Forewords.
Hinduism is a term that covers as an umbrella a incredible numbers of religious traditions, with different deities and theological formulations. The real common point in Hinduism is the orthopraxis, rather than the orthodoxy. The life of the pious Hindu, regardless of his/her particular affiliation, is strictly encoded in a series of stages of life and rituals.

Main doctrinal tenets: the four Ashramas or stage of life
In Hinduism, the four Asrhamas are the four spiritual abodes, or stages of life, through which the Hindus believer ideally will pass. The stages are those of (1) the student (Brahmacari), marked by chastity, devotion, and obedience to one’s teacher, (2) the householder (Grihastha), requiring marriage, the begetting of sons, work toward sustaining one’s family and helping support priests and holy men, and fulfillment of worhip duties toward gods and ancestors, (3) the hermit (Vanaprastha), beginning when a man has seen the sons of his sons and consisting of withdrawal from concern with material things and pursuit of solitude and ascetic and yogic practices, and (4) the wandering renunciant (Samnyasin), involving leaving the hermitage and renouncing all one’s possessions to wander from place to place begging for food, concerned only with the liberation. Traditionally, Moksha the liberation from the Samsara, the eternal cycle of rebirth, should be the pursuit of a man only during the last two stages of his life.
It has to be noted that these four stages are ideally conceived for the first three of the four traditional social classes of India (Brahmin priest, warrior, merchants). Also women do not traditionally follow this path but instead remain in a dependent relationship with men and are responsible for maintaining domestic religious life.
These four stages are connected (but not completely coordinated) with the four purpose of life in the Hindu view: Kama (pleasure, both physical and intellectual), Artha (the economic profit), Dharma (the respect of cosmic order, that is, social and religious duty) and Moksha, the liberation. In the case of the student, the purpose of Dharma is prevalent; for the householder the Artha; for the last two stages, the purpose is clearly the Moksha.

Main Rites: the Rites of passage
In Hinduism are customary a series of rites whose aim is to permit the passages through the various stages of human life and to mark the entry to a particular Ashrama (see above). All human beings are required to perform them, following the dictums contained in the Veda Corpus, the sacred texts of Hinduism. This in order to lead righteous life in accordance with Dharma, the cosmic order, and to obtain access to the way towards Moksha.
Traditionally, 16 rites of passage has been codified, and the four most important in nowadays India are the following:

The Jatakarma ceremony welcomes the baby into the world. The father places a small amount of clarified butter and honey on the baby's tongue and whispers a sacred utterance in his ear. This rite symbolizes good fortune.

The Upanayana is the ceremony of initiation than marks the passage from childhood to adolescence. Involve receiving and wearing a sacred thread. This ceremony is essential to the members of the three higher classes and marks a boy's official acceptance into the social and religious life of his class. At this point he becomes a "twice-born", a person who has been born again to strive towards liberation. This is the rite for entering the Brahmacari's stage of life.

The Vivaha, the marriage, is a complex ritual whose origins date to the Vedic religion, the antecedent of Hinduism. The ceremony varies greatly according to local traditions and the caste to which the couple belongs. The marriage ceremony, which is often preceded by various preparatory ceremonies, takes place around a fire, which represents the god of fire Agni and the institution of a new family nucleus, on which offerings of toasted corn are placed. During the ceremony, the groom leads the bride around the fire and both walk seven paces to sanction the indissolubility of marriage. This is the rite for entering the Grihastha's stage of life.

The Antyeshti is the funeral rite that marks the passage from one form of life to another. The dead are purified, dressed in new or clean clothes, adorned with flowers, and then transported to the crematorium accompanied by songs and prayer. After this, they are once more purified, laid on the pyre and burned. The rationale is that burning enables the departed soul to abandon attachment for its previous body and move swiftly forward to the next chapter of life. Finally the ashes are collected and, often, scattered over the waters of a sacred river.
For the few people who choose to enter in the last stage of life, that of the renunciant (Samnyasin), the rites that mark this passage is a funeral, in which the sacred thread received in Upanayana is burned.

Main Rites: The Everyday cult
As the life of the pious Hindus is codified in a detailed way, the same applies to the numerous daily worship routines every pious Hindus should comply with:

Daily offerings:
There are five obligatory offerings, called the five sacrifice (1) offerings to the gods (food taken from the meal), (2) a cursory offering made to “all beings,” (3) a libation of water mixed with sesame offered to the spirits of the deceased, (4) hospitality, as a form of worship to humanity, and (5) recitation of excerpts from the Vedas Corpus, as a form of worship to the Brahman, the Absolute. Although some traditions prescribe a definite ritual in which these five “sacrifices” are performed, this has remained more of an ideal than a practice. In most cases the five daily offerings are merely a way of speaking about one’s religious obligations in general.

Morning and evening adorations:
The morning and evening adorations (Samdhya) are very old and important duty of the traditional householder. If not shortened, the morning ceremonies consist of self-purification, offerings to the fire altar (element that recall the ancient fire sacrifice), bathing in sacred rivers, prayers, and recitation of sacred utterance, especially the so called Gayatri-mantra, a prayer for spiritual stimulation addressed to the Sun, which symbolized the Brahman, the Absolute. The observance of the daily obligations, including the care of bodily purity and professional duties, leads to earthly reward and helps to preserve the state of sanctity required to enter into contact with the divine.

Main rites: The Puja
Puja is the main worship ritual performed by Hindus to host, honour and worship one or more deities or to spiritually celebrate an event. In modern Hinduism has almost replaced the ancient sacrifice to the fire, still existing only in the Samdhya (see above).
The word Puja  means reverence, honour, homage, adoration, and worship.
In Hinduism, Puja is done on a variety of occasions, frequency and settings. It may include daily Puja done in the home in the every day cult , in occasional temple ceremonies and annual festivals, and in events such as birth of a baby or a wedding (see above).
Generally speaking, in a Puja, a deity, manifested in his image, is accorded the honour given to a royal guest. The attentions paid to him begin in the morning, when he is gently roused from sleep, and extend through the day, including ritual bathing and dressing, the serving of the usual three meals, and the final ceremony of putting him to bed for the night.

Analysis of sources:
Source 1:
Hindu marriage
In this picture the groom and the bride are performing the Saptapadi, (seven steps) the central ritual that sanctions the marriage bond. Both stand up together to take seven steps around the fire. Each step has various meaning, from vows of mutual love and support to wishes of numerous offspring.

Source 2:
Upanyana rituals
In this moment of the ritual of Upanyana (see above) the novice stretches out the sacred thread, which he will wear over his left shoulder for the rest of his life he will change it at various intervals and after various events--so it's not the same thread, but, as a Brahmin, he will always have to wear one. The thread is said to symbolize the umbelical cord, to mark the "second birth" of the novice as a man.

Source 3:
Puja worship
Two different type of Puja (see above). In the first case is a preliminary Puja for the Upanayana ritual of source n° 2. It is a small Puja performed inside a private house. In this case, the Puja consist in a series of offerings from the worshipper to Ganesha. Ganesha is the elephant-headed deity, son the supreme god Shiva (see sec. 6), and he is often worshipped as the obstacle-remover deity. Spread out here can be seen a number of offerings: flowers, fruits, incense, water, a lamp, a bell, yoghurt, and cooked food offerings. The brass lattice holder just left of center is the place where flowers are placed as offerings, and during the ceremony is treated as the place where Ganesha is located. 
The second image is a more elaborated Puja performed in front of the image of the deity. In this case the deity is Kali, the fierce aspect of the Supreme Goddess (see sec 7). She is richly adorned and dressed. On the right a sumptuous meal is provided to remarks the status of "royal host" of the deity.

Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Information

Rite of passage and Secular Rite of passage.
To enlighten the importance of rites of passage also in a secular society, it could be useful to think about the Bachelor/ Bachelorette Party as secular rites of passage that mark the "last day as single". Graduation day also is a ceremony that should attest the passage from "students" to "active member of the working society". Explore in class other similar customs in your own culture.

Link to other digital modules:
INTRODUCTION À L'ÉTUDE DES RELIGIONS: Comparative religion sec. 4
Religions and the Body
Judaism II. Themes sec. 3