Hinduism+Practices

**The Mandira**
Hindu worship is different than any other. The Hindu temple is called a //mandira//. In the mandira there are many different structural features and physical locations for certain prayers, rituals, and gods. One of the most important parts of the mandira is the shrine room. Different gods can be worshipped here and the Brahmin priest can enter to wake, dress, bathe, feed, and put the image to sleep. This is only one of many religion specific rituals in the mandira.

**Important structures in the Mandira**
Other important sites in the mandira are the memorial shrines, ceremonial chariots, nandi, and secondary shrines. Memorial shrines are shrines within the mandira to honor local priests and holy people, although the Hindu tradition is to cremate the body, sacred bodies are preserved. Ceremonial chariots are "small temples on wheel", they contain a small statue of the honored god or deity and are paraded in many festivals. Nandi is a statue of Nandi the Bull, Shiva's mount and personal attendant. Lastly, there are secondary shrines. These are literally secondary shrines. These are shrines within the mandira to honor the secondary god of the mandira; in a mandira devoted to Vishnu, there may be a secondary shrine for Shiva and vice versa.

**Offerings and Sacrifice**
Another important part of Hindu worship is offering and sacrifice. In the Hindu religion, sacrifice is very important. In a mandira there will be shrines for followers to make sacrifices at. Common offerings include: flowers, fruit, rice, and money. Whether a Hindu is worshipping at home or in the mandira, they will often make sacrifices. In a mandira these will often be used by the priests or distributed to the community as holy food.

**Worship at Home vs. the Mandira**
When worshipping at home, one will pray in a room dedicated to worship, a small altar, or even just pictures and statues of the deity. These in the house rituals will often be performed with the entire family. Hindu's will pray and worship three times a day. Worship in the mandira is not much different than at home. The central shrine in the mandira is the "spirit" of the worshipper and the stairs are the flight of the spirit to the heavens.

**Pilgrimage**
Lastly, there is pilgrimage. In Hinduism it is considered important to see and be seen by the deity. Popular pilgrimage sites in Hinduism include: rivers, temples, mountains, and other sacred sites. These are places where it is said that the deity has appeared or become manifest. One specific pilgrimage site is Kumbh Mela. This pilgrimage is done every twelve years with almost 10 million Hindu's. Kumbh Mela is where the Ganges and Jumna combine, it is said to give spiritual purification and wash away sins.

**Design Elements in Hinduism**
Another important part of the Hindu worship is symbols and what certain structures and images represent. The design elements in the Mandira are very important to the worship and what they represent to the worshippers. The Hindu Mandira Design Elements play a large part in how Hindu's worship. If a person were to visit a Mandira with no background information on the design elements it would look like any normal building but with the information a person could tell how important these elements are to the worship and how much they explain.

Hindu worship is similar to Buddhist worship. In the Buddhist temple there are shrines devoted to the gods and used for sacrifice and worship. Another similarity is the use of sacrifice. In both religions, worshippers will often bring an offering to temple, or their home shrine, and give an offering to the god. In both religions these offerings are often distributed within the temple or the community.

Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. Hinduism World Religions. New York: Facts on File, 1991. "Religion & Ethics - Hinduism." BBC Religions & Ethics. BBC. 4 Jan 2008 . Ganeri, Anita. Hinduism. Laguna Hills, CA: QEB Publishing, 2006. Breuilly, Elizabeth, and Joanne O'Brien. Religions of the World. New York: Facts on File, 1997.