cosmos, Brahma broke out of his shell, using half of the shell
to make the sky and the other half to make the earth. He then
created the deities and the plants and animals of the world.
Eventually he looked within himself and found the divine
source of his being.
Vishnu originated during the Vedic era as a minor de-
ity who was an ally or servant of Indra. During the fi rst and
second centuries c.e. he became a major object of veneration,
deemed the protector of the earth. Whenever the earth was
threatened with destruction, he would take a physical form
called an “avatar.” Among his many avatars was the fi sh Mat-
sya, who saved Manu, the fi rst man, from a fl ood. Another
was a boar that, when a demon threw the earth to bottom of
the cosmic ocean, killed the demon and returned the earth to
its proper place. Another two of Vishnu’s avatars were Rama-
candra and Krishna, who developed their own worshippers.
Ramacandra, or simply Rama, was the son of a king who
exiled him when he married Sita, a princess from another land.
Ravana, the demon-king of Sri Lanka, kidnapped Sita. With
the help of his brother Lakshmana and the monkey Hanu-
man, son of a deity and a monkey, Rama defeated Ravana and
rescued Sita. Rama represented the ideal man: virtuous, cou-
rageous, a good husband, and a good leader. Krishna was the
son of the sister of a wicked king in northern India. Th e king
tried to have Krishna killed, but Krishna’s mother sneaked
him to safety in the country. As a baby he killed a demon.
He grew up to be entrancingly handsome, and many young
women yearned for his company. Later he killed the wicked
king and taught people how to live good spiritual lives.
Shiva was both creator and destroyer. His meditating
generated the spiritual energy that sustained the entire uni-
verse. When his female companion, Parvati, covered his eyes
for fun, the universe was almost plunged into darkness, but
Shiva manifested a third eye on his forehead; as long as he
could see, the universe would have light. He later turned his
third eye to look inward to meditate. Shiva was also a fertil-
ity fi gure, as well as the deity of medicine and of dance. His
worshippers used dancing as a way to express joy but also to
express the chaos that could destroy the universe.
In the 500s b.c.e. a member of the Kshatriya caste, Vard-
hamana (ca. 599–527 b.c.e.), established Jainism. Jainism
took its name from jina, meaning “conqueror.” Jainists were
expected to swear that they would not kill, lie, have sexual re-
lations for any purpose other than to procreate, or be greedy.
Jains were supposed to be nonviolent and very strict vegetar-
ians. Th ey were forbidden to take any animal’s life and would
place strips of gauze over their nostrils and mouths to avoid
breathing in any tiny creatures. Brahmanists regarded them
as heretics because they did not accept the Vedas as religious
scriptures and ignored the caste system.
Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 563–ca. 483 b.c.e.) was a mem-
ber of the Kshatriya caste. Th rough meditation he had a divine
revelation that made him the Buddha, a person who achieved
true enlightenment. Aft er his revelation he spent most of his
life teaching across northeastern India. Th e Buddha believed
that to live is to suff er, and that suff ering is caused by desire.
To e s c a p e s u ff ering, a person should eliminate desire through
meditation and should do what is morally right. If someone
did this, his or her soul would skip reincarnation and go to
Nirvana, where it would join with the universal spirit.
When Asoka (r. 265–238 or ca. 273–232 b.c.e.), king of
the Maurya Empire (321–185 b.c.e.), converted, Buddhism
became the state religion. Asoka followed the Buddhist doc-
trine of tolerance and allowed other religions to be practiced
in peace. He tried to make his subjects more moral through
public proclamations explaining why he was a Buddhist.
During his reign Buddhism spread through most of India. It
eventually reached the island of Sri Lanka, where it became
the dominant religion. Buddhism began to wane in India in
the 100s c.e. By then it had spread into China.CHINA
During his reign (221–210 b.c.e.) China’s emperor Qin Shi
Huangdi tried to have all documents about the past de-
stroyed. He wanted to eliminate the possibility of imitating
the errors of past governments, and he wanted world history
to begin with him. He had over 40,000 Confucian scholars
buried alive to eliminate their knowledge, but a few man-
aged to survive and, in the welcoming Han Dynasty (ca. 202
b.c.e.–ca. 220 c.e.), recited what they remembered of the an-
cient texts. Almost everything about China’s religion before
Qin Shi Huangdi’s reign was lost. What is currently thought
about Chinese religion before that time comes from archaeo-
logical discoveries and inferences about past beliefs drawn
from writings of the 100s b.c.e.
Th ere were many cultures in ancient China, and each
probably had its own special gods and spirits. Th e earliest
religious beliefs were probably animistic. Animism never en-
tirely left ancient China, and it was a source of magic among
peasants. Human sacrifi ces were common. For instance, in
the 400s b.c.e. a governor of the upper Yellow River discov-
ered that people were still sacrifi cing girls to be brides of the
river in springtime; he put a stop to it, but especially in the
areas south of China human sacrifi ces to fertility goddesses
continued into modern times.
Animal sacrifi ces were also common. In 30 b.c.e. the
Yellow River was close to fl ooding. Th e local governor walked
to the riverbank and off ered the sacrifi ce of a gray horse to t he
river. Th e governor used his magical jade ornaments to cast
spells to protect his people. As the river rose, all his aides fl ed;
only he and one assistant stayed. Aft er the waters stopped just
short of breaking free to fl ood the land, the governor was re-
warded with gold and a promotion. Such mystical practices
deriving from animism continued for thousands of years.
By the time of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–ca. 1045
b.c.e.) ancestor worship had become prevalent not only in
the Yellow River area but also in surrounding regions that
would one day fall under the rule of China. People would
leave off erings to their ancestors at tombs of their ancestors.
Kings were expected to consult their ancestors in times ofreligion and cosmology: Asia and the Pacific 847