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Ancient India - Coggle Diagram

- - - - 1.There is suffering in the world and to live you must suffer. (Dukkha)
        
        The Buddha learned this when he was young and saw men suffer and die.
      - The cause of suffering is our greed and selfish desires.
      - The solution to this suffering is to give up all of your selfish and material desires and achieve Nirvana (Extinction).
      - To achieve nirvana, you must follow the Eightfold Path.
        
        The Eightfold Path has 8 teachings, right understanding, right speech, right livelihood, right concentration, right mindfulness, right effort, right action and right intention. These beliefs are one of the core teachings of Buddhism and play an important role in the everyday lives of Buddhists.
  - - - A diseased person.
        
        This represents sickness.
      - A corpse being carried to its cremation.
        
        This represents death.
      - An old man.
        
        This represents old age.
      - A monk in meditation under a tree.
        
        Seeing this after seeing the other sights in succession convinced the Buddha to take up life as a monk and abandon his idle ways.
- - - - Stage two, wealth, fame and power
        
        You must forego these material desires to achieve a higher meaning, and you must have greater/other interests and intentions.
      - Stage three, community
        
        Duty to your community is very important if you are mature and have spiritually evolved.
      - Stage one, pleasure seeking
        
        Pleasure is not enough to fully satisfy anybody, so we all move past it to greater things.
      - Stage four, Moksha
        
        We seek to BE, and to have joy. Release from our finite forms, body and personality. Essentially Brahman.
  - - - The Karma form
        
        Karma is the path of work and unselfish action, and believes that selfless acts are a form of prayer.
      - The Bhakti form
        
        Bhakti is the path of love and loving devotion to a deity,
      - The Raja form
        
        Raja is the path through psycho physical exercises, and emphasizes the body, the mind, subconsciousness and strives to be infinite.
      - The Jnana form
        
        Jnana is the path of knowledge and self realization, asking questions such as "who am I", and "what is my purpose".
  - - - Vaisya
        
        The Vaisya are the third caste, and primarily control agriculture, manufacturing and farming. They are the most powerful caste economically, and contribute the most to India's overall economy. They are seen as the "commoners" and have the greatest population of all castes.
        
        The Vaisya's believed in relef=gious education and wanted to be "twice born". They get spiritual rebirth in the Upanayanam ceremony.
        
        The Hindus believed that the Vaisya were created from Brahmins belly, as that was his storehouse of food and energy production center.
        
        The Vaisya were treated as a lower caste than the Brahmin and Kshatriya despite having more economic power, and often held hostilities towards those castes. They often also supported anti Brahmin sects as well as Buddhism and Jainism.(Lee)
      - Sudra
        
        The Sudra are the fourth and lowest class, and their assigned duty was to serve those in higher castes. They were heavily discriminated against, and were not allowed to use many of the public services designated for the other castes.
        
        The Sudra were said to come from the feet of Brahman, as they were to live life using their feet.( Lee)
        
        The Sudra could not become members of other castes and were forbidden to partake in the Upanayanam ceremony.
        
        Because of the widespread discrimination and hardship, many Sudras converted to other religions.
      - Kshatriya
        
        The Kshatriya are the second most important class, and are primarily warriors and rulers. They are afforded many of the privileges of the Brahmin, and often have Brahmin advisors and aids. The goal of the Kshatriya was to fight in times of war and govern in times of peace. (Kelete)
        
        The Kshatriya are said to originate from the arms of Brahma as those were his center of strength and power.
        
        The Kshatriya were not allowed to marry into other castes.(Kelete)
        
        The Kshatriya made up approximately 16% of India's population.
      - The Untouchables
        
        The Untouchables were not even considered part of the cats system. They were seen as impure, and received extreme social discrimination. They were relegated to the outskirts of cities and experienced intense poverty. The jobs they filled included scavangers, garbage collectors, animal corpse disposers, executioners and toilet cleaners.
        
        Traditionally, an untouchable was created through a Brahmin mother and a Sudra father. In practice, the downtrodden in society were often conformed to this caste.
        
        In modern day India, the Sudras and Untouchables are still discriminated against though there are some growing liberation movements for the uplifting of the two groups.
        
        The Untouchables had high rates of disease and cripples as a result of the extreme poverty they were subject to.
      - Brahmin
        
        Brahmin were priests and teachers primarily, and are the highest class, said to come from the head of Brahma. This meant that they afforded much privilege over the other castes, and often practiced discrimination and segregation..
        
        The Brahmin were strictly vegetarian.(Kelete) Unlike other castes, all castes were allowed to consume food prepared by Brahmin cooks.
        
        The Brahmin were not allowed to work certain jobs which would taint their "ritual purity". These included handling impure products such as leather and hide, and they were forbidden from plowing.(Kelete)
        
        The Brahmin were forbidden from marrying into another caste.
        
        Brahmin men avoided smoking and alchohol, whereas Brahmin women were forbidden.(Kelete)
        
        The Brahmin were said to come from Brahmans head, as that was his center of wisdom and knowledge.
        
        The Brahmin made up about 4% of India's population.
  - - - Aranyakas
        
        Texts on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices.
      - Brahmanas
        
        Commentary on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices.
      - Samhitas
        
        Mantras and benedictions
      - Upanishads
        
        Meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge.
  - - - Brahma
        
        Brahma is the god of creation, and when Shivu destroys the world, he makes a new one, counterbalancing the god of destruction.
        
        Brahma is able to split his body into a male and a female form.
        
        Brahma is often depicted with four faces, expressing the four fold nature of Hinduism.
        
        He is accompanied by the god of knowledge, Saraswati.
      - Shiva
        
        Shiva is the goddess of destruction, and is responsible for the destruction of the world after Brahma creates it and Vishnu preserves it.
        
        Shivas hair is said to be the Ganges, a giver of life.
        
        Shiva is sometimes depicted in a ring of fire symbolizing destruction, purification and rebirth.
        
        Shiva also symbolizes the release of ignorance, and is not to be feared, but respected and appreciated.
      - Vishnu
        
        Vishnu is the goddess of preservation, mercy, balance and goodness. He takes care of. preserves and balances the world after it is created.
        
        Vishnu never sleeps.
        
        Vishnu takes on avatars to re-balance the world if it is to skewed towards evil or good. Two of the most notable avatars are Rama and Krishna. It is often said that he has ten avatars, yet the specific avatars often change.(Doniger, "Vishnu")
        
        Vishnu does not tolerate egotism.
    - - Parvati is the daughter of a mountain named Himalaya. Through ascetic discipline, Vishnu took a liking to her and they began a relationship. She is often depicted beside her husband in statues.
        
        Parvati is the goddess of fertility, love, beauty, marriage, harmony, children and devotion.
        
        Children
        
        Ganesha
        
        Kumara
        
        The Tantras are a series of texts written as a dialogue between Parvati and Vishnu.
    - - Hanuman is the god of wind and is revered for his bravery and heroism. He traveled throughout Asia accomplishing many acts, some of which include:.
        
        He also flew to the Himalayas to collect herbs and heal his army.
        
        He led the monkeys to free Rama's (an incarnation of Vishnu) wife from the demon Ravana, the king of Lanka. His tail was set on fire, which he used to burn down Lanka.(Doniger, "Hanuman")
        
        As a child, Indra struck him on the chin with a thunderbolt for trying to touch the sun. This gave him the name hanu or jaw.(Doniger, "Hanuman")
      - For his actions, Hanuman is revered as a hero and is worshiped in temples throughout Asia. Many of his children appear in other religions, and he has inspired many other deitys.
    - - Ganesha is the god of beginnings, and is often worshiped prior to other gods. He is the patron of intellectuals, banker, scribes and writers.
        
        Parvati created Ganesha herself, without Shiva. This angered Shiva who cut off Ganeshas head. Shiva then cuts the head off of an elephant and bestows it upon Ganesha.(Britannica)
        
        Ganesha is depicted holding candies, and is often riding his steed, a bandicoot rat.
        
        The ten day festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is devoted to Ganesha.