‘Hinduism’ is the name given to the religion which is followed by the people who come from the valley of the river Indus. Because it refers to a place, rather than a set of beliefs, Hinduism is very varied. It is almost impossible to describe this religion exactly, because it can vary so much. It has no founder, as many religions have. Hinduism claims to be the oldest religion on earth. There are more than 700 million Hindus throughout the world, and about half a million in Britain.

Hindus believe that there is one central truth, or God, which they call Om or Brahman. The Hindu symbol \ spells ‘Om’ in the ancient Sanskrit language. Om is not a person and is neither He nor She. Om cannot ever be known.

But Hindus also believe that God is in everything, people and things. Om is not separate from the world. For this reason, many Hindus are vegetarians.

Although Om is one, for Hindus there are many gods, or deities, and through them the Hindu can get close to Om. There are many stories about the gods.

For many Hindus, Vishnu is the most important of the gods. Some even believe Vishnu to be the same as Om. He is said to show himself in ten different forms, which are known as avatars. The most important of these are Rama and Krishna. Vishnu has a consort (wife) called Lakshmi and she also has different forms. As Rama’s consort, she is Sita and as Krishna’s consort she is Radha.

Hindus believe that everything, including the Universe, is made, lives and then dies. When something dies it becomes something else.

The three most important gods look after this cycle of life, death and rebirth. They are:

These gods, each in their way, take care of the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

Because they believe in this cycle, most Hindus believe in reincarnation.

There are thousands, even millions of other Hindu deities.

Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is very popular with Hindus. He is believed to bring good luck.

Hanuman is the monkey-god. He rescued Rama and Sita from the demon king on the island of Lanka.

Hindus see God to be in everything, so some Hindus worship people like Jesus (the founder of Christianity), Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism) and Ghandi (a Hindu holy man and leader who lived this century).

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Write out the sentences in your books with the correct endings.

Write out the passage in your books, filling in the gaps.

Hinduism is very varied and is hard to describe fully. The name comes from the river  _____1_____  Indus, because Hinduism is the collection of beliefs and practices of the people who originally come from this area. Hinduism is the  _____2_____ oldest religion on earth. It has no  _____3_____ founder.

Hindus believe that God, who they call  _____4_____ Om, can never be known, but it is present in  _____5_____ everything in the world, even people and things. Many Hindus are  _____6_____ vegetarians, because they do not like to kill animals. The  _____7_____ cow, especially, is a holy animal and is protected by law in parts of India.

Hindus believe that everything lives in a  _____8_____ cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. Even the  _____9_____ universe itself was born, will die, and will be reborn into something else. Hindus believe in  _____10_____ reincarnation, that when they die they will be reborn as something or someone else.

Three Gods take care of the cycle of life and death, they are the  _____11_____ Creator (Brahma), the  _____12_____ Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva).

Words to use:

Cow, Creator, cycle, everything, founder, Indus, oldest, Om, Preserver, reincarnation, universe, vegetarians.

Draw into your books a picture of one of the Hindu deities. Pictures are available in the class.