|
|
|
|
|
| Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all came into being in
India, although Buddhism now is mostly practiced elsewhere
in Asia. Islam came from outside, but India's large
Muslim minority comprises the second largest Muslim
population in the world, after Indonesia's. The calendar
is crowded with festivals, and religion is evident everywhere
in Indian life -- from politics to art and architecture
and the daily activities of millions of devotees. |
|
|
With
its mega-family of gods and goddesses, extends back
at least three millennia -- to the hymns and ritual
mantras of the ancient Sanskrit Vedas. It is almost
impossible to define Hindu tradition in a way that would
include all its major variants. The tradition's hallmark,
perhaps, is its ability to adapt disparate elements,
from local deities to rival philosophical systems, into
a recognizably Hindu context. Perhaps the best way to
start is with the Bhagavad Gita, a marvelous work of
religious synthesis set in the midst of battle in the
epic Mahabharata. Arjuna, one of five brothers who are
the epic's heroes, falters on the battlefield, concerned
that no good will come of defeating his enemies, who
are his cousins. His charioteer, Krishna, an incarnation
of the great god Vishnu, reminds him that Hindus believe
in reincarnation and their ultimate goal is moksha,
or liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth. There
are causes for the rivalry that has led to the battle,
Krishna says, and as a young warrior, Arjuna must fulfill
his particular duty (dharma) through action (karma)
that is unconcerned with benefits or reward. Fulfilling
one's assigned duty and moral obligation to society
is seen as a necessary step toward attaining higher
religious knowledge (jnana) and the ultimate goal of
union with God through devotion (bhakti). The Gita,
as it is called, has a place in the homes of almost
all modern Hindus. It does not have canonical authority
above that of many other religious texts, yet it gives
in outline a basic set of beliefs that are held in common.
Sacrifice is an essential part of dharma and central
to the practice of the earliest stage of Hinduism embodied
in the Vedas. An offering to a god blesses the worshiper
in return. Beginning with the Upanishads, appendixes
to the Vedas, sacrifice began to be seen also in metaphorical
terms, as the sacrifice of the baser aspect of one's
individuality, so that the individual soul, or spirit
(atman), can merge with brahman (universal consciousness)
and allow the realization of moksha.
Some Hindus also practice yoga, a combination of
physical culture and meditation practice that is exemplified
by the ascetics and sadhus in places like Varanasi.
Yoga (which literally means "yoke" or "union") uses
mental and physical discipline to purify the body and
rid the practitioner of conscious thought, so he or
she can experience a sense of detachment from the realities
of the physical world and a higher knowledge (jnana)
similar in some ways to gnosis in Western tradition.
In the Bhagavad Gita many other forms of dedicated behavior,
such as devotion or disinterested action, are described
as forms of yoga.
Strictures underlying dharma and karma also help
to explain the thousands of castes that divide Hindus
and have been conceptualized in a framework of four
segregated rankings: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas
(nobles and warriors), Vaishyas (tradesmen), and Shudras
(menial laborers). A fifth grouping (Panchama) falls
outside this framework: the lowest rung of society,
made up of people who were once commonly known as "untouchables,"
were named as Harijans, or "children of God," by Mahatma
Gandhi and now prefer to be called Dalits, or the "oppressed."
To most Westerners, the caste system seems like fuel
for revolution, but it was also a complex and even flexible
way of ordering society. In ancient India, unlike
in many other places, there was no all-powerful priestly
class and slavery was rare. There is evidence of considerable
shifting in status of various caste groups, though not
of individuals, in Indian history. Still for the lowest
categories, the system was doubtless very cruel. While
it is said that they accepted their fate, seeing it
as a direct result of their karma in previous births,
poetry by lower caste devotees from as early as the
12th century explicitly rejects caste. Centuries passed
before the untouchables found a way back from exclusion.
The catalysts were Mahatma Gandhi and Bhimrao Ramji
Ambedkar, a Dalit leader who was one of the principle
authors of the Indian Constitution. Despite their frequent
disagreements, Gandhi's and Ambedkar's efforts changed
the way modern India thinks about caste and saw to it
that discrimination based on caste was legally abolished
in 1947. Practically speaking, though, it still regulates
much of Hindu behavior, such as marriage practices.
Caste is also emerging as a pre-eminent element of Indian
politics, much as ethnicity has played a determining
role in American politics. |
| Hindu
Temples |
The
Hindu temple is filled with symbols of belief. Before
the structure is built, a priest traces a mandala, which
represents the cosmos and determines the placement of
all rooms and icons. The center of the temple, called
the inner sanctum, represents the egg or womb from which
all life originates. This is where the sacred deity
resides. The vimana (spire) is directly over the inner
sanctum. It draws the attention of the devout to the
heavenly realm and its connection with the sacred deity.
Many festivals take place in the temple's mandapams
(a front porch that may be an elaborate pillared pavilion
or a simple overhang). Water is the agent of purification.
Ideally, a temple is constructed near a river or lake,
but if no natural water source is available, a large
tank is often built, with steps around it. Before the
devout Hindu worships, he takes a ritual dip to rid
himself of impurities. Daily darshan or viewing of the
idol -- usually performed at sunrise, noon, sunset,
and midnight -- is imbued with sacred traditions. Ancient
rituals combine into an elaborate pageantry, with a
touching gentleness toward the god's idol, which can
include such personalized acts as feeding the deity
or brushing its teeth. These rituals are often paralleled
in worship in home shrines.
Before the priest enters the temple, he takes his
sacred dip. The actual darshan takes place during
a ceremony known as arati (a moving flame), which begins
with the clanging of a bell to ward off any evil presence
and to awaken the sleeping deity. Burning camphor sweetens
the air as the priest recites mantras and blesses the
idol with oils and sandalwood paste. Next, the deity
receives offerings of incense (an aroma favored by the
gods), vermilion powder, flowers, and decorative platters
of food. Lamps of ghee (clarified butter) and more camphor
are waved before the idol; then the priest blesses the
devotees, and the door to the inner sanctum is often
closed to let the deity return to its sleeping state.
Worshipers are given sweets and other food that has
been offered to the deity. This food is known as prasada,
which one scholar has translated as "the edible form
of God's grace," and can be taken home for distribution
to friends and family members. |
| Hindu
Pantheon |
|
It
is often said that there are 330,000 gods in the Hindu
pantheon. For the devotee this bewildering profusion
is often simplified by dedication to a single god
or goddess, or by concepts of many gods and goddesses
as being forms of a few great gods and goddesses.
It is difficult to characterize the Hindu concept
of multiple divinity, but one comment by the celebrated
German Indianist Max Muller may be helpful: Hindus,
he suggested, were not so much pantheists as xenotheists:
Supreme divinity can be invested serially in the deity
being worshiped at any one moment by a particular
person.
Hindu gods and goddesses, with the mythology, iconography,
and devotional song that surrounds them, are remarkably
personalized. This is in striking contrast to
the utterly abstract notion of ultimate reality, or
brahman, found in the Upanishads and subscribed to
by many Hindus even while they worship one or several
particular anthropomorphic gods and goddesses. The
delight Hindus take in the living presence that incarnation
gives to their gods can be seen in a well-known story
about Krishna and the gopis, the pastoral maidens
of Braj. Visited by a philosopher who expounded the
higher truths of atman and brahman, which cannot be
seen or described, one gopi said: "That's all very
well to know brahman, but can the ultimate reality
put its arms around you?"
Most important deities are clustered around the
incarnations, families, and mythological associates
of two great gods, Vishnu and Shiva, and their female
consorts. Brahma, the Creator of the World and
the Progenitor of All Living Things, is the third
member of the Hindu trinity. He is the keeper of cosmic
time and a sort of master-of-ceremonies advancing
story lines in myths, but he is not actively worshiped.
In sculpture and painting, Brahma has four heads and
four arms, each one holding sway over a quarter of
the universe and signifying the four Vedas. The rosary
that he counts in one hand represents time, and his
lotus seat represents the earth. Brahma's vehicle
is the swan, symbol of the freedom that comes with
knowledge. His consort is Saraswati, the goddess of
learning.
Shiva is most famously depicted dancing the tandava
dance of destruction, with which cosmic epochs come
to an end so that new ones can be born. Shiva
is the yogic ascetic par excellence, wearing snakes
as garlands, ashes as ointment and an animal skin
loin cloth and spending the eons in meditation in
the Himalayas. Yet, paradoxically, he is married to
Parvati and his family and love life are celebrated
in myth and art. The non-anthropomorphic form of Shiva
is the linga, a phallic symbol that rests in a yoni,
which represents the womb. Worship of the linga, though,
is not explicitly phallic worship: the icon is as
much an abstract representation of the axis mundi,
the axis on which the world spins, or of how divine
presence manifests itself on earth to Hindus.
Shiva's consorts take many forms and are often
considered as aspects of a general goddess (Devi)
or female divine principle (shakti). Principle
among these is Parvati -- the daughter of Himalaya
with whom Shiva had two sons: Ganesh, the elephant-headed
god of thresholds, and Kartikeya, known as Murugan
in South India. Other shaktis include Durga, the slayer
of the buffalo demon, and Kali, sometimes called the
goddess of death and depicted in terrible aspect,
wearing a garland of skulls and dancing on Shiva's
dead body. Shiva's mount, Nandi, the sacred bull,
usually guards the entrance to a Shiva temple. Priests
who pray to Shiva have three horizontal stripes painted
on their foreheads.
The preserver of the universe, Vishnu, has nine
known avatars; a 10th is prophesied. Each successive
avatar reflects a step up the evolutionary cycle,
beginning with the fish and moving up to the ninth,
Buddha, accepted by the all-embracing Hindus as a
figure in their own pantheon. Vishnu's most popular
incarnations are Rama and Krishna, the sixth and seventh,
respectively, who are the two gods that embody humanity.
Vishnu priests have three vertical stripes painted
on their foreheads.
Vishnu appears with four arms that signify the
four cardinal directions and his command over the
realms they encompass. In one hand, he carries
the lotus, the symbol of the universe. The conch shell,
which he holds in his second hand, represents the
evolutionary nature of all existence. A wheel in his
third hand refers to the rotation of the Earth, with
each spoke honoring a specific season of the year.
In his fourth hand, Vishnu often holds a weapon to
protect him from demons. A common image of Vishnu
has him lying on a bed of coils formed by his serpent,
Ananta, who symbolizes time. Creation will begin when
Vishnu wakes up. Vishnu has two consorts: Bhudevi,
the goddess of Earth, and Lakshmi, the goddess of
wealth and prosperity, who rose from the foam of the
ocean like Venus. Lakshmi assumes a different name
with each of Vishnu's avatars. When Vishnu is Rama,
she's Sita;when he's Krishna, she's Radha.
Rama is the ideal king. As the hero of the Hindu
epic, Ramayana, he slew the 10-headed demon, Ravana,
who had kidnapped Sita. This episode, including
Sita's rescue by Hanuman, the monkey god and Rama's
faithful servant, is celebrated during Dussehra, one
of India's most festive holidays. Krishna has three
distinct phases to his mythology. Some 19th-century
Europeans saw this as the conflation of three different
pre-Hindu gods into one Hindu one, but this concept
is laughable to Krishna's devotees. In the first phase,
Krishna is a playful boy god, stealing butter from
his mother's pantry. In the next, he is an amorous,
flute-playing cowherd and the focus of a huge body
of love poetry. Finally, he is the charioteer of the
Mahabharata, interceding on behalf of the heroes and
offering the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita.
In addition to these major Hindu gods there are
countless village and regional gods, who are sometimes
affiliated in myth with the pan-Indian great gods
or goddesses. Also, there are many goddesses who
are not paired off with male ones or celebrated in
Sanskrit texts, including Shitala Mata, the smallpox
goddess whose worship continues despite the eradication
of smallpox. Since medieval times at least, great
devotees from a wide range of castes and communities
have also been venerated, with religious communities
being organized around their teachings.
|
| Jainism |
The
origins of Jainism (the name comes from the word jina,
or victor) go back more than 2,500 years. Jainism
became a powerful sect during the time of Parsvanatha,
the 23rd tirthankara (a perfect soul), who lived in
the 8th century BC, when Hindu Brahmins dominated much
of Indian religious life. As with Buddhism, Jainism
developed under the patronage of prosperous non-Brahmin
communities. Jains revere 24 tirthankaras, men who devotees
believe achieved spiritual victory and attained moksha.
The 23rd tirthankara, Parsvanatha was a prince who
renounced his wealth to become an ascetic who advocated
honesty, respect for all life in the belief that every
creature has a soul, and ahimsa (nonviolence); he abhorred
any form of theft and the ownership of property.
The 24th tirthankara was Mahavira (Great Hero), who
lived in the 6th century BC around the time of the historic
Buddha. Mahavira also became a monk and eventually shed
his clothes as a sign of devotion and absolute self-denial.
He advocated a life of poverty, although he realized
that his example would be difficult to follow.
In 300 BC, the original Jain sacred scriptures were
finally committed to writing. Jainism also split
into two sects: Svetambaras, who wear white clothes,
and Digambaras, who practice nudity and believe that
women cannot achieve moksha until they are reborn as
men. Women, according to Digambaras, are the greatest
source of earthly temptation.
Jains reject the existence of a supreme being and
divide the universe into three worlds, which, in turn,
are divided into numerous levels. The Jain goal
is to follow the model of the 24 tirthankaras. Devotees
want to cross the metaphorical river of existence and
obtain freedom for the soul from all three realms.
The Jain cosmology is a common motif in religious
paintings. The lower world, which normally looks
like truncated pyramids, represents various infernos
occupied by mortals who have sinned. The middle world,
which resembles a disc, contains all nonliving matter
and life-forms, including human beings who are struggling
through the cycle of rebirth and striving for liberation.
The upper world, which is often drum shaped with a bulging
middle, is the realm of the gods and spirits. Some paintings
also take the shape of the Cosmic Man: the truncated
pyramids are turned into legs, the disc becomes the
waist, and the upper world extends up from the abdomen.
When gods are depicted in the cosmos, their visible
serenity increases as they move up each level within
the upper world.
The restrictions of Jainism are severe. Jains are
supposed to avoid all occupations that involve the destruction
of any life-form. Consequently, many Jains are members
of the trading community, and few are farmers. Jains
are not permitted to eat meat or eggs, and many of them
even shun vegetables and edible roots that grow underground
for fear of ingesting infinitesimally small creatures.
They must also take 12 vows that include the practice
of ahimsa and meditation, restrictions on the acquisition
of wealth and unnecessary belongings, and the commitment
to spend some time as a monk or nun.
An important Jain symbol is the swastika, with each
appendage representing the four possible stages of birth:
life in hell, life as an insect, human life, and life
as a god or demon. The three dots on top of the
swastika stand for right faith, right knowledge, and
right conduct. The half moon above the dots stands for
moksha: the ultimate Jain goal. Jain temples are often
exquisitely adorned, as another important vow instructs
devotees to contribute generously to the construction
and maintenance of temples and animal hospitals. The
Charity Bird Hospital in Delhi is a remarkable response
to this instruction.
Images of the 24 tirthankaras, depicted as ascetics
with or without clothes, embellish most Jain temples.
Parsvanatha is blue and usually appears with a snake.
Mahavira is golden and usually appears with a lion. |
| Islam |
"There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is His Prophet."
This, the shahadah (religious creed) and the most important
pillar of the Islamic faith, originated with Mohammed
(his name means "highly praised"), who was born about
AD 571 in the Arabian town of Mecca. A series of revelations
from Allah, passed on through the Angel Gabriel, instructed
Mohammed to preach against the paganism practiced by
the Meccans. Initially, Mohammed saw himself as a social
reformer who advocated a virtuous life in a city where
virtue had vanished. The Meccans, however, saw him as
a menace and a threat and forced him to flee to Yathrib
(present-day Medina).
This move in AD 622, which Muslims now call hijra,
marks the beginning of the Islamic era -- an era in
which Mohammed established the concept of Islam, which
means "submission" and "peace," as a way of life that
dictated the proper behavior of the individual. By
the time Mohammed died in AD 632, the inhabitants of
a large expanse of land stretching from Persia to the
Pyrenees and from Samarkand (in Uzbekistan) to the Sahara
had converted to Islam.
With the death of Mohammed, his father-in-law, Abu
Bakr, one of the first converts to Islam, became the
next ruler and was called caliph (successor of the Prophet).
In AD 656, during the reign of the fourth caliph, Ali,
who was the Prophet's nephew and the husband of his
daughter Fatima, civil war broke out. Ali moved his
capital to Mesopotamia, where he was murdered by Muslim
dissidents.
Ali's death signaled the beginning of a period of religious
dissension between the traditionalists, Sunnis, who
followed the orthodox teaching and example of the Prophet,
and Ali's supporters, who claimed Ali's right to the
caliphate based on his descent from the Prophet. In
time, Ali's supporters broke away from the Sunnis and
formed a sect known as the Shia or Shiites (the party
of Ali).
Originally political in nature, the differences between
the Sunnis and Shiites took on theological overtones.
The Sunnis retained the doctrine of leadership by consensus.
After Syrians massacred Hussain, Ali's son, at Karbala
in Iraq, the Shiites strengthened their resolve that
only Mohammed's rightful heirs should rule. They modified
the shahadah: "There is no god but Allah; Mohammed is
the Prophet of God, and Ali is the Saint of God."
Islam demands submission to God -- a God who is invisible,
yet omnipresent. To represent him in any form is
a sin, which explains the absence of icons in mosques
and tombs. Every bit of decorative touch, often fashioned
out of myriad tiny gems, is limited to inscriptions
of the holy scripture, the Koran, and the names of Mohammed
and his important followers.
Muslims believe that Allah (God) existed throughout
time, but humans had strayed from his true teaching
until Mohammed set them straight. Islam has concepts
similar to those of Judaism or Christianity: guardian
angels, the day of judgment, the general resurrection,
heaven and hell, and the eternal life of the soul. Muslims
are also instructed to follow a strict code of ethical
conduct that encourages generosity, tolerance, and respect
and forbids adultery, gambling, usury, and the consumption
of pork and alcohol.
Other duties of Muslims form the five pillars of
the faith: the recitation of the shahadah; salat (daily
prayer); zakat (almsgiving); siyam (fasting); and haj
(pilgrimage). The believer must pray to Allah five
times daily, with each occasion preceded by a ritual
washing of the hands, feet, neck, and head. Whenever
possible, men pray at a mosque under a prayer leader;
this is obligatory on Fridays. Women may also attend
public worship but are segregated from the men.
The ninth month of the Muslim calendar, Ramadan,
when Mohammed received his revelations, is a month of
obligatory fasting from sunrise to sunset for all but
the weak, pregnant women, and young children. During
this period of abstinence, drinking, smoking, and sexual
intercourse are also prohibited.
During his life, a Muslim is supposed to make the
haj to the Great Mosque in Mecca to participate in 10
days of special rites, held during the 12th month of
the lunar calendar. While on the haj, the pilgrim
wears an ihram (seamless white robe) that symbolizes
equality and devotion to Allah and abstains from sexual
relations, shaving, and cutting his hair and nails.
The returning pilgrim is entitled to the honorific "hajji"
before his name and a turban carved on his tombstone.
The word mosque, or masjid, means "a place of prostration."
It is generally square in shape; constructed from stone,
clay, or brick; and has an open courtyard surrounded
with madrasas (cloisters) for students who are studying
the Koran. After the muezzin (crier) sings the call
for prayer from the minaret (tower), the faithful line
up in rows behind the imam (one who has studied the
Koran). The imam stands in the sacred part of the masjid
facing the mihrab (a niche in the wall that indicates
the direction of Mecca). When the imam prays, the mihrab
-- an ingenious amplifier -- bounces the imam's voice
back to the devotees. Only prayers are heard and prostrations
are made; ceremonies connected with birth, marriage,
and death occur elsewhere.
In addition to prayer at home and at the mosque,
popular Islam in India, as also to some extent in Persia,
involves worship at the graves of great religious teachers
of the past. On the occasion of the anniversary
of the saints' death -- the urs, or time of ascent to
heaven -- great fairs are held that can attract pilgrims
of many faiths from all over India. |
| Sikhism |
Guru
Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born into a Hindu
family in 1469 when the Lodi sultanate, a Muslim dynasty
from Afghanistan, ruled over his north Indian homeland.
From an early age, he railed against the caste system,
the corruption of Hindu priests, their superstitious
beliefs, and their unwieldy family of gods. In his poems
and teachings, Guru Nanak urged egalitarianism based
on love and devotion to a single, nonincarnate divinity
called the Wahi Guru and conceived as the embodiment
of truth, goodness, and uniquenes (these three words
are the translation of the common Sikh greeting "Sat
Sri Akal.")
Nanak's view of Sikhism, recorded in the Adi Granth
(Sikh holy book), upheld the Islamic idea that the goal
of religion was the union with God, who dwelled within
the soul. Through meditation and dharma (Hindu concepts),
he believed, devotees could rid themselves of impurities,
free themselves from the endless cycle of rebirth, and
attain eternal bliss. For Hindus at the bottom of society,
Sikhism offered equality and tolerance. They gladly
converted and became Sikhs (disciples).
During the early years of the Mogul Empire, Sikhism
flourished without interference until Emperor Jahangir
assumed the throne. Jahangir resented the Sikh view
of Islam and ultimately tortured and murdered the fifth
guru. When Aurangzeb, the next emperor, revealed his
own ruthless intolerance, Gobind Singh, the 10th and
final guru, forged the Sikhs into a martial community
that he called the khalsa, which means the pure. Gobind
Singh instructed every Sikh man to observe and wear
the five kakkari (visible symbols): kesh (uncut hair
and beard); kachh (boxer shorts); kara (a steel bangle);
kanga (a wooden comb); and kirpan (a dagger). All Sikh
men also assumed the surname Singh, meaning "lion" (though
not all Singhs are Sikh), and Sikh women adopted the
name Kaur, meaning "lioness" or "princess." Members
of the khalsa were to follow a strict code of conduct
that forbade the use of alcohol and tobacco and advocated
a life of meditation and courage. |
| Buddhism |
Siddhartha
Gautama was born into a princely family in Lumbini,
along the Indian and Nepalese border, around 563 BC.
Upon encountering suffering during his first venture
outside the palace as a young man, he renounced his
privileged status -- an act called the Great Renunciation
-- to live as an ascetic. He then entered a lengthy
meditation that led to his Great Enlightenment, or nirvana.
Transformed, Siddhartha went to Sarnath, near Varanasi
in India, and preached his revolutionary sermon on the
dharma (truth), also called "The Setting in Motion of
the Wheel of Truth or Law." His discourse set forth
his Four Noble Truths, which define the essence of Buddhism:
(1) Life is connected to suffering, (2) a suffering
that arises from greed, insatiable desires, and man's
self-centered nature; (3) once man understands the cause
of his suffering, he can overcome it by following (4)
the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path includes right views and right aspirations,
which lead to wisdom. Right speech, right behavior,
right means of livelihood, and right efforts to follow
the path to salvation relate to proper and intelligent
conduct. Right meditation and right contemplation bring
nirvana (supreme bliss).
Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha (Enlightened One),
or Sakyamunni (Sage of the Sakya clan), and his faith
became Theravada Buddhism, a religion of compassion
and reason in which images were not worshiped, the existence
of a permanent soul (atman in Hinduism) was denied,
and the authority of the Hindu Vedas was rejected.
In the 1st century AD, a second school, Mahayana Buddhism,
was formed, which introduced the concept of the bodhisattva
-- the enlightened being who postpones his own nirvana
to help others. Unlike Theravadans, who prayed only
before symbols, such as the Buddha's empty throne or
his footprints, Mahayanists also worshiped before depictions
of the various Buddhas, other gods and goddesses, and
revered bodhisattvas. Over time, Mahayana Buddhism divided
into subsects, based on differences in philosophical
systems or ritual practices.
Ironically, Buddhism did not survive as a popular
religion in India after its classical period. This
is partly because of the response Hindu thinkers made
to the Buddhist challenge, embodied in works like the
Bhagavad Gita, partly because increasingly sophisticated
philosophy and esoteric ritual held little attraction
for lay followers, and partly because major Buddhist
institutions were destroyed by Muslim iconoclasts. While
Indian teachers brought Buddhism to Tibet and China
-- and it spread out from there -- the religion is mainly
found in India today at monuments like the Great Stupa
at Sanchi or the Ajanta caves and in sculpture in most
of the major museums. Buddhist art is one of the great
treasure troves of India, evolving over time from stupas
holding relics of the Buddha to elaborate temple structure
depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha and episodes
in his past lives drawn from the Jataka tales. Later
tantric Buddhist art, which continued to flourish in
Nepal and Tibet, includes a large pantheon of past and
future Buddhas, goddesses, Bodhisattvas and historical
teachers of the faith.
Two major communities still practice Buddhism in
India. The Tibetans include those from Himalayan areas,
such as Ladakh, which were closely connected to Tibet,
as well as some 100,000 refugees who fled Tibet after
the Chinese took over in 1951 and are now dispersed
in various parts of India. The Dalai Lama, head
of the largest Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Gelugpas,
now lives in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where a
sizable Tibetan community is dedicated to preserving
their traditions and the welfare of the refugee community.
The other main Buddhist group, sometimes called neo-Buddhist,
was founded by the Dalit leader Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar,
who urged fellow untouchables to abandon Hinduism in
favor of Buddhism, which does not recognize caste.
-by Kathleen Cox and Andy McCord
Kathleen Cox is the author of Fodor's The Himalayan
Countries and has written about the subcontinent for
numerous American and Indian publications including
Travel and Leisure, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, the Wall
Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Times
of India. Andy McCord first went to India in 1971 to
live in a village in Punjab where his father was practicing
medicine. As a Harvard undergraduate he took a two-year
leave to study Indian languages and culture at Banaras
Hindu University. Since then he has returned to India
as a documentary film scriptwriter, a journalist, and
a Fulbright scholar. His poems, translations, and journalism
have appeared in publications such as the Paris Review
and the Nation. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
