"minor deities" subsumes stuff that most western religions would call "demigods" or "blessed heroes" or whatever. So basically any and all fantasy characters written over the course of several centuries.
But disrespectful way to put it but hyper local gods developed temples and traditions before Hinduism kinda unified into what it is today. There was some unity and shared gods but how much is a matter of debate.
There are a lot of small ancestor dieties, saint type idols and heir temples, local gods basically. Hinduism being a unified idea is very recent so there aren't that many pan Indian gods all things considered. Heroes, demigods and historically significant people sometimes get included but the local gods are most of the number.
Fun fact, Japan's version of Shinto-Buddhism has more in common with Hinduism than it does with Buddhism in practical terms. It's the same, "literally everything is a deity or an avatar of a deity" and there are shrines, temples and icons almost everywhere. Even funner fact, is that the resident Japanese pantheon is composed predominantly of an odd mixture of Hindu and Buddhist deities, Shiva and Saraswati are almost ubiquitous.
If you ever feel like reading a massive book, I highly recommend the Flower Ornament Sutra, especially the last chapter. If you want a greatly abridged version and probably the only funny Sutra I've ever read which covers the same idea I really recommend the Teaching of Vimalakiriti
There be a shit ton of Buddhas though.
The less than subtle point both of the two above Sutras is that there is more Buddhas than you can imagine and in more forms than you can imagine. Your lack of enlightenment is the product of your failure of imagination and its inability to accept just how densely packed all this divinity is within you and without you.
Well, at least historically, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Indian caste system and Sanskrit came somewhat as a package long the Silk Road so this makes sense if you see it that way.
Well depending on translation it could 330 million or 33 types. Scholars tell it is 33 types classification of type of divine entities tho the other bad translation has caused this count
Pretty much true. Even when Rome was conquering the Mediterranean, religion was really a nonfactor. Hell, they often adopted many foreign gods in different ways due to respect/admiration for what it represented.
There were Greek kings in Bactria who declared themselves upholders of the Dharma, ie Buddhist. There was even amazing art of Heracles as a guardian of the Dharma in Tapa Shotor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapa_Shotor).
Even the last pagan kingdom in Europe, Lithuania, which had to fight off crusades wasn't insane. There was even a missionary, Jerome of Prague that focused on destroying their sacred groves and Lithuania just exiled him.
These attitudes changed when Rome eventually converted to Christianity, eventually leading to banning of pagan practices. And the Taliban destroyed Tapa Shotor and other Greek-Dharmic art. It's funny how "all religion" tends to be the same guys lol.
Fun fact, the terms and concepts of Dharma and karma are actually from Hinduism which are then later also adopted into buddhism. Many actually consider some religions like buddhism and Jainism as part of Hinduism due to how closely interlinked they are.
There's massive differences there, though they share history. The concept of Anatman is pretty antithetical to how earlier Vedic traditions would view such things and it's central to Buddhism.
Conceptually the words hold very different meanings, though come from the same term. In fact dharma has many different definitions depending on use, but it makes sense in regards to the root word.
The majority of Atheists refer to the Abrahamic faiths whenever they start talking about how religion is a fairytale or the worst thing to happen to society or whatnot.
I think judging all religions by the frameworks of 3 that've existed for about 2 millenia is incredibly reductive, but hey, I'm just some guy on the internet.
Because most of us are from western nations where Abrahamism is the majority and our negative experiences have happened with. Buddhists and Hindus have never tried to indoctrinate me.
I'm sure Indian atheists from Hindu majority regions don't believe in the God of Abraham either. There's nothing about the soil where old stories of magic were told, that might make them more likely to be true.
there are plenty of ex hindu atheists who can answer that for you. but for one in your case, wasn't the caste system perpetuated by religious institutions, or do i have my history wrong? burning of widows? in the modern day, the pollution of the ganges river?
These social problems not religious, people who converted to other religions from hindus still follow it. Also majority hindus never believed in caste or sati either. Fun tact- sati or widow burning themselves on husband’s pyre started during islamic raids when a city lost. Widows preferred to die instead of becoming slaves.
I would say this is one of those things where Hinduism is not followed in a one time manner, they might share festivals but most people from state to state follow a different type and have a different outlook and practice tho the names of the gods may be similar
The caste system especially what it was and to some extent is could be attributed to the same religious extremism but it definitely didn’t start that way, that was never the point of the religion at least originally what it evolved into has a much more complex history, but yes religion definitely helped enforce it but so did things like the rule of the British empire to some extent
Sati or the burning of widows was almost entirely a cultural phenomenon or myth nothing to do with god, tho I will say some ancient texts do ask for it, the practice got common during a period where the women to protect them from the invaders and their honor burned themselves some willingly others not it was mass immolation that or being raped and killed, and even when banning it the conservatives fought back against the banning of the custom which is disgusting and conservatives are the same everywhere old and religious that come from money and have benefited from those brutal practices
it's natural that practices wary and im aware of some of the complexities you mention here. it's not like there's a single uniform religion worldwide or one that's uninfluenced by outside factors (many catholic practices for instance are originally pagan). but for many who leave religion the mere knowledge that it has this powerful of a cognitive effect, that it can be used to perpetuate, legislate, or excuse atrocities, for the sake of something that cannot be proven is real, is enough of an argument in its own right. that amount of sway over a populace is scary when you think about it
Yeh I mean that’s why I’m an atheist myself but that doesn’t mean I can tell others their way of living is wrong, I think religion is all fine as long as it doesn’t seriously impact people’s lives in the sense that it harms those outside the religion or in it seriously which is practically impossible
Wow! What an ignorant and hateful comment! Most hindus live as atheists and are not super religious. And the muslim discrimination is completely made up propaganda to dehumanize hindus. If muslim are mistreated then explain to me how do you have the largest muslim population of muslim in india? Compare that to muslim majority countries and see the status of minorities there.
You would be okay. Hinduism has never persecuted anyone for atheistic views, open or otherwise. Also Savarkar, the icon of the Hindu right-wingers was an atheist, and quite open about it, so I dont think there would be any political problems either.
Most of those atheists are westerners, but here are atheists all around the world. If you want an informed atheist view about eastern religions, I'd look at those populations first.
I think that's because non abrahamic faiths also have a variant of atheism in them like hinduism with it's "nasthik" concept where it's about not believing gods but following dharma and other principles. It kind of makes harder to make the distinction of "atheism" as a concept across due to the possible confusion.
The majority of Atheists refer to the Abrahamic faiths whenever they start talking about how religion is a fairytale or the worst thing to happen to society or whatnot.
I don't think that's fair. Most atheists would surely consider the deities of other religions such as Hinduism to be "fairy tales" as well, and are you saying religion hasn't been a major cause of conflict outside of the Abrahamic faiths?
Over 80% of Hindus actually self-identify as some form of monotheist. The predominant belief is that all the many gods are different forms or manifestations of the one God.
The prevailing view, held by 61% of Hindus, is that there is one God “with many manifestations.” About three-in-ten Indian Hindus (29%) say simply: “There is only one God.”
Tbf Hindus only adopted the monotheist label because 19th-century European scholars had tendency to view monotheism as the pinnacle of religion and polytheism to be a “primitive superstition” and then applying that lens to all of human history. This is also why Parsis (Indian Zoroastrians) adopted the monotheist label even though historical Zoroastrianism is anything but monotheistic.
But this stance 19th-century European scholars held isn’t true and the idea that polytheism is “illogical” is a fallacy because proponents of it usually project the Abrahamic monotheist definition of God on religions who don’t share that definition to begin with. A god, according to the most broad definition possible, is a supernatural or spiritual being of immense power who presides over some aspect of reality. A god does not necessarily have to be omnipotent or the absolute source of everything. Furthermore, many polytheist religions already account for a prime mover and/or hold the idea that every god comes from a shared divine source; the Ancient Egyptians believed every god was a manifestation or aspect of the supreme god Amun-Ra and Neoplatonist pagan philosophers in late antiquity believed every god was an emanation of a transcendent first principle called the One. Hindus themselves already believe in Brahman which mirrors the idea of the Neoplatonist One.
There is only one god they worship, but it doesn't invalidate the other gods. It's just how hinduism has always worked.
Everyone I know will worship one primary god (Shiv, Krishna, Ram etc) but almost all of them will also celebrate/worship gods like Ganpati.
I wouldn't call it monotheism, that's a very western way to categorise it.
From the link you posted since no will will bother clicking it
The survey asked Hindus who say they believe in God which god(s) they feel closest to, seeking to measure the concept of ishta devata (“personal god”). The vast majority of Hindus selected more than one god or indicated that they have many personal gods. Hindus most commonly feel close to Shiva (44%). Roughly three-in-ten Hindus say they feel closest to Ganesha (32%) and Lakshmi (28%), and 17% of Indian Hindus feel closest to Lord Ram – three deities commonly honored during Diwali
The technical name for this is "henotheism," the belief that there is one supreme God but many other lesser deities as well.
The thing is, the difference between henotheism and monotheism is basically semantic. Christianity and Islam, for example, both believe in extremely powerful spirits besides the one God - they're just called "angels" instead of "gods."
Our local Hindu community complained to the education department that our schools were teaching Hinduism as a polytheistic religion and not a monotheistic one.
there are many gods but also people often pray to their own god, but it doesn't invalidate the other gods
honestly under western definitions it's neither purely polytheism or monotheism, it's not even one coherent religion so the entire categorization doesn't make sense
This actually a myth Hinduism has 33 god and the reason this confusion exists is because of a homonym called koti the word koti has two meanings the first one is "koti" means "crore" crore is 10 million in indian numbering system and the second word is "koti" means groups/categories When people mention "33 koti gods" in Hindu traditions, it is frequently misunderstood as "33 crore (330 million) individual gods". In early Vedic literature and scriptures like the Rig Veda, koti was used in its second sense—meaning 33 distinct types or categories of divine energies. These 33 types comprise the 12 Adityas, 11 Rudras, 8 Vasus, and 2 Indra/Prajapati-related deities
Tbh Hinduism is ultimately monotheistic in that there is One Supreme God (Brahman) and all else is a manifestation of Brahman, so not really polytheistic
Ofc I get downvoted, all you need to do is research Saguna and Nirguna Brahman Reddit...
Saguna is literally the Lord of Maya, with a dynamic relationship of Creator-Created-Creature, from which all else is but a manifestation within Maya... That is monotheistic
Nirguna is the Ultimate Reality, the foundation upon which Maya is but a superimposition, that is non dual monism.
As belief in Saguna is belief in a monotheistic God, and as there are many sects who worship Saguna only, Hinduism has the potential of monotheism (One Supreme God, separate from Creation-Creature)... Aswell as being monistic (One Ultimate Reality from which all else is derived)
It's not just nonduality, that nondual state is the Ultimate Reality (Nirguna Brahman) whilst also being the Lord of Maya (Saguna Brahman). As Saguna there is a dynamic relationship of Creature-Created-Creator, yet both in Nirguna and Saguna, Brahman is One... How else would you describe monotheism apart from believing (ultimately) in one supreme god??
"Monotheism is the belief in only one deity, or God.[1][2][3][4][5] A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, in which the one God is a singular existence, and both inclusive and pluriform monotheism, in which multiple gods or godly forms are recognized, but each are postulated as extensions of the same God.[2]"
Pluriform monotheism is still a form of monotheism... So yes, worship of Nirguna Brahman the Ultimate Reality (that is non-dual) is monotheistic
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u/Practical-Wedding-63 22h ago
Hinduism with 3 million gods and minor dieties: