Hinduism : History And History Of Religion And Culture In India

Hinduism is a religion that is difficult to define. No one can say who the founder is, or connect it to a certain place or time. So in order to understand Hinduism, we follow a coherent set of assumptions upon which people base their lives; otherwise defined as the Indian Worldview.

First, the Hindu’s worship of the imperishability of gods is the spiritual power for the Indians’ faith and persistence in overcoming difficulties and obstacles in the long history of development.

What is Hinduism? Hinduism, often referred to as Sanatana Dharma is the largest of the eastern religion and one of the oldest in the world. “Hinduism denotes the religions of majority of the people in India and Nepal as well as communities in other continents, who refer to themselves as Hindus.” Flourished between 2500 BCE to 1500 BCE, and developed by Aryans. (Flood)

Unlike many modern day religions, there are no clear origins of Hinduism. Hinduism is a fusion of various Indian cultures and traditions that over time molded into a religion. Its main roots, however, are in the Indus Valley civilization which was located in what is today known as northwest India and eastern Pakistan between 2500 and 1500 B.C.E, along with the Aryan culture and religion which existed between 1500 and 500 B.C.E. This dates back almost 4,000 years, which makes it one of the oldest religions to date (“Hinduism Influences”). The term Hinduism, however, wasn't always used to describe the religion. The word Hinduism is derived from the Persian word that refers to the Sindhu River in northwest India, and was adopted as a way to refer to the people of that region. By the end of the 19th century, however, the British Colonial Administration began to use the word Hinduism to describe the various religious beliefs and practices of the majority of India's population (“Hinduism Origins, Hinduism History, Hinduism Beliefs.”).

In Chapter ten the history of Hinduism is discussed in America and India. Instead of illustrating the religious doctrines of Hinduism. The author lists statistics about the livelihoods of Asian Indians. For example, there are eighteen different official languages in India. As the author emphasizes that doctrines have nothing to do with Hinduism, but the actions that individuals commit. The orthodoxy is a set of responsibilities that Hindus must carry out. If they wish to be reincarnated into a higher caste. In addition, the origin of Hinduism is mentioned within the chapter. That Hinduism is the only major religion that does not have a founder and has no beginning as there is not a specific known date of when it originated. Moreover,

After reading this chapter, I have a much better understanding of Hindu religion. First of all, contrary to what most people believe, Hinduism isn’t polytheistic by having many gods, it’s actually henotheistic because they believe in one ultimate god that consists of everything. However, there are many different manifestations of Brahmin that people worship, many of which even have their own names and identities. Like many other religions, Hinduism came into being through the blending of cultures and religions over time. Our textbook speculates that it was likely the Aryans who were the original group whose religion created the basis of Hinduism. The Aryans were an important group of people who spoke an early form of Sanskirt and migrated

practiced by most of the Natives as well as the people who have migrated from

The origins of Hinduism date as far back as 4000 to 10,000 B.C.E. somewhere in Nepal and India. Unlike Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, it cannot be traced to a single individual or group of individuals, but rather cultural and religious developments. Modern Hinduism shares some practices in common with the Ancient Neolithic people of India,

Mankind was first recorded practicing religion in Egypt around 4000 BCE. Hinduism is said to be older than the beginning of written history. Most people agree that Hinduism originated from Northern India. (Lynne Gibson) Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion, but it is more than that Hinduism is described more as a way of life than a religion. This makes Hinduism very complex. Hinduism itself is divided up into four main denominations, each having different beliefs. Many aspects in other religions come from Hinduism. Such as Nirvana in Buddhism comes from the Enlightenment in Hinduism. In order, for us to begin comprehending Hinduism we must look at their basic beliefs, Brahman, Vedas, karma, reincarnation, and everyone’s purpose

Hinduism is a major religion in India that is practiced by almost everyone. This is where they believe in one supreme being that has many different aspects. People who don’t understand Hinduism commonly mistake it with Buddhism due to the fact they share similar beliefs. Hinduism has the most affect on the culture and artwork because it is commonly practiced in India. In Hinduism there are three main gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Since these pieces of art stem from India, its important to understand the religions that they practiced. Hinduism is the oldest religion on earth, originating from the Indus valley civilization. Hinduism is based off of the Vedas that acts as a guideline for the way Hindu’s should live. Hindu’s do not only see Hinduism as a religion, but a way of life. They use five elements to shape their religious tradition. Doctrine, practice, society, story, and devotion. People who practice Hinduism follow their way of life strictly, and usually refuse to

Hinduism is described as a major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia, developed from Vedic religion. One of the oldest religions in the world, Hinduism is most diverse, originating from multiple religions. The religion is polytheistic, meaning the people of Hinduism believe in millions of gods who control different aspects of their life. Prior to visiting the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan mandir, I had minimal information on Hindu’s and their way of life, despite having countless Hindu friends. Going in as an anthropologist, I objectively observed the customs and traditions they followed in an attempt to learn more about their community.

Hinduism is large and complex religious institute that reflects the religious belief of a rich society, the Indian people. It origins, just as the religion are intermingled in the Aryans system of belief and early Indian system of belief which merged to give what is now Hinduism. The Aryan system of belief came to exist in India when the Aryans from eastern Europe invaded India around 1500 B.C. It is believed that many of the rituals and gods of now, Hindu are derivative of their faiths. They came to India which what would later be adopted by hindus as the cast system, but theirs was composed of hierarchically of three entity; the warriors whom were the most important, the priest which direct any rituals and retain knowledge of the vedas and the servants which looked at the cattles. The accentuation of nature is also a product of the Aryan faith system which is reconstructed to or at least reused in the idea of oneness with nature and Brahman which is the hindu supreme God. The Rig Veda which contains thousands of hymns in the sanskrit are also Aryans (Phil.108, notes).

Hinduism, is the main religion of India and is the worship of numerous gods with a faith in a solitary celestial reality. Hinduism has numerous divisions of religion, but they have a related family of beliefs. Information about this religion can be describe to us by learning about the ancients scriptures of India called The Vedas. They give detail data about gods, and devotion during the Vedi period.

Hinduism was one of the religions that I found to be most intriguing and different than most of the religions that are now major. The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu which is what the Persians called them because of where they were from. Hindu are those who follow the way of dharma, the four classes of varnas and stages of life ashramas.” Hinduism is a major world religion because of its influences throughout time that have shaped other religions that branched off from it. Hinduism is an ancient religion that was founded near 1,500 B.C. It is a religion that has perceiver through many different times of persecution and its one enemy time. It originated in India which is what many Indus people originated. Most Hindus

Hinduism is the world's oldest and the third longest. It has and unique belief system that stands out from the rest. It has about 1 billion followers which most live in India where the belief in hinduism is the most common. Hindu’s have beliefs that may seem a bit weird to us here in America but their entirely lives are based off the values following the Hinduism religion. Just like any other religion there is a very interesting history to this religion.