Shiva – Hindu god – Ancient India
The Hindu god Shiva Shiva was a Hindu fertility god, who made the crops grow. He was not mentioned in the Rig Veda, about 1000 BC, and seems to have come into Hinduism later than [...]
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07, 2017
What’s the Rig Veda? Hinduism – India
The Rig Veda in Sanskrit (from the 1800s AD) What is the Rig Veda? The Rig Veda is a group of poems that people in India first sang and recited [...]
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07, 2017
Buddhist nuns in ancient India and China
Modern Buddhist nuns in northern India Women in early Buddhism The earliest Buddhists in India were both men and women, and there were Buddhist nuns as early as Buddhist monks. [...]
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07, 2017
What is Nirvana? Indian religion
Wheel of Life (Konark Sun temple, Odisha, India, 1200s AD) About 300 BC, Hindu people in India began to feel that they didn't like the idea of being reincarnated over and over again forever. [...]
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07, 2017
Buddhist monks in India and China
Takht-i Bahi, a Buddhist monastery in eastern Pakistan (about 50 AD) where Buddhist monks could study Holy men and women While Gautama Buddha was still alive, about 500 BC, he had many followers. [...]
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07, 2017
Who is Lakshmi? Hindu god – India
Lakshmi (Sanchi Stupa, central India, 200s BC) What is she the god of? Lakshmi was (and is) a Hindu god of light, wealth, good luck and success. Her name comes from the Sanskrit word laks, [...]
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07, 2017
Who is Krishna? Hinduism in India
The god Krishna killing the horse demon (Guptan Empire, 400s AD,now in Metropolitan Museum, NYC) Who is Krishna? Krishna is one of the Hindu gods. He was actually just one of [...]
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07, 2017
What is karma? Hinduism – India
What is karma? Jataka Tales: King Siva offers his body to save a dove from a hawk, and King Candraprabha is so generous that he gives away his own head (Mogao [...]
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07, 2017
Jainism – religion in medieval India
Jainism: A Jain statue, possibly Mahavira, from about 1200 AD When did Jains get started? Nobody knows when people first began to follow Jain ideas. Some Jain traditions take their [...]
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07, 2017
Indra, god of rain – Ancient India
Indra, 4-5th c. AD (Mathura, India) Who was Indra? In the earliest Hindu stories that we know of, from the Rig Veda, Indra is the ruler of the Hindu gods, the [...]
