Hinduism also has the sacred thread ceremony, called Upanayana for Dvija ( twice-born ) boys that marks their coming of age to do religious ceremonies.

This word is used to denote the person who is currently in that phase of his life which is called ' Garhastha ' according to the ancient Hindu system of life called Chaturashrama, prescribed in Manusmriti for the Dvija castes.

Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name,, Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also.

Their characteristic cult of the Palici is influenced by Greek myth in the version that has survived, in which the local nymph Talia bore to Adranus, the volcanic god whom the Greeks identified with Hephaestus, twin sons, who were " twice-born ( palin " again "; ikein " to come "), born first of their nymph mother, and then of the earth, because of the " jealousy " of Hera, who urged Mother Earth, Gaia, to swallow up the nymph.

For Brahmanas and twice-born men, " causing an injury to a priest, smelling wine or things that are not to be smelled, crookedness, and sexual union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of caste " In the same chapter, the atonement for twice-born men is a ritual bath: " A twice-born man who has intercourse with a male, or with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes.

One clear example of sanskritization is the adoption, in emulation of the practice of twice-born castes, of vegetarianism by people belonging to the so-called " low castes " who are traditionally not averse to non-vegetarian food.

This process has been called ' Sanskritization ' in this book, in preference to ' Brahminization ', as certain Vedic rites are confined to the Brahmins and the two other ' twice-born ' castes.

In 1887 he put on the robe of the Sanyasi or ascetic, the fourth stage, according to the Hindu Shastras, in the life of the twice-born man, and in this manner passed the remainder of his life, giving above ten hours each day to Vedantic studies and holy contemplation.

According to Vedas, holy name of Vishnu is so powerful that one ( even outcaste or meat-eater as in ISKCON ) can become brahman ( dvija, twice-born, by qualification if he actually knows vedanta and Brahman, Vishnu ) by accepting initiation from bona-fide spiritual master ( like A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ).

Out of these only the first three, namely, Brahmins, Kshatriya and Vaishya, are collectively known as dwija ( twice-born ) are entitled to upanayan and the study of the Vedas.

During the Vedic period sacrifices were strictly restricted to the men of the three upper castes called dvijas meaning twice-born.

At the time of the Buddha, instruction in it was restricted to members of the twice-born castes.

" Other Indologists assert that homosexuality was not approved for brahmanas or the twice-born but accepted among other castes.

The fact that in India the term Arya was the synonym of dwija, " twice-born " or " regenerated " supports this point.

The order considered astral projection and other higher states of awareness as the natural ancestral heritage of all pure-blooded (" twice-born ") Aryans.

" Here again, it can be noticed that the proscriptions are specifically for brahmana and twice-born males ; there is no mention in the Manu Smriti of punishment for homosexual behavior between males of the other classes.

Thus he compiled the great historical narration called the Mahabharata for women, laborers and friends of the twice-born.

( Also see, Stages of life for a twice-born man.

The landed elites ' demands were couched in avowals of their ancient rights as " twice-born " landowners and of the Kurmi's alleged lowly, even servile, status, which required them to serve.

Promoting what was advertised as soldierly manliness, the Kisan Sabhas agitated for the entry of non-elite farmers into the British Indian army during World War I ; they formed cow protection societies ; they asked their members to wear the sacred thread of the twice-born, and, in contrast to the Kurmis own traditions, to sequester their women in the manner of Rajputs and Brahmins.

Srinivas defined sanskritization as a process by which " a low or middle Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual ideology, and way of life in the direction of a high and frequently twice-born caste.

Like the Brahmin Bahuns, their caste is among the " twice-born ", so called because males are symbolically reborn at age thirteen, when they begin to wear the janai.

Hindu Chhetris, like the Brahmin Bahuns, wear a sacred thread called a janai, which signifies their " twice-born " status.

* Moksha – Hinduism

The Indus Valley Civilization ( IVC ) was a Bronze Age civilization ( 3300 – 1300 BCE ; mature period 2600 – 1900 BCE ) which was centred mostly in the western part of the Indian Subcontinent, considered as early form of Hinduism performed during this civilization.

* Relationship between Jainism and Hinduism – According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Article on Hinduism ,"... With Jainism, which always remained an independent Indian religion.

* Independent Religion – From the Encyclopædia Britannica Article on Jainism: "... Along with Hinduism and Buddhism, it is one of the three most ancient Indian religious traditions still in existence.

A 3 year ( 1948 – 51 ) teaching experience at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Calcutta, made him discover Hinduism through the way it shaped the personalities of the students entrusted to him.

The third figure was the Russian Helena Blavatsky ( 1831 – 1891 ), one of the founders of the Theosophical Society, through which she propagated her religious movement of Theosophy, which itself combined a number of elements from Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism with Western elements.

A fifth individual whom Drury identified as an important influence upon the New Age movement was the Indian Swami Vivekananda ( 1863 – 1902 ), an adherent of the philosophy of Vedanta who first brought Hinduism to the West in the late 19th century.

* October 26 – Diwali, a religious holiday in Hinduism

The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and ( later ) Hinduism dated around 1700 – 1100 BC.

** Holi – Hinduism

* April 1 – Ramanavami – Hinduism

** Hanuman Jayanti – Hinduism

* August 2 – Raksha Bandhan – Hinduism

* August 10 – Janmashtami – Hinduism

* October 24 – Vijaya Dashami / Dusshera – Hinduism

* Ashvattha – the world tree of Hinduism, held to be a supernatural F. religiosa

* Plaksa – another supernatural fig in Hinduism ; usually identified as F. religiosa but probably F. infectoria

Hinduism – predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent.