religion and cosmology: Asia and the Pacific cosmos, Brahma broke out of his shell, using half of the shell to make the sky and the other half to make the earth He then created the deities and the plants and animals of the world Eventually he looked within himself and found the divine source of his being Vishnu originated during the Vedic era as a minor deity who was an ally or servant of Indra During the first and second centuries c.e he became a major object of veneration, deemed the protector of the earth Whenever the earth was threatened with destruction, he would take a physical form called an “avatar.” Among his many avatars was the fish Matsya, who saved Manu, the first man, from a flood Another was a boar that, when a demon threw the earth to bottom of the cosmic ocean, killed the demon and returned the earth to its proper place Another two of Vishnu’s avatars were Ramacandra and Krishna, who developed their own worshippers Ramacandra, or simply Rama, was the son of a king who exiled him when he married Sita, a princess from another land Ravana, the demon-king of Sri Lanka, kidnapped Sita With the help of his brother Lakshmana and the monkey Hanuman, son of a deity and a monkey, Rama defeated Ravana and rescued Sita Rama represented the ideal man: virtuous, courageous, a good husband, and a good leader Krishna was the son of the sister of a wicked king in northern India The king tried to have Krishna killed, but Krishna’s mother sneaked him to safety in the country As a baby he killed a demon He grew up to be entrancingly handsome, and many young women yearned for his company Later he killed the wicked king and taught people how to live good spiritual lives Shiva was both creator and destroyer His meditating generated the spiritual energy that sustained the entire universe When his female companion, Parvati, covered his eyes for fun, the universe was almost plunged into darkness, but Shiva manifested a third eye on his forehead; as long as he could see, the universe would have light He later turned his third eye to look inward to meditate Shiva was also a fertility figure, as well as the deity of medicine and of dance His worshippers used dancing as a way to express joy but also to express the chaos that could destroy the universe In the 500s b.c.e a member of the Kshatriya caste, Vardhamana (ca 599–527 b.c.e.), established Jainism Jainism took its name from jina, meaning “conqueror.” Jainists were expected to swear that they would not kill, lie, have sexual relations for any purpose other than to procreate, or be greedy Jains were supposed to be nonviolent and very strict vegetarians They were forbidden to take any animal’s life and would place strips of gauze over their nostrils and mouths to avoid breathing in any tiny creatures Brahmanists regarded them as heretics because they did not accept the Vedas as religious scriptures and ignored the caste system Siddhartha Gautama (ca 563–ca 483 b.c.e.) was a member of the Kshatriya caste Through meditation he had a divine revelation that made him the Buddha, a person who achieved true enlightenment After his revelation he spent most of his life teaching across northeastern India The Buddha believed 847 that to live is to suffer, and that suffering is caused by desire To escape suffering, a person should eliminate desire through meditation and should what is morally right If someone did this, his or her soul would skip reincarnation and go to Nirvana, where it would join with the universal spirit When Asoka (r 265–238 or ca 273–232 b.c.e.), king of the Maurya Empire (321–185 b.c.e.), converted, Buddhism became the state religion Asoka followed the Buddhist doctrine of tolerance and allowed other religions to be practiced in peace He tried to make his subjects more moral through public proclamations explaining why he was a Buddhist During his reign Buddhism spread through most of India It eventually reached the island of Sri Lanka, where it became the dominant religion Buddhism began to wane in India in the 100s c.e By then it had spread into China CHINA During his reign (221–210 b.c.e.) China’s emperor Qin Shi Huangdi tried to have all documents about the past destroyed He wanted to eliminate the possibility of imitating the errors of past governments, and he wanted world history to begin with him He had over 40,000 Confucian scholars buried alive to eliminate their knowledge, but a few managed to survive and, in the welcoming Han Dynasty (ca 202 b.c.e.–ca 220 c.e.), recited what they remembered of the ancient texts Almost everything about China’s religion before Qin Shi Huangdi’s reign was lost What is currently thought about Chinese religion before that time comes from archaeological discoveries and inferences about past beliefs drawn from writings of the 100s b.c.e There were many cultures in ancient China, and each probably had its own special gods and spirits The earliest religious beliefs were probably animistic Animism never entirely left ancient China, and it was a source of magic among peasants Human sacrifices were common For instance, in the 400s b.c.e a governor of the upper Yellow River discovered that people were still sacrificing girls to be brides of the river in springtime; he put a stop to it, but especially in the areas south of China human sacrifices to fertility goddesses continued into modern times Animal sacrifices were also common In 30 b.c.e the Yellow River was close to flooding The local governor walked to the riverbank and offered the sacrifice of a gray horse to the river The governor used his magical jade ornaments to cast spells to protect his people As the river rose, all his aides fled; only he and one assistant stayed After the waters stopped just short of breaking free to flood the land, the governor was rewarded with gold and a promotion Such mystical practices deriving from animism continued for thousands of years By the time of the Shang Dynasty (ca 1500–ca 1045 b.c.e.) ancestor worship had become prevalent not only in the Yellow River area but also in surrounding regions that would one day fall under the rule of China People would leave offerings to their ancestors at tombs of their ancestors Kings were expected to consult their ancestors in times of