An Overview of Indian Religion
History, Ideals and Practices of India's Major Religions

Religious traditions, beliefs and behaviours commonly seen in India are often thousands of years old, passed down and altered throughout the years, with influences picked up along the way.

Though the beliefs of this majority come under the bracket of Hinduism, the Indian religion itself is a little like a fractal pattern with its ancient Vedic roots spreading out towards countless avenues of expression.

Part of the problem in defining Hinduism is that it incorporates a myriad of schools, sects and local traditions. The term Hinduism was in fact introduced by the English to refer to all religious beliefs native to India.

Hinduism as an Indian religion has no specific founder and is referred to in Sanskrit as Sanâtana Dharma, the eternal law. Its sacred texts date from 1500 BC, the most significant of these being the the Vedas and the Upanishads. Other sacred texts include the Purâṇas, the Mahâbhârata and Râmâyaṇa and the Bhagavad Gîtâ.

Common themes of Hinduism include Samsâra, Karma and Moksha which cover the cycle of birth and death, the consequence of actions and the resulting possibility of escape from suffering. These beliefs form the concept of reincarnation as a journey of the spirit towrds eternal salvation.

'Moksha,' or salvation from suffering and the cycle of reincarnation, is aspired to by all practising Hindus. It can be achieved or moved closer to by following certain paths and disciplines, the key of which is atma-jnana, or self-realization.

Many rituals and practices of Hinduism are incorporated into daily life. They serve as a reminder of the divine, and encourage the journey towards awareness of God and the self. These include pûjâ, or prayer, which is performed in temples, in the home or in a holy place. This often involves giving offerings such as sweets, insence, flowers or candles. Purification by bathing is another common ritual, and will often take place on ghats (steps) leading down to a river such as in the pilgramage city of Varanasi or at a temple tank.

Cities, states, households and individuals often associate with a few chosen deities, though occasions such as marriages, starting a new school, journeys, births, deaths and festivals may invoke a particular deity.

Deities can be seen all over India, in shrines at the roadside, in temples, on postcards, paintings, as statuettes in the home and symbols adorning the bodies of their followers, making this largest Indian religion always apparent. There are millions of Hindu gods and goddesses if you consider regional deities, and some of the most well known include: Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, Laskshmi, Parvarti, Krishna, Ganesha, Durga, Hanuman, Kali and Rama.

Islam centres around the Qur'an, a religious text that is believed to have been offered by the angel Jibrīl, or Gabriel, to the Prophet Muhammed in the 7th century AD. It is considered by Muslims to be the direct word of Allāh, the One God.

Central to the Muslim belief are the Five Pillars of Islam. Though slight variations occur within different pathways of Islam, the largest group, the Sunni Islam, aspire to the following practices:
Shahadah is the beflief in the One God being the only God worthy of worship, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. This creed must be repeated in prayer.
Salah is ritual prayer, repeated five times a day facing the direction of Mecca, and instigated in Muslim areas by a call to prayer.
Zakat is the giving of alms to the poor and to the financial costs included in the spread if Islam.
Sawm is fasting during the month of Ramadan, where food and drink are not to be consumed during the daylight hours.
Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca which must be udertaken a least once in the lifetime of every able bodied and financially capable Muslim.

Islamic influence was first felt in India in the 7th Century by the arrival of Arab traders to the Malabar region of what is now northern Kerala.

Christianity centres around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, believed to be the Messiah of the Hebrew Bible, and the direct son of God. His death and resurrection form the cornerstone of the Christian religion and represent the possibity of salvation and eternal life achievable by the faithful.

Christian tradition credits Saint Thomas with the introduction of Christianity to Indian religion in AD52, though strong trade routes between India and Central Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean area certainly had an influence on the spread of Christianity.

French and Portuguese missionaries shaped the spread of Christianity in India thoughout the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries AD, and Goa in particular remains heavily influenced by the the Portuguese, with around 30% of its population being Roman Catholic. White washed churches and cathedrals are a common sight in Goa and shrines depicting Jesus or the Virgin Mary appear in many houses, shops and cafes.

Today many Christians in India are involved in providing hospitals, poverty relief and educational services throughout the country.

The conventional narrative of Siddhartha Gautama's life is that his father, King Śuddhodana, was visited by an astrologer after the prince's birth. The astrologer predicted that Siddhartha would either abandon the material world and become a holy man, or live to be a great king, depending on whether he experienced life outside the palace walls.

Despite Śuddhodana's efforts to prevent his son from leaving the palace, Siddhartha began to venture out of the grounds in his 29th year. There he witnessed what Buddhist literature refers to as 'the four sights,' an old man, a sick man and a dead man, who showed him the suffering of man, and a holy man who was at peace with the world. These experiences prompted Siddhartha to one day leave his royal home in the palace and follow a spiritual path.

Siddhartha sought to free himself from the cycle of suffering and re-birth (Samsara) and become an awakened being. After experiencing the prolonged fasting and pain associated with an extreme ascetic life, he discovered the Middle Way, a path between indulgence of the self and destruction of the self.

At 35, Siddhartha Guatama sat in meditation under a Bodhi tree in the sacred town of Bodh Gaya, India, and arose awake to the nature of reality as The Enlightened One. His path from then was one of teaching, attracting followers into his monastic order.

Today the Indian religion of Buddhism has grown to be the fourth largest religion in the world, with devotees following various paths to spiritual enlightenment or peace within the self.