Ganesa and Visnu are Hindu gods. Before we talk about Hinduism, the religion, try this experiment: You will need a clear drinking glass, half full of water, and a spoon full of salt. Look at the salt carefully to see all the separate grains. Taste just one grain. Salty, isn't it? Put all the salt in the water and stir with the spoon. Taste the water. Salty, isn't it? Where are all the individual grains of salt now? 

Of course, they have all dissolved in the water. You cannot see them individually anymore. But you know they haven't disappeared, because the water is salty. So what does all this have to do with Hinduism?

We have met two Hindu gods, Ganesa and Visnu. People in India worship different Hindu gods. You can think of these gods as individual grains of salt. They have individual lives, personalities, and powers. You can also think of them as the salt dissolved in water. When you taste a drop of this water, you cannot tell which grain of salt made it salty. Each drop of salty water gets its taste from all the grains of salt. All the Hindu gods are, in fact, one.

The main Hindu gods are:

• Siva (Shi-va, short I, as in bit), often seen as the destroyer of the world
• Visnu, often seen as the preserver of the world's order
• Brahma (Brah-ma), often seen as the creator
• Devi (Day-vi), the goddess

To learn more about Hinduism, read these books

Dilip Kadodwala’s book Hinduism
Published by Thomson Learning, 1995, New York, NY

Sue Penney’s book Hinduism
Published by Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1997, Austin, Texas

Check out these web sites

Take another look at Hinduism
(http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/manorlh/hinduism/hindui.html)

Explore Hindu worship further
(http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/freer/puja/start.htm)

Explore the Hindu Universe and India
(http://www.hindunet.org/home.shtml)

More on Indian culture
(http://cs.art.rmit.edu.au/projects/media/elephants/front/index.html)

Look at more Indian art
(http://sgwww.epfl.ch/berger/First/english/start_india.html)