#10: Origins of Hinduism

1) Which country has Hinduism as its majority faith?

Indian subcontinent

2) Who is the founder of Hinduism? Unlike our Western belief systems of say Catholicism or Judaism, Hinduism is without a specific founder, a prescribed theological system or even a definite moral code. 3) What is Moksha?

The release from the cycle of life and death

4) When discussing the Harappa culture, in which part of India would it have been found? Indus River Valley 5) Around which year would Hinduism have begun? 4000 BCE 6) The Harappa culture melded with another group to create an early form of Hinduism. Identify this group. Aryans 7) What is the name of the period where two cultures melded to produce Hinduism?

Vedic Period

8) Hinduism can be refered to as a "blanket" term. What does this mean? As Hinduism continued to evolve, different deities (gods) began to be worshipped by different people groups, yet all of these still remained under the blanket term of Hinduism. Therefore, by the first few centuries after Christ (1800 years ago), many different sects of Hinduism had formed. Each of these sects had claimed a particular deity as their own. 9) What are the three major Hindu traditions of today. Identify the main god of each. Hinduism today comprises three major traditions, Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism, whose followers considered Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma to be the supreme deity respectively 10) What is Brahman?

Although many sects still exist today, the center of Hinduism is found in the belief of Brahman. With this, Hindus hold to the concept that all reality is unified under one sacred or divine entity. Known as Brahman, this sacred, yet rather vague, divinity is at the cornerstone of today's Hinduism