He completes the trinity of Hindu gods.
• Hindus believe that Shiva is the source of good and evil.
Kali
-Kali (the dark mother) is first mentioned in Hinduism at around 600CE as a distinct goddess.
- She is likely adopted from the tribal mountain cultures of South Asia.
- Her three eyes represent the past, present,and future.
- In Sanskrit Kala (Kali) also means "time".
- It is said one day Kali will continue her dance and that will be the day the world comes to an end.
Ganesha
• The second Son of Shiva and Parvati
• The God to be worshiped before all others
• The God of Progress and Enlightenment
• Many Legends about his birth and divinity
• Hindus usually have pictures of him in their
Hinduism first started in India around 1500 BC. The word Hindu comes from the Sanskrit word sindhu, or river. The Hindu community define themselves as "those who believe in the Vedas", or also "those who follow the way, or dharma, of the four classes and the stages of life. The four classes being the varnas and the stages of life being the ashramas.
Small things are to be counted too -- we should hold doors open for people, pick things up from the street, clean up our neighbourhoods, visit the sick and the elderly, be generous to our neighbours, always greet people with a smile (as it is a sunnah) and deal with them kindly, and do any other good deed that we can think of that will bring benefit to ourselves and all the people around. The Prophet Muhammad said: “The best charity for a continuous reward is to provide water” for instance digging a well or building a canal. This point reminds me of a story of a man told by the prophet Muhammad. He mentions that a man lowered himself into the well, drank and came out. Then he saw a dog protruding its tongue from thirst. The man said: This dog
She is stil worshiped to this day by the Indian people. Her story is quite different from Athena’s, she was not the goddess of war and had nothing to do with violence. Instead she was also the goddess of knowledge helping people learn things such as the Alphabet. The Indian people hold a festival every year in her honor on the fifth day of spring in which the Hindu children are given their first lesson in reading and writing (Das).
When dissecting motifs, themes, and archetypes within mythology it is effortless to analyze one select culture, instead of several different cultures simply, because of the fact that same cultures would have more similarities and therefore differences would be pointed out immediately. Almost everything about them is different except for their topic: creation. Although selecting which myth to analyze is what posed to be a challenge as well as comparing their differences. While some myths gave too much detail, others gave too little. At least in my opinion and after a lengthy elimination process I finally chose to compare myths within Hinduism. “The Vishnu Purana” from the creation myth section and “Kali Beheaded” a reading from the feminine divine section. With little knowledge of the culture my plan is to analyze these two myths with the best of my abilities, compare them to what I know about the culture from previous knowledge and find/address and misinterpretations, as well as comparing the two to find similar themes and structures.
Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion and was originated in the Indian subcontinent. Is rare that a big religion like Hinduism don’t have a single founder, religious organization, specific theological system and don’t even a system of morality, but it is a religion that has evolved over thousands of years. Hinduism has a diverse body of cultural and philosophical practices. Hinduism consists of belief and tradition. The most recognized belief and traditions of the Hinduism are Karma, Dharma, Samsara and Moshka. Hindu people don’t believe in violence, but they do believe in prayers, honesty, truth, austerity, celibacy and penance. The Hindu scriptures are collectively referred to as the Shashtras. The Hindu scriptures were initially passed on orally from generation to generation until finally ancient scholars wrote them down; mainly in the Sanskrit language that was the prevailing language of the time. Some of the Hindu scriptures are the Shruti and Smritis. The Shruti primarily refers to the Vedas which represent eternal truths revealed to ancient sages but some other Hindu individuals associated the Vedas with a God or a powerful person. The Smritis are all of the other text different than the Shruti. The most know of the Smritis are the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Although the Hindus worship a large pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, they believe in the one Supreme Power that manifests itself in various forms.
The ancient tradition and the idea of ‘Mother Earth’(Merchant 4) was coined by these indigenous peoples from pre-Hellenic times and Mesopotamian people named their goddess as ‘Ur-goddess Tiamat’(Merchant 4), Greek people named their goddess as ‘Gaia’(Merchant 5), Cerridwen named their goddess as ‘Celtic’(Merchant 4), Egyptian named their goddess as ‘Isis’(Merchant xvi). Their worship and image may vary from one tradition to another tradition but their only believe was Earth as nurturing mother. Carolyn Merchant wrote about the Historical connection between women and nature as “beneficent female who provided for the needs of mankind in an ordered, planned universe” (Merchant
merged into one being. Vishnu has a curl of hair on his chest given to
According to www.dictionary.com Adonai is defined as: A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word ``Lord''. Note: The later Jews used its vowel points to fill out the tetragrammaton (This is the description for the four (tetra) Hebrew letters (grammata) used in the Hebrew Bible for the name of the God of Israel, usually spelled YHWH, or JHVH.) "The indescribable name,'' and during reading it was substituted by the word "Adonai''.
Ahimsa as Hinduism's Greatest Gift to the World I do not agree with this statement that Ahimsa is Hinduism's greatest gift to the world. Ahimsa, the principle of non-violence and respect for life is sure a great and important part of Hinduism. However many regards other aspects of Hinduism is more important principles such as Dharma. Many believe Dharma the right conduct and laws that upholds harmony in society is the central concept of Hinduism.
In the year of 2003 there are many types of religions that are practiced in the United States, which involves a God, or a divine power. My personal preference of religion is Christianity. I believe in Jesus Christ and the all mighty God Jehovah. The characteristics of a God varies from religion to religion, but all leading up to love, an everlasting peaceful life, and salvation; therefore, giving strength to all human beings that believe in them and has faith in them.
The next stage is the baby stage of the divine mother. The first part of this stage is the Venus of Laussel. There are many images of her floating around that she is over 20,000 years old. She ruled over human awareness. Her predecessors thought it was simple: just as the human mother creates human life, so the Great Mother of the creation creates all life: plants and animals. By her breasts she nourishes her whole creation. She is the universe. The sun and moon are her eyes. The Milky Way are her breasts. And the earth is her body. Maybe she is still with us when we speak of Mother Nature. Mother Goddess is the first personification of the divine in human form.
Durga is a warrior queen who slays demons in the battle to keep the cosmos at balance. Durga is universally beautiful. She rides on a lion into battle and holds many weapons with her many hands attached to her many arms. David Kinsley, author of Hindu Goddesses, describes Durga as "The great battle queen with many arms, each which wields a weapon. She rides a fierce lion and is described as irresistible in battle." This is very different from the description of Kali, as said by the above author, "The goddess Kali is almost always described as having a terrible, frightening appearance. She is always black or dark, is usually naked, and has long disheveled hair." Kali likes to accent her naturally scary beauty by wearing severed heads, arms and dead children as jewelry. Blood seems to be her favorite cosmetic.
Classical Hindu Mythology. Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978. 38-40. Print.
Hindu mythology has been around for ages; it is the world’s oldest surviving religion. Hinduism was formed through diverse traditions in the year 2,000 B.C.E. There is no single person that gets the credit of developing Hindu Mythology because one person did not create it. Hinduism was originated in India, where it is the most practiced now. Hinduism has over a billion followers and about two-thirds of those people are in India. There are many temples open to worship gods and goddesses. “The needs of the gods would be met by the worshipers who have to prepare themselves through purification rites to draw near to their god” (Organ,193) Hinduism is not only the oldest religion but one of the biggest, with Islam then Christianity being above it.
In the Hindu religion there are three main gods, apart of the triumvirate, and those are: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The god Shiva is important in this triumvirate because he is the destroyer of the world. Shiva is the destroyer, but he also has many other complex roles and many of those roles tend to contradict each other. The god Shiva has many names and is the god of various aspects of life including yoga and dance. Shiva has gained a large following in the Hindu religion and those that follow him are called Shaivas.