h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is a nice article, but there are a few mistakes in this article.

1) Brahman is not a God. Its a higher caste in Hindu Religion. According to Hindu mythology, Brahma created the earth and life, Vishnu helps people and runs life. And, Mahesh (Shiva) destroys it. This way the life cycle moves on .

2) Durga and Kali are the feared goddesses of destruction, but Parvati and Uma are both beloved goddesses of motherhood. And not the other way around, as you mentioned.

3) (Karma) ''If it was a good life, there was good karma and the soul will be reborn into a higher form (such as a higher caste).''
----This statement is not true. According to Hindu Mythology if there is a Good Karma , then you're re-born as a human being and if you have a bad karma you have to wait for almost 70,000 lives (as animals or insects) before you're born as a human again. And, once you complete 7 lives as a human, then your soul joins the God and leaves the cycle birth and death (life).

I hope I am not offending you. I just thought to point out the mistakes, which I think were not true.

Traveller in Time recently been upgraded to Guru
"Well, another kind of Guru.

Anyway it seems like this Researcher has reduced their time on this site. And as the entry is not Edited (taken into the indexed, approved system of Entries) there is not much we can do.

However as you seem to know a lot about the subject, perhaps you could help us writing a better entry on Hinduism ? "

I wish I could, but Im really not that good with history or religion. I think this researcher had a better knowledge than me.... But there were a few things which I knew were incorrect, so highlighed them.


But still, thanks for the encouragement.

Enter the Religious Studies teacher, cape flapping in the breeze...

BrahMAN IS the ultimate reality, BrahMIN is the priest caste at the top of the system of varnasramadharma. It is confusing, but I had to pick that one up. It's interesting that there isn't an editied entry on Hinduism in the guide.

As regards dating Hinduism, well, you can't. The entry mentions 1500 BCE, but that is VERY conservative. That's kind of early Vedic era. There are elements of proto-hinduism that go back waaaaayyyyyy further. Some estimates are that the roots of the faith go back at least 5000 (accepted by many) to 10,000 (bit on the mad side) years. Simple fact is we haven't a bleedin' clue. All the estimates are based on archaeological digs in the Indus Valley and the Punjab, but as we all know, archaeologists only find what's there, so an earlier culture that followed Hindu-esque ideas way back when may have disappeared completely. The current dating is based on sophisticated towns and cities in those areas, but what's to say that other places didn't exist that have simply not stood up to the test of time and soil...

Sorry to be a picky git, but that's me. Hinduism is a really misunderstood set of ideas, so it would be nice for someone to get as definitive an article as possible on H2G2. Baggsy not me, I'm on holiday...

Happy Raksha Bandhan!

Frag x

How do you put an edited entry on Hinduism? May be I could try my hand on it. The problem would be restraining the size.

Someone please do show the way.

S

Write it, submit it for peer review, watch your hard work get torn to shreds, rewrite it, repeat ad nauseam, then eventually get it into the guide. Good place to start for reference ideas is Gavin Flood's text, simply called "Hinduism". Great book...
Good luck!

Thanks!

my pleasure!