Hinduism Basics Study Guide: 80 Flashcards from Dharma to Advaita Vedanta
Study Hinduism basics with 80 flashcards: dharma, karma, the Vedas, Trimurti, the six schools, āśramas and Vedanta, plus the gaps to fill before an exam.
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Hinduism has no single founder and no single creed, which is why beginners get lost in it. Deck LP4348, "Hinduism Basics" (80 cards) fixes that with a clean scaffold: key concepts, deities, texts, schools and practice, all in short definitions. It's one of the better-built decks in the Religions category. Here is how to study it well.
Study this deck: Hinduism Basics
1 / 10Hinduism
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
The deck's map
- Cards 1-18: core concepts. Dharma, the exonym "Hindu", Śruti vs Smṛti, karma, saṃsāra, the four Puruṣārthas, moksha, the denominations and the six Āstika schools.
- Cards 19-33: deities. The Trimurti, the Tridevi, the avatars Krishna and Rama, Ganesha, Hanuman, Brahman (Nirguna and Saguna) and Om.
- Cards 34-45: texts and denominations. The four Vedas and their four layers, the epics, the Puranas, and Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism.
- Cards 46-80: philosophy and practice. Ātman, varnas, āśramas, the four yogas, festivals, temple life and the Vedanta schools.
8 core cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Two main categories of Hindu texts | Śruti (heard) and Smṛti (remembered) |
| Four Puruṣārthas | Dharma, artha, kama, moksha |
| Four divisions of each Veda | Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, Upanishads |
| Nirguna vs Saguna Brahman | Without attributes / with attributes |
| Four āśramas | Brahmacharya, Gṛhastha, Vānaprastha, Sannyasa |
| Āstika schools | They recognize the authority of the Vedas |
| Dvaita Vedanta | God and souls are eternally separate |
| Adi Shankara | 8th-century consolidator of Advaita Vedanta |
Also covered: bhakti, puja, yajna, dhyana, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mīmāṃsā, Rigveda, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Lakshmi, Parvati, Saraswati, ātman, ahimsa, satya, prana, maya, Raja, Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga, Diwali, Holi, Navaratri, mantra, murti, prasad, guru, sadhu, Ramanuja, Ganges, Kumbh Mela.
Gaps and fixes
- Missing āśrama. Card 49 lists four āśramas, but only three get their own card. Vānaprastha, the "forest-dweller" retirement stage, has none. Write it yourself.
- Terms used but never defined. Arjuna (card 38), Durga (card 65), avatar (cards 27-28) and Vishishtadvaita (card 75, Ramanuja's "qualified non-dualism") all appear on backs without a card of their own. Add these four cards before you start.
- Card 80 needs nuance. The Kumbh Mela rotates between four sites (Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik), so a Kumbh takes place roughly every three years. The 12-year cycle applies to each individual site. The most recent Maha Kumbh was held at Prayagraj in 2025.
- Card 4 needs nuance. The phrase Sanātana Dharma is ancient. What dates from the 19th century is using it as a name for "Hinduism".
- Near-duplicates. Cards 19-22 (the Trimurti, then each god on its own card), cards 47 and 72 (both Advaita), and cards 9 and 76 (saṃsāra and reincarnation) test the same facts. Keep one card from each pair.
Two study tips
- Learn the triads as sets of pairs. Each god in the Trimurti has a consort in the Tridevi: Brahma with Saraswati, Vishnu with Lakshmi, Shiva with Parvati. Learn the three pairs together and the six cards take the effort of three.
- Make a Vedanta contrast table. Put Advaita (Shankara, ātman = Brahman), Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja, qualified identity) and Dvaita (Madhva, eternal difference) side by side, three rows and three columns. Exams ask you to tell them apart, not to recite them one by one.
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