Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as “Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses. Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god. At one point in Orhan Pamuk’s perceptive novel Snow, the protagonist Ka highlights the supreme paradox of religious mobilisation in his part of the world. Defenders of militant Islam draw upon religious vocabularies to justify their politics, without once mentioning God or faith. It is precisely the distinction between politics in the name of religion, and faith, that Shashi Tharoor in this rather charming book on Hinduism and Hindutva seeks to emphasise.

So who knows truly whence this great creation sprang? Who knows whence this creation had its origin? Hinduism as we have it today is a collection of belief systems, some call them sampradayas or darshanas, and they are bound together by the core concepts of karma, punarjanmam and mukti. Whether one literally believes in any or all of these, he/she who is consciously a Hindu seeks the truth of these within the tradition to reach mukti as he/she copes with the challenges of day to day living. At the same time he has no problem respecting the paths of others to find their own truth. The book leads me to believe that Sashi Tharoor is one of them and it is to be welcomed. The problem, as Tharoor himself accepts, is that Hinduism is composed of many and often incompatible strands. It is therefore difficult to find an authentic and authoritative tradition that can hold up a mirror to Hindutva. What is regarded as a dominant tradition, the Vedanta — highly metaphysical, Brahmanical and Sanskritised — was constructed by colonialists. My difficulty with the book is where the author writes about what he calls as "political Hindutva". Tharoor is currently a member of the parliament by the graces of Indian National Congress whose members prefer to hide their Hindu identity, permit and even encourage the denigration of Hindus and Hinduism by the people of other faiths for gaining political benefits. No wonder that he throws venom on the BJP and RSS. Whether it is a calculated move on his part for his political survival or it is his schizophrenic interpretation of the contemporary Hindu society, he totally misses the religio-social situation in the country and how Hindus have been victimized ever since independence.Vaishnavism recognizes many deities, including Vishnu, Lakshmi, Krishna and Rama, and the religious practices of Vaishnavism vary from region to region across the Indian subcontinent. In the second half, Tharoor who belongs to Congress Party (opponent of Modi's BJP Party), writes littanry of complaints against BJP Party. Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as a “way of life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion. The Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, 18 Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata are also considered important texts in Hinduism. Origins of Hinduism Many subcategories also exist within each caste. The “Untouchables” are a class of citizens that are outside the caste system and considered to be in the lowest level of the social hierarchy.

One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul. This philosophy holds that living creatures have a soul, and they’re all part of the supreme soul. The goal is to achieve “moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul.Some of complaints against Modi are not convincing. For example, he complains about Modi building large statue of Sardar Patel. instead of building millionth statue for Gandhi and Nehru, it is nice to other freedom fighters also get some recognition. Besides, it creates so much economic activity due to tourism. Shaivism is one of the largest denominations of Hinduism, and its followers worship Shiva, sometimes known as “The Destroyer,” as their supreme deity. I remember a line from the early days of my reading and it goes like this – ‘If a poet falls in love with you, you will forever be immortalised’. That was the feeling I had when I finished reading this book. On one side are trolls of social media, simply bashing you for any and every point that you express. The validity or otherwise of the point matters the least to them. All that they want is to put you down and insult you. They turn every debate into a bitter argument and leave a bad taste in the mouth. At the other end of the intellectual spectrum are people like Shashi Tharoor. These are the kind of people that you don’t normally mess with, or else they ‘immortalise’ you by writing in reams to prove how dumb you and your opinions are. Hindus can also worship at home, and many have a special shrine dedicated to certain gods and goddesses.

Hindus worship many gods and goddesses in addition to Brahman, who is believed to be the supreme God force present in all things. This book is not meant for the reader who wants to learn about Hinduism per se – she could learn much more by reading the works of Swami Vivekananda or Dr Radhakrishnan – or perhaps more recent authors like Dr Karan Singh and Wendy Doniger. A) There are nude male and female sculptures in Hindu temples (B) There are idols of goddess in temples (C) From A and B, it is perfectly logical for MF Hussain to paint Goddress in the Nude and no one should complain about it.

What are Hinduism's holy books?

Food is an important part of life for Hindus. Most don’t eat beef or pork, and many are vegetarians. But if you're willing to try and engage Hinduism on its own terms--the only approach with any integrity, after all--then this is a wonderfully helpful book, and one worth reading more than once.