Hinduism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shiva_Bangalore_.jpg

Hinduism is a very old religion that is from India.  They have 330 million gods/goddesses and many stories of heroes and ancient wars.  Tales of giants and little people and serpent people are abundant in Hinduism. Even more interesting are the stories of sophisticated weaonry and flying craft in the ancient vedic texts.  According to wikipedia:

Hinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent, and one of its indigenous religions. Hinduism includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Śrauta among numerous other traditions. It also includes historical groups, for example the Kapalikas. Among other practices and philosophies, Hinduism includes a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of "daily morality" based on the notion of karma, dharma, and societal norms. Hinduism is a conglomeration of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid common set of beliefs.

Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder Among its direct roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India and, as such, Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion"or the "oldest living major religion" in the world.

One orthodox classification of Hindu texts is to divide into Śruti ("revealed") and Smrit ("remembered") texts. These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, rituals and temple building among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas, Upanishads, Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Bhagavad Gītā and Āgamas.

Hinduism, with about one billion followers, is the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.

Some of the main deities of Hinduism are:

Shiva - The Destroyer and Creator of Worlds
Vishnu - The God of Protection and the Preserver
Brahma - The Father God
Kali - The Mother Goddess of War and Death
Parvati - The wife of Shiva
Lakshmi - The wife of Vishnu
Surya - The Sun God
Ganesh - The God of Writing
Varuna - The God of the Ocean
Kubera - The God of Wealth
Krishna - God of Love


A Vimana is a flying ship in ancient Hindu texts.



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shiva_Bangalore_.jpg (creative commons licensed by Kalyan Kumar)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_deities

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-three_gods