Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For ordinary Hindus, fulfilling one's ritual and social duties is the main aim of worldly
life. According to the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita, doing your duty is more important than
asserting your individuality.
The Hindu pantheon is prolific: some estimates put the number of deities at 330 million.
The main figures are Brahma, who created the universe, and his consort Saraswati, the
goddess of wisdom and music; Vishnu, who sustains the universe and is lawful and de-
vout, and his consort Lakshmi, the goddess of beauty and fortune; and Shiva, the destroyer
of ignorance and evil, and his consort, Parvati, who can be the universal mother or the fe-
rocious and destructive Kali. Shiva has 1008 names and takes many forms: as Nataraja,
lord of the
tandava
(dance), his graceful movements begin the creation of the cosmos.
Islam
Sri Lanka is home to almost two million Muslims - descendants of Arab traders who
settled on the island from the 7th century, not long after Islam was founded in present-day
Saudi Arabia by the Prophet Mohammed. Islam is monotheistic, and avows that
everything has been created by Allah.
After Mohammed's death the movement split into two main branches, the Sunnis and
the Shiites. Sunnis emphasise following and imitating the words and acts of the Prophet.
They look to tradition and the majority views of the community. Shiites believe that only
imams (exemplary leaders) can reveal the meaning of the Quran. Most of Sri Lanka's
Muslims are Sunnis, although small communities of Shiites have migrated from India.
All Muslims believe in the five pillars of Islam: the
shahada
(declaration of faith: 'there
is no God but Allah; Mohammed is his prophet'); prayer (ideally five times a day); the
za-
kat
(tax, usually a donation to charity); fasting during the month of Ramadan; and the hajj
(pilgrimage) to Mecca.
Want to understand more about people's names in Sri Lanka? It's all revealed at
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