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Religions in india
Religion seeps into every facet of Indian life. Despite being
a secular democracy, India is one of the few countries on earth
in which the social and religious structures that define the
nation's identity remain intact, and have continued to do so
for at least 4000 years despite invasions, persecution, European
colonialism and political upheaval. Change is inevitably taking
place as modern technology reaches further and further into
the fabric of society but essentially rural India remains much
the same as it has for thousands of years. So resilient are
its social and religious institutions that it has absorbed,
ignored or thrown off all attempts to radically change or destroy
them.
India's major religion, Hinduism, is practised
by approximately 80% of the population. In terms of the number
of adherents, it's the largest religion in Asia and one of the
world's oldest extant faiths. Hinduism has a vast pantheon of
gods, a number of holy books and postulates that everyone goes
through a series of births or reincarnations that eventually
lead to spiritual salvation. With each birth, you can move closer
to or further from eventual enlightenment; the deciding factor
is your karma. The Hindu religion has three basic practices.
They are puja or worship, the cremation of the dead, and the
rules and regulations of the Hindu religion. Hinduism is not
a proselytising religion since you cannot be converted: you're
either born a Hindu or you're not.
Buddhism was founded in northern India in about
500 BC, spread rapidly when emperor Ashoka embraced it but was
gradually reabsorbed into Hinduism. There are about 6.6 million
Buddhists in India, and important Buddhist sites in northern
India, such as Bodhgaya, Sarnath (near Varanasi) and Kushinagar
(near Gorakhpur) remain important sites of pilgrimage. The Jainism
also began life as an attempt to reform Brahminical Hinduism.
It emerged at the same time as Buddhism, and for many of the
same reasons. The Jains now number only about 4.5 million and
are found predominantly in the west and south-west of India.
The religion has never found adherents outside India. Jains
believe that the universe is infinite and was not created by
a deity. They also believe in reincarnation and eventual spiritual
salvation by following the path of the Jain prophets.
There are more than 100 million Muslims in India,
making it one of the largest Muslim nations on earth. Muslim
influence in India is particularly strong in the fields of architecture,
art and food. The Sikhs in India number 18 million
and are predominantly located in the Punjab. The religion was
originally intended to bring together the best of Hinduism and
Islam. Its basic tenets are similar to those of Hinduism with
the important modification that the Sikhs are opposed to caste
distinctions. The holiest shrine of the Sikh religion is the
Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Christianity is said to have arrived in India
in the South, specifically the Malabar Coast, with the Apostle
St. Thomas in 52 AD. However, scholars say that it is more likely
Christianity arrived around the 4th century with a Syrian merchant
Thomas Cana who set out for Kerala with 400 families to establish
what later became a sect of the Syrian Orthodox Church. This
sect survives today. Services are in a mixture of Aramaic and
Malayalam and the Patriarch of Baghdad is the sect's head. Other
eastern sects include the Jacobites, Canaanites and orthodox
Syrians. Catholicism established a strong presence in the wake
of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's visit to Calicut
(in present Kerala) in 1498. Sects that have been active in
the region include the Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits.
Protestantism arrived with the British, Dutch and Danish and
their legacy lives on today in the Church of South India. India
has about 18 million Christians, around three quarters of who
are South Indians.
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