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       One of the major religions in India is Buddhism. It was founded by a man named Siddhatha in 365 B.C. He later became the Buddha, which means "enlightened one". Buddha is the main god or deity in Buddhism. He teaches that all suffering will end if personal desires end. In this religion, your goal in life is to make your way to Nirvana, which is a state where you are not reincarnated, but go to a kind of heaven, where nothing is wrong and everything is perfect. To get to this place you live a good life, do your Dharma (or duties), and end all of your personal desires. The four noble truths that help to end desire and live a good life are: existence is sorrow, sorrow arises from desire, sorrow will cease when desire ceases, and that there is a path to be followed to end desire. This path is called the Noble Eightfold path, which is just a matter of doing everything right.

         In Buddhism, the right conduct is considered as not injuring living things, not stealing, not acting in an evil way in passion, not lying, and not using alcohol or drugs. Most Indians are vegetarians because of these rules. Monks live by even more rules. They don't eat after midday, don't sing, dance, or take part in other amusements. They don't use perfume, don't wear jewelry, make-up or other beauty things. They don't sleep in luxurious beds and don't except gold or silver. Their primary scripture was the "teachings of Buddha", and there were no formal priests. Some people didn't agree with all of the rules, so they made another branch of Buddhism. This branch was called Mahayana.

Mahayana: Four hundred years after Buddha died, two kinds of Buddhism began; one for monks, and one for everyone else. Mahayana means "greater vehicle" because it was able to help more people get to Nirvana. They believed all beings, when they go to Nirvana, became a form of Buddha. The Basics were the same, but Mahayana had several more deities. A few of them are Avalokiteshvara, (compassionate and helpful) Manjushri, (possessing wisdom and the destroyer of ignorant people) Vajrapani, (enemy of evil) Maitreya, (representing gentleness and Buddha in the next age) and Kshitigarbla, (guard of the purgatories and helper of souls through them). The two female deities are Tara (wife of Avalokiteshvara), and Prajnaparamita (the personification of all virtues of the Bodhisattvas). They were said to be more active on Earth than the males.

        The second main religion in India was Hinduism. The word Hindu comes from the Persian language, which means "India". They chose this because this was the most commonly used religion in India. This religion was not founded by anybody in particular, but was just a common set of beliefs that were developed over time. The religion was passed on from generation to generation, so if you were born a Hindu, you stayed a Hindu. It was also suggested that most emperors were Hinduists. Hinduists believe you are reincarnated after you die, and if you live a good life then you are born well in the next. The opposite goes for if you were bad. This religion also includes a Nirvana and a Purgatory.

       In Hinduism, the main goal in life is to entertain the gods or goddesses. The two major gods or goddesses are Vishnu and Shiva. Almost all of the other gods are related to them in some way. Vishnu is "the ultimate source of everything that is", and rules the highest heaven. He was said to have come to earth in human form when there was great danger, and every one of those times his wife Lakshimi gave him a human body. Lakshimi is the goddess of good fortune. Shiva's wife is named Parvati and their son is Ganesha. Ganesha has an elephant head because his father cut off his head when he mistook him for a stranger. Then, when Shiva realized it was his son, he beheaded an elephant and used that to replace his son's head. There are so many other gods, but a few are Angi, Indra, Durga, Rama, Sita, Brahma, and Varuna.

       In this religion, there are several scriptures including Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, and Mahabhata. Also, common festivals were Divali (New Year's), Holi (Spring), Janmastami (Birthday of Krishma), and Shivaratri (Festival of Shiva). Two sacred symbols were the cow, which stood for earth, and the locus flower, which stood for purity and fertility. You will notice this flower in most statues and paintings of Hindu dieties.