2: The History of Hinduism

Hinduism is the oldest major religion, dating back over 4,000 years. It is a complex religion with no single origin story and is intertwined with Indian culture and history. The religion is based on the Vedas, a collection of hymns and verses, and focuses on concepts like karma, dharma, samsara, and moksha. Hinduism has a caste system and worships multiple gods, with differing beliefs about the number of gods. The religion has faced challenges and influences from Muslim and British rule in India. Hindus believe in the eternal nature of the religion and strive for enlightenment and salvation. Welcome to Illequant History! We'll get it one day. I am Morgan and I am here with my beautiful co-host Emily. Hey! This is our second episode and it is my episode. Like Emily said in our first one, for our first episodes, we are doing firsts. For, I just said our first few episodes. So my episode is about the first major religion, Hinduism. So we are just going to, we'll get it eventually. Words are hard, it's cool. They are hard. Okay, so we're just going to go ahead and get started. Yes. Enter India at some point in time. My husband, Shiva, why do you have so many skulls on your necklace? My love, Pavarti, I have a skull for each time you have died and been reborn. Wow, that's a lot of time. Hey, why do I die but you're immortal? I discovered the secret to immortality a long time ago. Can I know the secret? No. Please? No. Please? Okay, sure. We just have to go somewhere no one else can hear us. Alright, cool. Let's go on your bull, Nandi. The pair dismount at Pahalgam. Hang on, I need to take the moon out of my hair. Oh, here we go. Shiva takes the moon out of his hair. Okay, now? Yes, I have to take off my snake necklace and leave my son in the mountains. Bye-bye. Shiva does so. How about now? Wait, we have to leave behind all of the elements. Air, water, earth, fire, and the sky. Man, we are really leaving everything behind. Okay, now let's go into this cave. The two go into the cave, Amarnath. Okay, we are pretty isolated. Can you tell me now? Wait, I gotta manifest a guy. Naturally. Shiva enters a deep meditation, which creates Rudra. Hey, Rudra, can you destroy every living thing in and around this cave with fire? Wait, I thought you left behind all the elements. Shh, it's fine. Rudra destroys every living thing in and around the cave with fire. Shiva then shares the secret of immortality with Parvati. The end. Okay. That was nice. Thanks. So, that is one of many myths surrounding a pilgrimage that we're going to discuss later. So, just before I get started, there are so many different rabbit holes I've really had to not go into. Researching this episode, I think just the history of India in and of itself can have its own podcast because it is such a rich, amazing culture of history with so many different elements. I really had to keep blinders on to research this because there's so much that goes into this. The religion is not separate from the culture, which is not separated from the country. It's all intertwined. Okay. So, what is Hinduism? It is the world's oldest major religion, and it goes back more than 4,000 years. So, in Hinduism, there's not really a beginning or an end. A lot of believers of Hinduism and followers of Hinduism say that it is eternal. There's no beginning and no end, always. Ninety-five percent of Hindus on earth live in India. And one thing about it that I noticed is that most or several of the major religions have an origin story. You know, with Christianity, it's Jesus Christ. With Islam, it's Muhammad. With Buddhism, it's Buddha. With Hinduism, there's not one origin story. It is an amalgamation of many different types of beliefs and cultures over thousands of years that have all kind of blended together. And there's even some people that think it's not just a religion but a way of life, which I'll also go into. So, how did it start? So, we're going back into the little geography here. So, we're going to about 2500-ish BC to the Indus Valley Civilization. It's the earliest known major civilization on the Indian subcontinent. And it was gigantic. It was huge. It was bigger than Mesopotamia and Egypt. Yeah, it's this dark brown right here, right? Yes. Yeah, it's like the length of Iran, Afghanistan. Current-day Pakistan. Yeah. Yeah. It was massive. And there are many, many different civilizations. But in my research, the two that stood out the most were Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. And both of those are in present-day Pakistan. Up until last century, Pakistan and India were the same country, which there was a whole thing I won't get into because it would be a whole other podcast in and of itself. But I think it was after the British left India. Anyway. So, the Indus Valley Civilization lasted until about 1700 to about 1000 BC. History recordings weren't super... There wasn't a lot of people recording history at that time. Right. Things were in hieroglyphs, as Emily said in the last episode. Yeah. And I honestly didn't even see anything about written language in this area at this time. Really? So, it's just word of mouth as of right now for the most part. I think so. Yeah. I couldn't find otherwise. So, no one really knows what happened to the Indus Valley Civilization. Mohenjo-daro specifically was subjected to a lot. It was flooded a bunch of times, and it was already considered a dying civilization when it was invaded by Indo-Europeans, who then killed everyone. That doesn't help. No, it doesn't. So, as the Iron Age began around 1000 BC, that is what historians refer to as the proper end of the Indus Valley Civilization in the source I saw. And from what records, what little records there are, Hinduism began between 2300 and 1500 BC, which that's about a thousand years. There's like an 800 time span when Hinduism was thought to have started. Give or take, you know. Yeah. But there is a belief that it has always existed and will always exist. Right. I also alternate in my notes, and this was alternated in the sources I saw. So, there's Indo-Europeans, there's Indo-Aryans, and there's Indo-Iranians. I could not find the difference between these groups of people. Okay. So, your guess is as good as mine. I don't have a guess. I tried. I tried. I tried to look. It looks like most of these people came from the Middle East, around what's now like Afghanistan, Iran, like all those places. Right. So, around 1500 BC, the Indo-Aryan people migrated to the Indus Valley Civilization, and their culture blended with the indigenous peoples there. And it's unclear whose beliefs were more prominent. So, this is one of the rabbit holes I fell into. But there's a side note. I try to figure out who are the indigenous peoples of India. Right. And there are multiple answers. Of course there are. There are three main groups of people who were identified in my research as being involved in the main beginnings of Hinduism. So, the Indo-Aryan slash Indo-Europeans. Don't know if those are the same or different. The Dravidians, who may be indigenous to India, though there's speculation that they originate from the Middle East, but are distinct from the Indo-Aryans. And then there's Adivasi. And that's kind of a collective name given to the different tribes in India. And it's like ethnic minorities and tribes. And this name wasn't even given to them until the 1930s to give them a collective identity. They recognize themselves as indigenous and do not recognize Indo-Aryans or Dravidians as indigenous. The government does not recognize Adivasi as being indigenous. So, there's an argument there. Yes. No one knows. They're like, no, we're the first. And they're like, no, we're the first. And no, you're not the first. But I am the first. Yes. So, Adivasi is a name given to ancient inhabitants in general. And then there's tribes that is like secondary to that, like a social unit. And then there's a lot of different tribes that make up the Adivasi. Another side note. So, the Dravidian art, which, again, is like one of the groups of the indigenous peoples, their art is still very prominent in a lot of Hindu art and temples. And so, I actually have a picture of a Dravidian temple. Okay. So, we're looking at the reds and the blues and the really intricate details with the points and the arches. Yes. It's a beautiful, beautiful temple. I'm going to do my best to pronounce this. Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Tamil Nadu. I tried to look it up beforehand. I did my best. I'm sorry. It is the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world. It is 156 acres, and it heavily features Dravidian art and architecture. That's insane. Yes. It sits on 156 acres. I mean, I can see just three buildings in this one picture. I mean, it looks like a comic book. Like, it's absolutely beautiful. So, just like, you know, there's still influences from these ancient peoples still being used today. Yes. And so, then there's another side note. So, I think I mentioned this earlier. The Indo-Aryan slash Europeans came from Central Asia-ish on war chariots. Nice. So, yes. And then, last fun side note. So, there is actually a group of indigenous Indians known as the Andaman Island tribe who were isolated for 25,000 years. I'm sorry. What did you just say to me? 25,000 years. They were isolated. They just had no other contact with anyone else? Completely isolated. 25,000 years. Yes. And when did – I'm sure we ruined that somehow. I'm sure. When did that get ruined? I don't know. I didn't write it down. I didn't write it down. Damn it. We're going to have to look that up. I'm sure it was in the last couple centuries. I'm sure someone was like, we need to drop an iPhone on them. Yeah. Yeah. We need to ruin their lives. Here's some red dye 40. Here's some processed meat. Let me ruin your life. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, after, like, those were a few tangents I went on. I just – I felt like they, like, brought some, like, context to everything. Yes. And I didn't feel right, like, leaving that out. Exactly. So, all of these different people's cultures and beliefs melded and merged into what's considered Hinduism today. But there's many different sects and belief philosophies that people follow. And around this time, when these peoples were coming into India, there's – something was written called the Vedas text. And they're still used today. They're holy scriptures written by spiritual leaders and practitioners. Vedas means knowledge or wisdom. They're a collection of hymns and verses that are very important to Hinduism and can be considered how it was established. Hindus believe that Vedas are transcendent with no beginning or end. So, there are four main Vedas. There's the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda, and then the Atharva Veda. There's also the Upanishads, which is the last chapter of the Veda. And then the texts were written during what's known as the Vedic period, which is between 1500 BC to 500 BC. So, again, like, another thousand years these texts were written over. This is insane. Okay. So, when did we say that it was established, first established? 2500 BC? Let me go back. Yeah. 2500. I'm just thinking that what we consider, like, you know, Jesus' birth, that when Christianity started, we're talking 2500 years before that. It's just blowing my mind. Yeah. Yes. Get ready to get fucked up. Yeah. No, I'm just fucked up. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. So, these are written around 1500 BC. So, about 1500 years before that. And so then there is an epic period between 1000 BC and 600 BC. And there are two very, very epic poems that were written. And these are also, like, transcendent, and they're very important to Hinduism. One is about, there's the Ramayana, which is written over the span of a thousand years. And I think that one also doesn't have an end. It's just kind of ever going. But that's about Prince Rama, who's a very important character in Hindu, like, folklore and mythology. Wow. And then there's the Mahabharata. I think I did that right. And it's about a conflict between two families, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. That one came up a couple of times in my research. I didn't go too deep into it, because again, that was another rabbit hole. Yeah. And there is a focus. And during this time, during the epic period, there's more of a focus on worshipping deities, specifically Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi. And I'll go into more about who those deities are later. So, you know, I talked about this text. So there's the Vedas and the Upanishads. There's a Bhagavad Gita, which is a song of God. Eighteen Puranas. And I know it sounds like I'm saying piranha from the Amazon. No, it's purana, like P-U-R-A-N-A. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata. So those are all very important religious texts. So after the epic period, we enter the classic period, or time of the Buddha. And that's when Buddhism was very relevant. And then that kind of merged a little bit with Hinduism. And that is around the time of classic Greece. Wow. Like when we think of classic Greece, this is around that time. And then we have a medieval period that lasted from about 580 to 1580. And that's where we see the emergence of the caste system, which I know we learned about in school. In a very mean way. Yes. I was never a king or a queen. I was never up there. I was in the back of the lunch line every time. Yes. So, more on the caste system. So there's a social hierarchy dividing Hindus based on their karma and dharma. So karma, I go into a little bit later, but karma is how your actions influence your... It's just your actions, like into the universe. And then a dharma is like a way of life. Right. I'm pretty sure. But it goes back over 3,000 years. But it really hit its stride in the medieval period. So we have the top of the hierarchy, which is the Brahmin. And those are the intellectual and spiritual leaders. Then the... I'm sorry. I'm trying to do my best to pronounce this. Kshatriyas, which are protectors and public servants. Okay. So I assume that would be like a police force. Okay. I swear I looked these up before. Vaisyas? Vaisyas. Vaisyas are skillful producers. And then the Shudras are unskilled laborers. Okay. And then... Did you say the untouchables? Is that next? Yes. Oh, my goodness gracious. So the untouchables are outside of the caste system. Okay. And they're the lowest level of the social hierarchy. So I just want to make sure I'm getting this right. We're talking about karma. I know what karma is because, you know, we talk about that in a day-to-day thing as just like people who aren't even Hindu. You know, bad karma comes around or, you know, good karma. But dharma, so we're talking about as far as like the hierarchy, these people have a lot of good dharma at the top, the Brahmin, because they are the spiritual leaders, the intellectuals. And then we've got a little less dharma, the protectors, the public servants, and then a little less skillful, you know, producers. And then so it goes down like that. Yes. Am I not getting it right? Yes. I just checked my notes. So dharma is a way of living that focuses on your morals and conduct. Okay. And then karma is a universal law of cause and effect. Got it. So, like, they're both very intertwined. Yes. So the good actions that you take are manifested back to you. Yes. And your good dharma comes back as good karma. Right. Okay. So, but the thing is, is like you don't move outside of your caste system either. Right. So you're really born into it. So, and this is another little side note, because this is full of side notes. So the Adivasi, which I talked about earlier, which is a collection of tribes, they are also outside of the caste system, but they are not considered untouchables or impure. They are autonomous and have their own sovereign tribes. So I just thought that was a little interesting. So they're not even in this. They're outside of it, but they're not considered untouchables. Right. Untouchables are like, you don't interact with them. They're not human, basically. Oh, my gosh. Like, the untouchables were very, they were not considered people. So when India became independent in 1947, it was unconstitutional to discriminate based on the caste system. But there are some, like, remnants of that still today, most notably that most marriages occur within a caste. So they had the caste system from about 500 to 1500 A.D. to 1947. Yeah. Wow. And it was actually, it had actually been around, I think, for a total of about 3,000 years, but it became more prominent in the medieval period. Wow. That's insane. Yeah. It's wild. Like, when I think about how old, like, all of this is, I'm fucked up. I'm just fucked up. Like, this whole time I was like, oh, my God, it's so old. Time wants to fuck you. Okay. Okay. So I'm almost done with the timeline. So in the 7th century, Muslim Arabs invaded some areas of India, and the Muslim period lasted between 1280 and 1757, so about 500 years. And Islamic rulers prevented Hindus from practicing and worshiping and even destroyed some Hindu temples. And 1757, the British invaded. And from 1757 to 1947, so almost 200 years, India was under British rule. Initially, Hindus were free to practice their religion, which was a nice change from the Muslim regime, but then Christianity and, like, Christian missionaries came in and were like, Christianity for you, Christianity for you. And then in 1947, the partition occurred, and that was when India was split into India and Pakistan. That may be something we cover. It is very tragic, so it's very hard to make that, like, a lighthearted ha-ha thing. It was a very violent occurrence. But when this happened, Hinduism became the official major religion of India. And then in the 1960s, Hindus started migrating and spreading Hinduism outside of India. So that is a very brief history of Hinduism. Any questions before I, because I'm, like, halfway done. Like, there's still more. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I think I've got my brain wrapped around it so far. Okay. Yeah. Like, there's a lot to it. Yeah. And there's, I mean, like, you know how Christianity has multiple, like, belief systems. Yeah. And, like, you know, there's, like, Baptists and Catholics and Presbyterians and all of those things. Like, I think it's, I don't think it's, like, as, like, explicit in Hinduism, but there are, like, multiple different kind of beliefs. Right. Philosophies. Okay. So here are the main, next are the main doctrines. I've already talked about Dharma, and it's a way of living that focuses on morals and conduct. And one form of Dharma is holding life sacred. So a lot of Hindus are vegetarian, and that is a way that they live their Dharma. And in Karma, like I said, it's a universal law of cause and effect. So your actions influence the universe, basically. Then there's samsara, which is this continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, and that's based on your Dharma and your Karma. So if you are a very good person, you are reincarnated into a more, like, holy creature. But if you have bad Karma and Dharma, you become, like, a worm or something. Moksha is the breaking of the cycle of reincarnation, and it's considered salvation. You're out of the cycle, and it's becoming part of the absolute soul. So you reach your highest point. You can't get any better. You are done. You've made it. So there is a form of reincarnation that's, like, that total enlightenment that I'm pretty sure, but it's very hard to achieve. So, like, I think from what I remember, and I may be incorrect. Isn't that called nirvana? Is that something else? That's, like, heaven. Yeah. So that's not—I wasn't going into nirvana, but there's, like, an enlightened consciousness that you can achieve. I think in Buddhism it's called nirvana. Oh, okay. But humans are, like, one of the highest levels, but they're not the highest level. But it's really, really hard to achieve. So some people will like to undergo moksha, and that breaks the cycle. So they're no longer reincarnated. But that is considered salvation, and that is the ultimate goal. And then there's atman, which is belief in the false. So that was just something else that I saw. Okay. So next is the gods. How many gods are there? Depends on what you believe. Some people say there are 330 million gods. That's a lot. That's a lot, yeah. That's so many. There are some believers that say there's only one god, and then there's some believe that there are 33 gods. So I found this on hinduismfacts.org. But the Vedas, specifically the Rig Veda, are the authoritative religious texts in Hinduism. And the 330 million gods idea comes from the Puranas, which is a derivative of the Vedas. But the Puranas are also sacred, and they're also authoritative religious texts. And contemporary Hinduism is based on the Puranas. So it just kind of goes down to, like, which one you want to believe and which one you want to follow. But no one worships all 330 million gods. I think that's impossible. I don't know how that would be. Yeah, I think that would be a lot. So you kind of just, like, pick whichever ones you want to worship, and then, like, there you go. Okay. All right. So who are the major gods? I'm not going into all 330 million. Okay, so major gods. We have Brahma. He is the god of creation. And then we have Vishnu. And Vishnu preserves and protects the universe. And Shiva is a big one. Shiva destroyed the universe to recreate it. And Shiva is one of the most popular gods. He is very heavily worshipped. A lot of festivals and pilgrimages and temples that I saw are dedicated to Shiva. So he's a big one. Then we have Devi, who is a goddess that fights for dharma. She fights for the moral way of living. We have Krishna, who's also very popular. He's blue as well. He is a god of compassion. Yeah. He's a god of compassion, tenderness, and love. We have Kashmi, who's a goddess of wealth, prosperity, and purity. And we have Saraswati, who's a goddess of learning. So those are just several of the main gods, or major gods, sorry. There's a few different symbols that are very important. The first is the om. It's the sound, like, om. And that's a sacred sound. And I have what that looks like. Oh, that little symbol right there? Yeah, that's the sacred om. Okay. It kind of looks like a little bit of a backwards three. Yeah. With a little friend to the right of it and a little sky above it. That's a good explanation. Yeah, thank you. It's really hard. I do not read Hindu. So, yeah. You can look it up. You just look up om, and it'll pop up. Then this one is, everyone knows what this one is. It is the swastika. This was originally a Hindu symbol, and it means good fortune or being happy. And you can actually find swastikas a lot, like, all over temples and stuff. Because it is a holy symbol. It means good luck. And then the Nazis had a crown, and they turned it diagonal. They fucked it all up. They fucked it up. Fucking Nazis. Damn Nazis. Fucking Nazis. This is this wonderful holy symbol that's all over India and turned it evil. And so now, like, a lot of people, when they see it, they're like, oh my gosh, are these people evil? And it's like, no. Like, this was their symbol first. And it was good. And then the fucking Nazis. Then the fucking Nazis. But it is still used. Like, it was theirs first, and they're still using it. So the way that Hindus, like, the way it's written in Sanskrit, it's not diagonal. It's like a square. Yeah. So it's like up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Up and down. Don't mess it up. Up and down. No. Don't do it. Don't turn it diagonal. Don't do that. And the next is a Shiva Linga. And I've mentioned this because it comes up in something I research later. But I think there is an episode of Expedition Unknown trying to find a Shiva Linga. But it represents the god Shiva, energy, and the potential of God. So it could also represent male genitalia. Oh. So, which you can kind of see. So the way that a Shiva Linga looks, it's like you have, like, it kind of looks like an oil lamp. Like an old, tiny... It's giving me genie in a bottle vibes. Yeah. Yeah. Or, like, bottle on a genie, you know? Yeah. So you have, like, a base. And then you have kind of a spout that comes out from the base. And then you have this, like, oval thing on it. It's very phallic. Yeah. It kind of looks like a poor spout. Yeah. A little bit. Very long, poor spout. But the thing on top is called the Linga. And that is very important. And I think that specifically represents Shiva. But there's one I found that, like, breaks it down, which I'm not going to do because that would be really hard for me to do. And I think I even wrote in my notes, I can't explain some of the concepts that it can mean because it's very vague. It's just important. It's a symbol and not a symbol. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It doesn't have just one interpretation. But the Shiva Linga is very important. Just know that, please. I will remember. I can't explain it. I tried. I tried. I looked at so many different websites, like, explain it to me. Like, vague, vague, vague, vague. And I was like, okay. Like, I would need to be, like, born in that culture to understand. I'm so sorry. Okay, so the practice of Hinduism. The act of worship in Hinduism is known as puja. Temples are called mandir. You can visit a mandir at any time. But you can also worship at home. There are shrines for specific gods and goddesses you can get. Offerings are super important. Very common offerings are flowers and oils. And then there's pilgrimages to temples and other sacred sites. So, I picked one pilgrimage and one temple to talk about. So, this pilgrimage is called Kumbh Mela, or Kam Mela, or Festival of the Jar. So, somewhere in India. Because time, you know. Time is an illusion. It is an illusion. So, legend. The legend of the Kam Mela. So, we have devas, or gods. And then we have ashuras, or demons. They were once all-mortal beings who would drink something called amrita. And it's a nectar of immortality. And this was created by the churning of the primordial ocean of milk, Shira Sagara. So, we've got a milk ocean that is making nectar juice. Okay. Yep. So, after a thousand years of this churning, a person named Dhanvantari was created. He is the god of medicine and the physician of the gods. So, a guy manifested. Cool. Naturally. Yep. That also happens. Yep. Yep. You got it. So, he held a jar, or a kumbh, of the amrita. Demons stole the kumbh. And it's spelled K-U-M-B-H. I did look at this pronunciation, and it's pronounced cum. Like, C-U-M? So. Like, cum? C-O-M? It's pronounced... I didn't mean to spell C-U-M. I know. I meant to say, like... I know. I was trying to say if it's, like, U-M... Like, it's the B silent, is what I'm trying to say. It is. Okay. It is. It's spelled K-U-M-B-H in English, but it's pronounced cum. Okay. So, the demons stole the kumbh, and the devas chased them for 12 divine days and nights, which was the equivalent of 12 human years. Eventually, the devas beat the demons and drank the amrita, and then they were immortal. And then when they drank the amrita, there were four drops spilled into four different cities, Ahalabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nasik. So, now these four different cities are now sacred sites for the Kumbh Mela, which is the festival of the jar, the jar of amrita. And it rotates between the 12 years between these four different cities. And the dates are predetermined by astrology and planetary movement. So, like, it's not, like, every three years. Like, you could go to two sites in one year. Or you could, like, go every three years. So, it just kind of depends. And then there's also the Maha Kumbh Mela, which is the great Kumbh Mela. And that occurs every 144 years. The last one was in 2013. And more than 100 million people were there. And in this celebration, pilgrims immerse themselves in the rivers, in all these four cities. And that is when the water becomes amrita. That's also determined through astrological means. If someone bathes in the river, that is amrita. It's believed that it will cleanse not only themselves, but 88 generations of their ancestors. So, like, once you bathe in that, like, your whole, like, bloodline is good. Oh, my gosh. Like, from, like, the beginning of time. Let me get some of that. I know. And then it's also believed that the festival helps to allow moksha and spiritual awakening to occur. That salvation and the breaking of the cycle of reincarnation. So, like, once you bathe in the amrita during the Kumbh Mela, like, you're out of that cycle of reincarnation. And you're allowed to join the soul. So, next is a temple. And this is Amarnath Temple. And this was referenced in our little skit at the beginning. So, Amarnath Temple is a huge religious site in India. It's a cave in the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir. It's believed that the god Shiva discovered the secret of immortality and disclosed the secret to his consort here. He calls his followers to the temple to visit his shrine, which is a Shiva lingam made of ice. It naturally forms in the ice. And so, it's a very holy site. And it's only open two months out of the year. Because the rest of the year, it's covered in snow. And so, people hike days to this mountain. It's arduous. But I was reading, there's this blog called Magic India. And they were talking about, like, the religious festivals and the temples. And apparently, if you are, like, doing this hike, like, you get a tent and you get a delicious meal. You get coffee. So, they take care of you on the hike. But, again, like, you have to hike days, miles, miles and miles to this cave in the mountains. But according to legend, Shiva declared that those who visit Amarnath would attain moksha. So, it's also very important. Because you also achieve salvation here. And I think I have a picture. Oh, yeah. I have the picture of the. That is naturally forming. Yeah. And, like, that's why it's considered so holy. It looks like a waterfall that just froze in place. Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. And it looks like the top part of the Shiva lingam. So, it's like the kind of stone. Yeah. So, the best way I can describe it is if you've ever seen the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, those rocks that they're, like, trying to find, those are, like, the top parts of the Shingalingam. Like, they're kind of, like, oval-ish. And they've got stripes on them. I have a confession. Have you never seen. No. Temple of Doom? Why? I'm so sorry. I'll let you down. I'm so personally offended by this. I'm sorry. I'm, you know, I'm horrible at movies. I never sat down long enough as a child to watch a movie. That's Indiana Jones. I've seen. Oh, shit. I guess one of the more recent ones. The Crystal. Yeah, that one. Girl, you've got to watch Harrison Ford and his prime. He was real hot, wasn't he? Yeah. He's still kind of daddy, but it's fine. I mean, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. Okay, so I'll watch it, and then I'll know. Then you'll know what I'm talking about. You'll know. And they talk about Shiva a lot in that movie. So, yes. So, I will say it is my least favorite of the original three movies. But it's still good. So, anyway, holidays. These are, I'm almost done. I know this was a lot. So, there's so many different holidays in Hinduism. So, I just wrote down a few. So, there's Diwali. It's a very famous one. It's Festival of the Lights. So, this occurs at the new moon in the month of Kartik, which is between October and November. No one knows how it started, but it's a celebration of light over darkness. And I saw pictures, like, I mean, it is lanterns and lights, and it's just this beautiful celebration. It sounds like, I mean, not that they're similar, but the same concept. Like, the light over the dark. That's why, like, the pagans would celebrate the winter solstice, is to remind themselves that the light is coming. So, it's kind of the same vibes I'm getting, I think. Yeah, yeah. And it's just this really beautiful light festival. I mean, so many people go to it every year, and it's just really beautiful. Then we have Navaratri, and that's a festival of fertility and the harvest. It lasts for nine nights and ten days. It celebrates the universal mother, and it's celebrated four times a year. I wrote down all the months, but it just occurs, like, between January and February, March and April, June and July, September and October. So, about every quarter. Every, like, two to three months, yeah. Then we have Holi, which actually just ended. It's either Holi or Hali, but it's a spring festival, and it marks the beginning of spring. So, I was looking into that, and this one is also very interesting, another, like, tiny little rabbit hole I went into. So, this is a festival where people throw color at each other. I've heard of this one. Yes, it's a big one. It occurs during the full moon, at the full moon during Fagun, which occurs between February and March, because they have their own calendar. So, like, all are welcome, no matter your social class, your caste, your gender. Like, everyone's welcome to celebrate Holi. So, it starts after Halika, where, so, a little backstory. So, there's this woman named Halika, and she is the sister of an evil king named Hiranyakashipu. I hope that was fine, who attempted to murder his son, Prahlada. So, the evil king told his sister to murder his son. So, she did that by sitting on a pyre with the son in her lap, and then setting it on fire. But he lived. The god saved Prahlada. He became, like, an epic hero, but she burned alive. So, now, and he was eventually made king, so now people will celebrate that by building pyres of the woman and then burning them. Good. Yep. Good, yep. So, and then Holi is celebrated after. And so, there's another backstory for that, as well, revolving the god Krishna. But, celebrators have colored water or powder on each other. Anything goes. Like, you do not want to dress in your Sunday best, because if people see you on the street, they're throwing colored powder at you. Oh, my gosh. But it's, yeah, like, yeah, like, you better be prepared. But it's not, like, done out of malice. It's joyful. It's celebrating. And so, then that blog I mentioned, Magic India, the author of that website said that many families will celebrate at home, like, as the celebration goes on, because a lot of men will drink this drink called Bang. And it's made from cannabis. And they get wild. Nice. So, they're like, we're just going to be at home. It's just a little crazy. Then we have Krishna Jayanti, or Krishna Janmashtami. And that's Krishna's birthday celebration. So, he's also, like, a major, very popular Hindu god. We have Maha Shiva Ratri. That's the festival, another festival dedicated to Shiva. And it's worshiping the Shiva lingam. And the planets are aligned in a way that there's a surge of energy in humans. So, it's also based on astrology. Seems like astrology and Hinduism really go hand in hand. They really do. And, like, the movements of the planets, like, they dictate, like, what holidays are being celebrated and, like, where, like, you go to specific sites. And that was just a couple. Like, I looked up one pilgrimage, one temple, like, a few holidays. Wow. Like, there's so much that, like I said, like, to cover, like, India and Hinduism and all the culture and, like, it would be its own podcast. Like, it's, there's so much involved in the worship. That's so cool. I feel like I didn't say much because I was just, just, like, staring in zone. You were learning. I was, like, in it. I was, like, listening to the podcast and I was, like, having to remind myself that I'm part of the podcast. And I'm not just learning right now. It's the same thing. Well, I'm glad that you've learned something. Like, I said in the last episode when I was, like, I was researching this and poor Kyle was falling asleep. And I was, like, and then there's this festival called the Kumbh Mela and it's a festival of the jar and, like, this is the mythology and blah, blah, blah. And then there's another myth from the temple of Avernath and, like, it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Poor. And he was, like, literally, like, falling asleep. Poor Kyle. He got it all. He got it all. He got this nine pages of notes in, like, ten minutes because I was just, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's funny. So that is all I have. There's so much more information. I highly recommend the website Magic India, magic with a K, magicindia.com, all, like, one word. This person talks about, like, her personal, like, travels in India and, like, attending the different temples and, like, ceremonies and, like, you can organize by, like, Eastern or, like, different, like, areas of India, like, different, like, belief practices. Like, there's so much information. Like, that was another rabbit hole. I was, like, don't do it, Morgan. Don't fall into it. That is so cool, though. Yeah, it's really, really interesting. I learned a whole lot about Hinduism that I feel, like, so much more than what we learned in school. I feel like what we learned in school is just the caste system. Yeah. And, like, the three main gods. Yeah. That's just, like, the tiniest, like, chip of the tip of the iceberg. It's such a rich culture. It's really amazing. Yeah, I feel like we need to learn more about other cultures, regardless if we're going to practice those cultures or not. It's really important to learn about other people's cultures and their way of life, just because, I mean, not only is it fascinating, but it just makes you a better person to know about all this stuff. And I agree. Like, when you know more about other people, you treat them better with more understanding. And we just learn from each other. Like, when you're around the same people all the time, what do you learn? Nothing. You know? Nothing. Nothing. So, yeah, that's my episode. I hope you enjoyed it. I have, like, different sources, like links and stuff. I think there's show notes. I hear other podcasts talk about show notes, so I'll put, like, my sources in show notes. Yes, yes. We are definitely going to put sources in the show notes. Remember that the skits that we do are definitely taken with some creative liberty. That skit at the beginning was definitely a little dumbed down than what I'm assuming the full story was. Yes, I had to really, like, narrow it down. It follows the same overall plot, but, like, there's a lot more detail. And I was like, there's just so much. And it's important. So I highly recommend, like, going and, like, looking for yourself, so you don't have to keep listening to my voice. Or keep listening to her voice. Yes, you can. Just not, like, about Hinduism, because I'm sure I butchered every single Indian word I could know. We tried. We tried really hard. I tried so hard. I hope, like, it was respectful for the culture. If you have any corrections that you would, like, if you're a practicer of Hinduism and you have any corrections that you would like to make, please let us know. Or, like, in general, like, if you're a listener of our podcast and you hear something and you're like, that's wrong, please let us know in a very polite, yes, a polite, effective way, please. And I know jujitsu, so be careful. I don't. I'll let Morgan fight you. I'll just try. It's fine. I will protect you. All right. Well, check out our Instagram for, you know, updates and pictures. You can comment. Your nice comments. Thank you. If you have a specific story or tale, time, invention, anything you want us to cover, you can email us at illequithistory at gmail.com. All one word. No spaces, no dashes. Just one word. No caps. We made it simple because we're simple. Yes. All right. Again, like, it's now time to end the podcast, and I'm really bad at this, so we'll just say goodbye. Goodbye.