Nitin Singhania Test: Religion In India - UPSC MCQ

• In the Upanishads, it is specified that there are four stages in life: Brahmachari (celibate students) who then graduate into grihastha (a householder).

• After an age he becomes a vanaprastha (a hermit), the last stage in life is of a sanyasi (an ascetic). Once a person becomes an ascetic, he strives for the achievement of moksha or salvation.

• Brahma Sampradaya: It is associated with Lord Vishnu, the Para-Brahma or Universal Creator (not to be confused with the Brahma deity). The founder was Madhvacharya.

• Gaudiya Vaishnavism, promoted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is associated with Brahma Sampradaya. The ISKCON belongs to this sampradaya.

Vaishnavism: Followers consider Vishnu as the Supreme Lord. The tradition has traceable roots to the 1st millennium BCE. Bhagavatism, also called Krishnaism The Vaishnava tradition has many sampradayas or sub-schools.

Shaivism: It considers Shiva as the Supreme Lord. Shaivism traces its origin before Vaishnavism in 2nd millennium BCE in the form of the Vedic deity Rudra.

Shaktism: It considers feminine and the Devi or goddess as supreme. It is known for its various sub-traditions of Tantra.

Smartism: It is based on the teachings of Puranas. They believe in domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equals: Shiva, Shakti Ganesh, Vishnu and Surya. Smartism accepts Brahman's two concepts, namely Saguna Brahman – the Brahman with attributes, and Nirguna Brahman - the Brahman without attributes.

• In the medieval period, Hinduism went through the Bhakti movement in North India where the saints translated the Sanskrit texts into vernacular languages and took the message of Bhakti or devotion to the Gods, to the masses.

• In South India, the Vaishnavite movement was powerful and reigned until the 13 century.

• These saints, called Alvars, were the devotees of Vishnu and they sang songs which were collected and made into prabhandas.

• Another powerful group in the South was the Shaivites or those who worshipped Shiva. The saints who followed this were called "Nayanars', and we know of 63 major saints there.

• The Brahmo Movement: This began with Raja Rammohan Roy, who wanted to question Hinduism's problems. To solve these issues and to find the truth of Vedanta, he started the Brahmo Samaj in 1828. It rejected iconography or the worship of any imagery.

• It spoke against the evil practices of Sati, which was abolished later after sustained campaigning. He also established two schools to bring education to the masses.

• After his death, the mission was taken over by Devendranath Tagore in 1843. He was a fierce writer who criticised the British and Christian missionaries who were converting poor people. He also urged Hinduism to bring large scale changes not to leave their religion and convert.

• Another member Keshabchandra Sen started advocating against child marriage, polygamy and caste system. He and some of his followers were very radical and broke from the Brahmo Samaj to form the 'Bharatiya Brahmo Samaj'.

• This movement could not sustain itself and led to another break into 'Sadharan Brahmo Samaj'. After all these splits, they could not sustain the movement.

• The Arya Samaj: They wanted to revive Hinduism from within, and Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded it.

• They believed in the Vedas' supremacy and said that they formed the repository of all values and knowledge. One of their major policies was to work for the welfare of humanity.

• They believed in a good education for the masses and established many schools. They followed iconoclasm and wanted to convert non-Hindus into this religion. He started the Shuddhi or purification movement through which the conversion could be done.

He called for the coming back of pure Islam and urged Muslims to perform Islam's obligatory duties called Faraiz. He wanted people not to go to saints and follow their rituals.

• Although most Muslims in India are Sunni, Shia's presence is made known on Muharram when they reenact the gruesome death of Ali.

• There were some moments in history when the religion went through changes and movements, which affected Islam's shape in the subcontinent.

• Guru Hargobind was the first to gird the two swords as the symbol for Sikhs, which symbolised the spiritual (Piri) and temporal (Miri) authority and represented the combination of the Bhakti and Shakti.

• He constructed the Akal Takht and Lohagarh fort as symbols of his temporal authority, to conduct daily business and defence.

• Around the time when Jainism and Buddhism were becoming popular, Brahmins developed the system of ashramas.

• Ashrams refer to the stages of life: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa.

• Brahmanism, ancient Indian religious tradition that emerged from the earlier Vedic religion. In the early 1st millennium BCE, Brahmanism emphasised the rites performed by, and the status of, the Brahman, or priestly, class as well as speculation about Brahman (the absolute reality) as theorised in the Upanishads (speculative philosophical texts that are considered to be part of the Vedas, or scriptures).

• By contrast, Hinduism emerged after the mid-1st millennium BCE stressed devotion (bhakti) to particular deities such as Shiva and Vishnu.

• Shaktism ('doctrine of energy, power, the Goddess') is a major Hinduism tradition, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered feminine, and the Devi (goddess) is supreme.

• It includes a variety of goddesses, all considered aspects of the same supreme goddess. Shaktism has different subtraditions, ranging from those focused on gracious Lakshmi to fierce Kali, and some Shakti sub-traditions associate their goddess with Shiva or Vishnu.

• There are 51 or 108 Shakti Peethas by various accounts, of which between 4 and 18 are named as Maha (major) in medieval Hindu texts.

• Most of these historical places of goddess worship are in India, but some are in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet (Mansarovar), Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

• Some of the great religious texts like the Shiva Purana, the Devi Bhagavata, the Kalika Purana and the AstaShakti recognise four major Shakti Peethas (centres), like Bimala (Pada Khanda) (inside the Jagannath temple of Puri, Odisha), Tara Tarini (Sthana Khanda, Pumagiri, Breasts) (Near Berhampur, Orissa), Kamakhya Temple (Yoni khanda) (Near Guwahati, Assam) and Dakshina Kalika (Mukha khanda) (Kolkata, West Bengal) originated from the parts of the Corpse of Mata Sati in the Satya Yuga.

• It is a twelve volume compendium of songs or hymns in praise of Shiva in the Tamil language from the 6th to the 11th century by various South India poets.

• It is not secular like Sangam literature.

• In Buddhism, the Vajrayana tradition is known for its extensive Tantra ideas and practices. Tantric Hindu and Buddhist traditions have influenced other eastern religious traditions such as Jainism, Sikhism, the Tibetan Bon tradition, Daoism, and the Japanese Shinto tradition. Tantra introduced icons, puja and temple building into Hinduism.

• The Hindu texts that describe these topics are called Tantras, Agamas or Samhitas.

• The Rig Vedic Aryans worshipped the natural forces like earth, wind, fire, rain and thunder (naturalistic polytheism).

• There were also female gods like Ushas and Aditi, and they were placed at lower importance than the male gods.

• During the early Vedic period, there were no temples and no idol worship. Prayers were offered in the expectation of rewards. Ghee, grain and milk were given as offerings to the god.

• Elaborate rituals were followed during worship.

• Narendranath Datta (1862-1902), who was later known as Swami Vivekananda, spread Ramakrishna's message and tried to reconcile it to the needs of contemporary Indian society.

• He emerged as the preacher of neo-Hinduism. Certain spiritual experiences of Ramakrishna, the teachings of the Upanishads and the Gita and the examples of Buddha and Jesus are based on Vivekananda's message to the world about human values.

• He subscribed to the Vedanta, which he considered a fully rational system with a superior approach.

• His mission was to bridge the gulf between aramartha (service) and vyavahara (behaviour), and between spirituality.

• He believed in the fundamental oneness of God and said, "For our own motherland, a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam, is the only hope."

• Emphasising social action, he declared that knowledge without action is useless.

• He lamented the isolationist tendencies and the touch-me-not attitude of Hindus in religious matters. He frowned at religion's tacit approval of the oppression of the poor by the rich.

• He believed that it was an insult to God and humanity to teaching religion to a starving man. He called upon his countrymen to imbibe a spirit of liberty, equality and free-thinking.

• Vivekananda was a-great humanist and used the Ramakrishna Mission for humanitarian relief and social work. The Mission stands for religious and social reform.

• Vivekananda was for using technology and modern science in the service of humankind.

• Purusha Sukta is a hymn in the Rig Veda. It describes the sacrifice of Purusha, the primaeval man.

• All the elements of the universe, including the four social categories, were supposed to have emanated from his body: The Brahmana was his mouth, of his arms was made the Kshatriya, his thighs became the Vaishya, and of his feet, the Shudra was born.

• Guru Angad compiled Guru Nanak's compositions, to which he added his own in a new script known as Gurmukhi.

• The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of 'Nanak', and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.

• To this compilation were added other figures like Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur.

• In 1706, this compilation was authenticated by his son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh. It is now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of the Sikhs (syncretism).

• By the beginning of the 17th century, Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).

• The Sikhs community, called the Khalsa Panth, became a political entity (militaristic outlook).

• Nanak had a huge impact on this development from the very beginning. He emphasised the importance of the worship of one god. He insisted that caste, creed or gender was irrelevant for attaining liberation.

• Baba Gum Nanak did not wish to establish a new religion, but his followers consolidated their own practices and distinguished themselves from both Hindus and Muslims after his death. Also, he did not give the name Sikhism.

• He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities, and Hindus and Muslims' scriptures.

• It was Gum Gobind Singh who defined its five symbols: uncut hair, a dagger, a pair of shorts, a comb and a steel bangle.

• The first house of worship was built in India after the Indian Jewish awaited for centuries. The visual intention, proportion and scope with the style of buildings built greatly varied.

• The buildings that were the belongings of the Baghdadi Jews who were based in India's different parts like Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune were magnificent and impressive as they were built in vivid western style using an excellent material and ornamented details.

• The Baghdadi Jewish who built the buildings came from different Eurasia parts like Iraq, Iran, and some from the near esteem countries.

• They settled permanently. In other words, the neo-baroque house of worship, also known as the synagogue, was made in the 18th century in the fort section of Mumbai.

• One revival of Europeans art and literature was done in Central Kolkata. In the English tradition, a neo-gothic structure of a fine condition sitting within an open site was done in the camp area of Pune. Other than Israel, the largest synagogue in Asia is in Pune named Ohel David synagogue.

• To them, the path to salvation lays in meditation on the formless ultimate reality and the realisation of oneness with it.

• To achieve this, they advocated intense training of the mind and body through yoga asanas, breathing exercises and meditation.

• These groups became particularly popular among Tow' castes.

• Their criticism of conventional religion created devotional religion to become a popular force in northern India.

• Apart from the Brahmo Samaj, which has branches in several parts of the country, the Paramahansa Mandali and the Prarthana Samaj in Maharashtra and the Arya Samaj Punjab and North India were some of the prominent movements among the Hindus.

• Several other regional and caste movements like the Kayastha Sabha in Uttar Pradesh and the Sarin Sabha in Punjab.

• The backward castes also started the work of reformation with the Satya Sodhak Samaj in Maharashtra and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam in Kerala.

• The Ahmadiya and Aligarh Movements, the Singh Sabha and the Rehnumai Mazdeyasan Sabha represented the spirit of reform among the Muslims, the Sikhs and the parsees, respectively.

• Purana Kassapa taught that no virtue or sin, no merit or demerit, whatever one does. There is thus no such thing as moral Makkhali Gosala taught a sort of fatalism. Rebirth repeatedly occurs through 'destiny, chance, and nature' and nothing we can do will make any difference. We have no control over any of it, and eventually, liberation will come when it comes.

• Makkhali Gosala was an important founder of the rival religion of the Ajivikas, which continued for many centuries in Ajita Kesakambali taught what appears to be a form of materialism, that there is no future life for us let alone repeated rebirth.

• Humankind is formed of earth, water, fire, and air, which return to their elements after death. There is no merit in good deeds (good Karman) or demerit in wicked ones.

• Pakudha Kaccayana believed that earth, water, fire, air, joy, sorrow, and life are stable and unproductive, independent primordial substances. He seems to have concluded that killing (presumably in terms of moral responsibility) is impossible since a sword would pass between these primordial substances.

• During the 1920s in South India, the non-brahmins organised the Self- Respect Movement led by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.

• Numerous other movements were demanding to lift a ban on entry of lower castes into temples; for instance, Shri Narayana Guru in Kerala led a lifelong struggle against upper caste domination.

• He coined the slogan 'one religion, one caste, one god for mankind', which his disciple Sahadaran Ayyapan changed into 'no religion, no caste, no god for mankind'.

• As a reformist ideologue, Ram Mohan Roy believed in the modern scientific approach and principles of human dignity and social equality. He put his faith in monotheism.

• He wrote Gift to Monotheists (1809) and translated into Bengali the Vedas and the five Upanishads to prove his conviction that ancient Hindu texts support monotheism.

• In 1814, he set up Atmiya Sabha in Calcutta to campaign against idolatry, caste rigidities, meaningless rituals and other social ills.

• Strongly influenced by rationalist ideas, he declared that the Vedanta is based on reason and that, if reason demanded it, even a departure from the scriptures is justified.

• Established in Madras (Chennai) in 1864, the Veda Samaj was inspired by the Brahmo Samaj.

• It worked to abolish caste distinctions and promote widow remarriage and women's education.

• Its members believed in one god. They condemned the superstitions and rituals of orthodox Hinduism.

• Paramahansa Mandali was a secret socio-religious group in Bombay and was closely related to Manav Dharma Sabha, found in 1844 in Surat. It was started by Mehtaji Durgaram, Dadoba Pandurang and a group of his friends.

• Dadoba Pandurang assumed leadership of this organisation after he left Manav Dharma Sabha. He outlined his principles in Dharma Vivechan in 1848 for Manav Dharma Sabha and 'Paramhansik Bramhyadharma' for Paramahansa Mandali.

• It was the first socio-religious organisation of Maharashtra. Founded in 1849 in Maharashtra, the founders of this Mandali believed in one god. Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect.

• They were primarily interested in breaking caste rules. At their meetings, food cooked by lower caste people was taken by the members.

• This Mandali also advocated women's education and widow remarriage.

• Wahabi Movement: It was essentially an Islamic revivalist movement founded by Syed Ahmed of Raebareli, who was inspired by Abdul Wahab's teachings (1703-87) of Saudi Arabia and Shah Waliullah of Delhi.

• Syed Ahmed condemned the western influence on Islam and advocated a return to pure Islam and society, as it was in the Arabia of the Prophet's time. Syed Ahmed was acclaimed as the desired leader (Imam).

• A countrywide organisation with an elaborate secret code for its working under spiritual vice-regents (Khalifas) was set up.

• Sithana in the northwestern tribal belt was chosen as a base for operations.

• In India, its important centre was at Patna, though it had its missions in Hyderabad, Madras, Bengal, UP and Bombay.

• Maharishi Dayanand was a believer in Hinduism just as the Vedas have outlined, devoid of any corruption and embellishments. Preserving the purity of the faith was of the utmost importance to him.

• He strongly advocated the concepts of Dharma, which he believed to be free from any partiality and as an embodiment of truthfulness.

• Adharma was anything that did not hold, was not just or fair and was opposed to the teachings of the Vedas.

• He believed in reverence of human life irrespective of anything and condoned the practice of Ahimsa or non-violence.

• He advised his countrymen to direct their energy towards the betterment of humankind as a whole and not waste away in unnecessary rituals.

• He revoked idol worship practice and considered it contamination introduced by the priesthood for their own benefit.

Dayanand Saraswati and Arya Samaj

• On 7 April 1875, Dayanand Saraswati formed the Arya Samaj in Bombay. It was a Hindu reforms movement, meaning 'society of the nobles'.

• The purpose of the Samaj was to move the Hindu religion away from the fictitious beliefs. 'Krinvanto Vishvam Aryam' was the Samaj motto, which means, 'make this world noble'.

• Swami Dayananda Saraswati founded Arya Samaj in 1875. The Shuddhi professed by Arya Samaj Lists angered the Muslims.

This can also be one of the causes of the rise of communalism in India post-1920s.