Hinduism Facts
Hinduism Facts
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| Interesting Hinduism Facts: |
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| The word Hindu originates from the Indian Indus River. |
| There are more than one billion followers of Hinduism in the world today. |
| Hinduism is not a single religion; rather it is practiced by many different religious groups from India. |
| Most of Hinduism's sacred texts were written in Sanskrit in ancient times. |
| The oldest ancient sacred texts of Hinduism are called the Vedas. Vedah means knowledge. |
| Hindus are guided in their daily lives by the Vedas scriptures, which were used to develop the Hindu system of worship and beliefs. |
| The Vedas include Rigveda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and atharva-Veda. |
| The Upanisads are Hindu Holy Scriptures that encompasses both the individual soul and the universal soul, and references reincarnation. |
| The Smrutis are the Hindu Holy Scriptures that contain the Laws of Manu, created in about 250 BC. |
| The Ramayana are the Hindu Holy Scriptures containing a story about how good will always triumph over evil. The husband and wife in the story, Rama and Sita are considered to be role models of the perfect marriage. |
| The Mahabharata are Hindu Holy Scriptures containing a poem about a war in a family. |
| The 18 Puranas are Hindu Holy Scriptures containing ancient stories about the lives of saints and different incarnations. |
| Important Hindu festivals include Diwali (festival of lights), Vijayadashami (victory of good over evil), Gudhipadawa (Hindu New Year), Mahashivratri (the day of the universe's creation), Makar Sankranti (Sun in Makar Rashi's transmigration), Navratri (nine day worship of Mother Goddess), Ramnavami (Lord Rama's birthday), and Ganesh Festival (Festival of Lord Ganesha). |
| Hindu restraints include Ahimsa (not to harm others), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (not to steal), Brahmacharya (no promiscuity in word, deed or thought), Kshama (forgiveness), Dhriti (steadfastness), Daya (compassion), and Arjaya (honesty). |
| At different stages in human life there are rituals performed, which are called Samskaras. |
| The Hindu philosophy is divided into six Darshanas including Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. |
| Hindus believe in Karma, which are a person's deeds. They believe that a person's actions will determine their fate, both in their current life and in the next. |
| Hindus believe in Reincarnation. They believe the soul is immortal and the body is mortal, and when a person dies their soul will be reborn into another body until that soul eventually achieves salvation and the cycle of death and rebirth ends. |
| In Hinduism salvation is called Moksha or Nirvana. A person is able to achieve salvation when their soul becomes one with God (or Brahman). |
| Acupressure and acupuncture and vital Hindu customs. |
| Sanskrit, the language used in ancient Hindu texts, is the oldest language in the world. |
| In Hinduism, wasting food is considered very bad. |
| The holiest Hindu temple is the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. |
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