ion to the world. This ideal of women and of fertility is almostly directly to the beiliefs of the Dravidians.There are also many, many other gods besides these three main ones. That’s one of the distinguishing factors of Hinduism, the amount and the variety of gods that were used to explain events in life and life itself. Even with all of these gods out there, worshipers were to devote most of their worship at one specific deity. This did not mean that the other gods would strike back for not being worshipped, for each was worshipped by at least one person. This sense of unity amongst the gods and the people is brought out buy certain texts, such as the Bhagad-Gita.The purpose in life was to praise your deity to the best of your ability so as to get the god’s favor. Religious duties were not only based on class, but also on gender and on age. The center of worship for these gods was the temple, some being simple and others being extremely elegant. Many of these temples had a beautiful statue of their deity. This statue was there for the diety to possess so that they could be worshipped by the people even more. To worship their deity, some would take part in puja, which was a service to the deity that involved bathing, clothing, or feeding the statue. Some people were even blessedenought to see their god, even if just for an instance. They called this vision darsan. Another key component of Hindu worship was making a pilgramage to shrines and other festivals that show your devotion to your deity. The word for these sites is tirthayatra, which translates to “journey to a river-crossing”. This idea led the people to make their pilgrimages to mountains or caves. The most sacred of all rivers to the Hindus is the Ganges River, which millions of Hindus still travel to today. In ancient times, these trips to the rivers and other sacredplaces helped to promote unity amongst India. All Hindus would be th...
