Hinduism: fun facts and quiz

Many Hindus worship one ultimate reality, Brahman, through many deities. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Shiva transforms.

Key fact
Ganesha, with an elephant’s head, is honoured as the remover of obstacles.

Dharma is one’s duty and right way of living. Karma is the idea that actions have consequences, shaping future lives in a cycle of rebirth.

Key fact
Release from the cycle of rebirth is called moksha.

Hindu scriptures include the Vedas, among the oldest religious texts in the world, and epics like the Mahabharata, which contains the Bhagavad Gita.

Key fact
The Mahabharata is one of the longest poems ever written.

Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrates light over darkness with lamps and sweets. Holi, the festival of colours, welcomes spring with clouds of coloured powder.

Key fact
Diwali is celebrated by over a billion people.

The Ganges river is sacred in Hinduism. Pilgrims bathe in it at holy cities like Varanasi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Key fact
The Kumbh Mela gathering draws tens of millions of pilgrims.

Yoga began in ancient India as a spiritual practice combining breathing, meditation and ethics. Its postures became popular around the world much later.

Key fact
The UN declared 21 June the International Day of Yoga.

Hindu temples are seen as homes for the divine, often richly carved. Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the world’s largest religious monument, was first built as a Hindu temple to Vishnu.

Key fact
Angkor Wat later became a Buddhist temple.