Editing India (section)

==Indian Religion, Gods and Mythology==
India is most notably from a religious/mythological perspective to foreign nerds because it's one of the only major countries in the world (other than [[Japan]]) where its original polytheistic religion survived the coming of the monotheistic religions more or less intact. We are talking, of course, about '''Hindu'''.

Now, India is a '''huge''' place with a fuckton of people, so there are a lot of religions, including Christians, but the three major religious powers of India are definitely Islam (imported centuries ago, as described above), Buddhism, and Hindu, which is generally perceived as the "original" Indian religion by foreigners.  

Also there's Sikhism, which is pretty new (barely 600 years old) but historically has punched well above its weight in actual fights due to their specific beliefs, which basically boil down to [[Deterrence|''"we are a peaceful religion as long as you are also peaceful"'']].  The Sikhs took advantage of British rule to spread throughout the empire, and today most Commonwealth militaries have rules to allow Sikhs their turbans and beards while serving, 'cuz two world wars showed they are really good at fighting.  Anyway, back to Hinduism...

Hindu is a glimpse into the world when polytheism was the norm, and it can be quite hard for foreigners to wrap their heads around. Seriously, if you think [[Classical Mythology]] is complicated, you ain't seen nothing yet. There is a vast and sprawling pantheon of gods and spirits in Hindu, with a tangled family tree that only gets more complex because Hindu deities are prone to spontaneously generating sub-gods, transforming into new gods to embody different aspects of themselves, and simply reincarnating as beings that are at once entirely separate from their "progenitor" deity and yet one and the same. Not helping is that Hindu shares certain themes of cosmic balance and harmony with Buddhism, so deities can have "dark" roles or aspects but still be considered sacred and holy.

Since Hindu is a living religion with hundreds of thousands if not millions of practitioners, this makes people a little touchy about including it in roleplaying games, which isn't to say that it hasn't made some appearances, such as in [[Deities & Demigods]] or [[Scion]].

One of the more well-known aspects of Hindu belief is the concepts of "karma" and "reincarnation", which probably are related to why Buddhism has very similar beliefs, but that's a topic for dusty theology professors, not a fucking 4chan wiki. In short, humans accumulate karma based on their actions in life, with good deeds granting good karma and bad deeds granting bad karma. One's karma then determines what your soul will be reborn as (human, animal, even a god or demon) in the process of ''samsara''. Ultimately, Hindus seek to rid themselves of karma entirely, both good and bad, and by doing so escape the cycle of reincarnation.  Important note: Hinduism regards [[What|the cow as a higher form than man]].  

As with all forms of polytheism, Hindu has never been short of religious conflicts, as dominant sects frequently absorbed deities from competing sects into their mythos as aspects of their own favored deity, so many of those once distinct deities have coalesced together over the centuries. The Puranic period saw a deliberate effort to harmonize rival sects together, which gave rise to the Trimurti ("Three Forms"); this is the subset of the Hindu pantheon that is most well known in the Western world. It is also the subset of Hinduism which formed the mythological backbone of two popular [[RPG]] games: ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' and ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]''.  The three cyclical concepts underlying the Trimurti are Creation, Preservation, and Destruction, with a particular deity filling each role as the divine manifestation of that concept, with deities differing by sect.  When the roles are filled by goddesses (''devi'') the triad is known as the ''Tridevi''.  In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' the Trimurti are known as the '''''Triat''''', in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' the Trimurti are known as the three '''''Primordia''''', and ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' uses an atheist version of the concepts called the '''''Metaphysic Trinity'''''. The [[grimdark]] spin that [[White Wolf]] puts on the Triat is that the three deities are embroiled in a vicious theomachy against each other, and have all fallen from grace and have become corrupted extremist versions of themselves.  

====Deities of Creation==== 
'''Brahma the Creator''' is said to be the creator of all things, but apart from that not much is known about him save for his tendency to be a bit too free to grant favors.  Unlike Brahma who has no dedicated temples, his feminine counterpart '''Sarasvati the Creatrix''' sees active worship not only in India but in surrounding countries in various permutations, such as in Japan in the form of Benzaiten.  In the ''Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes'' supplement from [[TSR]], '''Brahama''' was the ruler of the Hindu pantheon (via conflation with the related Hindu concept of ''[[wikipedia:Brahman|Brahman]]'').  In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' the analogous androgynous deity of creation is known as the '''Wyld''', and in ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' the corresponding concept is called '''Dynamicism'''.

====Deities of Preservation==== 
'''[[Vishnu]] the Preserver''' is one of the two best known Hindu male deities; Vishnu preserves the world from evil and upholds virtue. He is said to have had nine incarnations, or ''avatars'' that have manifested when he was needed along with one which has not yet appeared:
*''[[Matsaya]]'' the fish- Saved humanity from a great flood.
*''[[Kurma]]'' the tortoise- Aided the gods in churning the Ocean of Milk to produce the water of life ''amrita''.
*''[[Varaha]]'' the boar- Pulled the earth out of the sea after it fell in due to the weight of the human race.
*''[[Narasimha]]'' the man-lion- Slew the Asura (demon) lord Hiranyaksha, who had received the boon that he could not be killed "during the day or night, inside or outside, by any weapon, and by man or animal". So instead Narasimha [[rules lawyer|killed him at twilight with his claws as he was stepping through his doorway]], hitting every loophole at once. 
*''[[Vamana]]'' the dwarf- When the Asura Mahabali conquered the universe, Vamana won it back through cunning. 
*''[[Parashurma]]'' the axe-bearer- Defeated the Kshatriyas when the warrior caste grew prideful and oppressive. 
*''[[Rama]]''- Hero of the ''Ramayana'' and prince of the kingdom of Kosala, famed for his war against the Asura king Ravana and his friendship with Hanuman the monkey king. 
*''[[Krishna]]''- The most beloved of Vishnu's avatars. Many legends speak of him, but he is best known for his appearance in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' as the charioteer for the prince Arjuna. Notably, he's popular enough to have inspired sects that claim Vishnu is one of ''his'' avatars and not the other way around. Also the supreme God in the Hare Krishna cult/airport conga line. 
*''[[Buddha]]''- Yes, the same Gautama Buddha from Buddhism. Supposedly took on this form in order to [[Troll|trick atheists into obtaining enlightenment]]. Needless to say, the Buddhists disagree with that interpretation. 
*''[[Kalkin]]''- The "Future Avatar", who will appear upon a white horse and destroy evil forever. 

In the goddess-centric denominations of Hinduism in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, the goddess '''Lakshmi the Preservatrix''' (a.k.a. '''[[Vaishnavi]]''') sees more worship than Vishnu.  In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' the analogous feminine deity of preservation is known as the '''Weaver''', and in ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' the corresponding concept is called '''Stasis'''.

====Deities of Destruction====
Despite his title, '''Shiva the Destroyer''', the other of the two best known Hindu male deities, was viewed as a benevolent being who clears away the old and corrupt to make way for new creation. He is commonly depicted either as a slayer of demons or as a wise ascetic, and he's also strongly associated with dance (the means by which destruction and creation anew is achieved). In older scripture he was called '''Rudra''', a deification of destructive storms.

In the goddess-centric denominations of Hinduism in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, the goddess '''[[Kali]] the Destructrix''' (a.k.a. '''Parvati''') sees more worship than Shiva. You might recognize the fiercer depictions of Kali from [https://youtube.com/watch?v=R0S8JZ6YO5c that one scene in Indiana Jones where the human sacrifice gets his heart ripped out of his chest].

In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' the analogous masculine deity of destruction is known as the '''Wyrm''', in ''[[Orpheus]]'' the nominally feminine deity of destruction is called Grandmother, in ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' the corresponding concept is called '''Entropy''', and in ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' it is called, well, '''Oblivion'''( altrough both Grandmother and Oblivion seems to be something entirely separated and sometimes even enemies of the Wyrm).

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====Hindu Creation Myths====
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Every sect of Hinduism has its own version of the creation myth in which they somehow spin their own favored deity as the primary agent of creation, even if it is just simply claiming that a well-known name of a creator/creatrix deity is really just an aspect of the adherent's favored deity.  Within the collective of Hindu myths of creation and related topics there is a running theme of recurring cycles of creation and destruction of consecutive universes; one iteration of universal creation and destruction is called a ''kalpa''. 

Furthermore, every deity is but a single aspect of the ''Brahman'', the transcendent Godhead from which all other things derive from. It cannot be understood directly, but by adhering to one's dharma (their duties in life) and working off karma over many lifetimes a human can attain ''moksha''- freedom from samsara and eternal communion with the Brahman. 
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