All the major religions of the world, viz.: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhims, Buddhism and Jainism are found in India. The institution of religion has its own impact on Indian society which can be summarised as follows: 1. Solidarity: People belonging to a particular religion closely identify themselves with the religious group. blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins · Essay on Different Religions in India. India presents a baffling diversity in religious persuasions and faiths. Although the traditional religion of the land is Hinduism, many other faiths and belief systems, from tribal forms of religion to Buddhism, Christianity and Estimated Reading Time: 10 mins India has had its share of different religions affecting its structure, but the three main religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. All three of these religions have evolved drastically and have left a lasting mark on where India stands right now
Essay on Religion | India | Sociology
India presents a baffling diversity in religious persuasions and faiths, essay on religion in india. Although the traditional religion of the land is Hinduism, many other faiths and belief systems, from tribal forms of religion to Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, have coexisted for centuries. They have created for themselves cultural niches within a shared space.
These faiths are indigenous Indie as well as introduced from outside extra-Indic. The Indie religions have all evolved from early Hinduism, which has been undergoing changes in content and ritual practices in response to the prevailing cultural, ethno-lingual and ecological diversities in different regions of the country. Within Hinduism, a number of sects, such as Vaisnavism and Saivism, emerged on the scene adding further diversity to the cultural mosaic.
These sects have a specific geographic patterning of their own in the country. This shows how ideological differences and philosophical interpretations lead to diverse socio-cultural practices and the associated rituals based on religious faiths.
Thus it is evident that the differences in religious ideologies may essay on religion in india to sect formation even within the same religion. These differences have led to the emergence of regional nuances in religious practices.
In the same way, protest movements within Hinduism eventually led to the emergence of new faiths, such as Buddhism and Jainism. These protest movements also led to essay on religion in india within Hinduism. Another Indie religion—Sikhism—was genetically linked to these changes. In its original form it was a fine blend of the basic elements of Hinduism and Islam. Religious faiths which originated in West Asia, e. Initially following a sea route to India both Christianity and Islam had their early base in the littoral regions of South India, particularly the western coastal region, from where they spread into the interior parts.
Later missionary activity systematically organized by the Christian missions during the subsequent centuries, particularly the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, found many responsive groups among the tribes and the Hindu depressed castes.
The spread of Islam In northern and western India was a later phenomenon, essay on religion in india. In fact, it followed the sequence of developments leading to the Muslim conquest of the northern parts of the country in the medieval period.
Unlike the Christian missionary activity Islamic enterprise was never systematically organized. However, the emergence of Muslim seats of power in the different regions of the country provided an added incentive to conversion. Evidently, coexistence of multiple faiths and a pervasive spirit of tolerance has been a distinguishing feature of the Indian society through the ages. Although religion is a matter of personal faith, religious identity of an individual in India is often expressed at the social plane.
Unlike the western world where mass celebration of the religious occasions is infrequent, more so the public display of festivities is rare, religious celebration essay on religion in india the oriental societies is a sociological phenomenon. The Indian society conforms to this essay on religion in india. Mass festivals are common and the year is dotted with religious events, major as well as minor, which have far-reaching social implications.
In fact, in some essay on religion in india groups, there are several occasions during the year when people publicly display their adherence to a certain form of religious ritual. For example, large processions are taken out with great zeal. Likewise, people offer mass prayers in mosques and churches on certain festivals. Mass prayers are also held in mosques on every Friday.
The celebration of festivals acquires dimensions which transcends the limits of the private sphere of life. They become occasions of public expression of religious identity.
First, religion is a matter of faith, a personal affair and a philosophy of life of an individual or a group of individuals. Secondly, and flowing from the first, followers of a certain religion, by virtue of their adherence to a common faith, may develop a community feeling, essay on religion in india.
This leads to conscious or unconscious expression of solidarity with the essay on religion in india of that religious faith. This community feeling characterizes all religious group formations. Thirdly, a common code of social conduct based on a religious faith may lead to public expressions of a particular religious identity, e.
These divergent codes of conduct and socio-cultural practices eventually lead to a consciousness of religious and cultural differences. Followers of other religions are often ranked on a scale constructed in the light of a particular religious ideology and are then rated as superior, inferior or even untouchable.
If religion is a matter of personal faith, and there is little adherence to a publicly manifested code of conduct, it does not affect anybody. Other forms of discriminatory social behaviour follow.
This promotes, on the one hand, an internal feeling of solidarity and, on the other, a feeling of division. Such divisive tendencies may acquire acute forms and may result in a variety of social conflicts. When groups are formed and perceived on religious basis social authority is often likely to be wielded by a priestly class the authority of the church as in Roman Catholics or the authority of the Ulema as in Islam, although the two are not comparable in orientation and rigour.
This sooner or later acquires political nuances. When such a stage is reached, religion is likely to become the basis of social mobilization which eventually may lead to a social discord, essay on religion in india. The highest stage in this regimentation is reached when a state identifies itself with a particular religion and subjects the followers of other religions, or religious minorities, if any, to a discriminatory treatment.
Theocratic states based on dissimilar religious formations may eventually confront each other in situations of war in an attempt to subjugate each other, essay on religion in india. Crusades were the best example of such conflicts when the contesting parties were fighting in the name of religion.
The above discussion shows that religion in the world societies has not always been purely a matter of simple faith. Actions of individuals or groups often transcend the limits of personal space. Then religion becomes a manifested basis of social differentiation.
In that role, it has far-reaching operational implications which do not always seem to hint at harmony or cohesion. At the same time, there is no gainsaying the fact that in the world society, religion as a moral philosophy has played a role of promoting harmony, peace and commitment to civilized public behaviour. The values inculcated by religious teachings are universal and reveal the essential unity of all religions.
Religion has acted as a civilizing force promoting humanism, respect for other forms of identity and a essay on religion in india of sacrifice in an Endeavour to achieve higher goals for human coexistence. Religion has induced individuals to subordinate themselves to the higher ideals of humanism and sacrifice their own comforts for the collective good of the humankind.
However, human history is also full of instances when religion-based spirit of harmony and compression has been largely ignored in order to establish the supremacy of a given religious formation.
The same factors which are cohesive in a given formation become the basis of rivalry and competition between the different religious groups. While it is true that religion promotes spiritualism, spiritual values have often been superseded by the human lust for secular authority and material well-being.
Despite the religious teachings for good moral behaviour conflict between the good and the evil has continued through history. Let us now examine the place of religion in Indian society in its historical context. Religion is a form of social organization. The attitudes adopted by different religious groups reveal that ideology is a determining force in social behaviour.
People chalk out their social interaction modes in the light of the religious faith they profess. The ramifications of a differential pattern of social behaviour are seen in patterns of social interaction, celebration of festivals, organization of cultural activities, management of social space and personal manners.
Western education has brought about a certain degree of social transformation; nonetheless the hold of religious ideologies is too strong. At the same time, it is true that an enlightened class of Indians is thoroughly secular and capable of rising above the religious identities in all situations of crisis.
While Hinduism is the religion of the land, there is no one pan-Indian form of religion. In fact, Hinduism has been evolving through the ages. Moreover, it has interesting regional forms and each cultural region has its own distinguishing traits expressed in rituals, customs, ceremonies, festivals and social practices. An early form of Hinduism, based on the worship of mother goddess gradually changed into a religious form commonly referred to as Vedic Hinduism Box 7. The advent of Vedic religion led to drastic modification of the ancient faith around the middle of the second millennium B.
While the Vedic religion remained as a superstructure, regional forms of faith based on a blending of local varieties with the newly introduced elements continued as a substratum. It is commonly known that the transformation of early Hinduism into Vedic form of religion started with the advent of the Indo-Aryan language, particularly Sanskrit, which became the vehicle for this change.
The gods of heaven included Surya, Savitar and Bhaga, which really implies the worship of sun in different forms, essay on religion in india. Then was the worship of the gods of the intermediate sky, Indra, and earth-born gods, Agni, Soma, etc. Gradually, the concept of sraddha, or periodical feast of the dead, led to the emergence of the cult of sacrifice.
The Rig-Veda recorded the practices and the rituals associated with the different forms of worship as the Vedic religion spread to other regions of India from its homeland in the Sapta-Sindhava essay on religion in india. It acquired distinct regional forms, essay on religion in india. The Hindu pantheon recognized a Super Being, an Atman or Parmatman which permeated all beings, including the gods they worshipped.
The Vedic theology was not a fixed set of ideas. In fact, it continued to evolve from the period of the Vedas to that of the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. During these evolutionary stages significant changes were registered in the Hindu philosophy and the essay on religion in india concept of gods underwent a change.
As Brahmanism became rigid protest movements against the ascetic fraternity of the Brahmans were launched. These protest movements eventually led to the emergence of new faiths, such as Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism was a heretical movement. Basically, it was a reformation movement and a protest against the ascendancy of the priestly class. Buddhism, in its original form, was not a religion as such.
It was simply a monastic organization. It insisted on a non-Brahmanic order. In its essay on religion in india context, it appears that it was a culmination of the ongoing conflict between the Brahman and the Kshatriya.
In the background of Magadha one can understand that the Kshatriya was in a dominating position. The fact that these protest movements originated in Magadha explains the nature of the caste conflict so peculiar of the region. Early Buddhism tried to disentangle people from the Brahmanical cult. Among the basic elements of Buddhism were the sanctity of animal life ahimsa and the craving for salvation nirvana.
However, the early Buddhist gospels were a continuation of the old Hindu beliefs and ethics. Buddha laid an extraordinary stress on the issue of nirvana. In its early days Buddhism benefited from its practice of holding sangha congregation of monks or monastic order in the propagation and consolidation of Buddhist faith.
Religion and Society Essay Introductions
, time: 4:16Essay on Religion: It’s Kinds and Impact on Indian Society | Religion
India has had its share of different religions affecting its structure, but the three main religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. All three of these religions have evolved drastically and have left a lasting mark on where India stands right now All the major religions of the world, viz.: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhims, Buddhism and Jainism are found in India. The institution of religion has its own impact on Indian society which can be summarised as follows: 1. Solidarity: People belonging to a particular religion closely identify themselves with the religious group. blogger.comted Reading Time: 6 mins Essay # 1. Meaning of Religion: Indian society is pluralistic in nature. India is a land of religious pluralism. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, and several other religions have been coexisting and growing side by a side in Indian society since ancient blogger.comted Reading Time: 11 mins
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