Hinduism is the name of the religion, and its followers are known as Hindus.
Hinduism is the oldest of the six major world religions. It has no single founder but developed gradually over a period of time.
Hinduism has over 1 billion followers worldwide, with about 95% of Hindus living in India. At the time of the 2011 census, there were over 800,000 Hindus living in the UK.
Five key facts
Watch to find out how Aashvina lives her life according to Hindu teachings, including how she worships and what she eats.
Hi, my name is Aashvina and I'm a Hindu. We believe in Brahman, who is the one supreme spirit. Brahman is the energy or power that created the universe and is present everywhere and inside all living things. We also believe in karma, which means everything I do - good or bad - will have consequences for me in the future.
We believe that Brahman can be worshipped in lots of different forms, which we call murtis or deities. We pray to these in our homes and in the mandir, which is what we call a Hindu temple. We have a lot of different murtis such as Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the destroyer. In some Mandirs they show all three together. This is known as a Trimurti.
Puja is what we call worship, and we give offerings like flowers, fruit and incense to the murtis. The priest also does an offering of fire, called an arti ceremony. Our temple has a female priest. This is very rare. She learned from her father, who was also a priest.Hindus have a lot of holy books. The authors are called the Vedas and the Upanishads, and they're mostly used by priests, but there are some like the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita, which a lot of Hindus read for themselves.
Mostly Hindus wear whatever they like, although some like to wear traditional Indian clothes, especially on important occasions. Some men wear a sacred thread, called a yajnopavita or janeu.
We follow the principle of ahimsa, which means non-violence, so a lot of Hindus choose to be vegan or vegetarian to reduce the amount of harm they do to the world. Cows are especially holy to us, so a lot of Hindus won't eat beef, even if they do eat other kinds of meat. But today we're eating a vegetarian meal!
What do Hindus believe and how do they worship?
Click the image below to discover more about Hinduism.
Religious symbol
This is the Om symbol (sometimes written as Aum) and it is the Hindu word or sound for God. Hindus will say this at the beginning and end of all prayers.
A Hindu shrine
A Hindu place of worship is called a mandir, but the majority of Hindus have a shrine at home where they perform personal and family worship. Worship in Hinduism is called puja.
Click on the picture below to explore a typical Hindu shrine.
Denominations
Within Hinduism there are a number of traditions or denominations. The four main traditions all consider different deities to be the supreme god or goddess.
| Denomination | Belief |
|---|---|
| Vaishnavism | Vaishnavas worship Vishnu as the supreme god. |
| Shaivism | Shaivas worship Shiva as the supreme god. |
| Shaktism | Shaktas worship Devi as the supreme goddess. |
| Smartism | Smartas consider all deities to be equal. |
The Trimurti
Hindus believe that Brahman is beyond their understanding, so the different gods and goddesses help them to understand various aspects of Brahman. Three of the Hindu gods are known as the Trimurti.
Click on the picture below to learn more about the Trimurti.
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