Major Features of the Vedic Religion :: Papers

Major Features of the Vedic Religion The Vedic Religion is based on the teachings of the Vedas, which signifies the way of living a sin free life. The Vedas are the teachings of the religion Hinduism. There are different types of Vedas, each signifying different facts and opinions about the religion. The main text of the Vedic religion is the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda itself contains some 1,028 hymns of praise to a predominantly male group of deities who seem to personify various powers of nature such as fire, sky and rain. The fact that the hymns demonstrated a strong relationship with the presence of nature illustrates the Aryan feeling towards nature. The Rig Veda mainly concentrates on symbolism rather than mythology. Although the hymns are based on symbolism, it is sometimes possible to gather various mythical themes. Another aspect that is mentioned in the Vedas is the 'panch mahabhutas'. These are the five constituents which makeup life on this planet, they are: * Aakash (sky), * Vayu (air), * Agni (fire), * Jal (Water), * Prithvi (earth). Although the Vedas are very much alike except in their content of hymns, they all have the same principle, all Hindus should lead a sin free life. Within the Vedic religion, Hindus believe in many gods and goddesses. Some of them are human (e.g. Krishna, Rama , some animals (e.g. fish, monkey, rat, snake), (some animal-humans as in the case of Ganesh who has the head of elephant with trunk and the body of a human), and some others are natural phenomena (e.g. dawn, fire, sun). Their number is generally believed to be 330 million. According to Hindu belief, god incarnates and for example takes the form of human being and other animals and appears in this earth in that form. Gods and goddesses were born like human beings and had wives and children. No god possesses absolute power; some of the gods are weaker than each