Hinduism, the "oldest living major religion" in the world

Hinduism

Hinduism is an umbrella term for a wide variety of religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent, which, when taken together, form "the dominant religion" of the region, particularly of India and Nepal. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Smartism among numerous other traditions. Among other practices and philosophies, Hinduism includes a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of "daily morality" based on karma, dharma, and societal norms. Hinduism is a categorisation of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, common set of beliefs.
Hinduism consists of many diverse traditions and has no single founder. Among its direct roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India. As such, Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion" or the "oldest living major religion" in the world. Since Vedic times, a process of Sanskritization has been taking place, in which "people from many strata of society throughout the subcontinent tended to adapt their religious and social life to Brahmanic norms".
Hinduism, with about one billion followers, is the world's 3rd largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.
The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, the historic local name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The word Sindhu is 1st mentioned in the Rigveda.
The word Hindu was taken by European languages from the Arabic term al-Hind, and refers to the land of the people who live across the River Indus. 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".
The term Hinduism was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir 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. 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.
Besides being one of the world's numerically largest faiths, Hinduism is also the oldest living major tradition on earth with roots reaching back into prehistory. It is described as both the oldest of the world's religions and the most diverse.
Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, and a set of religious beliefs.
Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena originating in, and based on, the Vedic traditions.
Problems with a single definition of the term 'Hinduism' are often attributed to the fact that Hinduism does not have a single historical founder. Also, Hinduism, or as some tell 'Hinduisms', does not have a single system of salvation; each sect or denomination has different goals. 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".
Most Hindu traditions revere a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas, although there are exceptions. 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. Hinduism is sometimes characterized by a belief in reincarnation determined by the law of karma and the idea that salvation is freedom from this cycle of repeated birth and death. However, other religions of the region, such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, also believe in karma, outside the scope of Hinduism. Hinduism is therefore viewed as the most complex of all the living, historical world religions.
A definition of Hinduism is further complicated by the frequent use of the term "faith" as a synonym for "religion". Some academics and many practitioners refer to Hinduism, using a native definition, as ‹See Tfd›Sanātana Dharma, a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law" or the "eternal way".
To its adherents Hinduism is the traditional way of life, and because of the wide range of traditions and ideas incorporated within and covered by it, arriving at a comprehensive definition of the term is difficult.
A definition of Hinduism given by the 1st Vice President of India who was also a prominent theologian, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, states that Hinduism isn't "just a faith" but in itself is related to the union of reason and intuition. Radhakrishnan explicitly states that Hinduism cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced.
Hinduism's tolerance to variations in belief and its broad range of traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western conceptions.
Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as a category with "fuzzy edges" rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category. Based on this idea Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism.
The notion of "Hinduism" as a "single world religious tradition" was developed by 19th-century European Indologists who depended on the "brahmana castes" for their information of Indian religions. This led to a "tendency to emphasize 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."
Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas, only two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, survive. The main divisions of Hinduism today are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Hinduism also recognizes numerous divine beings subordinate to the Supreme Being or regards them as lower manifestations of it. Other notable characteristics include a belief in reincarnation and karma as well as a belief in personal duty, or dharma.

Related Sites for Hinduism

• About.com Hinduism - Hinduism for Beginners - What is Hinduism? read Hinduism
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