious tradition rooted in Indian culture and based on the teachings of the Vedas. Hinduism is the third largest religion, with a following of over one billion people, encompassing many diverse beliefs and schools. The scholarly estimates...
Outline Of Hinduism The following Outline of Hinduism is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to, Hinduism. Hinduism is a predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Its followers are called Hindus, who refer to it as Sanātana Dharma (a Sanskrit phrase meaning “the eternal law that sustains/upholds/surely preserves”), amongst many...
Hindu Festivals There are a great number of Hindu religious festivals held throughout the world. The festivals typically celebrate events from Hindu mythology, often coinciding with seasonal changes. There are many festivals which are primarily celebrated by specific sects or in certain regions of the Indian subcontinent. The festive season is widely celebrated. These events...
Ganesha Ganesha (गणेश, Gaṇeśa), also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bali (Indonesia), and Bangladesh and in countries with large ethnic Indian populations including Fiji, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago. Hindu denominations...
Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives or stories that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. The main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans. Stories of everyday human beings, although often of leaders of some type,...
Hindu Mythology Hindu mythology are narratives found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas, the regional literatures like Periya Puranam. Hindu mythology is also found in widely translated popular texts such as the Panchatantra and Hitopadesha, as well as Southeast Asian texts. Hindu mythology does not often have a consistent, monolithic structure....
What Is Itihasa? Itihasa, meaning history in Sanskrit, consists of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana (sometimes the Puranas too, are included). The Mahabharata includes the story of the Kurukshetra War and also preserves the traditions of the Lunar dynasty in the form of embedded tales. The Puranas narrate the universal history as...
![Vrata may be observed as a silent private rite, or be more elaborate with activities such as vrata mandalas design such as kolam, rangoli or mehndi.[28][13]](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/Colorful_Kolam-520x390.jpg)
What Is Vrata? In the context of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, the term vrata (pronunciation: vrat or brat) denotes a religious practice to carry out certain obligations with a view to achieve divine blessing for fulfillment of one or several desires. Etymologically, vrata, a Sanskrit word (and also used in...
Hinduism Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practised in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, “the eternal tradition”, or the “eternal way”, beyond human history. Scholars regard Hinduism as a...
Core Beliefs Of Hindus Here are the core beliefs of Hindus. Hinduism For Dummies Hinduism is not an organized religion and has no single, systematic approach to teaching its value system. Nor do Hindus have a simple set of rules to follow like the Ten Commandments. Local, regional, caste, and...
Mythology The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. In the field of folkloristics,...
Hinduism Practically Around 8000 years ago, one of the first religions on Earth appeared. It is traditionally called “Sanatana Dharma” which means “The Eternal Truth” or “The Eternal Principle”. Currently, it has more than 900 million followers worldwide. Alas, many believe that Hinduism (the international name of Sanatana Dharma) isn’t...