Visiting a Mandir (Hindu Temple) | Religious Studies – My Life, My Religion: Hinduism

Suitable for teaching 7-11s. Eleven-year-old Vraj shows us around a Hindu temple and tells us about the religious statues that Hindus keep in their temples and homes. A clip from a series about different faiths in the UK.

Subscribe for more Religious Studies clips from BBC Teach on Mondays when we have them in: httpss://bit.ly/BBCSubscribeTeach

If you found this video helpful, give it a like.
Share it with someone.
Add the video to your own teaching playlists.
Create an account, subscribe to the channel and create playlists for different age groups, sets and syllabuses.

=====================
Eleven-year-old Vraj shows us around a Hindu temple, called a mandir, and tells us about the religious statues called murtis that Hindus keep in their temples and homes. Hinduism is over 4,000 years old and made up of lots of different Indian religious traditions. Hindus believe in one God, Brahman, but the millions of qualities that Brahman has are represented by millions of different gods and goddesses. Vraj compares this idea to a bunch of flowers; although every petal or flower is different, they are still one bunch. Going to worship at a shrine is like visiting the gods and goddesses. Mandirs are centres for the community and worship, with many murtis to pray to. Vraj rings a bell to awaken god when he enters, then bows and prays to the statues ask for help or to thank them. His family mainly worships Shiv or Shiva, the creator, but he can ask other gods if he needs particular help. For example he might ask the monkey god Hanuman for strength, or Ganesh the elephant god for intelligence. We see Vraj at the service of worship called Aarti, performed at least twice a day. He says it makes him feel closer to god.

This clip is from the BBC series “My Life My Religion Hinduism”, in which British Hindu children tell us about the beliefs and traditions behind their religion. It was originally shown on BBC 2’s Learning Zone in 2015 as part of a series made for primary school children about different faiths in the UK that can be used to teach Religious Studies or PSHE.

For more clips from My Life My Religion: Hinduism: https://bit.ly/TeachMLMRH
For our Religious Studies playlist: https://bit.ly/BBCTeachRS
For Class Clips users, the original reference for the clip was p02n5wvr.

=====================
Teaching Religious Studies or PSHE?

KS2: Before the clip is shown, some artefacts or pictures could be shown of some of the gods and goddesses. With the children in pairs one could describe an artefact to the other, who has to try and draw it without seeing it. They could then come up with questions, like what would you like to know about this object? They could then watch the clip and see if their question is answered.

Pupils could consider together what Vraj says about the many gods of Hindu tradition being like a bunch of flowers, “if there’s a whole bunch of flowers we would say they’re one bunch.

“They are all flowers; but each flower has different qualities, colours, petals, leaves, smell, size. Hindus think the same applies to God.

“Brahman is one, but contains all kinds of differences. This is why we have many forms of the gods and goddesses to worship.”

Pupils could come up with other similar ideas which might help explain Hindu beliefs: If God was a flower, it would be a bunch of flowers. If God was a colour, it would be a rainbow. If God was a tree it would be a forest. Do they find these ideas help them to understand their own thoughts about God?

Vraj suggests 5 ways in which prayer helps him. Ask the pupils to list them, and then give their own suggestions as to how prayer can help people:

1. It helps me facing my exams
2. It gets my brain working
3. It helps me to focus
4. It makes me calm
5. It gives me peace

These clips will be relevant for teaching Religious Education and PSHE at KS2 and KS3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Religious and Moral Education at National 2 and 3 in Scotland.

=====================
For more clips from other subjects at the BBC Teach YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/bbcteach
More from BBC Learning Zone: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone
More resources from BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/education

=====================
Subscribe to create your own customised playlists, and get notified about our latest clips. As we have them, new videos will be uploaded on the following days:

Mondays: Biology, Computer Science, Music, Religious Studies
Tuesdays: Drama and Performance, English Language, Maths, Physical Education
Wednesdays: Languages, Media Studies, Modern Studies and PSHE, Physics
Thursdays: Art and Design, Chemistry, Geography, History
Fridays: Business Studies, Design and Technology, English Literature