While deities are usually considered the principal objects of devotion, a great many other things are also given devotion in the world's religions. In many African religions, as well as in such historical traditions as Hinduism and Confucianism, ancestors are important objects of reverence, awe, and devotion. Various people, living and dead, are also objects of devotion or the focus of devotional cults.
Gurūs in Hinduism, saints in Christianity, the
xian (immortals) in Daoism, the sage kings in Confucianism,
imāms in Islam,
tīrthaṃkaras in Jainism, and the buddhas and
bodhisattvas in Buddhism are only a few examples of divine personages who receive devotion in the world's religions.
In most religions, devotion is primarily addressed to a deity. This could be male, female, or androgynous (as in the half-male, half-female deity Ardhanārīśvara in Hinduism,). The deity or divinity could be in the form of an animal or tree; sometimes, the deity may temporarily possess a human being and during the period of possession that person is the object of veneration. Devotion can also be shown to saints, gurūs, and charismatic teachers.
Relics associated with sacred personages are the objects of devotion in many religions. The physical remains of the Buddha were incorporated into stupas, the shrines around which devotional Buddhism began.
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