The Major Religions of India
India has a great number of different people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. As a result of this, India's religions are just as numerous. Besides having nearly all the world's great religions represented, India was the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism(Finlay et al. 1993). The ratio of the religions in India are: five in six Indians practice Hinduism, one in nine practice Islam, one in forty practice Christianity, one in fifty practice Sikhism, one in one hundred forty five practice Buddhism, and one in two hundred fifty practice some other religion or cult(India 1998). Hinduism was started from the Indo-Aryan invasion of India approximately 2,000 years before Christ(www.realtime.net 1998). Hinduism grew from Vedism, the religion of the ancient Indo-European people who settled India. "Because it integrates a variety of heterogeneous elements, Hinduism constitutes a complex but largely continuous whole; and because it covers the whole life, it has religious, social, economic, literary, and artistic aspects. Hinduism thus resists a precise definition, but a common core of characteristics most Hindus share can be identified"(Hinduism 1986). Hinduism is the oldest of our worlds religions, being over 3000 years old
The name of the Islamic god is Allah. Visions from Allah were put together into a Muslim holy book called the Koran(Finlay 1993). Every Muslim has to follow the rules that are stated in the Koran. The rules in the Koran are: profess faith to Allah, believe only in Allah, recite prayers five times a day, fast during the month of Ramadan, donate part of his wealth to charity, and go on a Haj or religious journey to Mecca at least once. In the sixteenth century Guru Gobind Singh added a military element to the Sikh religion to deal with the persecution they were receiving. The military overtones are still present today. He made the Sikhs easily recognizable by five symbols. They are known as the five Kakkars and they are: Kesh or uncut hair, Kangha or wooden or ivory comb, Kachha or shorts, Kara or steel bracelet, Kirpan or sword. The Sikhs hid their hair in a long turban.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Hinduism BuddhismFinlay, Dharma Sangha, Shiva Destroyer, Hindu Muslim, Castes Varna, Dharma Karma, Allah Muslim, Guntama560-480 BC, North India, Mecca Hindus, al 1993, et al 1993, et al, eight fold, eight fold path, fold path, encyclopedia britannica, noble truth, largest religion, chicago encyclopedia britannica, population india, 1993 muslim, 1993 hinduism, britannica inc volume, buddhismfinlay et al,
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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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