Hinduism Crossword Puzzle

Name: ______Due Date: ______

Hinduism Crossword Puzzle

The following is a letter written by a girl living in India to her pen pal in the United States. The letter tells about life in India with special attention given to the Hindu religion. Read the letter, then do the crossword puzzle.

Miss Sarwat Sharma

1080 Mohandas Gandhi Blvd.

New Delhi, India

Miss Amy Greene

310 East 86th St.

New York, NY, USA

Dear Amy,

I am happy to have an American pen pal at last. I enjoyed reading about your family and friends and school activities. Your American life is so different from my own in India.

Let me tell you a little about myself. I live in New Delhi, which is India’s capital, with my father and mother and older brother. I have another older brother, but he is married and has his own apartment. My father is in the import/export business. He owns several companies which sell Indian goods, such as jewelry and clothing to countries like America. I attend a private high school for girls here in New Delhi, and plan to attend college when I graduate. I am fortunate that my father wants me to have an education. Many of my girlfriends are expected to marry as soon as they finish high school. Their families regard education as a waste of time and money for future wives and mothers.

I am very glad that you asked about my religion, which is called Hinduism. I will use the rest of this first letter to tell you about my religion. Hinduism is the most important part of my family’s life. It is the religion followed by nearly 85% of the Indian people. For over 2,000 years Hinduism has had the greatest influence on my country’s history and culture. Hinduism not only tells us how to worship, but it also tells us what we can eat, who we can marry, what jobs we can do, and who our friends and neighbors will be. In other words, my religion affects just about everything that I do.

Hinduism is very different from Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. For example, my religion was not started by one person the way Christianity was founded by Jesus or Islam was founded by Muhammad. The basic ideas of Hinduism were brought into India by people called Aryans about 1500 BC. Since then many different cultures and religions have added new ideas and customs to our religion.

Hinduism does not have just one holy book like the Bible or the Koran. Many books contain information about Hinduism. The holiest writings are called the Vedas. There are four Vedas which are each written in the ancient Aryan language known as Sanskrit. The Vedas are a collection of hymns, prayers, and magic spells which form the basis for the Hindu beliefs and practices. The Rig Veda is the oldest religious book in the world. The Brahmanas and the Upanishads are important parts of the Vedas. The Brahmanas are rituals and ceremonies performed by the priests or Brahmins. The Upanishads tell how the universe began and discuss the soul.

Long poems calledEpics also contain many Hindu beliefs and ideas. Most Hindus are more familiar with the Epics than they are with the Vedas. The Epics are stories about famous Aryan Heroes. These stories are myths that can be compared to your tales of heroes, like Paul Bunyan. TheEpic called the Mahabharata is the longest poem ever written. It tells the story of a warrior named Arjuna who is taught by the god Krishna about man’s duties and how the soul can reach God through good deeds.

You would really enjoy another of our Epics which is called the Ramayana. This poem describes the adventures of Prince Rama and his wife Sita. Sita is kidnapped by the evil king of Ceylon and Rama has many adventures trying to rescue her. Eventually, he saves Sita with the help of a monkey general and his monkey army. (this story explains why monkeys are sacred to many of my people.) The Ramayana teaches about love and devotion between husbands and wives.

Hinduism allows a person to believe in one god or in many gods. My family worships one god called Brahma who created the universe. Other Hindus worship gods who are different forms of Brahma. The god Vishnu is the preserver of the universe. The god Siva is the destroyer of ignorance and evil. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are the three most important gods, but there are over 33,000 less important gods who are also worshipped.

Even though we Hindus worship different gods, we have some ideas in which we all believe. One idea concerns what happens to the soul after a person’s body dies. Christians and Muslims believe that the soul goes to heaven or hell depending on how the person lived his live on earth. Hindus believe that when the body dies, a person’s soul goes into the body of another living thing. The soul can be reborn in another human being or an animal. The English word for rebirth of the soul is reincarnation. Hindus call reincarnation samsara. The soul keeps being reborn until it reaches moksha (nirvana), where it becomes united with the god Brahma. Once the soul reaches moksha (nirvana), it doesn’t have to go through rebirth ever again.

Hindus believe that a person’s karma determines how his soul will be reborn in the next life. Karma means deeds or actions. If a person does good deeds in this life, his soul will be reborn into a higher or better form. If a person lives a bad life, he will be reincarnated into a lower form, maybe into the body of an insect. A person’s dharma tells him how to live properly so he has good karma. Dharma is a set of rules each Hindus must follow in order to be promoted in the next life.

You Americans often wonder why Indians seem to accept poverty and hardship in their lives. Our religion provides the answer. If a person has a difficult life now, he is just getting what he deserves for having had bad karma in his previous life. He must make the best of this life, follow his dharma, have good karma, and perhaps in the next life his soul will be reborn into better conditions.

Hindus have many interesting religious practice. We do not have an organization like the Christian church or Jewish synagogue where we worship on a certain day of the week. Instead, Hindus do most of their worshipping in their homes whenever they wish. My family is fortunate enough to have an entire room in our home set aside for the worship of Brahma. Each morning my mother offers fruit and rice to the statue of Brahma in thanks for his blessings on our family. Last year, my brother was married in this room before the altar to Brahma. India does have temples dedicated to the worship of particular gods. Our priests wash and dress the statues and offer food sacrifices to them.

Pilgrimages to temples in our holy cities, such as Benares on the Ganges River, are very popular. At least once in a lifetime, very religious Hindus try to visit the Ganges River because we believe its waters are holy and can wash away sins. Many Hindus even believe that if they bathe in the Ganges they will be cured of sickness and disease.

Last year my family made a trip to Benares because my very sick grandmother wanted to die beside the Ganges River. After she died, she was dressed in red and her body was placed on a funeral pyre (Platform) on a step, or ghat, besides the Ganges. Her body was cremated, or burned, so that her soul could be released for its next rebirth. After the cremation, her ashes were scattered on the Ganges to hurry the process of reincarnation.

Hindus have another practice that many Americans have difficulty understanding. We are vegetarians. We believe that animals have souls and therefore cannot be killed for meat. The cow is especially sacred to us, and foreigners often criticize the way cattle roam freely through our streets unharmed even though millions of Indians are starving. To Hindus, however, eating the flesh of the cow is a form or cannibalism because the cow might contain the soul of a dead friend or relative.

One part of our religion which all Hindus believe in and strictly follow is the caste system. A person is born into a certain caste or social class or group. His caste mainly establishes what occupation he will follow, but castes also determines to some extent what a person can eat, who he can marry, and who he can associate with. There are four main castes, or varnas, each with its own rules and regulations: 1. The Brahmins, or priests, 2. Kshatriyas, or warriors and rulers, 3. The Vaishyas, or professionals, merchants, and landowning farmers and 4. The Shudras, or servants. Each of these four castes has hundreds of sub-castes which developed over many years as new jobs were created.

I am a member of the Vaishya caste (I mentioned that my father owns several large businesses). My ancestors were all Vaishyas and my children will be Vaishyas. To please my family, I will most likely marry a Vaishya. I can never change my caste. The rules of my caste are my dharma that I must follow if I wish to be promoted in my next reincarnation.

There is a group of unfortunate people in India who for centuries did not belong to any caste. These people were called Untouchables or Outcastes. They were the lowest of the low, and had to do disgusting jobs that caste Hindus would not do like touching the bodies of dead animals or sweeping the streets. Years ago, Untouchables could not worship in Hindus temples or use public roads and wells. Mohandas Gandhi, who worked for Indian freedom and independence from British rule, tried to help the Untouchables. Finally, in 1950, our Constitution did away with Untouchability and outlawed discrimination against anyone in India because of their religion, caste, race, or sex. Today, former Untouchables are going to schools and universities to become lawyers and teacher and even government officials.

My father says that there have been other changes in our religion and caste system in addition to the improved conditions of the Untouchables. As more and more of my people become more education, caste prejudices become fewer. New jobs created by industrialization cut across caste lines. Also, as more and more people move to the cities, caste differences are less noticeable. The caste system, however, will probably never completely disappear because of it is such an important part of our religious beliefs.

The role of women in the Hindus religion has greatly changed for the better! Women have traditionally been inferior to men. They could not inherit property or get an education, and they always had to do as their husbands told them. Just 150 years ago, women were expected to commit suttee when their husbands died. That meant they were supposed to throw themselves on their husband’s burning funeral pyre so that they would die as a sign of their love and loyalty. Fortunately for myself and other future brides, this tradition is now against the law. Today, because our Constitution protects our rights, we Indian women can be good Hindus and still become doctors, lawyers, or even Prime Minister like Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

As you can see, my religion is an ancient one but it continues to change with the times. Perhaps Hinduism’s ability to adjust is the reason it has lasted for so many thousands of years. I hope you have gained a better understanding of my religion. I look forward to hearing from you again very soon.

Sincerely,

Your friend Sarwat

Across / Down
1. Person who dos not eat meat. / 1. Indian word for castes.
3. Holy river in India / 2. Hero of Ramayana; has adventures with money army
5. Ancient language in which the Indian holy books are written. / 3. Indian word for step
6. Epic about warrior Arjuna who learns about the soul and duty to caste. / 4. Hindu god known as the destroyer of evil and ignorance.
8. Holy writing which is the basis of Hindu beliefs and practices. / 5. Indian term for rebirth of the soul.
9. People who brought basic ideas of Hindu religion to India / 7. Jewish place of worship
13. Hindu god known as the preserver / 10. Religion practiced by most Indians.
15. Warrior caste / 11. Goal of the soul s it can stop being reborn.
17. Another name for the Muslim religion / 12. Deed or action
18. Person outside the caste system who had to do the worst jobs. / 14. Members of the merchant caste
21. Man who worked for better conditions for Outcasts / 16. Holy city on the Ganges River
22. Member or priests caste / 19. Hindu god who created the universe
23. Servant / 20. Group based on a person’s birth and occupation.
24. Rules of a caste
25. Wife of Rama; kidnapped by evil King of Ceylon
26. Long poems which tell stories of Aryan heroes.
27. Burning of the dead.