Download Hinduism: The people who practice Hinduism are called Hindus and

Hinduism:
The people who practice Hinduism are called Hindus and they live mainly in India. This is a
very ancient religion, one that began around 2,000 B.C.E. in the Indus River Valley in South
Asia. We don’t really know who created this religion, but we think it is a mixture of the beliefs
of Aryan invaders from Europe and the people already living near the Indus River Valley.
Hinduism is a very flexible faith—it doesn’t have a lot of hard and fast rules and it has often
adopted beliefs from other religions and added them to Hinduism, especially ideas from
Buddhism. It is a polytheistic religion, meaning that Hindus believe in and can worship more
than one god.
They believe that there is one universal spirit, Brahman, who shows himself through the faces
of many gods and goddesses. Most Hindus have one god who is their favorite and whom they
worship in mandirs (these can be altars set up at home or temples dedicated to a god and taken
care of by priests.) There are three well-known Hindu gods-the Hindu trinity or Trimurti. They
are Shiva, the god of destruction and salvation; Vishnu, who preserves the universe and who
over time, has taken human form and visited Hindus on earth; and Brahma, the god of creation.
Hindus also believe that humans die and then their spirits are reborn in human or animal form
over and over again. This cycle is called samsara. A Hindu’s soul will go through this process
until it reaches a true understanding of the universe. The release from the cycle is called
moksha.
Hindus believe that when you are reincarnated, the new form your spirit takes may be
determined by your karma. If you have good karma, you will be reincarnated as a higher being
than someone who has bad karma. Karma is the belief that our bad choices and actions will
eventually catch up with us, if not in this life, then in the next. When bad things happen to
Hindus, many believe that this is punishment for bad actions they may have done in a former
life. Good karma leads to rewards, so Hindus are pacifists; they do not believe in harming
living beings. Many Hindus choose to live as vegetarians because they do not want to harm
living creatures, even for food. Hindus have several holy texts that they read: the BhagavadGita, an important holy book written in the form of a poem; the Vedas, which help Hindus learn
how to worship and the Upanishads which are writings that tell about Hindu beliefs.
Caste System:
A traditional view of caste system, is that people of that society are born into certain categories
that determine their way of life, opportunities, and social customs. Caste may be based on
religious beliefs or historical influences, often a combination of many factors.
Caste System