As a student and practitioner of Wicca, Hinduism, and other Pagan paths I have found much confusion and disagreement over what Hindus believe and practice and how to classify them. I was pleased to find that almost half of the people I have discussed this subject with were either open minded to looking at Hinduism as a Pagan tradition or already considered it one. Unfortunately, I also encountered what I can only classify as �Pagan Fundamentalist� views and even what appeared to be racial and ethnic prejudice about skin color, geographical location, and cultural practices that may be considered �Pagan�. Since many Pagans have no direct experience with Hinduism I have decided to share my knowledge to educate and hopefully erase misinformation and prejudice.

Some of the above described attitudes originate with uneducated authors and teachers. Right now over 3/4 of the Pagan/Wiccan books in our home library put Hinduism outside of what is know as Paganism. Students who read these books may not take a good look at Hinduism before deciding if it is Pagan or not. Other Pagan/Wiccan authors acknowledge the similarities between Hinduism and �Pagan� traditions, some even calling Hindu the largest category of Paganism (Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone in �The Pagan Path�).

It is unfortunate that few of the books read on Hinduism in the US today are written by actual Hindus, but even reading books written by life-long Hindus will not capture the essence of the religion. Most of what is read has little to do with how the religion is actually practiced by families. Books primarily address topics such as Yoga techniques, translation of scriptures, and discourses by famous teachers. These all give an incomplete picture of Hinduism as a religion. Like many Pagan traditions, it is a way of life in harmony with nature which is not something that can be fully captured or learned by reading a book. Hinduism must be experienced to be learned.

Most Hindus do not label their religion as a �Pagan� faith due to negative stereotypes centered around the word �Pagan� originating from Christian and Muslim conquerors. Many Hindus are not aware of the modern Pagan movement and the revival of pre-Christian faiths. Once the values and teachings of Pagan, Earth Based spirituality are explained, most Hindus agree with them and will point out very similar teachings in Hinduism.

One of the major Hindu magazines, Hinduism Today, has embraced the word �Pagan� as an appropriate label for Hindus. It also prints articles about the struggles of non-Hindu Pagan religions, such as Native American, Mayan, Hawaiian, and pre-Christian European religions, to regain respect in the modern world. They have even published excellent articles specifically about similarities between ancient Hindu and Celtic religions with discussion of modern Celtic spiritual revivals. ( I would also like to point out here that other paths such as Native American spirituality also have followers who reject the word �Pagan� due to negative reactions. For instance, the native Caddo Indians of my homestate of Louisiana recoil from the words Pagan and Witch, but once the modern day positive meaning of these terms have been explained they are accepted.)

Small groups of people within both communities are making efforts to bridge the gaps between the Hindu and Pagan community. A small but growing number of Wiccans are practicing a Hindu based system, with Wiccan style ritual, but using Hindu mythology and archetypes. Some encounter the connections between Hinduism and Paganism through interfaith marriages. I certainly am an example of both of these last two points. Last year, Green Egg magazine devoted an entire issue to the Hindu/Pagan connection with excellent articles written by people with knowledge of modern Paganism as well as Hinduism. Hinduism Today continues to actively support indigenous, nature-based religions and traditions outside of Hinduism.

Over the last three years, as I have become more active in the Pagan community, I have encountered the following explanations from fellow Pagans as to why Hinduism cannot be a Pagan religion. It is often depressing and disheartening for me to hear some of the reason people give me. Keep in mind that modern Paganism is a mostly composed of people that are very new to studying it and other world religions (often less than 5 years). Some Pagans also have a strong dislike of any religion that seems too organized and does not promote total rebellion against authority.

1. Hinduism has never been persecuted, as were the Pagan religions of European and American peoples, therefore it is not Pagan.

First of all, why must a religion be persecuted to considered Pagan?

Hinduism has been persecuted by Moslems and Christians. When India was invaded by Muslims, they attempted genocide to wipe out the �idol-worshipers�. Hindus living in India under British rule found it necessary to at least outwardly convert or adopt more Christian practices to obtain employment or secure a place for their child in a quality school. Hinduism is widely misunderstood by Westerners who mostly only know of it through the ISKON (�Hare Krishna�) group and National Geographic magazine. (Few Westerners know that �Hare Krishnas� did not exist in India before it emerged as alternative religion in the US. The majority of its founding members were former fundamentalist Christians which should explain where they came up with the practice of begging for money.) The �Hare Krishna� group, even though it appears to be Hindu to the outside observer, doesn�t claim to be a sect of Hinduism all. ISKON claims only a Hindu influence. For this and other reasons, I place them outside my own definition of Hinduism.

Even today Hindus face intolerance from fundamentalists in the US who even attack Yoga classes as �anti-Christian�. Right now, a Hindu community in my home state is facing attack from Christians for trying to build a temple and cultural center. One of the most popular gods, Shiva, carries a trident and wears a crescent moon on his head. This image is often confused with the Christian �devil� just as the Pagan �horned god� is. (Christian missionaries in India insist Shiva is the Christian devil!) Hindus are also persecuted for using Goddess images, Goddess symbols such as the yoni, and phallic symbols in their practice.

Fundamentalist Christians and even some uneducated Neo-Pagans I know ridicule Hindu �worship� of snakes or other animals as superstition. They fail to see that Hindus worship the spark of divinity in all things from a goddess to a person, a blade of grass, or grains of sand. Hinduism is currently under attack in India by Christian fundamentalist missionaries (like Pat Robertson) who seek to convert them and promote misinformation about their faith.

The word �Hinduism� is a term of geographical origin (from the Indus River) originated by invading Muslims people to describe anyone living in India that was not Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. Used in this way, �Hindu� really referred to anyone in India in that was practicing a �Pagan� tradition. Though the word is used by modern Hindus, a more accurate name for their tradition is Sanatana Dharma or �Eternal Sacred Duty�.

2. Hindus do not acknowledge a Goddess.

Absolutely not true! Hindus form the largest group of people on the planet who acknowledge the Goddess. Gaia or Mother Earth is known by many different names in Hinduism. Hindus recognize a wide variety of goddesses from Radha to Sarasvati to Kali. �Shaktas�, followers of one of the three main branches of Hinduism, view the Goddess as Supreme in the same way as many Wiccans such as Dianics. A more common, balanced belief in Hinduism is that the God and Goddess are One.

3. Hinduism is not nature-based.

The Hindu calendar revolves around celebrations linked to the seasons and agriculture, such as the Spring festival of Holi. The earth is personified as the Great Goddess, Bhu Devi who is depicted in the form of a cow. Hinduism celebrates both the new moon and the full moon in all temples! Ceremonies and rituals are often timed to take advantage of their effects just as Wiccans and Neopagan ritual are. Hinduism acknowledges the existence of nature spirits and elemental beings which are referred to as �devas�. The Hindu concept of Brahman focuses on seeing the Divine in the entire cosmos down to the atomic level.

4. Hindus have negative, non-life affirming attitudes toward human body and sex in general.

India was ruled for over 700 years by Muslim, and then Christian invaders. Many current Indian cultural attitudes about nudity and sex are the result of cultural influence from these traditions. Sexual fulfillment or kama is one of the four main goals of Hinduism. Sexual symbology is present in most Hindu temples in the form of a Shiva linga and yoni. Hinduism has a long tradition of practitioners who prefer to worship nude. They are referred to as digambara or �sky-clad�. (probably the original source of the term used by Pagans) Some Hindu Tantric practices use sexuality as part of their ritual. Many Western authors who write on sacred sexuality have been heavily influenced by Tantra. Aside from Tantra, married couples are encouraged to worship the divine within their spouse in all ways including sexually. The Kama Sutra is one of many books on sexuality that is considered a holy text. In fact, it is appropriate in Hinduism to worship deity in many ways including as a passionate lover.

Members of my modern Pagan community are still struggling with negative, ingrained Christian attitudes and beliefs that they were taught as children. If we tolerate them as they overcome these oppressive elements surely we should do the same for Hindus.

5. Hindus approve of female infanticide and the abuse of women.

This is taking a cultural phenomena and applying it to the most commonly occurring religion in the area. This only promotes misunderstanding. For instance, among my local Pagan community there is a high percentage of people who abuse alcohol so therefore I could conclude that ritual abuse of alcohol must be a part of their religion. Such is the beginning of inaccurate teachings. Much of this information comes from sensational news stories by Western journalists meant to portray Hindu and Indian culture as inferior to our own. Think back to how you as a Pagan feel when you see newstories about Wiccans and Pagans practicing devil worship and murdering children. Unfortunately, there is the potential for abuse to occur in all religious traditions. We must not confuse a few incidents involving individuals with the higher teachings of the tradition.

6. Hindus believe in arranged marriage.

Yes, many do. However, there are seven others forms of marriage including self-choice. One must keep world history in mind here that arranged marriage occurred among many cultures that practiced extended family kinship systems such as Native American and Celtic tribes. Until around 200 years ago arranged marriage was the NORM worldwide rather than the exception. Who are we, as part of the Western culture with it�s high divorce rate, teen pregnancy, and own domestic violence, to criticize other cultures for their social behavior when our own is not perfect? Wiccans and Neopagans are certainly not free from these problems.

7. Hinduism is one of the Five Great Religions of the world, so it is not Pagan.

This method of classification uses numbers rather than beliefs. So when a �Pagan� path such as Wicca or Asatru gains enough followers will it cease to be Pagan? Judaism is also considered one of the five great religions of the world, yet there are only a small number of Jews on the planet and most of them are agnostic. Actively practicing Wiccans probably outnumber actively practicing Jews. Does that mean Wicca should be one of the six great world religions and therefore not Pagan?

8. Hinduism is an Eastern religion, therefore not Pagan.

This point of view holds that Taoism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and many other lesser known and/or �tribal� faiths are not Pagan based solely on geographical location. Hindus use both �magic circles� and the five elements (tattvas) as do Wiccans and Neopagans. They practice advanced pranic healing techniques, divination, and use magical charms, incantations, and talismans. Many Pagan magickal theories and practices (such as �prana�, �auras�, �astral travel�, and �chakras�) are directly derived from Eastern religious texts. It is the belief of many anthropologists that the European cultures and the Hindu culture have a common proto-Indo European ancestry. Ancient Hindus practiced some of the exact same rituals as the ancient Europeans such as fire sacrifice, the horse sacrifice, and driving cattle between two fires for purification. Some modern Druid groups have used the Hindu Vedic fire rituals to reconstruct Druidic nemeton ceremonies, because they considered it to be the most similar rituals still extant. I won�t go into the numerous other similarities in religion, mythology, and language, because they would fill volumes.

9. Hindus are not Pagan, because they have dark skin.

This Euro-centric ideal is very damaging to Paganism in general. Paganism should be defined by belief and practice not by geographical location, the number of followers, skin color, or race.

10. Hinduism is rigidly structured and Pagan religions are not.

Currently there are highly structured paths in Hinduism, such as some Bhakti or Yogic systems, while there are also segments of Hinduism that allow total personal freedom from teachers, organizations, and hierarchy. Within Hinduism there is the capacity to �design your own path� or to follow one with more discipline if that is what the individual needs at the time. Contrary to popular belief, Hinduism does not require having a guru.

I want to point out here that not all modern Pagan spiritual traditions are free from �ridged structure� either. This varies drastically from group to group. (Some Gardnerian groups for instance pride themselves on structure and perfect similarity between groups.) Solitaire practitioners are the only Pagans with freedom of practice.

11. Eastern Religions are for people with �Eastern minds�. Eastern spiritual traditions are unsuited to Westerners.

I commonly run across this in Pagan books where an author acknowledges the greatness of Eastern traditions then says that Westerners are at best ill-suited to understand such philosophies. I cannot help but feel somewhat insulted when I read that the author feels I am not intelligent enough to understand Hindu, Buddhist, or Taoist thought. Some authors feel that we should only be interested in following spiritual traditions that are in our direct genetic ancestry, and try to justify this with information about historical ancestor worship. Anyone of European ancestry, they feel, should not bother worshiping �Eastern� Gods. (They fail to mention that ancient Europeans were always interested in the potential power held by Gods of other cultures and often adopted and worshiped foreign Gods and Goddesses with great effect.) Most beliefs on reincarnation however, do not specify rebirth in a particular geographical region, race, or culture group. My genetic ancestry is German and French Creole, but I have many more past life memories of being Hindu in India.

My husband, who is a Celtic Wiccan Priest, but works professionally as a licensed psycho-therapist states that he perceives underlying self esteem issues in authors who feel a need to justify why Westerners should only study the author�s choice of path. He feels this is the real basis for their desire to convince people to turn their eyes back to non-Eastern (they can�t really be classed as Western) ideas and magickal systems and take such pains to convince people how superior these are for all �Western� minds.

IN CONCLUSION:

I consider both my Hindu and Wiccan practices to be entirely Pagan. Like most Pagans, Hindus revere nature, family-centered culture and worship, and do not believe that one religion is suited to all people inhabiting the Earth. Hindus do not seek converts ( ISKON or �Hare Krishnas�, as I pointed out, do not claim to be Hindu) or try to force anyone to change their beliefs. Hindus believe in the worship of ancient Gods and Goddesses, karma (the Wiccan rule of three), reincarnation, and �avoidance of harm�. Different terms may be used but the defining core beliefs are the same.

I would like see the modern Pagan and Hindu communities working together and communicating. We have so much to share and learn form each other and it would be a shame if Euro-centric ideas about skin color, geographical location, race, etc. would prevent this from happening. My definition of Pagans remains as anyone practicing spirituality other than Christians, Jews, and Muslims (I also exclude Satanists from Paganism here also as Satan is derived from the Christian mythology). I also see a need for the Pagan and Wiccan clergy, as well as authors, to learn about Eastern traditions as well. Don�t just lump them in with Christianity --they are very different indeed! I have heard one �high priestess� insist that the Sanskrit word chakra was an �old European term�. Our clergy should at the least know the meaning and origins of such words.

Much of my inspiration and courage to write this article came from Lord Ganesha (the beloved Hindu elephant-faced Deity) who kept pushing me to do so. As he specializes in opening doorways and new beginnings I can only pray that he will facilitate a growing kinship between my Hindu and Pagan community.

Blessed Be and Jai Ma (Victory to the Divine Mother)

Radha

Radha Fagan is a third-level priestess of the Woodland Celtic Wiccan tradition and Yoga Siromani (teacher of Yoga and Hinduism). She and her husband, Couggar, are both teachers of Woodland Celtic Wicca, and are also strong devotees of the Hindu mystic Mata Amritanandamayi Ma affectionately know to millions as �Ammachi�. Radha has studied and practiced the Hindu tradition for over 15 years and began studying Wicca with a Gardnerian based coven 8 years ago. Her current projects include maintaining websites for the Church of Woodland Celtic Wicca and the grove that she and her husband belong to, Ancient Oak .

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