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Essay on Hinduism
The origins of Hinduism can be traced back to the polytheistic and ritualistic religions that began around 1500 B.C. in India’s Indus Valley. At first, the rituals were so simple that fathers could perform them. As the centuries passed, however, they became increasingly complex. This made it necessary to create a class of priests specially trained to perform the intricate rituals correctly, because the consequences for incorrectly performing a ritual were considered costly. During this time, the Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas were written to instruct the priests in how to conduct the rituals.
Hinduism recognizes four main stages of life. The first three are the student, the householder, and the retired person, while the fourth is the ascetic. The three stages of life that come from the Vedic side of Hinduism were initially designed with the caste system in mind and they were set up to apply to members of the three Twice-Born varnas: the Brahmin, the Kshatriya and the Vaishya. According to the book “Anthology of Living Religions:”
- The first stage is that of the student, during which a boy traditionally is expected to go to live and study with a teacher (a guru) for several years. A boy enters into student-hood at adolescence (ages 8-12), and spends most of his maturing years studying. For Brahmins, this would mean studying and memorizing large portions of the Vedas and accompanying texts, along with training in the various rituals. For the Twice-Born castes, the ritual of becoming a student contains great significance, for it is the means by which a person becomes reborn,
After student-hood, the next stage of life is that of householder, usually entered into through an elaborate, many-day marriage ceremony. It is during this stage that a man has children and forms a family, establishes himself in a career or job, and strives to be an active member of his community.
