Hinduism is one of the oldest religions and most complex religions in the world. Unlike Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, it has no known founder. Even the date of its origin has been lost to history. The word "Hindu" comes from the name "India," and in modern usage, it refers to a number of religious expressions.
Because Hinduism has a variety of expressions, some people think that all Hindu beliefs and practices are customized to the individual, and therefore it is impossible to speaks about "facts" of the faith. This is not true. Many facts can be known about its adherents, size, location, and much more. This page is intended to help people begin learning about the facts of the Hindu religion.
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About 80 percent of India's population regard themselves as Hindus and 30 million more Hindus live outside of India. There are a total of 900 million Hindus worldwide, making Hinduism the third largest religion after Christianity and Islam.
The term "Hinduism" includes numerous traditions, which are closely related and share common themes but do not constitute a unified set of beliefs or practices.
Hinduism is thought to have gotten its name from the Persian word hindu, meaning "river," used by outsiders to describe the people of the Indus River Valley. Hindus themselves refer to their religion as sanatama dharma, "eternal religion," and varnasramadharma, a word emphasizing the fulfillment of duties (dharma) appropriate to one's class (varna) and stage of life (asrama).
Hinduism has no founder or date of origin. The authors and dates of most Hindu sacred texts are unknown. Scholars describe modern Hinduism as the product of religious development in India that spans nearly four thousand years, making it the oldest surviving world religion. Indeed, as seen above, Hindus regard their religion as eternal (sanatama).
Hinduism is not a homogeneous, organized system. Many Hindus are devoted followers of Shiva or Vishnu, whom they regard as the only true God, while others look inward to the divine Self (atman). But most recognize the existence of Brahman, the unifying principle and Supreme Reality behind all that is.
Most Hindus respect the authority of the Vedas (a collection of ancient sacred texts) and the Brahmans (the priestly class), but some reject one of both of these authorities. Hindu religious life might take the form of devotion to God or gods, the duties of family life, or concentrated meditation. Given all this diversity, it is important to take care when generalizing about "Hinduism" or "Hindu beliefs."
The first sacred writings of Hinduism, which date to about 1200 BC, were primarily concerned with the ritual sacrifices associated with numerous gods who represented forces of nature. A more philosophical focus began to develop around 700 BC, with the Upanishads and development of the Vedanta philosophy. Around 500 BC, several new belief systems sprouted from Hinduism, most significantly Buddhism and Jainism.
In the 20th century, Hinduism began to gain popularity in the West. Its different worldview and its tolerance for diversity in belief made it an attractive alternative to traditional Western religion. Although there are relatively few western converts to Hinduism, Hindu thought has influenced the West indirectly by way of religious movements like Hare Krishna and New Age, and even more so through the incorporation of Indian beliefs and practices such as the chakra system and yoga in books and seminars on health and spirituality.
Hinduism embraces a diversity of beliefs, a fact that can be initially confusing to Westerners accustomed to creeds, confessions, and carefully-worded belief statements. One can believe a variety of things about God, the universe and the path to liberation and still be considered a Hindu. Perhaps the most well-known Hindu saying about religion is: "Truth is one; sages call it by different names."
Still, there are some beliefs common to nearly all forms of Hinduism that can be identified, and these basic beliefs are generally regarded as boundaries outside of which lies either heresy or non-Hindu religion. These fundamental Hindu beliefs include: the authority of the Vedas (the oldest Indian sacred texts) and the Brahmans (priests); the existence of an enduring soul that transmigrates from one body to another at death (reincarnation); and the law of karma that determines one's destiny both in this life and the next.
The gods of modern Hinduism are many, and include the chief gods Shiva, Vishnu and the Goddess Shakti as well as a myriad of local community gods. Devotion to these various deities is based primarily on one's region and needs, and even when devotion is given to only one, the existence of others is acknowledged. Hindu worship virtually always involves sculptures and images, to which offerings are made and rituals are performed. But, a specific belief about God or gods is not considered one of the essentials in Hinduism, which is a major difference between it and monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism. Most Hindus are devoted followers of one of the principal gods Shiva, Vishnu or Shakti, and often others besides, yet all these are regarded as manifestations of a single Reality.
Hinduism incorporates a vast pantheon of deities, some of whom are manifestations or combinations of others. Most of the deities mentioned in the Vedas are no longer worshiped; much of today's popular devotion centers around the major deities of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Goddess.
The Vedas describe a number of deities, most of whom are personified forces of nature. The most oft-mentioned are Indra, Agni, Soma, and Varuna.
Indra is the chief deity and the god of war and rain, the greatest concerns of the people at that time. He separated the heavens and the earth by defeating Vrtra, a snake-dragon representation of chaos and obstacles.
Another Vedic myth describes his defeat of Vrtra using wind and a thunderbolt as his weapons, enabling the monsoon rains to end. Indra must be strengthened with the drink soma, provided by worshippers, to accomplish this task.
Agni is the fire of sacrifice, and thus a mediator between man and the gods, and Soma is the hallucinogenic drink of the sacrifice. The personalities of the latter two are left largely undeveloped.
Another significant Vedic deity is Varuna, who is associated primarily with issues of morality, guilt and forgiveness. Varuna is the god of the rita, a concept having to do with faithfulness to allegiances, both between humans and gods and humans and one another. So, Varuna is the god petitioned for forgiveness, deliverance from evil, and protection.
Thus, Hinduism is a theistic religion, but it can be difficult to determine whether it is a polytheistic, pantheistic or monotheistic religion. Of course, this is chiefly a western question. The Indian mind is much more inclined to regard divergent views as complementary rather than competing.
It has been said that Hindus have a holiday for every day of the year, but even that may be an understatement! Exactly how many Hindu festivals are celebrated is not known, but one scholar of Hinduism has listed more than a thousand different Hindu festivals.
As in most ancient religions, many of the Hindu holidays are based on the cycle of nature. They mark the change of seasons, celebrate the harvest, and encourage fertility of the land. Others are dedicated to a particular deity, such as Shiva or Ganesha.
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Ganasha
Still other popular holidays commemorate events in the lives of Rama or Krishna. In addition to the major Hindu festivals that are celebrated throughout India, many regional festivals are also held in honor of various deities.
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In general, Hindu festivals "are intended to purify, avert malicious influences, renew society, bridge over critical moments, and stimulate or resuscitate the vital powers of nature." They include a wide variety of rituals, including worship, prayer, processions, magical acts, music, dancing, lovemaking, eating, drinking, and feeding the poor.
Major festivals likely to be observed by most Hindus are:
Holi (also called Holaka or Phagwa) is an annual festival celebrated on the day after the full moon in the Hindu month of Phalguna (early March). It celebrates spring, commemorates various events in Hindu mythology and is time of disregarding social norms and indulging in general merrymaking. Holi is probably the least religious of Hindu holidays.
Diwali, from the Sanskrit word Dīpãvali, meaning "row of lights" is a Hindu festival of lights lasting five days. For many Hindus, Diwali is also New Year's Eve. Diwali is held on the final day of the Vikram calendar, a type of Hindu calendar followed by North Indians.
Mahashivaratri (also called Shiva Ratri) is the Great Festival of Shiva. It is held on the 14th day of the dark half of the lunar month of Phalguna. Mahashivaratri is especially important to Saivites (devotees of Shiva), but it is celebrated by most Hindus. Other sacred days are:
· Rama Navami - birthday of Lord Rama (April)
· Krishna Jayanti - birthday of Lord Krishna (July-August)
· Raksābandhana - renewing bonds between brothers and sisters (July-August)
· Kumbh Mela - pilgrimage every 12 years to four cities in India
· Ganesha-Chaturthi (Ganesha Utsava) - festival of Ganesh (August-September)
· Dassera - victory of Rama over demon king Ravana (September-October)
· Navaratri - festival of Shakti (in Bengal) or Rama's victory over Ravana (South India) (September-October)
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In Hinduism, the cow is revered as the source of food and symbol of life and may never be killed.
The Sanskrit word karma means "actions" and refers to the fundamental Hindu principle that one's moral actions have unavoidable and automatic effects on one's fortunes in this life and condition of rebirth in the next.
In Hinduism, there is not just one purpose of human life, but four: Dharma (fulfilling one's purpose), Artha (prosperity), Kama (desire, sexuality, enjoyment), and Moksha (enlightenment).
The authority of the ancient scriptures known as the Vedas as well as that of the priests known as the Brahmans are two concepts that are fundamental to Hinduism and differentiate the faith from Buddhism and Jainism.
Most Hindus venerate one or more deities, but regard these as manifestations of Ultimate Reality. So who, or what, is the Ultimate Reality that is behind the universe and all the gods? In the Rig Veda, it is referred to as "the One." In the Purushasukta, it is given the name "Purusha," and in the Upanishads it is called "Brahman,""the One," and several other names.
The most well-known historical practice of suicide associated with Hinduism is that of suttee (Sanskrit sati), the self-immolation of a widow on her deceased husband's funeral pyre. In the Hindu epic Mahabarata, some queens commit suttee.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the custom of suttee probably had little to do with the religion of Hinduism; it was rather an ancient custom based on beliefs that a man needed companions in the afterlife. In the medieval period, the hardships suffered by widows may have contributed to the spread of the practice. In theory it was a voluntary practice, but there were instances of compulsion to suttee.
The practice of suttee was not universal throughout Hindu history. The first mention of it outside the Mahabarata is made by a 1st-century BC Greek author writing about 4th-century BC Punjab. Tombstones commemorating women who died by suttee are numerous in India; the earliest is dated to 510 AD. Suttee was abolished in India in 1829, but it continued to occur for at least another 30 years.
As in Buddhism, Hindu views of euthanasia and suicide are grounded in the doctrines of karma, moksa, and ahimsa. Karma is the net consequence of good and bad deeds in a person's life, which then determines the nature of the next life. Ongoing accumulation of bad karma prevents moksa, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth, which is the ultimate goal of Hinduism. Ahimsa is a fundamental principle in Indian religions, and means doing harm to no other being.
Suicide is generally prohibited in Hinduism, on the basis that it disrupts the timing of the cycle of death and rebirth and therefore yields bad karma. According to one Hindu website, suicide is not approved in Hinduism because human life is a precious opportunity to attain higher states of rebirth that even the gods envy. It also has dire consequences for the soul's spiritual progress.
According to Hindu beliefs, if a person commits suicide, he does not go to the heaven or hell. The dead person remains on the earth as a bad spirit and wanders aimlessly till he completes his actual and allotted life time. Then, the person goes to hell and suffers. After that, the person returns to the earth again to complete his previous karma and start from there once again. Suicide puts an individual's spiritual clock in reverse.
One exception to the Hindu prohibition of suicide is the practice of prayopavesa, or fasting to death. Prayopavesa is not regarded as suicide because it is natural and non-violent, and is acceptable only for spiritually advanced people under specified circumstances. BBC Religion & Ethics provides the following example of prayopavesa:
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, a Hindu leader born in California, took his own life by prayopavesa in November 2001. After finding that he had untreatable intestinal cancer the Satguru meditated for several days and then announced that he would accept pain-killing treatment only and would undertake prayopavesa (taking water, but no food). He died on the 32nd day of his self-imposed fast.
Given the complex history of suicide in Indian thought and the various considerations outlined above, not all Hindus agree on whether euthanasia should be permitted. In the end, there are two Hindu views of euthanasia: From one perspective, a person who helps other end a painful life and thereby reduce suffering is doing a good deed and will gain good karma. From the other perspective, euthanasia interrupts the timing of the cycle of rebirth and both the doctor and patient will take on bad karma as a result.
The history of Hinduism is unique among the world religions in that it has no founder or date of origin. While most major religions derive from new ideas taught by a charismatic leader, Hinduism is simply the religion of the people of India, which has gradually developed over four thousand years. The origins and authors of its sacred texts are largely unknown.
Although today's Hinduism differs significantly from earlier forms of Indian religion, its roots date back as far as 2000 BC, making it one of the oldest surviving religions. Because of its age, the early history of Hinduism is unclear. The most ancient writings have yet to be deciphered, so for the earliest periods scholars must rely on educated guesses based on archaeology and contemporary texts.
In the last few decades, the history of India's religion has also become a matter of political controversy. The history of any nation (or individual) is an important part of its self-identity, and this is especially true of India, which so recently gained independence after centuries of colonial rule. The controversy over India's history centers on the origin of the Aryan culture, as we shall see in more detail below.
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In 1921, archaeologists uncovered evidence of an ancient civilization along the Indus River, which today runs through northwest India into Pakistan. The so-called Indus Valley civilization (also known as the "Harappan civilization" for one of its chief cities) is thought to have originated as early as 7000 BC and to have reached is height between 2300 to 2000 BC, at which point it encompassed over 750,000 square miles and traded with Mesopotamia.
Some writings of this period have been discovered, but they have yet to be deciphered. Knowledge of this great civilization's religion must therefore be based on physical evidence alone. Baths have been found that may indicate ritual bathing, a component of modern Hinduism. Some altar-like structures may be evidence of animal sacrifice, and terracotta figures may represent deities. An important seal features a horned figure surrounded by animals, which some conjecture is a prototype of Shiva, but it could be a bull parallel to that found on Mesopotamian seals.
The Indus Valley culture began to decline around 1800 BC, due possibly to flooding or drought. Until recently, it was held that the Aryans, an Indo-European culture whose name comes from the Sanskrit for "noble", invaded India and Iran at this time. According to this hypothesis, both the Sanskrit language and the Vedic religion foundational to Hinduism is attributable to the Aryans and their descendants. The original inhabitants of the Indus Valley are thought to have had a Dravidian language and culture, which became subordinate to that of the invading peoples.
Proponents of this hypothesis point to similarities between Zoroastrianism (the ancient religion of Iran) and the Vedic religion of ancient India, as well as similar finds in ancient cemeteries in modern-day India and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In addition, no trace of horses or chariots have been found in the remains of the Indus Valley culture, but were central to Aryan military and ritual life.
Since the 1980s, this "Aryan Invasion" hypothesis has been strongly challenged as a myth propagated by colonial scholars who sought to reinforce the idea that anything valuable in India must have come from elsewhere. Critics of the hypothesis note that there is lack of evidence of any conquest, among other historical and archaeological problems.
One alternative hypothesis is explained by Encyclopedia Britannica as follows: Between about 2000 and 1500 BCE not an invasion but a continuing spread of Indo-Aryan speakers occurred, carrying them much farther into India, to the east and south, and coinciding with a growing cultural interaction between the native population and the new arrivals. From these processes a new cultural synthesis emerged, giving rise by the end of the 2nd millennium to the conscious expressions of Aryan ethnicity found in the Rigveda, particularly in the later hymns.
The 19th-century Aryan Invasion theory has generally been abandoned as inaccurate, but most scholars do not reject the notion of some outside influence on the Indus Valley civilization. For many, it is a political issue as well as a historical one, with the original theory is regarded as racist and offensive. Many people argue that there is now evidence to show that the original proponents of this hypothesis were wrong. Others, however, believe that the case against the Aryan invasion theory is far from conclusive.