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Arabia
The ancient Arabians, or Arabes as they were called by the Hellenes, were a Semitic people. One must note that the Arabians were not a single people but multiple smaller kingdoms and tribes. Arabia was home to great city builders and nomads...
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The Girl Who Was the Ring
The Girl Who Was the Ring is a Pawnee legend committed to writing by the anthropologist George Bird Grinnell (l. 1849-1938) in his work The Punishment of the Stingy and Other Indian Stories (1901). The story highlights the Native American...
Definition
Hinduism
Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, originating in Central Asia and the Indus Valley, still practiced in the present day. The term Hinduism is what is known as an exonym (a name given by others to a people, place, or concept) and...
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Duane Roller
Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Classics at The Ohio State University and the author of numerous books, including Empire of the Black Sea: The Rise and Fall of the Mithridatic World, Cleopatra: A Biography, Cleopatra's Daughter...
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The Five Major World Religions - John Bellaimey
Explore the intertwined histories and cultures of the major religions: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. It's perfectly human to grapple with questions, like 'Where do we come from?' and 'How do I live a life of meaning?'...
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Initiation of religions in India
The religious practices of the early Indo-Aryans, known as the Vedic religion (1500 BCE to 500 BCE) were written down and later redacted into the Samhitas, four canonical collections of hymns or mantras, called the Veda, in archaic Sanskrit...
Definition
The Vedas
The Vedas are the religious texts which inform the religion of Hinduism (also known as Sanatan Dharma meaning “Eternal Order” or “Eternal Path”). The term veda means “knowledge” in that they are thought to contain the fundamental knowledge...
Definition
Brahmanism
Brahmanism (also known as Vedic Religion) is the belief system that developed from the Vedas during the Late Vedic Period (c. 1100-500 BCE) originating in the Indus Valley Civilization after the Indo-Aryan Migration c. 2000-1500 BCE. It claims...
Definition
Sutra
A sutra (Sanskrit for “thread”) is a written work in the belief systems of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism which is understood to accurately preserve important teachings of the respective faiths and guide an adherent on the path from ignorance...
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Religious Developments in Ancient India
For well over 1,000 years, sacred stories and heroic epics have made up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in these complex yet colourful legends is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love, and war, it shifts and changes...