Hinduism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Authority === {{Anchor|Questioning authority}} Authority and eternal truths play an important role in Hinduism.<ref name="frazier1415">{{Cite book |last=Frazier |first=Jessica |url=https://archive.org/details/continuumcompani00fraz |title=The Continuum companion to Hindu studies |date=2011 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/continuumcompani00fraz/page/14 14]β15, 321β325 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Religious traditions and truths are believed to be contained in its sacred texts, which are accessed and taught by sages, gurus, saints or avatars.<ref name=frazier1415 /> But there is also a strong tradition of the questioning of authority, internal debate and challenging of religious texts in Hinduism. The Hindus believe that this deepens the understanding of the eternal truths and further develops the tradition. Authority "was mediated through [...] an intellectual culture that tended to develop ideas collaboratively, and according to the shared logic of natural reason."<ref name=frazier1415 /> Narratives in the [[Upanishads]] present characters questioning persons of authority.<ref name=frazier1415 /> The [[Kena Upanishad]] repeatedly asks ''kena'', 'by what' power something is the case.<ref name=frazier1415 /> The [[Katha Upanishad]] and Bhagavad Gita present narratives where the student criticises the teacher's inferior answers.<ref name=frazier1415 /> In the [[Shiva Purana]], Shiva questions Vishnu and Brahma.<ref name=frazier1415 /> Doubt plays a repeated role in the Mahabharata.<ref name=frazier1415 /> [[Jayadeva]]'s [[Gita Govinda]] presents criticism via [[Radha]].<ref name=frazier1415 /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page