Orthoprax Hindus
(that is, Hindus who stress correct religious practice) lay great stress on
cleanliness of their bodies and their immediate environment.
Although to the outside eye this scrupulous attention would
seem to indicate a concern for hygiene, these actions are performed primarily
to protect and retain religious purity.
In many cases, concerns for hygiene and purity overlap, as
in the pervasive practice of bathing (snana) and the regulations concerning
bodily cleanliness.
Both of these simultaneously remove dirt and impurity
(ashaucha), but in other cases these concerns clearly diverge.
One example of this divergence is the way that household
refuse is often simply put out in the street—a practice that keeps the home
pure and clean, but which fosters unhygienic conditions directly outside the
home.
Another example of this disjunction can be seen in the
traditional use of cow dung as a purifying substance, or the way that the
Ganges River is always considered pure, even in its lower reaches where it is
full of sewage and industrial effluents.
These examples clearly show that purity and hygiene are very different concepts and that, from a religious perspective, purity is by far the more important of the two.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
