Hinduism

Beliefs and traditions

Take a look through these websites to find information on Hinduism such as beliefs, gods, goddesses, religious practices, and festivals.

Britannica School

Britannica School is part of EPIC, a collection of databases put together especially for students of Aotearoa New Zealand. You will find lots of information on the origins and practices of Hinduism.

• Select the Middle level to begin with.

• Enter the words 'Hinduism' into the search box.

• Select the link Hinduism (religion) to read about its history, festivals and religious practices.

• Explore all the other links from the page of results to know more about Hinduism.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Hinduism. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

World History (Gale In Context)

This EPIC database has a range of international history topics including information on world religions like Hinduism.

• Go to Browse Topics from the top of the page and look for Hinduism.

• There is information about the different periods of Hinduism.

• Look down the page to More Like This to find more links to related information on Hinduism that cover scriptures, rituals and more.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Khan Academy

Created for students and educators, this education website covers maths, science, economics and history topics like Hinduism.

• Enter the keyword 'Hinduism' into the search box.

• Select to read Beliefs of Hinduism which covers common beliefs.

• Read the article Hinduism and Buddhism, an introduction about the origins of Hinduism, Hindu gods, and the connection between Hinduism and Buddhism.

Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.

Wonderopolis

This wonderful website presents information in a colourful graphic format with easy-to-follow content.

• Search for 'Hinduism'.

• Look at the articles What are the five days of Diwali? and Do you celebrate Holi? about two popular Hindu festivals.

Tips: This website is run by The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) so we should be able to trust the information.

Fact Monster

Fact Monster is an online encyclopedia and homework site. It has lots of basic facts and is a good starting point for all sorts of questions. If you look down to the bottom of the site, you will see it’s run by Pearson Education, a publisher of educational books.

• Enter the keywords 'Hinduism'.

• You will find lots of links to different articles about many aspects of Hinduism, including society and beliefs and the festival of Diwali.

Hinduism around the world

The websites below will help you understand how Hinduism spread around the world.

PBS Learning Media

This website is a source of educational media that can be used in class.

• Enter keywords 'World Religions'.

• Go to the link World Religion Map and select Launch.

• Select different countries to see the percentage of Hinduism and other religions followed there.

• Do another search for 'Hinduism' and you will get a link to The Expansion of Hinduism.

• Select View to read how Hinduism spread around the world.

Tips: This website is run by two American Charitable Educational Foundations so we should be able to trust the information.

World History (Gale In Context)

World History from EPIC has information about world history, from ancient times right up to modern history.

• Enter 'Hinduism' in the search box.

• Look down the page for the article Hinduism to read about Hinduism in the West.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Khan Academy This site also has information about the spread of Hinduism around the world.

• Enter the words 'spread of Hinduism' into the search box.

• Look down the page of the article Hinduism for a paragraph on Political developments and the spread of Hinduism.

Hinduism in New Zealand

These websites will guide you to Hinduism in Aotearoa New Zealand, its practice and festivals celebrated.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we look down to the bottom of the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage.

• Enter 'Hinduism' into the search box.

• The article Hindus includes the beginning of Hinduism, temples and Hindu organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

The Indian Weekender

This newspaper is a weekly publication that targets the Indian ethnic community in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Look through the news, entertainment, comments, features, video and photo gallery or search using your keywords.

• You will find interesting facts about some Hindu festivals like Durga Puja, Ram Navami, Lohri and Karva Chauth.

Tips: Keep in mind that this is a media site with specific content. Some websites have advertisements (or ads) that ask us to buy something or tell us to "click here". It’s best to ignore these ads and focus on the information we’re looking for.

Books

Look for these titles and others on Hinduism in your school library or public library:

• At the Mandir by Shalini Vallepur.

• Hinduism by Harriet Brundle.

• A Hindu life by Cath Senker.

• Celebrating Hindu festivals by Liz Miles.

• Hindu stories by Anita Ganeri.

• A brief introduction to Hinduism by Tim Dowley.

SCIS no: 5438240