AdamWho

I think that most Hindus are very peaceful about their religion, unless of course you disagree about the origin of the Vedas.

See threads on Aryan Invasion Theory & Saffron revolution.

Susheel

True. Hinduism has its own little nasty side. Patriarchy is one...but then I guess all organized religions are guilty. The sati bit (the last reported case in 1987)and the child marriage (young preteens being married off to older men...still occurs in rural India.

Interestingly, while at University some of us Hindus from south India used to get into constant tiffs with the North Indian hindus about the Beef issue. It is the staple meat in the state of Kerala and even Hindus eat it. It is also eaten by Hindus in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. See what I mean when I say Hinduism in its original form is pretty disparate and heterogenous. The Saffron brigade is trying to introduce a more intolerant brand remniscent of KKK-WASP christianity. It is a pretty horrifying trend.

The height of Hindu upper caste hypocrisy can be seen in the caste issue. The lower castes in India were denied access to temples, the holy books or even learning...in fact denied the Hindu religion. Yet in the early 1940s when B R Ambedkar converted to Buddhism and exhorted other lower castes to do the same and thus carve for themselves an independant identity, panic spread among upper caste Hindus who were consolidating their position as rulers of Independent India. Gandhi (yes, the Gandhi)indulged in some pretty below the belt emotional blackmail to get Ambedkar to back down. Casteism is till rampant in India.

I had an argument with a progressive 'Hindu' about how he was against casteism. I asked him if he would allow a non-Brahmin priest into the temple in his village or if a non-Brahmin would be allowed to officiate at his wedding.

There is a rather interesting book 'Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags' which talks of the growth of the Hindu right. It is published by Orient Longman and is probably available at Amazon.

roshan

i dont think that you understand hinduism at all.

brahma, vishnu and shiva are metaphorical - they represent how everything has a beginning and an end, however, only brahman is permanent and never changing. hindus do not believe that these gods actually exist, we believe that these are forms created by man to represent aspects of brahman, the impersonal absolute reality.

the vedas talk about a war between good kingdoms and evil kingdoms, not wars between races.

roshan

diff philosophies of hinduism have diff views about god.

according to advaita vedanta, brahman is fully impersonal. brahman is pretty much the only thing that exists, and our souls are a part of brahman. the world is the rpoduct of inorance and illussion.

roshan

if you are referring to the babri masjid demolition, that was one of hinduisms holiest sites, the kaaba of hinduism.

we had a temple there, until the muslims demolished it and constructed the bari masjid as a symbol of tyranny. the babri masjid lacked minarets and other important parts of a moasque, and it hadnt been used by muslims for over fifty years at the time of its destruction(which happened to be bloodless)

roshan

lets see....

muslims - hmmm... i cant recall any incident in history(except the recent riots) when hindus attacked muslims... in fact, pretty much all hindu temples in north india were destroyed by muslims and replaced by mosques, and muslim emperors often massacred entire cities of hindus for not converting to islam, even constructing huge pillars and pyramids made of their heads.

sikhs.... except for the late 1980s, no incidents. in case you dont know, sikh militants RAIDED BUSES, TRAINS AND RAMPAGED THROUGH THE STREETS, KILLING EVERYONE WHO DIDNT HAVE A BEARD AND A TURBAN. they were supported by common sikhs, and were hiding in the gurdwaras. this forced prime minister indira gandhi to attack the gurdwaras to get the militants... then, she was assassinated by her sikh bodyguards... it was only then that the hindus got pissed off and started rioting.

untouchability - no mention of this is hindu scriptures. historians are still debating how this perversion made its way into hindu society. discrimination based on this is fast decreasing nowadays though.

women - care to explain this please?

roshan

burn in hell?

i think you are mistaken here, as hindus do not believe in any sort of hell(except for a psychological one, where a person is ridden with feelings by guilt, anger etc.)

roshan

casteism is not inherent to hindu society. the caste system was a later "developemnt"

in the vedas, people became a member of a caste based on their own personal qualities and occupation(a meritocracy), however, later, it became based on birth.

roshan

the caste system was never menat to be based on birth - the vedas merely said that there were 4 types of occupations, and each of these had their own diff duties and responsibilities, and when all of them did what they were supposed to do and followed dharma, then we would have a perfect society. unfortunately, it was changed into the caste system of today.

as for sati... the arthashastra(one of the books on how people should behave) actually condemns it... and in all hindu texts, there was only ONE incident of it happening that i know of.... when madri burned herself because she couldnt take the grief of causing the death of her own husband and did not want to live anymore. out of hundreds of thousands of women who lost their husbands in the mahabharata war, NOT ONE committed sati.

sati can be traced back to the times when muslims invaded india.... back then, if your husband or father died in a war against muslims and the hindus lost, you would be sold of as a slave, raped, made into a prostitute, or killed and your body would be defiled and not given a proper cremation.....

so, when a city was about to be conquered by the muslims, all hindu men would arm themselves, wear saffron robes, and fight to the death, while all the women and children would drink poison and burn themselves alive, in order to escape the even worse fate that awaited them if they lived.

later on during british times, many women burned themselves when their husbands died(or in some horrible cases, were burned), because they would no longer be able to support themselves upon their husbands death.

the practice of sati is pretty much eliminated already though.

roshan

we hindus believe that everyone will attain moksha(salvation) at some point, and will then be freed from reincarnation.

hinduism is against proselityzation, forced conversion, and killing in order to convert.