SkillBuilder discussion Historical signiýcance 1. Discuss why festivals are still so important in Indian culture. 2. What makes bathing in the Ganges River an important ritual? 3. What other Indian festivals can you name? Did you know? During the Ganesha Festival in August, Hindus place statues of the elephant god, Ganesh, in their homes and in decorated tents to receive his blessing. On the eleventh day, the statues are taken to a river or the sea and immersed in water.
SOURCE3 Hindus bathing in the Ganges River during a major religious festival in northern India.
A key belief in Hinduism is reincarnation. This means when someone dies, their spirit is born again in a new body. After many lives, a person can ýnd happiness by becoming one with the universal spirit called Brahman. A key part of Hinduism is samsara , the cycle of life and death, and rebirth. The soul, or atman, continues to exist eternally and is reborn into a new body which can be any living plant, animal or human. If a person has good karma in a previous life, then their atman will be reborn or reincarnated into something better than they were previously. Hindus see all living things as sacred because they are a part of the universal spirit. That’s why many Hindus are vegetarians, and cows are especially respected and protected. 6.8.2 The caste system As ancient India’s socio-economic development continued, inequality between groups of people began to emerge. From Vedic times, Hinduism divided society into classes called castes. The caste system (see SOURCE 5 ) was a means of social control — of keeping people in the social classes into which they were born. By around 200 CE, the Manu code described four main castes: Brahmins, warriors and landowners, farmers and craftsmen and Untouchables.
SOURCE4 The Ganesha Festival, held in August
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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