A Neanderthal's Guide to Hinduism in India

For someone raised in a Judeo/Christian/Muslim (let's just call them the "monotheistic religions" for short) society, Hinduism can seem really foreign and complicated. I think one of the reasons the monotheistic religions spread so quickly is how simple the tenets of the religions are - there's one God and that God, through prophets or angels or messengers, has laid down a set of laws or morals that his followers should obey. To be a good Jew/Muslim/Christian, one must essentially follow the laws (and obviously the interpretation of those laws is pretty much the breakdown of modern monotheistic religions, whether one's Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Reform, Shi'a or Sunni). And sure, there's spiritual and mystical offshoots of each of these religions (Kabbalah, Sufism, gnosticism) and yeah, the holy trinity in Christianity is baffling to many, but overall it doesn't require much mental gymnastics to understand the basics of the monotheistic religions. 

Hinduism, on the other hand, can seem really complicated, especially to a Westerner. There's 300 million gods and goddesses, many of the "main" gods that are worshipped are only avatars or incarnations and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot that one has to specifically do to be a Hindu. Most Westerners can probably sum Hinduism up with the following list: red dots on foreheads, cows are sacred, turbans, lots of colorful gods, yoga, gurus who can do crazy shit like levitate and walk across hot coals...and that's about it. Even as a religion minor in university I still wouldn't have much to add to that list - when we studied the Eastern religions in school we learned some useful concepts and catchphrases (karma, dharma, moksha, etc.) and we sort of learned the tenets of each religion, but we never really learned about what people believe or internalize. Which makes sense if you approach the study of religion from a monotheistic religion's point of view, since the tenets are the whole religion, but that doesn't hold up so well with the far more spiritual religions of the east (except Buddhism - Buddhism always seems easier for a Westerner to understand, probably because it's more of a philosophy and a way of living rather than its more spiritual Eastern counterparts). 

Giant statue of the monkey god Hanuman inside Bandhavgarh National Park

Ok, so for starters, let's start with the basics: there's three "main" gods - Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer). And they have three female counterparts: Saraswati (goddess of knowledge), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and prosperity) and Parvati (the Divine Mother). Sometimes the female counterparts are called the wives of the main gods, sometimes they're the female "aspects", which indicates that the gods are really genderless and the names and identities given to them are really just to humanize something godly. And sometimes the god and goddess are combined, especially in the case of Shiva, who often appears totally androgynous. Starting to get confused? Well, to make matters more complicated, some other Hindu gods are really just incarnations of these gods - Krishna and Rama are incarnations of Vishnu, Durga and Kali are incarnations of Parvati (which could sort of be compared to God sending Jesus down to earth). 

Painting of Brahma inside a temple in Tordi Garh - Brahma is typically shown with four heads. Some believe the four heads represent the four Vedas, but another story states that Brahma created a beautiful woman named Shatarupar. She was so beautiful that Brahma gazed at her wherever she went and, as she tried to avoid his attention, he kept sprouting heads so he could always see her and he finally sprouted a fifth head on top, which Lord Shiva chopped off to admonish Brahma for unholy behavior.

Painting of Lord Krishna and his girlfriends inside a temple in Tordi Garh.

Beyond that, my brain starts to hurt. What's more fascinating to me is what people actually believe - do they believe in 300 million different gods, some of whom come to earth and blue-skinned incarnations? Do they really believe that these gods/goddesses are slayers of demons and, if so, what are demons? How do you pick the god/goddess you primarily worship? So I had a lot of questions for my guide in India*. 

So, the easy question - how do you pick which one you worship? Most families have a central deity that they worship (in the region I was in, that was primarily Shiva) or a specific god or goddess that a person identifies with. And, at least the way my guide explained it, the Hindu gods and goddesses aren't really worshipped the way the monotheistic religions worship god - Hinduism is a lot more spiritual and a lot more inward-looking. So while a monotheistic might ask God for help getting a new job, a Hindu wouldn't ask their deities for a favor like that; rather, they would ask for the insight to find the strength within him/herself to obtain the job. And the incarnations? An easier way to understand it is to think of different aspects of our personalities - the incarnations are merely embodiments of the different facets of humanity and just like different personality traits are appropriate for different circumstances (ferocity in battle vs. tenderness with family), different incarnations of the gods are appropriate for different theological needs. 

The more my guide explained it, the more philosophical and spiritual it became, rather than seeming like a traditional religion (at least from a monotheistic religion's point of view). Likewise, there's nothing you specifically have to do or refrain from doing to be a Hindu - while there's basic concepts like karma and enlightenment, there's no set of laws or script to follow, so it can be highly personalized and I suspect even regionalized. 

Ganesh shrine inside Ranthambore Fort - some of the offerings people left made nice snacks for the resident monkeys.

The single most fascinating thing for me, however, was understanding gender roles in Hinduism (or rather, trying to understand them). So, as I mentioned above, it's unclear whether the gods have wives or if the goddesses are just different aspects of the gods. And while you might be prompted to say that the goddesses are the "softer sides/aspects" of the gods, that's totally not true - two of the most badass warriors are the goddesses Durga (demon-slayer with 10 arms, each holding a weapon, and rides a tiger - clearly badass) and Kali (goddess of time and death and more on her badassery below). And there are many statutes of Shiva where half of him is male and half of him is female (or where he's just really androgynous), signifying the male and female aspects of him. Frankly, I have no idea what this means from a "gender studies" perspective, I just think the gender dynamics in Hinduism are cool as shit (and I'm sure plenty of smart people have written about this topic or what these gender roles mean in Hindu society). 

Ancient sculpture of Shiva/Parvati. The left half is a male body and the right half is a female body. The Muslim conquerors chipped away all of the faces of the ancient sculptures, which is such a shame.

Kali was always my favorite Hindu deity. And how, you might ask, does an American girl who can barely understand the basics of Hinduism have a favorite Hindu deity? Well, as I already mentioned, I was a nerdy goth kid who had a wee bit of an obsession with vampires. And as a death goddess who slays demons, has fangs, drinks blood on the battlefield and wears a necklace of severed heads and a skirt of human arms, plenty of sci-fi/fantasy authors included stories about her or her followers in various books or stories I read when I was younger. Plus she just looks evil (which is also confusing, since why would someone worship an evil goddess?).

Ancient sculpture of Kali and her skull-like face.

So clearly I had to ask my guide why people would worship an evil vampire goddess. She's mainly worshipped as a protector, since she slays demons and is fierce in battle. He also told me a well-known Hindu story - once, Kali got so caught up in killing and slaying that she went on a rampage and couldn't be stopped. Shiva, her husband, went to stop her before she destroyed the world and the only way her rage could be calmed was when Shiva lay down before her and, just as she was going to stomp on him, realized it was her beloved husband and calmed down. The stories maintain that only Shiva can tame Kali (and vice versa). Another story of Shiva and Kali that I find really interesting is once Parvati asked Shiva to choose his favorite form among her incarnations - he chose Kali because she is just raw, chaotic energy, which is probably an apt companion for Shiva the Destroyer.

Typical image of Kali - necklace of severed heads, skirt of human arms, holding a severed head and her tongue out between her fangs. This also shows her stepping on a prone Shiva.

I have to say, while some of the spiritual underpinnings might be complicated, the Hindu "Bible stories" are a hell of a lot more entertaining and interesting than Noah's ark or the story of Abraham and Isaac or any of the other comparatively snooze-worthy monotheistic Bible stories. 

*Most of these explanations are from my guide's perspective which, I recognize, may not encompass what every Hindu believes. But it's certainly easier to understand than just reading Wikipedia!