Special Traits of Hinduism - Term Paper Example

Hindus have a fairly conservative culture. This can be partly attributed to the fact that they have lived for a long time with the Muslims. Thus, many Hindu women cover their full bodies including their heads like Muslim women. Hindus are strictly monogamous. Although a man can keep two wives at one time, yet he has to have a strong rationale for having the second wife. A vast majority of Hindus live in joint family systems. Parents have a life-long association with the children and like to keep the children with them even after the children turn into adults and get married.

This makes it challenging for the bride to adjust to the extended family system. The bride is expected to adjust in the family and adapt their norms and values rather than the other way round. The adult children are expected to financially support the parents and the family. When Hindus meet one another, the younger touch the feet of the adults as a sign of taking their blessings. Hindus greet one another by joining both of their hands in an upward-clap-like fashion. Different Hindus worship different gods and goddesses and seek help from them.

One god common to all Hindus is called Bhagwan. Ethnocentrism is an individual’s tendency to see the world mainly from the ethnic cultural perspective. Hindus believe that they get up to seven lives before their spirit departs eternally from the body. They also believe that the kind of deeds one does in a certain life has an impact upon the conditions one would have to face in the successive life. Hence, an individual who does bad deeds is likely to be raised as an animal in successive life, whereas a person who does good deeds will be rewarded accordingly in the successive life.

Therefore, Hindus see this world as a place full of challenges, where they have to behave ethically and do noble deeds so that they deserve happiness in the times to come.