70 free Hinduism trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Hinduism trivia quiz covers the world's third-largest religion from its Vedic roots to its 1.2 billion followers today. It begins with the scriptures (the four Vedas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the 700-verse Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas), the core ideas (dharma, karma, samsara, moksha, atman and Brahman, the four purusharthas and the four ashramas) and the four major denominations of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Then it turns to the gods and their stories: the Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, Vishnu's ten avatars including Rama and Krishna, elephant-headed Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Kali and Hanuman. There are also questions on practice and culture: puja and aarti, temple styles, the sacred syllable Om, the tilaka, the four paths of yoga, the festivals of Diwali, Holi, Navaratri and Ganesh Chaturthi, pilgrimage to Varanasi and the Kumbh Mela, the sacred cow, vegetarianism, the Hindu calendar, and modern figures like Vivekananda. Some questions suit anyone who has celebrated Diwali with friends; others will test lifelong students of the tradition. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on Hinduism and its deities, texts and festivals, and each explanation adds one further detail. If you enjoy this, try our Buddhism quiz too.
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Q 01Roughly how many followers does Hinduism have, making it the world's third-largest religion?
1.17 billion
That is about 15 percent of the world's population, mostly in India and Nepal.
Q 02What term, meaning 'eternal law', have Hindus used since the 19th century to describe their religion?
Sanatana Dharma
The word 'Hindu' itself began as an exonym, a name given by outsiders.
Q 03Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti. What do the two words literally mean?
'Heard' and 'remembered'
Shruti, chiefly the Vedas, is regarded as revealed to the rishis and carries the highest authority.
Q 04How many Vedas are there?
Four
Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, each subdivided into Samhitas, Aranyakas, Brahmanas and Upanishads.
Q 05Which is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text, composed mostly between about 1500 and 1000 BCE?
Rigveda
Its early layers are among the oldest surviving texts in any Indo-European language.
Q 06How many Muktika Upanishads are there, of which 10 to 13 are counted as Principal Upanishads?
108
Radhakrishnan called them the dominating influence on Hindu thought ever since they appeared.
Q 07The Bhagavad Gita is an integral part of which epic?
Mahabharata
It is a dialogue between Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna on the eve of the Kurukshetra War.
Q 08Which Pandava prince hesitates to fight and receives Krishna's teaching in the Bhagavad Gita?
Arjuna
Krishna urges him to do his duty as a warrior while attributing all actions to God.
Q 09How many verses does the Bhagavad Gita traditionally contain?
700
Some old manuscripts may have had 745, but 700 is the accepted standard.
Q 10The Ramayana is traditionally attributed to which sage?
Valmiki
Its nearly 24,000 verses are divided into seven kandas.
Q 11Rama, hero of the Ramayana, is which numbered avatar of Vishnu?
Seventh
He was prince of Ayodhya and spent fourteen years in forest exile with Sita and Lakshmana.
Q 12Who kidnaps Sita in the Ramayana?
Ravana, king of Lanka
Hanuman becomes Rama's greatest devotee in the search for her.
Q 13What are the four purusharthas, the proper aims of human life?
Dharma, artha, kama and moksha
Dharma (duty) is considered the foremost; moksha is liberation from samsara.
Q 21Which reformer is regarded as founder of the Smarta tradition and its Advaita Vedanta philosophy?
Adi Shankara
Smartas worship Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Surya and Skanda together.
Q 22In the Trimurti, which god is the creator, which the preserver and which the destroyer?
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
The A, U and M of Om are sometimes said to represent the three functions.
Q 23Vishnu is depicted sleeping on the coils of which serpent in the ocean of milk?
Shesha
Shesha represents time; Lakshmi sits with him and Garuda is his mount.
Q 14What does the word karma literally mean?
Action or deed
The theory combines causality, ethicisation and rebirth: good and bad actions have consequences, in this life or the next.
Q 15What is the Hindu term for the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth?
Samsara
Liberation from it, moksha, is believed to bring lasting happiness and peace.
Q 16In Advaita Vedanta, the individual Self (atman) is held to be identical with what?
Brahman, the ultimate reality
Dualist schools like Dvaita instead see Brahman as a Supreme Being separate from individual Selves.
Q 17What term for devotion to one god while accepting others is sometimes applied to Hinduism?
Henotheistic
The Rig Veda praises various deities, none superior nor inferior, while hinting at One Truth.
Q 18Which four denominations of Hinduism are used in scholarly studies?
Shaivism, Shaktism, Smartism and Vaishnavism
They differ mainly in which deity is central; many Hindus practise more than one.
Q 19Which tradition, focused on the preserver god and his avatars Krishna and Rama, was the largest in 2020?
Vaishnavism
It had about 399 million followers; Shaivism followed with 385 million and Shaktism with 305 million.
Q 20Shaktism, goddess worship of Devi as cosmic mother, is especially common in which region of India?
Northeastern and eastern states like Assam and Bengal
Its festivals often end with processions and immersion of idols in the sea or rivers.
Q 24What is the collective name for the ten primary avatars of Vishnu?
Dashavatara
The list usually runs Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna or Balarama, Buddha or Krishna, and Kalki.
Q 25Krishna is worshipped as which numbered avatar of Vishnu?
Eighth
Born in Mathura to Devaki and Vasudeva, he was raised by Nanda and Yashoda in Gokul to escape King Kamsa.
Q 26Which of these iconographic attributes belongs to Shiva?
A third eye on his forehead
He also wears the serpent Vasuki, a crescent moon, and lets the Ganga flow from his matted hair.
Q 27In what aniconic form is Shiva usually worshipped?
The lingam
His vehicle is the bull Nandi.
Q 28Brahma's several heads represent what?
The Vedas
He rides a hamsa, a swan or goose, and sits on a lotus.
Q 29Ganesha is readily identified by what?
His elephant head and four arms
He is the remover of obstacles and patron of arts and sciences, and the son of Parvati and Shiva.
Q 30Lakshmi is revered chiefly as the goddess of what?
Fortune and wealth
She accompanies Vishnu in each avatar, as Sita with Rama and Radha or Rukmini with Krishna.