History of Hinduism
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Hinduism is the world's oldest existing major religion.[1]. A worldwide religious tradition based on the Vedas and the beliefs and traditions of the various groups in India, Hinduism's origins include cultural elements of the Indus valley civilization (c.5000 BC-3300 BC), and the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans, and other Indian civilizations. Being highly localized within India, Hinduism has seen many changes throughout the history of the Indian subcontinent. Over time, Hindu philosophy evolved into six schools: Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva Mimamsa and Vedanta.
Earliest records
The dates of Hinduism's origins are approximate, based on archaeological evidence and scriptural references:
- Archaeological evidence unearthed at Indus Valley Civilization sites has been dated to circa 3000 BCE, suggesting that the Varnashrama system of four classes was adhered to no earlier than that. Seals depicting the deity Shiva in a Yogic posture of meditation also support that approximation. Philological evidence suggests that the earliest Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda, was composed around 1500-1300 BCE. [citation needed]
- Astronomical interpretation of Hindu scriptures suggest a date of approximately 3102 BCE. This date results from close examination of the Mahabharata, where the positions of the stars were noted at Sri Krishna's birth. Hindus believe Krishna was born 5000 years ago, and using the star locations in the Mahabharata, the exact year was 3228 BCE. [1] Sri Rama, according to the Ramayana, lived around 9000-5000 BCE. [citation needed]
Analysis of historic sources
Early Hinduism is a term used to designate the religious development of India before written history. Two kinds of evidence are available: literature and archeology.
Literature
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The earliest literature of Hinduism is made up of the four Vedas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda and the Atharva-Veda. Of these, the Rig-Veda is considered to be the oldest surviving work of literature. Many Hindus believe that the Vedas were transmitted through oral tradition, for perhaps 8000 years (Fisher). Hindus believe that Vedas were orally transmitted or revealed to the Saptha Rishis by the Lord himself.
However, the Puranas written by the rishis are the oldest recorded source available. Puranas deals with various Kalpas, Manvantharas, and Yugas as sub-divisions of each. The total number of years that has elapsed since the creation of Earth will be in excess of a trillion billion years. Moreover, Puranas explains the creation and destruction (Pralaya) of many civilizations, life in other galaxies or planets, and the ability of some life forms to travel from one to the other. It details Rishis ability to communicate or establish links between these different worlds or life forms.
The oldest known civilization so far, dating back to 2000 B.C., was discovered through excavations in Indus valley.[citation needed] It exhibited well planned cities with water supply and drainage. The script used in the inscriptions has not yet been deciphered. Some bronze statues of Vedic / Hindu Gods (Rudra or Pasupathy) have been excavated from these sites. This indicates that Vedas precede this civilization.[original research?] Maha Bhagavatham, was written by Vyasa after completing all other Puranas and was supposedly written soon after Swargarohana of Lord Krishna)Western commentators see this as an exaggeration, dating the earliest parts of the Veda, the Rig-Veda Samhita, to oral traditions reaching back to around 1800-1500 BCE.
The earliest stage of the Vedas is the Rig-Veda, a collection of poetic hymns used in the sacrificial rites of the Aryan priests. (Rigveda does not prescribe any sacrificial rites. It prescribes worship) Most of the Rig-Veda concerns the offering of Soma - which is both an intoxicant and a god itself - to the gods. The gods in the Rig-Veda are mostly personified concepts, who fall into two categories: the devas, who were gods of nature, such as the weather deity Indra, Agni ("fire"), and Ushas ("dawn") and the asuras, gods of moral concepts, such as Mitra ("contract" or "friend"), Bhaga (guardian of marriage) and Varuna ("the rain god").
{The Rigveda is verse narrated by over 12 main rishis. It has 10 Mandalas and there is significant variation in the language and style between the first 8 and the last two. It is not correct to say that Indra or Varuna are the principal Gods. Rigveda talks about One God (Ekam Sathyam Vipra bahuda Vadanthi). Rigveda talks about the management organization that could exist. It assigns functions or roles to each Deva. There are verses in praise of Indra. But the puranas explain that Indra is the name of the post and many persons have occupied that post. Each Manvanthara has a different person as Indra. It is even said that in the next Manvanthara, the Indra will be the same person who was Asura King mahabali. Hence it is a post with fixed tenure. This is also true of other posts. (Veda says that God or Easwara or paramapurusha remains the same and constant and has no beginning or end).Indra is head of Devas. Varuna has control over Water and its sources. Vayu has control over Air. There are also others like Agni, Mitra, yama with assigned roles. For small or earthly requirements or satisfaction of senses, it is sufficient to pray to these Devas and appease them. Rigveda also talks about origin of sound and also language. Veda itself says that it was revealed to the rishis by the Lord. Rigveda also talks about Vishnu and also Rudra. Purushasooktham is devoted to the praise of Lord Vishnu and the supreme Lord. The Rigveda does not talk about any rivalry between Devas or between Devas and Asuras.)
A rivalry between these two families was already apparent. Asura came to mean something like "demon" in later Hinduism, and it is already associated with mischief if not actual malice in the Rig-Veda. Compare this with Iranian Aryan religion, where ahura (asura) came to mean "god" and daēva (cognate to deva) came to mean "evil demon". This theme can be found in other Indo-European religions outside of the Indo-Aryan branch, such as in Norse mythology in the war between the Aesir and the Vanir. The emerging deprecation of the asuras led to the creation of new categories of gods, such as the adityas. Indra is the king of the gods in the Rig-Veda, although some of the hymns (perhaps representing an older stage) have Varuna as the chief. (However there are no verses in Rig veda to support this presumption.)
Archaeology
Early Hinduism comprises a period that is hazy in the eyes of archaeologists. The Vedic Aryans, although they left a rich body of hymns, left little material culture behind.
The excavations of the pre-Vedic Indus Valley Civilization, has also not yielded much evidence of religious activity, for example communal temples. However, there is sufficient evidence that the civilization was certainly not purely secular. Only one Indus civilization graveyard has been found and excavated, and has yielded no elaborate royal burials, but the personal possessions buried with the bodies may indicate that these people believed in an afterlife in which they would need these things.
Many figurines of female deities have been discovered. These most probably signified creativity and the origin and continuity of life, and they may have been worshipped as symbolic embodiments of the female principle of creative Energy and Power. In modern Hinduism, the counterpart of these symbols is called Shakti. These "mother Goddess" figurines may have been worshipped in the home rather than in any major state cult, but scholars have seen ancient Dravidian feminine divinity sculptures in groups of seven that date back to the Harappan era which mirror the Hindu belief in a Mother Goddess (Devi) being represented in seven modes.
Figures of a male deity with elaborate horns (or horned headgear) have also been uncovered. He is typically seen surrounded by cattle and is called Pashupati, (the Protector of Animals), and is seen by some to be the prototype of Hinduism's ascetic God of Destruction, Shiva. Indeed, in modern-day Shaivism, Shiva has absorbed the names, stories and attributes of not only Pashupati, by which name he is still commonly known, but also the Vedic 'Rudra.' Pashupati is seen sitting in the meditative posture of yogis, suggesting that yoga or inner contemplation was one of their modes of discovering the secrets of life and creation. To this day, the Tantric schools of Hinduism know Shiva to be Yogeshwara, Lord of Yoga, and he is said to be the master of Self-knowledge, meditating for centuries at a time. Others see Pashupati as a form of Brahma.
There exist, in addition, three-headed Pashupati-statues that seem to resemble the Trimurti (Triple Form) of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva (Creator-Sustainer-Destroyer) in contemporary Hinduism, and if nothing else, intimate the continuity of religious traditions that have morphed into Hinduism as we know it today from periods as far back as five thousand years ago.
Hindu mythology
Apart from religious philosophy, mysticism and spiritualism and tales of superhuman heroes and events, Hindu mythology has a strong historical nature and character. It is perhaps the most extensive, although controversial and largely un-confirmable source for the history of ancient India and its peoples.
Early Hinduism
Early Hinduism (the historical Vedic religion) consisted not only of aspects inherited from Indo-Iranian religion, but also inherited parts the religious system of the Dravidian peoples, and the Indus Valley Civilization.
Influences of the Indus Valley and Dravidian Peoples
Interestingly, the Rigvedic deities, like Indra, Agni, Vayu etc., are not the principal gods of present day Hindus. Those Indo-Aryan gods have equivalents in other Indo-European gods worshipped by other Indo-European speaking peoples. Those gods occupied the highest position until the advent of Christianity in those societies, with little discernible trace remaining of the Pre-Indo-European deities and traditions. However in India the traditions of native groups such as the Dravidians seem to have mingled more fluently with those of the migrants. One view is that this unique mingling is what resulted in modern Hinduism.
Vedic religion
At the height of the Vedic period, from ca. 800 BC, the inherited mantra texts of the Vedas were extensively commented upon in Brahmana literature in many branches (shakhas) throughout India.
Evolution of Hindu Philosophy
From prehistoric times of Vedic civilization up to the Gupta Empire era, Hindu philosophy, theology and mythology were constantly evolving.
Socio-Religious Reform Movements
Many orders for religious reform, moksha and religious transformation arose across India.
Hinduism and Jainism
As opposed to Vedic tradition of Hinduism, Jainism follows shramanic tradition and is probably as old as Hinduism. The main disagreement today remains over the rejection of the Vedas, although Hindu society has to a large extent embraced ahimsa and vegetarianism. Over several thousand years, Jain influence on Hindu philosophy and religion have been considerable, while Hindu influence on Jain temple worship and rituals can be observed in some Jain traditions. Jain scriptures are many and varied. Jain scripture rejects both the Hindu Vedas and non-Jain writings as sources of religious authority and practice. The Hindu Vedic (and generally theistic) concepts of divine creation, preservation and destruction are criticised in Jain scriptures such as the Mahavira Charitam[citation needed].
Hinduism and Buddhism
When Mauryan Emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism, he sponsored the growth of schools and monasteries, and sent missions to Sri Lanka, South East Asia, West Asia and Europe. Following the ascent of the Gupta Dynasty, many communities that had converted to Buddhism returned to Hinduism in India.[citation needed] Also, Hinduism was influenced by many of the teachings promoted by Buddhism and Jainism such as ahimsa and vegetarianism. There was a substantial Buddhist community living in the Indus basin until the Islamic conquest.[citation needed] Later Hindu scriptures, such as the Bhagavata purana, describe the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu, effectively reincorporating Buddhism into the Hindu religion[2][3], and demonstrating the historical tendency of Hinduism to embrace and absorb many diverse beliefs and traditions. Buddhism, of course, continued to thrive as a distinct religion in other parts of Asia.
The Golden Age
The Gupta dynasty ruled northern India (the north of the Vindhyas), between fourth and sixth centuries of the common era. Though not as vast as Mauryan empire, Gupta rule has left a deep and wide cultural impact not only in the subcontinent but on the adjacent Asian countries as well. The practice of dedicating temples to different deities came into vogue followed by fine artistic temple architecture and sculpture. Books on medicine, veterinary science, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics were written. The famous Aryabhata and Varahamihira belong to this age. The Gupta established a strong central government which also allowed a degree of local control. Gupta society was ordered in accordance with Hindu beliefs. This included a strict caste system, or class system. The peace and prosperity created under Gupta leadership enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors.
Adi Shankara and the establishment of Vedanta
At the time of Adi Shankara's life (c. 788 – 820 CE), Hinduism had began to decline because of the influence of Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism had become divided into innumerable sects, each quarrelling with the others. The followers of Mimamsa and Sankhya philosophy were atheists, in so much that they did not believe in God as a unified being. Besides these atheists, there were numerous theistic sects also. Also there were those who rejected the Vedas, like the Charvakas.
Adi Shankara held debates with the leading scholars of all these sects and schools of philosophy to controvert their doctrines. He unified the theistic sects into a common framework of Shanmata system. In his works, Adi Shankara stressed the importance of the Vedas, and his efforts helped Hinduism regain strength and popularity. He travelled on foot to various parts of India to restore the study of the Vedas.
Even though he lived for only thirty-two years, his impact on India and on Hinduism cannot be stressed enough. He reintroduced a purer form of Vedic thought. His teachings and tradition form the basis of Smartism and have influenced Sant Mat lineages.[4] He is the main figure in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta. He is the founder of the Dashanami Sampradaya of Hindu monasticism and Shanmata tradition of worship. He travelled all over India (Kerala to Kashmir and Nepal) three times over and was a major cause in the revival and integration of Sanatana Dharma. The mathas he founded are very much active today and form a major guiding force for Hinduism.
Adi Shankara, along with Madhva and Ramanuja, was instrumental in the revival of Hinduism. These three teachers formed the doctrines that are followed by their respective sects even today. They have been the most important figures in the recent history of Hindu philosophy. In their writings and debates, they provided polemics against the non-Vedantic schools of Sankhya, Vaisheshika etc. Thus they paved the way for Vedanta to be the dominant and most widely followed tradition among the schools of Hindu philosophy. The Vedanta school stresses most on the Upanishads (which are themselves called Vedanta, End or culmination of the Vedas), unlike the other schools that gave importance to texts authored by their founders. The Vedanta schools have the belief that the Vedas, which include the Upanishads, are unauthored, forming a continuous tradition of wisdom transmitted orally. Thus the concept of apaurusheyatva (being unauthored) came to be the guiding force behind the Vedanta schools. However, along with stressing the importance of Vedic tradition, Adi Shankara gave equal importance to the personal experience of the student also. Logic, grammar, Mimamsa and allied subjects also form main areas of study in all the Vedanta schools.
Cultural expansion in South-East Asia
During the 1st century, the trade on the overland Silk Road tended to be restricted by the rise in the Middle-East of the Parthian empire, an unvanquished enemy of Rome, just as Romans were becoming extremely wealthy and their demand for Asian luxury was rising. This demand revived the sea connections between the Mediterranean and China, with India as the intermediary of choice. From that time, through trade connection, commercial settlements, and even political interventions, India started to strongly influence Southeast Asian countries. Trade routes linked India with southern Burma, central and southern Siam, lower Cambodia and southern Vietnam, and numerous urbanized coastal settlements were established there.
For more than a thousand years, Indian influence was therefore the major factor that brought a certain level of cultural unity to the various countries of the region. The Pali and Sanskrit languages and the Indian script, together with Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism, were transmitted from direct contact and through sacred texts and Indian literature such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
From the 5th to the 13th century, South-East Asia had very powerful empires and became extremely active in Buddhist architectural and artistic creation. The Sri Vijaya Empire to the south and the Khmer Empire to the north competed for influence.
Southeast Asian Hindu kingdoms
Langkasuka (-langkha Sanskrit for "resplendent land" -sukkha of "bliss") was an ancient kingdom Hindu located in the Malay Peninsula. The kingdom along with Old Kedah are probably the earliest kingdom founded on the Malay Peninsula. According to tradition the founding of the kingdom happened in the 2nd century. Malay legends claim that Langkasuka was founded at Kedah, and later moved to Pattani.
Pan Pan is a lost Hindu Kingdom believed to be exist around 3rd-5th Century CE. somewhere in Kelantan or Terengganu, Malaysia.
Gangga Negara was believed to be a lost Hindu kingdom somewhere in the state of Perak, Malaysia, ruled by Raja Gangga Shah Johan. Researchers believed that the kingdom collapsed after an attack by King Rajendra Chola I of Coromandel, South India, between 1025 and 1026.
From the 5th-15th centuries Sri Vijayan empire, a maritime empire centered on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, had adopted Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism under a line of rulers named the Sailendras. The Empire of Sri Vijaya declined due to conflicts with the Chola rulers of India, before being destabilized by the Islamic invasion of India from the 13th century.
The Majapahit Empire succeeded the Singhasari empire. It was one of the last and greatest Hindu empires in the Malay Archipelago.
Funan was a pre-Angkor Cambodian kingdom located around the Mekong delta, probably established by Mon-Khmer settlers speaking an Austro-Asiatic language. According to reports by two Chinese envoys, K'ang T'ai and Chu Ying, the state was established by an Indian Brahmin named Kaundinya, who in the first century C. E. was given instruction in a dream to take a magic bow from a temple and defeat a Khmer queen, Soma. Soma, the daughter of the king of the Nagas, married Kaundinya and their lineage became the royal dynasty of Funan. The myth had the advantage of providing the legitimacy of both an Indian Brahmin and the divinity of the cobras, who at that time were held in religious regard by the inhabitants of the region.
The kingdom of Champa (or Lin-yi in Chinese records) controlled what is now south and central Vietnam from approximately 192 through 1697. The dominant religion of the Cham people was Hinduism and the culture was heavily influenced by India. Many Cham towers still stand in central Vietnam. The most significant example of Cham architecture is My Son near the Vietnamese city of Hoi An.
Later, from the 9th to the 13th century, the Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu Khmer Empire dominated much of the South-East Asian peninsula. Under the Khmer, more than 900 temples were built in Cambodia and in neighboring Thailand. Angkor was at the center of this development, with a temple complex and urban organization able to support around one million urban dwellers.
Hinduism in the Medieval Ages
Muslim Invasion
Muslim rulers began to extend their rule across Hindu populated lands in the 8th century CE and Islam began to spread across the Indian-subcontinent over several centuries. Most converts were from Hinduism or Buddhism; the two dominant local religions. The prime drivers attributed to the conversions are: duress by the invaders, political expediency, oppressive legal/ legislative climate against Hindus and Buddhists, oppressive caste structure in Hindu society at the time, jizya, Sufi missionaries, inter-marriage and immigration from other Islamic lands. Many of the new Muslim rulers looked down upon Hindu Iconodulistic religious practices. and were to various degrees iconoclastic. In times of conflict they also took the liberty to sack Hindu temples, which were repositaries of significant wealth. In addition, Hindus who were converted to Islam were called "Ajlaf" (the low-born) over the so-called "Arab-descended Ashraf" and subjected to the Caste system among South Asian Muslims.
Goa Inquisition
The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian city of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. Established in 1560, it was aimed primarily at Hindus and wayward new converts and by the time it was suppressed in 1774, the inquisition has had thousands of people converted, mostly by force and through torture. St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III, requested for an Inquisition to be installed in Goa. It was installed eight years after the death of Francis Xavier in 1552.
Bhakti Movement
Bhakti movements are Hindu religious movements in which the main spiritual practice is the fostering of loving devotion to God, called bhakti. They are monotheistic movements generally devoted to worship of Shiva or Vishnu or Shakti.
The first documented bhakti movement was founded by Karaikkal-ammaiyar. She wrote poems in Tamil about her love for Shiva and probably lived around the 6th century CE. 1, 2, 3 The twelve Alvars who were Vaishnavite devotees and the sixty-three Nayanars who were Shaivite devotees nurtured the incipient bhakti movement in Tamil Nadu. They constitute South India's 75 Apostles of Bhakti.
During the 12th century CE, the bhakti movement took the form of the Virashaiva movement from Karnataka state inspired by Basavanna, a great Hindu reformer who created the sect of Lingayats or Shiva bhaktas. During this time, a unique and native form of Kannada literature-poetry called Vachanas was born.
During the 14th - 17th century, the Bhakti movement called the haridasa movement was propagated in Kannada language by great saints of Karnataka like Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Vyasatirtha, guru Raghavendra Swami of Mantralaya, Gopaladasa, Vijayadasa, Jagannathadasa, Narahari tirtha, Sri Kamalesha Vitthala and others. During this time, the teachings of Madhvacharya were propagated through out south India, sowing the seeds of carnatic music and instilling a strong Hindu sentiment at a time when north India was ruled by Muslim empires.
The Reign of Shivaji
The Hindu Marathas long had lived in the Desh region around Satara, in the western portion of the Deccan plateau, where the plateau meets the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats mountains. They had resisted incursions into the region by the Muslim Mughal rulers of northern India. Under their leader Shivaji, the Maratha freed themselves from the Muslim sultans of Bijapur to the southeast, and became much more aggressive and began to frequently raid Mughal territory, sacking the Mughal port of Surat in 1664. Shivaji was proclaimed Emperor in 1674. The Maratha had spread and conquered much of central India by Shivaji's death in 1680.
Modern Hinduism
Modern Hinduism is the reflection of continuity and progressive changes that occurred in various traditions and institutions of hinduism during the 19th and 20th centuries. This continuity and adaptation to modern ideas is still a continuing process.
Modern Hinduism has as its values rational thought, modern education and the ideals of humanism, rationalism and religious universalism. This has meant combating the conservative and obscurantist elements, imbibing modernity, modern education compared to classical Sanskritic education system, and countering Christian missionary criticism.
Reform Movements
Brahmo Samaj is a social and religious movement founded in Kolkata, India in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He was influenced by western thought and was one of the first Indians to visit Europe. He died in Bristol, England. The Brahmo Samaj movement thereafter resulted in the Brahmo religion in 1850 founded by Debendranath Tagore — better known as the father of Rabindranath Tagore.
Arya Samaj (Aryan Society or Society of Nobles) is a Hindu reform movement in India that was founded by Swami Dayananda in 1875. He was a sannyasin (renouncer) who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda advocated the doctrine of karma and reincarnation, and emphasised the ideals of brahmacharya (chastity) and sanyasa (renunciation).
Sri Ramakrishna and his pupil Swami Vivekananda led a reform in Hinduism in late 19th century. Their ideals and sayings have inspired numerous Indians as well as non-Indians, Hindus as well as non-Hindus. Among the prominent figures whose ideals were very much influenced by them were Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, Subhas Bose, Satyendranath Bose, Meghnad Saha, and Sister Nivedita.
Converts
Though Hindus have never proselytized, modernity has led to an infusion of newer ideas into the Hindu religion, thereby making it more open, so that we find many non-Asians taking on Hinduism. This is particularly interesting because there is no large-scale proselytising effort in Hinduism.
An important aspect of 20th-century Hinduism has been its spread among non-Indians, who have accepted the religion voluntarily. This perhaps began with the sojourn of Vivekananda to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, where he made a huge impact on the people. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which today operates temples, ashrams, charitable hospitals, and schools worldwide. In our times, Transcendental Meditation has become popular. And the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, inspired by the Vaishnavite strand of Bhakti, has established centers around the world.
Of late, Pandurang Shastri Athavale a social reformer, philosopher, and spiritual teacher from the Western Indian state of Maharashtra, Guru of Swadhyay Movement, is also a modern spiritual teacher of Hinduism.
The resurgence of Hinduism in Indonesia is occurring in all parts of the country. In the early seventies, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to be identified under the umbrella of 'Hinduism', followed by the Karo Batak of Sumatra in 1977 and the Ngaju Dayak of Kalimantan in 1980.
The growth of Hinduism has been driven also by the famous Javanese prophesies of Sabdapalon and Jayabaya. Many recent converts to Hinduism had been members of the families of Sukarno's PNI, and now support Megawati Sukarnoputri. This return to the 'religion of Majapahit' (Hinduism) is a matter of nationalist pride.
The new Hindu communities in Java tend to be concentrated around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (candi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. An important new Hindu temple in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt. Semeru, Java's highest mountain. Mass conversions have also occurred in the region around Pura Agung Blambangan, another new temple, built on a site with minor archaeological remnants attributed to the kingdom of Blambangan, the last Hindu polity on Java, and Pura Loka Moksa Jayabaya (in the village of Menang near Kediri), where the Hindu king and prophet Jayabaya is said to have achieved spiritual liberation (moksa). Another site is the new Pura Pucak Raung in East Java, which is mentioned in Balinese literature as the place from where Maharishi Markandeya took Hinduism to Bali in the fifth century CE.
Hinduism in general does not encourage converting. This largely explains why there has never been any missionary activities in Hinduism. It is the belief of Hinduism that each person chooses their own path to reach god. You are never encouraged to stray from the path that you have chosen. Each religion is just a path to god. Converting to another religion takes you to an entirely new path, which in Hinduism is seen as unnecessary.
Shuddhi Movement
Started by Arya Samaj in early 20th century to bring back to Hinduism people converted to Islam and Christianity. Dayananda claimed to be rejecting all non-Vedic beliefs altogether. Hence the Arya Samaj unequivocally condemned idolatry, animal sacrifices, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability and child marriages, on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction. It aimed to be a universal church based on the authority of the Vedas. Dayananda stated that he wanted ‘to make the whole world Aryan’. That is, he wanted to develop missionary Hinduism based on the universality of the Vedas.
To this end the Arya Samaj set up schools and missionary organisations, extending its activities outside India. It now has branches around the world. It has a disproportional amount of adherents among people of Indian ancestry in Suriname and the Netherlands, in comparison with India.
References
- ^ Hinduism: The World's Third Largest Religion
- ^ "Srimad-Bhagavatam" by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
- ^ sanatansociety.org
- ^ Ron Geaves (March 2002). "From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara)". 27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford.
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See also
- History of India
- Hindu scriptures
- Hinduism, Hindu
- Indianized kingdom
- Demographics of India
- List of Hinduism-related articles
- History of Vedic religion
Notes
References
- Majumdar, R. C. (1960). An Advanced History of India. Great Britain: Macmillan and Company Limited. ISBN 0-333-90298-X.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Benjamin Walker Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism, (Two Volumes), Allen & Unwin, London, 1968; Praeger, New York, 1968; Munshiram Manohar Lal, New Delhi, 1983; Harper Collins, New Delhi, 1985; Rupa, New Delhi, 2005, ISBN 81-291-0670-1.