Hindu Religion

Religion as a part of anthropological studies is of extreme importance because “although the significance of religion may vary over time and place, it is clear that religion is salient for people across cultures.” (Tarakeshwar, Stanton, Pargament, 2003) Surveys conducted by several individuals and groups reveal that a great majority of peoples, across nations and continents are influenced by religion and the rituals engendered by the beliefs of particular religions. Rituals are integral to all forms of religion, but for the Hindu, religion is exemplified by a set of guidelines that are followed with the same fervor as centuries before.
This paper attempts to look at the importance of rituals in Hindu religious culture, with special emphasis on the daily puja or worship, and explicated by the ritualistic worship offered to Lord Shiva.
The term ritual, as it is used in the context of religion can be summed up as an activity that “is a culturally constructed system of symbolic communication. It is constituted of patterned and ordered sequences of words and acts often expressed in multiple media, whose content and arrangement are characterized in varying degree by formality (conventionality), stereotype (rigidity), condensation (fusion) and redundancy (repetition)” in the words of Tambiah (1981) (qtd in Jacobs, 2007)
Rituals constitute the set of behavioral expectations from practitioners of the specific faith to which they belong. These rituals are seen to “form the foundation of an individual’s everyday life.” (Tarakeshwar, Stanton, Pargament, 2003) Hindu religious rituals call upon its practitioners to start the day with “morning prayers and meditation.” (Tarakeshwar, Stanton,
                                                                                       
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