The basis of Hinduism rests Islam first came to India with on the belief of action and reaction: as you sow, so shall you reap, a process that, incidentally, may manifest not just in this lifetime, but also in the next, necessitating the need for ritual prayers to remove the hurdles caused by one's actions in a past life.

At the pivot of Hinduism is its trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is the Creator of the Universe, and is represented with four heads, one for each quarter. Unfortunately, Brahma was cursed by an angry sage, and so does not have any temples where he is worshipped, with the exception of the one in Pushkar where, on the full moon night of Kartik Poornima (in November), he attracts one of the greatest gatherings ever of the devout, who take a ritual dip in the pond fronting his temple, and pray to him to preserve the universe.

But preservation is the task of Vishnu, the most popular of the trinity, and manifested in the form of nine avatars that, strangely, follow the theory of the origin of life. Vishnu's first incarnation was as a fish, then The Osian shrines outside Jodhpur. a tortoise, and then a boar, lion, horse, and dwarf. If this follows the sequential pattern in which life forms developed, then maybe religion does have pointers for science! However, it is as the heroes Ram and Krishna that Vishnu is best known, and the exploits of these deities are well known to all Indians.

Shiva, the destroyer, is usually depicted as a mendicant who spends his life in the Himalayas. Known to have survived the drinking of poison, he wears a garland of snakes, the crescent moon graces his hair like an ornament, the river Ganga flows from his matted locks, and he wears a tiger skin. The wrath of Shiva is fearful, the third eye, on his forehead, is usually shut: when open, it wreaks havoc and destructon.

And if Shiva rises to dance, a trident in one hand, and a damroo or drum in another, the cosmic dance causes such turmoil that the earth trembles and even the heavens shake. Shiva is often worshipped in the form of a phallus (linga or lingam) placed in the receptacle of the female yoni.

In Rajasthan, Shiva's consort Parvati is also worshipped, her benign form the reason for the many marital celebrations in her honour (Gangaur and Teej), while her mani-festations as Durga and Kali, when she fights the demons and is terrible in her wrath, are manifestations of divine energy. It is these forms that manifest as many of the local godde-sses and family deities Visitors will find, too, that the Hindu pantheon with its millions if gods has two that are both popular, and widely worshipped. These include the elephant-headed, pot bellied Ganesh, Shiva's son, propitiated before worship is offered to any other god because he is the remover of obstacles, and Hanuman, the monkey-god, who led Ram's army to Lanka to destroy the demon Ravana, and who is a loyal soldier in Ram's durbar.

These and other herores are to be found in the two great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. While the Ramayana concentrates on Ram as the ideal man, the Mahabharata is the tale of two war-ring clans of cousins, the 100 Kauravas and the five Pandavas, with Krishna playing a key role and siding with the Pandavas. His great sermon to Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers, forms the sub-text for the Gita, which can be read as the Hindu gospel, or seen in consonance with the Mahabharata. Krishna's own depiction in Hinduism is less serious, for he is the subject of much of the art and music in Rajasthan for the Rasleela or the dance divine that he performs with his beloved, Radha, and with the gopis or maids of Brindavan who are all in love with him.