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A close view of the painted sculpted figures covering a Madurai temple gopuram, crowded with Hindu deities. Tradition

Hindu

Church Directory · Non-Christian

Hinduism is the family of traditions native to India, centered on dharma, karma, and liberation from rebirth, worshipped in temples and in homes.

Organizations in This Tradition

A pale-blue building in Yangon carries a trilingual signboard reading 'Arya Samaj Temple', with laundry strung above it. Organization Arya Samaj a reform movement founded in 1875 that returns to the Vedas alone. Inside the courtyard of ISKCON's Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan, arched walls painted with Krishna scenes surround a checkered marble floor. Organization ISKCON the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hare Krishna movement founded in 1966. At dusk the floodlit golden vimana of the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur glows against a violet sky. Organization Shaivism the tradition devoted to Shiva, among the oldest currents of Hindu practice. The red and white domed roofs of the Kamakhya Temple rise above its hillside complex at Guwahati. Organization Shaktism the tradition devoted to the Goddess in her many forms. The ornate stone Vidyashankara Temple at Sringeri, covered in carved figures, stands under a blue sky. Organization Smarta Tradition the tradition following the philosopher Shankara, worshipping five deities as forms of the one reality. A richly painted pillared hall inside the Kalupur Swaminarayan Mandir in Ahmedabad glows with carved arches. Organization Swaminarayan Sampradaya a Vaishnava tradition founded by Swaminarayan in the early nineteenth century. Pilgrims cross the plaza before the white gopuram of the Venkateswara Temple entrance at Tirumala. Organization Vaishnavism the tradition devoted to Vishnu and his avatars, the largest family within Hinduism.

Religious Art & Images

The towering granite vimana of the Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur, its sculpted tiers catching late-afternoon light, visitors in the courtyard below. Art Entry Brihadeeswara Temple Rajaraja Chola's temple at Thanjavur (completed 1010): a granite mountain of sculpture raised over one of India's great lingas, and the Chola bronze tradition's home ground. Completed 1010 CE A Chola-dynasty bronze of Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of the Dance, dancing within a ring of flames on a lotus pedestal. Art Tradition Hinduism The murti as a support for divine presence, in iconic and aniconic forms alike. A colossal seated Ganesh idol crowned and garlanded on a golden pandal throne, devotees crowding forward with phones raised during the Mumbai festival. Art Entry The Ganesh Chaturthi Murti A clay Ganesh, modeled and painted by neighborhood artisans, worshipped in streets and homes for up to eleven days, then carried in procession and immersed: the murti as a guest who is honored and bid farewell. The festival in its public form since 1893; the practice older A stone Shiva linga on its round yoni base inside a small temple shrine, scattered with flower petals and pigment, a drip vessel hanging above. Art Entry The Shiva Linga A polished stone shaft rising from its base, bathed daily in water, milk, and flowers: the aniconic murti of Shiva, worshipped not as a symbol of an absent god but as the god's own form. Antiquity to the present

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