Download chapter 4, Hinduism

Ways to the Center, D.Carmody and T. Brink
Questions on chapter 4, Hinduism
Identify the following individuals. Know when and where they lived
Mahavira
Manu
Shankara
Ramanuja
Identify the following spirits.
Agni
Brahma
devas
Dyaus Pitar
Great Mother
Indra
Krishna
Mithra
Shiva
Soma
Varuna
Vishnu-Krishna
Locate and identify the significance of the following places
Harrapa
Mohenjo Darro
Indus river
Ganges river
Mathura
Know the meaning of the following terms
kundalini
ahimsa
maya
atman
moksha
avatar
monism
bhakti
Puranas
Bhavagad Gita
Rig Veda
Brahman
rishi
Brahmin
samadhi
caste
samsara
Dravidians
sati
karma
shakti
Know the following dates and time periods
Destruction of Harrapan culture by Aryans.
The first Vedas are composed
The Upanishads are written
Buddhism arises as a protest to Vedic religion
shruti
soma
sutra
transmigration
Upanishads
varna
Vedas
yoga
yogi
The first law codes, derived from the Vedas and other writings, are composed.
The period in which Hindu commentaries on the Hindu scriptures flourished
The nine centuries in which Hinduism was reformed and consolidated.
Muslims capture most of northern India.
Muslims capture most of southern India
The Muslim northwest of India secedes and becomes a separate nation, Pakistan.
Be able to answer the following questions
Pre-Vedic India
What archeological indications are there that contemporary patterns of Hindu bathing were in
existence in the pre-Aryan phase?
What new orientation did the Aryan invaders introduce with respect to alcohol, warfare,
livestock?
What might have been the historical origin of the Sacred Cow complex in Hinduism?
What are the basic elements of the Aryan origin myths.
What focal aspect of pre-Aryan Dravidian religion survived into Hinduism?
In what part of India are Dravidian languages still found?
Vedic India
The two elements of the typical poem in the Rig Veda are ______ and ______.
The Vedas are composed of how many different collections?
Vedic gods
Why are Hindu deities often depicted as having extra eyes, arms, heads, etc?
Who are the gods of the “Hindu trinity”? Did the Aryans bring them?
Sacrifice
How did early Vedic sacrifice differ from later sacrifice.
What Vedic sacrifice entailed territorial conquest and human – animal sexual relations?
Caste
There are (how many?) _______ basic castes. Their English names are ___________. These
are attributed to supernatural origin in the work known as the _______. There are
subdivisions of these castes, called _______.
How do caste, karma, and transmigration act as a religious buttress for an inegalitarian social
structure?
The Upanishads
The Upanishads, which were written between ______ and _____ B.C.E., are religious texts that
document a revolt against traditional Vedic religion based on external sacrifice. What
does the word Upanishad mean? The two main concepts, God and soul, repeated in the
Upanishads are ____ and _____.
Whereas the Rig Veda encouraged a religion based on _________, the Upanishads encouraged a
religion focusing on _______.
Were the teachings about transmigration, karma, and liberation part of early Aryan Vedism?
In Upanishadic religion how does one escape entrapment in cycles of animal reincarnation?
Case Study: The Isa Upanishad
In verse 1, what is the first vice from which one must be liberated?
What after-life belief is expressed in verse 3? What causes one to be punished after death?
What is the “It” in verse 5?
In verse 7, what must one do to be freed from moha (delusion) and soka (suffering)?
In verse 15th the most fundamental obligation of the human being is described. What is it?
The period of native challenge.
During which three centuries did challenges to Vedic religion come from forces within? What
were the three forces that challenged it? In what part of India did the challenges arise?
Who was the founder of Jainism? What did he teach about animal sacrifice? How did he die? Why
do Jain monks carry a broom and a mask? What four vows will some devout Jainists impose
on themselves?
Jainism has been called “atheistic” because it posits no deities as conventionally understood. But it
still has a “spirit world”. What spirits are there?
Who were the “specialists” in Jainism at Mahavira’s time? Was sexuality completely forbidden?
What was a negative vow concerning certain types of thought? What were two positive
vows?
How many Jains are there today in India? Do they have statues of gods in their temples? What
kinds of representations do they have?
Bhagavata
A devotional variant arose within Vedic religion itself. What was the central premise of this
devotional Vedism? This was viewed as pathway superior to the earlier Vedic practice of
_________ and the more recent practice of ________.
Who is Krishna and where was he first worshipped? What is the most famous text about
Krishna? Who is the warrior whom Krishna advises? What does he say about killing in
war? Why is it said that Krishna is part of the bhakti tradition?
Who is Shiva? In what sense is his cult similar to that of Krishna? How does Shiva differ in
“personality” from Krishna? How is Shiva depicted pictorially? Why? What text talks
in most detail about Shiva?
Be able to state in three or four words what is the focus of each of the four alternative Hindu
paths to holiness: dhyana, jnana, karma, bhakti.
Personal life
What are the four goals of life that Hinduism recognizes as legitimate?
What are the four ideal stages of the Hindu life? What is the ritual of the sacred thread and in
which life phase does it occur? When should one begin withdrawing from active life into
solitude? How should one ideally spend one’s final days? How does Hinduism differ
from Buddhism and Jainism with respect to celibacy.
Do the Hindu life phases, the emphasis on study of the Vedas, and ultimate spiritual goals apply
to women as well as men?
Period of reform and elaboration.
What are the two main criteria for distinguishing orthodox and heterodox movements in
Hinduism? Name some important heterodox movements. Later writings such as the
Upanishads and the Baghavad Gita, though different from the Vedas, are still accepted as
orthodox. Why?
Vaishnavism
On what god does Vaishnavism focus? What aspect of Vishnu endears him to people? Which
other gods are simply avatars of Vishnu. What is the relationship between him and a famous
river? How many arms does he have and why? What two theriomorphic spirits are associated
with Vishnu? Does he have a wife?
Why is Vishnu sometimes called Vishnu-Krishna. ? Did Vishnu-Krishna experience human sex
drives? What type of girl did Krishna prefer?
How did Vishnu-Krishna become so important in devotional Hinduism? In what part of India
was it most important? When did this happen? What was the impact on Buddhism.
Devotional Hinduism basically entailed a substitution of earlier monistic Hinduism in two
senses. First, which god replaced which god as the center of attention? Secondly, which
approach to holiness replaced which other approach?
Shaivism
The cult of Shiva competed not only with Buddhism and Jainism, but also with _______. Shiva
was called the Lord of the Dance and the Destroyer because he ________. Whereas
Vishnu-Krishna evoked sentiments of love, Shiva evoked sentiments of _____.
What types of gruesome rituals did Shaivism promote to achieve transcendence? Was this a
substance-free strategy of altered consciousness?
Did priests have to be born priests in Shaivism?
The Shaivite movement used the power of the State against its religious competitors. In what
part of India were they strongest? During what centuries were they strongest? Which
non-Hindu religions were the first to be attacked? Which Hindu group did the Shaivite
movement then turn against? What aspects of Shiva were seen as superior to those of
Vishnu? Shiva was often hidden and disguised and represented as an animal. Which
animal? Sometimes he was represented as another human? Which? What two
destructive symbols were associated with Shiva? Did devotees cultivate sentiments of
love for Shiva, the same way Vishnaites tried to love Vishnu?
Shaktism and Tantrism
What is the generic name for the “wife” of a Hindu male god? Male gods were seen as differing
in personality from their wives. How were the personalities of male gods viewed as
different from that of their shaktis?
For what purpose would people worship shaktis rather than male gods? Tantrism is the generic
name for ritual complexes emphasizing orgiastic, sexual excesses. Why is it difficult to
write about the beliefs and rituals of the shakti cults?
What is the generic name for the female goddess in Hinduism? Who is her most frequent
manifestation?
What were the caste and gender restrictions for membership in Tantrist groups?
What was “circle worship”. What was its purpose?
The Period of Foreign Challenge
Islam
When and where did Islam begin making inroads into India. What was the last Muslim dynasty
in India and when did it end? What aspects of Hinduism violated Muslim law? What
other types of discrimination did Hindus face under some Muslim rule?
Sikhism
Sikhism was a blend of which two religions? Who was its founder? When and where was he born?
What was the name of the god that Nanak promoted? What Muslim and Hindu spirits did
he blend? What aspects of Hinduism did Nanak reject? What practices did he emphasize?
How many Sikhs are there in India today? Where is their ritual center?
Christianity
Which of the 12 apostles is believed to have come to India? When did Christian missionization
begin strongly in India? Which brand of Christianity is most prevalent in India and why?
What percentage of Indians are Christian? What is the most prominent type of Christian
institution in India?
Modern Bhakti
Dualistic devotionalism
There is a people in southern India who developed a variant of Hinduism that emphasized love
and that de-emphasized works. Who are they? Which of the Hindu trinity was their god?
What was his local manifestation?
In west-central India another devotional movement arose in the 13th century and lasted till the
17th How does modern devotionalism (bhakti) react to traditional Hindu concepts of
caste, gender, and religious distinctions? How does it deal with sacred literature?
Krishna Consciousness
The story of Chaitanya shows how a human religious leader can be turned by his followers into a
god. When and where did he live? What god did he worship? There were three
expressions of emotion that were central to his teaching. What were they? How did his
teachings relate to the Vedic sacrificial cult and later impersonal Vedantic monism? He
taught that love of Krishna could be increased if the devotee were possessed by, or
momentarily became, another spirit. Which spirit?
Chaitanya’s devotion to Krishna has been the source for a modern Hindu movement that has
reached the U.S. What is the formal name of the movement? What is the popular name
for the group? What swami is the founder?
Tagore and Ghandi
Why did not all Indians oppose the British?
Who is India’s most famous modern writer? What was his basic message?
What was Mohandas Gandhi’s major life achievement? What sources of Western inspiration
moved him? What concepts from Hinduism and Jainism did he adopt? What was the
war that most saddened Gandhi? How and why did he die?
Contemporary Hinduism: Popular religion
In theory, the Hindu can chose from _______ (how many?) deities to worship. All deities tie
back to the supreme figure of ________. The most important manifestations of Brahman,
the three members of the “Hindu trinity” are _______________. Of these three, the
creator spirit is ______, who is often represented by his avatar __________, who has the
head of an ________.
Himalayan shamans act as _______of a particular god: i.e. they are possessed by the god, who
speaks through them, during rituals. The most common musical instrument used to
induce possession is the _____. The three elements of the common Himalayan Hindu
ceremony are ________, ______, and _____.
Possession is induced principally by _______. During possession, the god speaks through the
mouth of the possessed person to give what information? The most common sacrifice is
______. What is done with the animal’s head? The flesh of the animal is ________.
What fee does the ritual leader get?
The four castes are ___________. They are believed to be of divine origin. What origin does
the Rig Veda attribute to these castes? What body of law goes into most detail about the
duties of the different castes? The duties that each caste must perform are referred to as
______.
The status of women changed with the arrival of the Aryans. In what way? What happened to
the marriage age of women and what impact did it have. What were the prevailing rules
concerning remarriage for widows. What would happen after death to a woman who
violated widow norms. What is the best thing to which a woman could aspire after
death.
What were the attitudes toward menstruating women?
There were two types of settings in which women enjoyed slightly higher statuses. Which?
What were traditional Hindu reactions to the birth of a girl.
The major composer of legal texts was Manu. What was his attitude toward women? What did
he say about killing women?
There were two ways for women to gain honor. What were they?
There is now a famous woman guru named _________. She has renounced all family ties and
worldly possessions, becoming thus a __________.