Abstract

This study was carried out among 1000 randomly selected Hindus of Kerala State in India using a questionnaire containing the measure of Attitude towards Religion, and different characteristics of the respondents. The data was analyzed as proportion, score and though statistical tests. The results show that 77.5 % of the respondents have medium level of attitude towards Hinduism, which can be considered as promising in a religion, where religious beliefs and practices are not mandatory. Majority of the respondents agree to the positive attitude items and disagree with the negative attitude items. Statistically significant difference in the mean attitude score towards Hinduism was observed with respect to the following characteristics, namely, age, belief in God, and the importance attributed to religion. The importance attributed to religion, and level of belief in God contributes to a significant proportion of variation in the attitude towards Hinduism score. Even though caste and education wise statistically significant difference in the score for attitude towards Hinduism was not observed, difference in scores between various castes and education levels is there. The probable reasons for the findings are mentioned in the article. It is not because of less attitude towards their religion that many Hindus in Kerala do not have the habit of frequent worship in many of the temples in the State, but probably due to a feeling of laziness for temple worship, which is not mandatory for Hindus. Though the Hindu philosophy holds that true Divinity is there in everything, which can be meditated on at any time or place, having a physical form to pray as a Deity in temples is beneficial to employ the five senses in worship. Hindu Acharyas in Kerala can probably utilize the attitude of people towards their religion to make them more aware of the relevance of temple worship as a measure of promoting not only Hinduism, but also the temples in the State. The utility of undertaking studies on various aspects of religions in different locations in India among people with different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds is also highlighted in the article.