Hinduism

How to pass along religious traditions (without embarrassing your teenagers)

8:00am October 12, 2024

The Hindu holiday of Navaratri involves some complicated dance moves, passed down from parents to children. But as one mother discovered, the line between passing on cultural traditions and mortifying your teenager daughters can be perilously thin.

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An aerial view shows Gyanvapi mosque (left) and Kashi Vishwanath temple on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.

A Hindu-Muslim dispute tests centuries of interfaith culture in India's Varanasi

5:00am September 16, 2023

by Sushmita Pathak

Both faith communities have long shared this sacred city. But some Hindus have taken legal action over a mosque they claim holds idols of Hindu deities.

Sharmistha Chaudhuri (center, wearing pink), 35, at her wedding in Kolkata, India, in January 2020. Chaudhuri found some Indian wedding traditions retrograde, so she hired four feminist priestesses to officiate at hers. They performed a multilingual, egal

Hindu priestesses fight the patriarchy, one Indian wedding at a time

9:20am October 15, 2021

by Lauren Frayer

The priestesses are part of a feminist push to make Hinduism more inclusive. Some have begun officiating at Indian weddings stripped of patriarchal traditions: No more "donating" brides to in-laws.

Diwali is known as the "festival of lights." But really, it's more than that. It is a new year for Hindus across the globe. It symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance.

How Hindus In Wyoming Are Celebrating Diwali, the 'Festival Of Lights,' Amid Pandemic

2:57pm November 14, 2020

by Naina Rao

The holiday, which marks the new year, is observed over five days in various ways, from decorating with lights, praying at the temple and feasts with loved ones. Much of that is different this year.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) performs the groundbreaking ceremony of a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Ram in Ayodhya, India, on Wednesday.

At Site Of Razed Mosque, India's Modi Lays Foundation For Controversial Hindu Temple

5:25pm August 05, 2020

The 1992 destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu extremists sparked riots that killed thousands of Muslims, leaving a deep rift between the country's religious communities.

Devotees of Lord Ayyappa, the deity of the Sabarimala temple in India's Kerala state, protest a Supreme Court verdict in Ahmadabad, India, in October. The temple had barred women of menstruating age from entering the temple, but India's Supreme Court stru

India's Supreme Court Orders Hindu Temple To Open Doors To Women, But Devotees Object

4:24pm December 22, 2018

No women ages 10 to 50 have been able to reach the temple since the ruling in September. "I'll block younger women with my own body if I have to," says a woman who waited until age 53 to visit.

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Revelers in Mumbai hoist up a statue of the elephant-headed god Ganesh and parade it toward the Arabian Sea.

Indians Are Partying And Praying For Elephant-Headed God Ganesh

5:30am September 22, 2018

by Lauren Frayer

For 10 days, they sing, dance, chant and pray at the feet of Ganesh statues, then submerge them in water. The festival was once used to circumvent British rule.

A Nepali selects a goat to sacrifice for the Hindu festival of Dashain.

It's Nepal's Biggest Holiday And Goats Are Not Happy About It

4:30pm October 21, 2015

by Donatella Lorch

The festival of Dashain brings thousands of goats to Kathmandu — for dinner, sacrificed to honor a Hindu goddess. Despite current unrest and post-earthquake trauma, the holiday will go on.