Indian Religions Congregated Through Indian Temples As A Way Of Social Life

Visiting the temples on different festivities is a must in most of the Indian families. Even though these temples are distributed regionally in far off places, yet this norm is highly prevalent in the society. Without a visit to the temple or place of worship, no celebration or festival seems to be over. Indian society is highly influenced by the Indian religions in almost all parts of life. Since the days of history dating back to ages, religious sentiments have played a major role in shaping up the society. Temples had not perhaps been built, but Indian subcontinent had a range of stories to behold regarding rituals. Gradually, Indian rituals started to be practised in the temples as well as homes. People structured the temples in India as manifestations of their beliefs.

• Temples as attributes of Indian religions

Ancient, medieval and contemporary Indian society has seen a lot of religious buildings in different eras. Rulers and powerful people etched their supremacy by constructing religious structures, creating a piece of history in Indian religion. If the temples inIndia are considered to be reflections of Indian religions, then these can be attributed to other religions besides Hinduism. Even though mosques were built by followers of Islam and churches or cathedrals by the Christians, they speak strongly about the Indian religions. Through these massive structures, every religion had its story known to the society at large. Not only were these structures created with the best available stones and crafts, but the rigorous ceremonies and prayers held in such sacred locations turned out to be the epitome of Indian rituals.

• Present day norms speak of mix of Indian religions

As laid down in the present day constitution, India is a country with secular principles. This is also suggestive of the fact that the distribution is done on the basis of tolerance to every religion and religious practices. Indian temples are going to have their importance as long as there is society and Indian religions are going to be practised for the same period. It may be evident that Indian rituals vary from one community to another and one geographical area to another, but the basic concept of praying and offering rituals to the gods and goddesses is playing a major role in the way the society turns up.

• Festivals are interlinked with rituals, temples and religions

Prior to every festival in India, the temples in India are given offerings. For the Christmas celebrations, Christians visit their churches. Muslims offer their ritualistic prayers during Ramadan and Eid. Hindus have Dusshera and other festivals for visiting the temples. In all these festivals, as well as in many others, the society is seen to amalgamate into one large community. Indian rituals may be followed in each religious place of prayer and in the homes, but in terms of society, these festivals are celebrated with a feeling of oneness.

It has been a unique scenario in the country to have pilgrimage places in India. These are inseparable parts of the Indian temples and Indian religions as most of these pilgrimage places in India are close knitted with festivals, temples and rituals. Not only is it difficult to separate each of these aspects of Indian religions, but sustenance in the society is quite difficult with any one of these missing.