REL 320: History Of Hinduism In America And India

Hinduism is known as the world's oldest religion. According to ISKCON Educational Services (2004), it is hard to construct a timeline because Hinduism has no identifiable human founder or specific origin in history. It is so old that its past goes into pre-history. It is extremely diverse with the Hindu people being more interested in the meaning of events than in providing first hand records. There is also no clear-cut divide between history and myth.

The question of origin- In order for us to completely understand Hinduism, we must first understand that this a philosophical system of beliefs. To give a definite origin of Hinduism would be very hard to address because there are no known origins. There are no beginning points or a name of a founder. Hinduism can be traced all the way back to around 1500 B.C in what we now call India and has a lot of different beliefs, philosophies and views that contradict each other. All Hindus believe in one God, a supreme being known as Brahma. Brahma is an entity believed to live in every single facet of reality and existence throughout the whole universe. Brahma is both impersonal and unknowable and is often believed to exist in three separate forms: Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer.

     The English word religion loosely translates into “rules” in Latin. Therefore, a religion teaches us how to think, how to act, and basically everything except what to eat in the morning. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things and our society follows some of the rules too because religion and laws are based on humanity. From holy literature many different ideas have been pawned but they are all supposed to lead you to the same things: a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us, and some kind of liberation after death. Concerning these ideals the Hindu religion has come up with three ways to make sure that everybody will get what they want out of life and those are the four

The word Hindu has evolved from being the word the Persians used for the Indus River in 500 BC to the accepted name for the primary religion of India this name was originally given by foreign rulers and ultimately used by Europeans in the 1500's as the official name of the religion. History plays an important part of Hinduism because new developments reinterpret an update past practices rather than end them. The Hindu religion is broke down into three periods the Vedic period, the Upanishadic period, the classical period, and the devotional period.

Hinduism is one of the most diverse religions still practiced today. They are an adaptive religion, often taking in the local Gods of its followers, leading to many branches of the religion that occur much like dialects within a language. Although it is difficult to catalog all of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses, there is estimated to be over 300 million of them. It is common for people unfamiliar with the religion to generalize all those living on the Indian subcontinent as “Hindu”, since they are usually not aware of the many religions that are practiced in India, and how similar they can be. This generalization can trace its roots back to imperial British rule of the country. In an attempt to offer their colony representation in Parliament, a census was taken of the colony to offer representation based on religion. The census did not allow for the diversity of belief that occurs under the Hindu

Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, is the third largest religion in the world after Islam and Christianity with close to one billion followers. The followers of the religion are called Hindus and are mainly located in India, and their place of worship is a temple. The religion doesn’t have any one specific founder, however,

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.

Hinduism, even just by virtue of its name, is deeply Indian in nature. The word Hindu is derived from a Persian word which means “the Indus River” or more simply, just “Indian.” The word began as a purely geographical term. It wasn’t until the invasions into India that the word became associated with the religions of the subcontinent. The invaders classed all the beliefs of India’s indigenous peoples as one religion, Hinduism. Even before the imperial takeover of the British, the ideas and beliefs of “Hinduism” were already undergoing significant changes, with the instruction of new teachings from invaders.

Throughout history religion has been used as means to justify actions and to control people. The two earliest examples are Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. The time frames that will be discussed will be the reign of Cyrus, 521 to 486 BCE, and India from 1500 to 500 BCE, before the Persians had a direct effect on India. The Persian religion is thought to be Zoroastrianism or a derivative of it, called Achaemenian. (For this paper the Persian’s religion will be referred to as Zoroastrianism.) However, Cyrus did not strive to spread his religion he introduced his self into other religions as a divine figure. Hinduism is a religion whose origins are unknown but are speculated to have been initiated by the Aryan people. The development of the

While today’s definition of Hinduism relates the diverse practices and rituals of Hindu followers back to their Vedic roots, the countless traditions of pre-colonial India varied significantly in their forms and religious methodology with very little sense of unity. Indeed, in the eyes of prominent scholars at the peak of British colonialism, the notion of Hinduism referred less to a collective religion practiced by its followers and more to an umbrella term for the systemized belief systems practiced throughout the Indian subcontinent. Being unable to mold into a Western paradigm of religion was perceived as a weakness to many Indian religious leaders, a matter exemplified by the work of Christian

Hinduism - stands for the faith and the way of life most of the people who live

Imagine a religion so old that it is said to be timeless and has always been there, even before humans set foot on the Earth. It’s mindboggling to think that the knowledge of everything is floating in the space of the universe and the mind is just a way of reaching it. Hinduism is a very complex religion, yet it still sets one ultimate goal for the soul. To deeper understand Hinduism we must reveal its origin, doctrines, customs, and culture.

Hinduism is the oldest religions. The most interesting thing about Hinduism is that they have no specific founder or date of origin. Based on their beliefs Hindu’s are divided in to two casts. In the current world, there is still a big conflict about whether Hinduism is a monotheistic religion or a polytheistic religion. Because according to Hindus believe it’s one God with many different faces. This concept regarding Gods is accepted by some scholars, but not all of them. Hinduism has four sacred text Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Epics. The two most common sacred texts are the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita. The authors of all sacred texts are still unknown.

Hinduism originated in India over four thousand years ago. The India-based religion lacks an individual founder. In the beginning, the term “Sanatana Dharma” erupted; but Sanatana Dharma soon transformed to “Hindu” after Islamic invasions occurred: “the Muslim invaders pronounced H for I” (Patheos), thus, the inhabitants along the Indus River were called “Hindus” as a result. The primary goal Hindus hope to achieve is to become reincarnated – thus reaching closer and closer to the state of nirvana every Hindu is called to with each transformation after death.

Despite being the fact the hinduism was not a single tradition, it incorporated a lot of “Indian cultural patterns into a recognizable system” (Ways of the world, 197) ,