Introduction
Students and scholars in the discipline of Religious studies might, without doubt, be filled with wonder and delight to have the definition of religion that is accepted and recognized by everyone or that could be agreed on universally, but no such definition has yet become known or apparent. However, among the explanation of the cause of the phenomenon for this lack of agreement is the tendency for people to define religion too narrowly, and in most cases from the perspective of their own backgrounds and culture.
On a critical look at the religions been practiced worldwide one will not doubt the many reasons why so many countries view and perceive god from their own religious perception just like the case of the Indian Hindu religious practice and the reason why they refer to their god as She rather than He which is widely accepted and acknowledged universally.
Is Hinduism a religion?
The debated issues on the logical reasoning of whether Hinduism is a religion confront us the moment we attempt to define the meaning of Hinduism. Such a question further comes to mind if Hinduism is a true practicing religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. In defining what religion is, it must have some relation with God, the individual being referred to must believe in God. But God, on the other hand, is a Supreme Being who is the creator of the world and all that us in it.
Transformation of Hinduism
Hinduism is undergoing a transformation as it moves from its traditional homeland in Asia into European, Australian, and North American contexts. In so doing, Hinduism is rapidly establishing itself as a viable alternative to traditional religion for many in the West. It is not accidental that the western fascination with Hinduism coincides with Christianity’s loss of its position of religious dominance in Europe (Coleman, 2001). While the actual number of Hinduists in the United States remains comparatively small, perhaps around 4 million Hinduists in the US (Wuthnow and Cage, p.363-80.). Hinduism exerts an influence disproportionate to the number of adherents, as many American Hindus are found in culturally influential sectors such as education, entertainment, and the media.
The growing attraction of Hinduism is both a product of and a contributing factor to the wider social and cultural transformations of religion in the West. The past half-century has witnessed enormous changes, brought about in part by increased immigration from Asia resulting in growing religious diversity.
Further changes stem from the increased secularization of much of Europe and Canada, which has resulted in a deep skepticism about traditional Christian claims, as well as a rejection of institutional religion in favor of personal experience and alternative religious traditions, as reflected in the move away from religion and toward spirituality, and so on (Eck, 2001).
In relation to the above stated and on a critical look at the Indian perception of god, perhaps there is no other country in the world where the activity of worshipping of female deity (goddesses) is more alive and widely obeyed and followed in the present day than India. The worldwide scope or applicability of Religious zeal or willingness to serve the great Indian Goddess, the Devi, serve as a means for expressing itself in several perceptual structures, from too numerous to be counted Indian village goddesses to broad in scope or content meta-physical principle, the great one, the root of the universe, who expresses herself in ever so many different female forms.
As a result of this, it is impossible and not exact to limit Hinduism to one set of strong beliefs in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny and practices. However, a large number of Indians carry out or participate in practices in the representation of Hindu spiritual life. One of the most striking characteristics of Hinduism is the Plethora of gods and goddesses worshipped by Hindus.
As stated above and in most religious and theological universal literature, God has always been perceived as a powerful male with obsolete powers and has great power, force, potency, or effect.
In my perception and view of god, I have always been very curious to know whether or not there’s a “She” god because from class and most literature we were only introduced to a “He” god.
In line with the view and perception of god, one will definitely notice that In India, God can be female. In India and most Hindu or Buddhist practicing countries worldwide the goddesses of Hinduism and Buddhism symbolize the major present anthology of existing goddesses all over the world. Women’s liberationists in the West regularly portray South Asian female deities as theological imaginations in the modern-day rediscovery of the female deity (Anagol, 2005). Yet, these goddesses are products of a male supremacist in the extended social group having distinctive cultural and religious beliefs.
Furthermore, with the address of gods by She by the Indian society or culture one will be left to ponder what is the strong effect of powerful goddesses–their visual representation, the prediction made by extrapolating from past observations, and times past or records–on the social reputation and emotional wellbeing of women? Do they give power to women, or provide the welfare of patriarchal customs? Is the Goddess a Feminist? Moreover, on a critical look at the goddesses of South Asia in addressing the questions of why gods are referred to as She and not He.
They also minutely examine and assess such topics as the aspect of male aspiration in the innovative characterization of a recognizable thought of female deities, the issue of who converses for the goddesses, and the political views and religious studies of Western women’s liberationist use of Hindu female deities as replicas for their feminist expressions.
It is interesting that Hindus all adore one highest being, though by diverse names. This is so for the reason that the natives of India with singular tongues and ethnicity have comprehended the one God in their own distinctive approach and religious practice.
In the course of the past narration of the Indian religion and belief of the Hindu practice as the reason why gods are addressed as She there came into existence four principal Hindu denominations which are basically known as —Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and Smartism.
For Saivites, God is Siva. For Shaktas, female deity Shakti is superlative. For Vaishnavites, Lord Vishnu is divinity. For Smartas—who perceive every god as images of the single God—the option of the goddess is left to the follower. However, this broadminded Smarta perception is eminent, but it is not the most frequent or very common Hindu perception of their deity god. Due to this noticeable heterogeneity, Hindus are to a great psychological depth tolerant of other religions, respecting the fact that each has its own trodden path to the one God.
One of the radically distinctive and without equal understandings in Hinduism is that God is close, existing in a distant paradise, but is in all person, in the mind and awareness, waiting to be determined following an investigation. This perceptive that God is always in us gives us optimism and bravery. However, discovering God in this close and practical approach is the aim of the Hindu religion (Gradanason, 1988, p. 64).
Elaboration: Hinduism believes in one god. Hindus were on no account believed or worshiped more than one god, for the reason that there are many equal Gods.
It expresses the adoration of one God devoid of contradicting the reality of additional Gods. Hindus accept as true that there is only one all-omnipresent God who invigorates the whole world.
This observation of God as present in and providing life to each and every thing is called pane doctrine or belief in the existence of a God or gods. It is different from worship that admits or tolerates all gods, which is the idea that God is the normal life. It is also different from authoritarian religious belief which says God is only in heavens and magnificent. Panentheism is an all-round perception of god. It states that God is mutually in the earth and heaven, both subjective and magnificent. That is the utmost Hindu analysis of god (Kinsley, 1988, p.125).
In addition to this, such supernatural being in most cases are vastly civilized beings without any definite responsibilities and possession of controlling influence —not dissimilar to the divine spirits, person who has general authority over others or an angel ranked above the highest rank in the celestial hierarchy respected in supplementary believes. Each group of religious congregations having their own organization and a distinctive faith gives reverences to the superlative God and its own pantheon of divine beings. What the angel ranked above the highest rank in the celestial hierarchy in most cases are puzzling to those who are not Hindus, is with the purpose of Hindus or diverse sects subdivision of a larger religious group may call the one God by many are always different names, according to their denomination or regional tradition.
However, authenticities for the Hindu have as a feature numerous names. Hinduism transfers possession to get closer to God Almighty in their own way, heartening of a collection containing a variety of sorts of things of paths, not asking for conformity to just one. There is a large amount on puzzlement in relation to this subject, even in the midst of Hindus. Furthermore, it is better to expand acquaintance of the accurate expressions and the restrained quality of being unlike or dissimilar in them. One can make plain and comprehensible the philosophical ways Hindus take a look at Divinity. Other people will be giving pleasure to or is pleasing with the opulence of the Indian perceptions of who God is. On the contrary one may be yearning to bring to other people’s attention the fact that a number of Hindus accept as true the amorphous unconditional authenticity as God; Other people take to be true the fact God is the Lord and Creator of all. This condition of being free constitutes the appreciation of God in Hinduism, the most familiar living religion, the most productive in all of the accessible religions (Erndl, 2000, p.78).
A very striking feature is the increasing visibility of a wide range of gods and goddesses in sculptures as well as in religious books. In one respect, this indicates the continuity and increases in the number of worshipers of the major deities-Vishnu, Shiva and goddess. Each of them was depicted in a variety of forms.
The integration of various Cults
The above developments suggest that mainly two processes were at work. The first was a process of spreading Brahminical ideas. This is indicated by the composition, compilation and preservation of Puranic texts in simple Sanskrit verse which were clearly meant to make them accessible to woman and Shudras, who were denied Vedic learning. The second factor at work was that the Brahans began to accept and rework the beliefs and practices of these and other social classes. Many beliefs and practices were, in fact, shaped through a continuous dialogue between great Sanskritic puranic traditions and ‘little traditions through the country.’
The occurrences of integration of the same kind are also evident from goddess cults. Worship of the goddess, simply in the form of a stone smeared with other ochre was widespread. These local dieties were frequently incorporated within the Puranic framework by giving them identity as a wife of the principal male deities.
The Pantheon of Hindi Gods:
The priestly or sacerdotal category of the Hindu Varna’s has been known and considered not be a good. Consequently, as the reality involving basic facts or principles of the Indian Hindu perspective of all living beings, Brahman is however beyond group of people or things arranged by class or category and vivid verbal description. Furthermore, it is not in conformity with fact or truth to address Brahman or the Indian gods either as he, she or it. Any such description limits Brahman, and Brahman have no limits in range or scope. Nonetheless, Brahman is clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment in infinite ways. The Indians believe He is a divine being who grows, makes or invents things and destroyer, the giver of life and its taker. Hinduism has a god for each of these characteristics of Brahman. The many gods of Hinduism are readily apparent in the temples, marketplaces,
The instances of integration of the same kind are also evident from goddess cults. Worship of the goddess, simply in the form of a stone smeared with other ochre was widespread. These local deities were frequently incorporated within the Puranic framework by giving them an identity as a wife of the principal male dieties.
Religious beliefs and Practices
Hinduism was one of the most frequent or very common religions in one or the other of its structures, of the before, or prior to -Muslim Indian society. There was a small number (of something) dispersed haphazardly of the Parsees along the western coast who, though a people apart, lived in perfect harmony with their Hindu neighbors. Buddhism was at a discount with the Rajputs; the Buddhist masses in northern and central India were gradually being assimilated within the fold of Hindu society. Nevertheless, the population of Bihar and Bengal was found to be predominantly Buddhist even in the beginning of the thirteenth century when the turks penetrated the region. The Rajputs were devout Hindus; they worshiped various mythical gods and goddesses, particularly vishmu, Siva and Durga or Sakti. Alberuni refers to the multitude of gods and goddesses whom they worshipped; nevertheless he does not find difficulty in making out the three principal dieties of the Hindus; Brahma (creator), Vishmu (Preserver) and Siva or Mahesa (Destroyer) who collectively formed a Unity or the Trinity. In this respect, we find that there is some similarity between Hinduism and Christianity as the latter distinguishes between the three persons and gave them three separate names-Father, Son and Holly Ghost but unite them into one substance.
As a preserver of creation, Vishmu incarnates himself whenever anyone dares to disturb the rules of conduct. He is also the only god among the trinity who never grants any boom to devils. Vishnu is eternal and the supreme power. Actually formless, he acquires forms with different attributes which make it convenient for humans to comprehend him.
Lakshmi is also known as the goddess of fortune and wife of Vishnu. She only accompanies her spouse during his several incarnations and other occasions. She symbolizes availability of material resources; hence it is logical for the god, responsible for maintaining order and property in the world, must have her as a constant companion.
The worship of the goddesses was often associated with the Tantric practices. Tantarism was a corrupt form of Mahayana Buddhist doctrines. The Tantric practices were common in many parts of the country. They were open to women and men, and its followers often ignored differences of caste and class on performing of rituals. Most of these ideas influenced Shavism and Buddhism especially in the eastern northern and southern parts of the country. These divergent and even desperate beliefs and practices were considered as Hindu practices in the course of the next one thousand years. Hindus believe in many divinities-Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the Goddess. From the outside, the tradition is commonly understood to be polytheistic. Simultaneously, however, Hindus also believe in the existence of one supreme God, whom they call Bhagavan (All-Opulent One), Paramatna (Supreme Self), Parameshwar (Supreme Controller), Parampita (Supreme Father). In agreement with or accordant to Hindu tradition, God is one, but also many. He manifest in innumerable forms and shapes and further expands into lesser divinities, and even into the entire perceivable world.
Why deity is naturally seen as female in Indian Hinduism
Deities or female goddesses are given a vital degree of legitimacy and holiness by the Indian Hinduism, mainly as a result of the important religious rite they carry out with their recognition in India’s public customs both with “Bahuchara Mata, one of the many descriptions of the Mother Goddess worshipped all over India,” and with a powerfully genderless if not bisexual structure of “the sexual unsure Siva”.
To understand how the Hindu worshippers conceive female deities or goddesses and their spiritual power and why they are being addressed as She, some issues needs to be comprehended. First, in Hinduism both male and female are considered as natural classes in harmonizing resistance, each of which is obviously linked with diverse sexual attributes. Second, the female precept has a positive, imaginative, life giving characteristic and a negative life spifflicating characteristic. In several perspectives, the erotic characteristic of female influence is dangerous.
Third, just as many Hindu deities are sexually vague and frequently being described in fable, formal procedure, and images in genderless or dual gendered structures, so too, do many of them transform in due course, from basically male to predominantly feminine. The fourth, most common point is that spiritual deliverance accepts superiority and transformation, and that Hinduism’s doctrinal stresses on reincarnation, changeability. And multiplicity serves both to give value to female changeability and transformation and to emphasize their natural associations with spiritual power.
The rise in Indian Feminism
Feminism is a hypothesis and a customary way of operation founded on delivering a dispute to the dependence of women in society and trying to restore the equilibrium on sexes.
The position of women in Indian society has been viewed at as a fraction of detailed critical inspection in the social and artistic history in an effort to outline the varying role of women in colonial India. Progress in development in the status of women enhanced around nineteenth century, not as a result of a process of mindful contention on the part of Indian women, but by means of programmes of social modification invented and accepted out by Indian men and colonial state.
Indian women were viewed as characterized by massiveness and rigidity, but the use of western models to elucidate this led in considerate Indianite hesitating to describe even the most radical women as feminists.
Consequently, in order to fully become aware of through the senses the historical range and potential of feminism, the origins and growth of its evaluation must be positioned within the areas cultural and orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation. Indian women’s judgments based on individual personal impressions were counterfeited within the framework of colonialism but now they have the option of choosing from a broad and orderly arrangement of extended communication on tradition and modernity. Feminism rise was achievable in the course of an amalgamation of issues like: the existence of a grand economy, the new web of developing instinctive motive which acted together with the challenging conditions and standards of femininity, race, position and category, background and belief (Anagol, 2005).
The following three measures can be used to recognize three significant feminism; women and men who have demonstrated consciousness of unfairness towards women as a cluster either by religion or customs, those who have articulated their dissent through word or deed also included singly or collectively and lastly it is alleged that such women and men involve themselves in augmenting and strategizing either individually or collectively to improve the disadvantaged status of the female.
Works Cited
Anagol, Padma. The emergence of feminism in India, 1850-1920. Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005. Print.
Coleman, James williams. The New Buddhism and Hinduism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
Eck, Diana. A New Religious America: How A Christian Country Has become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.
Erndl, Kathleen M. Is the goddess a feminist? The politics of South Asian goddesses. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2000. Print.
Gradanason, Aruna. Feminist theology: an India Perspective. 1988. Web.
Kinsley, David. Hindu goddesses: Visions of the divine feminine in the Hindu religious tradition. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998. Print.
Wuthnow, Robert and Cage, Wendy. Buddhists and Hinduism in the United States: The scope and Influence, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43:3 2004, pp.363-80.