Hindu denominations
Hinduism has been described as a tradition having a "complex, organic, multileveled and sometimes internally inconsistent nature."[92] Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of faith or a creed",[55] but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena of India.[93][94] According to the Supreme Court of India,
Unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more".[95][96]
Part of the problem with a single definition of the term "Hinduism" is the fact that Hinduism does not have a single historical founder.[55][21] It is a synthesis of various traditions,[16][17] the "Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions."[19]
Also, Hinduism does not have a single system of salvation,[55] but consists of various religions and forms of religiosity.[97] Some Hindu religious traditions regard particular rituals as essential for salvation, but a variety of views on this co-exist. Some Hindu philosophies postulate a theistic ontology of creation, of sustenance, and of the destruction of the universe, yet some Hindus are atheists, they view Hinduism more as philosophy than religion. Hinduism is sometimes characterised by a belief in reincarnation (samsara) determined by the law of karma and the idea that salvation is freedom from this cycle of repeated birth and death.[note 31] Hinduism is therefore viewed as the most complex of all the living, historical world religions.[98]
Roots of Hinduism
Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[16][note 3] or synthesis[17][note 4][18] of various Indian cultures and traditions.[17][19][16][note 5] Among its roots are the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India,[108][19] itself already the product of "a composite of the indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations",[109][note 35] but also the Sramana[111] or renouncer traditions[19] of northeast India,[111] and mesolithic[112] and neolithic[113] cultures of India, such as the religions of the Indus Valley Civilisation,[20][23][24][25] Dravidian traditions,[114][23][101][36] and the local traditions[19] and tribal religions.[114][note 36]
After the Vedic period, between 500[17]-200[27] BCE and c. 300 CE,[17] at the beginning of the "Epic and Puranic" c.q. "Preclassical" period, the "Hindu synthesis" emerged,[17][27] which incorporated sramanic[27][28] and Buddhist influences[27][29] and the emerging bhakti tradition into the Brahmanical fold via the smriti literature.[30][27] This synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism.[115] During the Gupta reign the first Puranas were written,[116][note 8] which were used to disseminate "mainstream religious ideology amongst pre-literate and tribal groups undergoing acculturation."[31] The resulting Puranic Hinduism, differed markedly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmasastras and the smritis.[31][note 9] Hinduism co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism,[33] to finally gain the upperhand at al levels in the 8th century CE.[34][web 2][note 12]
From northern India this "Hindu synthesis", and its societal divisions, spread to southern India and parts of Southeast Asia.[35][note 13][36][note 14][37][note 15] It was aided by the settlement of Brahmins on land granted by local rulers,[38][39] the incorporation and assimilation of popular non-Vedic gods,[web 3][40][note 16] and the process of Sanskritization, in which "people from many strata of society throughout the subcontinent tended to adapt their religious and social life to Brahmanic norms".[web 3][note 17][41] This process of assimilation explains the wide diversity of local cultures in India "half shrouded in a taddered cloak of conceptual unity."[121]
Inclusivism
Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity.[122] Most Hindu traditions revere a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas,[123] although there are exceptions.[124] Halbfass cites Renou, according to whom this reverence is a mere
"tipping of the hat", a traditional gesture of saluting an "idol" without any further commitment."[125]
Halbfass does not agree with this characterization[125] and states that, although Shaivism and Vaishaism may be regarded as "self-contained religious constellations",[122] there is a degree of interaction and reference between the "theoreticians and literary representatives"[122] of each tradition which indicates the presence of "a wider sense of identity, a sense of coherence in a shared context and of inclusion in a common framework and horizon".[122]
According to Nicholson, already between the 12th and the 16th centuries "certain thinkers began to treat as a single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the "six systems" (saddarsana) of mainstream Hindu philosophy."[64] The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Burley.[126] Hacker called this "inclusivism"[123] and Michaels speaks of "the identificatory habit".[53] Lorenzen locates the origins of a distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus,[127] and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other",[128] which started well before 1800.[129] Michaels notes:
As a counteraction to Islamic supremacy and as part of the continuing process of regionalization, two religious innovations developed in the Hindu religions: the formation of sects and a historicization which preceded later nationalism [...] [S]aints and sometimes and sometimes militant sect leaders, such as the Marathi poet Tukaram (1609-1649) and Ramdas (1608-1681), articulated ideas in which they glorified Hinduism and the past. The Brahmans also produced increasingly historical texts, especially eulogies and chronicles of sacred sites (Mahatmyas), or developed a reflexive passion for collecting and compiling extensive collections of quotations on various subjects.[130]
This inclusivism[note 37] was further developed in the 19th and 20th centuries by Hindu reform movements and Neo-Vedanta,[84] and has become characteristic of modern Hinduism.
Main article: Hindustan
Valmiki, a contemporary of Rama, composes the Ramayana.
The word Hindu is derived (through Persian) from the Indo-Aryan[54]/Sanskrit[55] word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent (modern day Pakistan and Northern India).[55][note 22] According to Gavin Flood, "The actual term 'hindu' first occurs as a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu)".[55] The term 'Hindu' then was a geographical term and did not refer to a religion.[note 23]
The word Hindu was taken by European languages from the Arabic term al-Hind, which referred to the people who live across the River Indus.[57] This Arabic term was itself taken from the Persian term Hindū, which refers to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".[58][note 24]
The term Hinduism was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450) and some 16th- to 18th-century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. It was usually used to contrast Hindus with Yavanas or Mlecchas.[60] It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism was introduced into the English language in the 19th century to denote the religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions native to India.
Definitions
The Triveni Sangam, or the intersection of Yamuna River, Ganges River and mythical Saraswati river.
Mangal Mahadev, 108-foot statue of Shiva at Ganga Talao, Mauritius
The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion.[61][45] Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism[61][note 25] , and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.[62][note 26]
Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult.[55] Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life."[1][note 1] In India the term dharma is preferred, which is more inclusive than the western term "religion", covering both "religious" and "wordly" aspects.
Colonial influences
See also: Orientalism
The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India was already noted from the 12th century CE on.[64][65] The notion of "Hinduism" as a "single world religious tradition"[49] was popularised by 19th-century European Indologists who depended on the "brahmana castes"[49] for their information of Indian religions.[49] This led to a "tendency to emphasise Vedic and Brahmanical texts and beliefs as the "essence" of Hindu religiosity in general, and in the modern association of 'Hindu doctrine' with the various Brahmanical schools of the Vedanta (in particular Advaita Vedanta)."[66][note 29]
Indigenous understanding
See also: Sanātanī and Hindu reform movements
Sanātana Dharma
See also: Sanātanī
To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life.[75] Many practitioners refer to Hinduism as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way".[13][14] It refers to the "eternal" duties all Hindus have to follow, regardless of class, caste, or sect, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism. This is contrasted with svadharma, one's "own duty", the duties to be followed by members of a specific caste and stage of life.[web 1] According to Knott, this also
... refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, and its truths have been divinely revealed (shruti) and passed down through the ages to the present day in the most ancient of the world's scriptures, the Veda.[15]
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica;-
The term has also more recently been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism as a unified world religion. Sanatana dharma has thus become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, the latter conceived of as not only transcendent of history and unchanging but also as indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian.[web 1]
Hindu modernism
Swami Vivekananda was a key figure in introducing Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and USA,[76] raising interfaith awareness and making Hinduism a world religion.[77]
See also: Hindu reform movements
Major representatives of "Hindu modernism"[44] are Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi.[78]
According to Flood, "Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) is a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating the West's view of Hinduism."[79] Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity",[44] and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony.[44] According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms.[44] According to Flood, Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking middle-class Hindus today."[80]
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was "one of India's most erudite scholars to engage with western and Indian philosophy".[81] He sought to reconcile western rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and humanistic religious experience."[82] According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced.[83]
This view has been "highly relevant and important in forming contemporary Hindu identity."[82] The emphasis on experience as validation of a religious worldview is a modern development, which started in the 19th century, and was introduced to Indian thought by western Unitarian missionaries.[84][note 30]
This "Global Hinduism"[87] has a worldwide appeal, transcending national boundaries[87] and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam and Buddhism",[87] both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions.[87] It emphasizes universal spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of humanity."[87] It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation",[88] or the Pizza effect,[88] in which elements of Hindu culture have been exported to the West, gaining popularity there, and as a consequence also gained greater popularity in India.[88] This globalization of Hindu culture has been initiated by Swami Vivekanandaand and his founding of the Ramakrishna Mission, and has been followed by other teachers, "bringing to the West teachings which have become an important cultural force in western societies, and which in turn have become an important cultural force in India, their place of origin
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