Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Different ancient rituals On parading through the history of India, one encounters five different religious philosophies that have influenced Indian culture before the Common Era. All the religious traditions have different rituals, gods, and distinct sets of doctrines; each of the doctrines lay down rules of conduct to attain salvation and eternal happiness. Brahmanism is the earliest definable religious thought of India followed by two contemporary traditions: Jainism and Buddhism. The importance of prayer, and its relation to the Gods and the universe through various ritual practices form the central idea of Brahmanism. Jainism and Buddhism seem to have originated due to remorse at carnage and suffering in the world. Both the traditions preached asceticism and rigid discipline to attain salvation. Due to different beliefs and traditions, one observes that the image of fire has a different symbolic meaning to the different philosophies of the Indian tradition. The Vedic tradition recognizes fire with the God Vishnu and also regards it as the liaison between men and heavenly figures. Fire has a different meaning to a Jain Monk and a layman. Like the hindus, the layman uses fire for poojas, in different rituals and b