Hinduism - Millions of Gods

[genkaus]

I am from India and I was born a Hindu, so let me make this clear.
There are three main types of Hinduism.
Number one is Pagan Hinduism. It involves idolatry. pagan Hindus worship millions of so-called gods and goddesses. Some of them even sacrifice animals even today! Most of them are not vegetarians. They even drink the blood of bulls!
Number two is Krishna Hinduism. They only worship Lord Krishna, but some of them do use idols for their worship. But, they don't kill animals as sacrifice. Majority of them follow a vegetarian diet.
Number three is Gandhian Hinduism. It is similar to "agnosticism". Gandhi worshiped Truth as God. That's all. Gandhian Hindus follow strict vegetarianism and reject animal sacrifices. They also don't support idolatry. They respect the Bhagavad Gita and treat it as a Holy Book.

There seem to be quite a few contradictions in your explanation.

First of all, it'd be impossible to even know, much less worship, millions of gods and goddesses. Further, the "millions" figure refers to the lower deities which are not worshiped. Even in "pagan" Hinduism, I don't think there would be more than 10-20 deities, including a few local ones varying from place to place, that are worshiped ritually.

Secondly, even with the worship of those gods, cow-sacrifice would be likely forbidden. While animal sacrifice is a part of certain rituals, cows (and by extension bulls) have a special place. So I find your claim about "drinking bull's blood" to be dubious.

Thirdly, there is no separate branch called Krishna Hinduism. Perhaps you are thinking of a sub-movement of ISKON, which is more of a western phenomena. Primarily, there is Vaishnavism, which worships Vishnu and his various incarnations.

Fourthly, why would Gandhian Hinduism be separate if Gandhi himself worshiped Ram (one of Vishnu's incarnations)?

Fifthly, if Gandhian Hinduism were separate from Krishna Hinduism, why would its holy book be the Bhagvat Gita, which was supposedly narrated by Krishna?

Sixthly, why are you ignoring all the other gods and deities which may be worshiped regardless of which branch of Hinduism one may belong to - and which are worshiped when their particular festival comes around? And while you are at that, why did you separate Vaishnavism into two parts while ignoring all the other types such a Shaivism, Smartism etc?

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In fact, there are contradictions within the Vedas on who is the 'main' god. Shiv Puran tells us that Sada-Shiv (part of Shiv) is the first god who gave birth to other gods. However, for some reason unknown, Vishnu became the supreme head-god, relegating Shiv to mediate for eternity in the Himalayas. Vishnu also created Brahma to control the working of the universe. However, at any-time, one of these three can become the supreme one and do as he wishes.

The contradictions are not in the Vedas, since Shiv-Puran is not a part of them. You are confusing Hinduism with Christianity where there is supposed to be only one holy book. If the Vedas were to be taken as authority, then there is only Brahman and Bramha, Vishnu and Shiv are simply different manifestations of him. The latter literature was added to glorify the form they prefer to see god in.

Then comes those demi-gods, such as Indra, who are not full-fledged gods but can still kick the ass of those main gods whenever they desire.

No, they can't

I have studied Hinduism at depth

Doesn't seem like it.

and can only conclude that it is one of the most interesting mythological stories of all time (though everything is bull).

That is something we can agree on.