My Understanding of Religion
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Strictly speaking there is no such religion as Hinduism. In the 5th century BC the Persians applied the term Hindu to the people of the land of the Indus. The word, Hindu, is derived from the Sanskrit term for the Indus river: Sindu. Hinduism is more accurately defined as everything the people of the land of the Indus have done and believed. Very few Hindus practise or believe the same thing. Nevertheless, some customs are common to most Hindus: a deep religious respect for priests (Brahmans) and cows, marriage within the cast, abstention from eating meat (beef in particular), and chanting the gayatri hymn to the sun at dawn - no agreement exists about what other hymns or prayers should be chanted.
Although Hindus believe many different things and have no priestly or doctrinal hierarchy, most worship Vishnu, Shiva or the Devi (Goddess), and view the Vedas as the ultimate authority. There are four Vedas. The oldest is the Rig-Veda. It was composed in northwest India in an archaic form of Sanskrit sometime between 1500 and 1200 BC.
It consists of 1028 hymns to various gods. The other three Vedas consist of a textbook for sacrifice (Yajur-Veda), a hymnal (Sama-Veda), and a collection of spells (Atharva-Veda); this last Veda probably dates from about 900 BC. The Brahmanas, which deal with priestly ritual and the myths that support it, were composed about the same time as the Atharva-Veda. The Upanishads, which are philosophical and mystical meditations on the meaning of existence and the nature of the universe, began to be composed about 600 BC. Collectively these works are given the designation 'what has been heard' (Shruti), and not a single syllable can be changed. The Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, and the many Dharmashastras and Dhamasutras that deal with sacred law, are contained in another work, given the designation 'what is remembered' (Smriti). One of them, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), is attributed to Manu: the first man. In its present form it dates from the 1st century BC.
The name Manu is related to the Indo-European word man and the Sanskrit verb man (to think). In the Vedas Manu is depicted as the first man to perform a sacrifice. In the Shatapatha Brahmana a horned fish warns him about a deluge that will destroy humanity. According to the 'Ancient Lore' (the Puranas) the fish was Matsya an incarnation of Vishnu. He told Manu to build a boat. When the deluge came Matsya allowed Manu to tie the boat to his horn. He then pulled Manu and the boat through the flood and onto a mountaintop. Manu was the only human to survive the deluge. When the waters began to ebb away Manu offered them a sacrifice of sour milk and butter. One year later the waters gave birth to 'the daughter of Manu'. She and Manu became the ancestors of a new human race.
It might be useful to mention Vishnu at this point. To his worshipers he is the supreme God. In some traditions the creator (Brahma) was born from a lotus that sprang from Vishnu's navel. Vishnu created the universe. He has a great many avatars (incarnations), several of which have been in animal form: the fish (Matsya), the boar (Varaha), and the tortoise (Kurma). Other incarnations include: Vamana (a dwarf who became a giant), Narasimha (a man-lion), Parashurama (Rama-with-an-Axe), Buddha (born to teach a false doctrine, Buddhism, to the pious demons), Rama (of the Ramayana), Krishna (of the Bhagavata-Purana and the Mahabharata), and Kalkin (who will appear riding upon a white horse at the end of the age of Kali, to destroy the universe). Even though the idea of incarnation can be discovered elsewhere in Hinduism, it is fundamental to the worship of Vishnu and his various incarnations. Worship of Vishnu is known as Vaishnavism. In the Rig-Veda Vishnu is associated with the sun, and his mount is the sunbird Garuda. Some authorities take this association as an indication of Vishnu's origin as a sun god. Vaishnavism can be thought of as a religion in which Vishnu is worshipped as a loving god who can save worshipers from the process of transmigration. Those who worship him look forward to a salvation that excludes the possibility of the extinction of the consciousness or individuality.
Temple art often shows Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesa. In Hindu tradition Shesa, also known as Ananta, is one of three important serpents; the other two are Vasuki and Taksaka. Vasuki was used as a churning rope by the gods and demons during the churning of the milk ocean. Taksaka is the tribal chief of the snakes. The Sanskrit term for serpent is naga. Female nagas are called nagis. Nagas are strong and handsome. Nagis are very beautiful. Nagas and nagis can adopt the full human form but are often shown as half-human and half-serpentine. Hindu mythology portrays nagas as a race of semi-divine beings who are superior to humans in some ways. They are often associated with wells, and are said to guard treasure. Brahma relegated nagas to the nether regions (Patala-loki) after they became too populous on earth. Garuda, the sunbird, is the archenemy of the naga race.
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