The world of religions with their secrets small and large offers much to explore. Faith has many faces and leads to different ways of life. In the series The Fascination of Faith, we get to know the exciting worlds of the five major religions and meet people who live according to their systems of rules and values. We see grand temples and magnificent churches –houses of worship. We accompany people attending ceremonies, trying their utmost to lead their lives in obedience to the will of their Gods.

Marrying for love? Quite uncommon for Hindus. It is much more important that you are in the same caste and that your horoscope fits. If this is not the case, a marriage is near-impossible. Most marriages are arranged, because the lives of Hindus are determined by the caste class system – and by faith. In the oldest religion of the world people pray to – believe it or not – more than 330 million Gods and worship cows and elephants. There are many rituals Hindus follow, such as making donations of things like coconuts, flowers and bananas. We get to know their belief in the continuity of life, where death is the start for a journey into a new body, a new life.

We meet Chinna Battar, the high priest of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai and a member of the highest caste, the Brahmans. He inherited the position from his father and will in turn hand it down to his son. Members of the lowest caste fulfil quite different duties: for instance, Hari Key takes care of dead bodies, which Hindus regard as impure. We also enter the spiritual world of Hinduism and attend a trance session by Selvi, who is possessed by the god Karpaswami every Friday evening so that the god might speak to those seeking advice.

Initiative: Marita Neher
Directors: Urmi Juvekar, Merle Kröger
Commissioning editor: Linde Dehner (ZDF/arte)
Producer: Andrea Ufer
Channel: ZDF/arte

– Episode 1 – Casablanca: The Mosque of Hassan II
– Episode 2 – Yangon: The Shwedagon Pagoda
– Episode 3 – Budapest: The Dohány Synagogue
– Episode 4 – Madurai: The Meenakshi Temple
– Episode 5 – Milan – The Cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente