It is said that there are over 330 million Gods and Goddesses within the Hindu religion and each god or goddess has his or her own story that reveals his or her own religious significance. For this discussion, you will be selecting 2 different Hindu Gods or Goddesses (including avatars or manifestations of other Hindu deities) of your choosing about whom you would be interested in learning more. Please feel free to select any Hindu God or Goddess, not just the top 10 most popular ones.
For each selected Hindu Deity, you must provide the following:
- Name and Title (Ex: Vishnu, God of Preservation)
- Image of the Deity
- Brief explanation of why you chose that specific God or Goddess. Below are some examples of this:
- Maybe that Hindu God or Goddess reminds you of a Christian saint or biblical character who is the Catholic patron or patroness of a particular human endeavor, career field, or avocation that somehow pertains to you
- Ex: Saint Cecilia Patroness of Musicians and Sarasvati Hindu Goddess of Music
- Maybe you found the specific image of that God or Goddess intriguing
- Maybe there is a pop culture reference to the Deity
- Ex: TV series, movie, book, video game, etc.
- Maybe that Hindu God or Goddess reminds you of a Christian saint or biblical character who is the Catholic patron or patroness of a particular human endeavor, career field, or avocation that somehow pertains to you
- Deity in Scripture
- Summarize a story from the Hindu scriptures in which that the Deity plays a major role.
- This can be his or her origin story or another important story about the Deity.
- Summarize a story from the Hindu scriptures in which that the Deity plays a major role.
- Relationship to other Hindu Deities
- How is this specific deity related to at least 2 other Hindu Deities?
- Ex: Is the selected deity a mother or father to another deity or possibly a husband or wife of another deity?
- How is this specific deity related to at least 2 other Hindu Deities?
- Imagery & Symbolism
- Explain the traditional symbolism associated with the selected Deity
- Ex: Color of their skin, why they are depicted with specific animals, pose or stance in which they are depicted, any object they may be holding or that are depicted around them
- Explain the traditional symbolism associated with the selected Deity
Websites for assistance in selecting specific Hindu Gods or Goddesses:
- BBC: God or Gods?
- Hindu Gallery
- Hindu American – https://www.hinduamerican.org/Links to an external site.
- RitiRiwaz – https://www.ritiriwaz.com/category/gods-and-goddesses/
- RitiRiwaz – https://www.ritiriwaz.com/?s=hindu+god
- Hindu Gods and Goddesses
- Information on Hinduism
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_deities
- Ten of the Most Important Hindu Gods
- https://www.worldhistory.org/hinduism/
Please Note: You are not limited to using these websites as additional websites and the Van Voorst textbook may be beneficial for you to consider consulting.
Submission Instructions:
- Your post should be comprised of at least 150 words. Your citations and bibliography should follow the Chicago-Turabian style.Rubric attach
