What is Hindu Dharma?

What is Hindu Dharma?
One of the major living religious traditions of the world, Hinduism is also recognized as the most
ancient. It is different from most others because it was not started by any single individual, seer or
prophet, and its origins cannot be traced to a particular period of human history.
It is not based on one single book or a set of dogmas; on the contrary, it allows a great deal of
freedom of thought, faith and worship. Hinduism is not a single religious faith system because it
does not insist on any fixed set of doctrines. There are a variety of religious sects or traditions in
Hinduism. However, in spite of this diversity, there is a unity among all the doctrines and schools
of thought because their basic principles are based on the 'eternal laws of nature' which can be
rightly defined as Sanatana (eternal) Dharma (laws of nature). The knowledge of the universe and
the laws contained in the Vedas and in the subsequent scriptures is considered to be applicable at
all times and places. As these laws bind the universe and its components together, it is called
'Dharma', i.e. that which keeps all together.
'Dharma' is one of the most intractable terms used in the Hindu philosophy and is derived from
the root 'dhru', meaning to uphold, sustain or support. Hindu Dharma comprises a medium, an
instrument or an integrated scheme of life by which one is prevented from falling down and is
uplifted spiritually. It is thus a way of life or a value system. The word 'Religion' is used for the
lack of a better synonym for 'Dharma' in English language.
Hinduism describes Dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to
be contented and happy, and to save himself from degradation and suffering. Dharma is the moral
law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one's life. Hindus consider Dharma the very
foundation of life. Atharva Veda describes Dharma symbolically: Prithivim Dharmana dhritam,
that is, "this world is upheld by Dharma".
Anything that helps human being to reach god is Dharma and anything that hinders human being
from reaching god is Adharma. For instance, in the epic poem Maha Bharata, the Pandavas
represent Dharma in life and the Kauravas represent Adharma. According to the Bhagavat
Purana, righteous living or life on a dharmic path has four aspects: austerity (tap), purity (shauch),
compassion (daya) and truthfulness (satya); and adharmic or unrighteous life has three vices:
pride (ahankar), contact (sang), and intoxication (madya).
Manusmriti written by the ancient sage Manu prescribes ten essential rules for the observance of
Dharma: Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya),
sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning
(vidya), truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha). Manu further writes, "Nonviolence,
truth, non-coveting, purity of body and mind, control of senses are the essence of Dharma".
Therefore dharmic laws govern not only the individual but all in society.
The purpose of Dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality; it also
suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness.
Hinduism is the religion that suggests methods for the attainment of the highest ideal and eternal
bliss here and now on earth and not somewhere in heaven.
In essence Hinduism is a way of life and culture in which several religious practices are
harmoniously blended and bound by the common bond of 'Dharma'. In the words of a Hindu
scholar and writer, Ram Swarup, "it is the name of one religion or one truth lived at hundred
points in hundred ways by people of different capacities and preparedness. Unity of Hinduism is
not external and geographical; it is deep, subtle, spiritual; it has multiple expressions; it lives in
them all; it also exceeds them."
The word 'Hindu'
History is mostly guessing; the rest is prejudice. - Will Durant
The word 'Hindu' has its origin in Sanskrit literature. In the Rig Veda, Bharat is referred to as the
country of 'Sapta Sindhu', i.e. the country of seven great rivers. The word 'Sindhu' refers to rivers
and sea and not merely to the specific river called 'Sindhu'. In Vedic Sanskrit, according to
ancient dictionaries, 'sa' was pronounced as 'ha'. Thus 'Sapta Sindhu' was pronounced as 'Hapta
Hindu'. This is how the word 'Hindu' came in to being. The ancient Persians also referred to
Bharat as 'Hapta Hind', as recorded in their ancient classic 'Bem Riyadh'. That is why some
scholars came to believe that the word 'Hindu' had its origin in Persia. The Greeks, who invaded
Bharat under Alexander, dropped 'H' and used the name Indoos or Indus, which later led to the
formation of the word 'India'.


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Vedas - Upanishads - Puranas

Vedas


The oldest literature of Indian thought is the Veda, a collection of religious and philisophical poems and hymns composed over several generations beginning as early as 3000 BC. The Veda was composed in Sanskrit, the intellectual language of both ancient and classical Indian civilizations. Four collections were made, so it is said that there are four Vedas. The four as a group came to be viewed as sacred in Hinduism.

Some Vedic hymns and poems address philosophic themes, such as the henotheism that is key to much Hindu theology. Henotheism is the idea that one God takes many different forms, and that although individuals may worship several different gods and goddesses, they really revere but one Supreme Being.

There are four Vedas:


The Rig-Veda
Its traditional date goes back to 3000 BC, something which the German scholar Max Mueller accepted. As a body of writing, the Rig-Veda (the wisdom of verses) is nothing short of remarkable. It contains 1028 hymns (10,589 verses which are divided into ten mandalas or book-sections) dedicated to thirty-three different gods. The most often addressed gods were nature gods like Indra (rain god; king of heavens), Agni (fire god), Rudra (storm god; the 'howler'), Soma (the draught of immortality, an alcoholic brew).

The Sama-Veda
The Sama-Veda or the wisdom of chants is basically a collection of samans or chants, derived from the eighth and ninth books of the Rig-Veda. These were meant for the priests who officiated at the rituals of the soma ceremonies. There are painstaking instructions in Sama-Veda about how particular hymns must be sung; to put great emphasis upon sounds of the words of the mantras and the effect they could have on the environment and the person who pronounced them.

The Yajur-Veda
The Yajur-Veda or the wisdom of sacrifices lays down various sacred invocations (yajurs) which were chanted by a particular sect of priests called adhvaryu. They performed the sacrificial rites. The Veda also outlines various chants which should be sung to pray and pay respects to the various instruments which are involved in the sacrifice.

The Atharva-Veda
The Atharva-Veda (the wisdom of the Atharvans) is called so because the families of the atharvan sect of the Brahmins have traditionally been credited with the composition of the Vedas. It is a compilation of hymns but lacks the awesome grandeur which makes the Rig-Veda such a breathtaking spiritual experience.


Upanishads


The term Upanishad means sitting down near; this implies the students sitting down near their Guru to learn the big secret. In the splendid isolation of their forest abodes, the philosophers who composed the Upanishads contemplated upon the various mysteries of life and its creation � whether common, or metaphysical. The answers were however not open to all, but only for select students. The reason for this was simple: not everyone can handle knowledge.

The composition of the Upanishads marks a significant and stride forward in the direction of knowing the mystery of earth's creation and one comes tantalizingly close to the answers. Through episodes, commentaries, stories, traditions and dialogue, the Upanishads unfold the fascinating tale of creation, life, the essence of life and of that beyond to the seeker of truth.

There is no exact date for the composition of the Upanishads. They continued to be composed over a long period, the core being over 7th -5th centuries BC. The Upanishads were originally called Vedanta, which literally means the conclusion to the Vedas.

In the Upanishads, views about Brahman (the Absolute, or God) and atman (one's true self) were proposed.

There are 18 principal Upanishads viz:

Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad
The Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad is widely accepted to be the most important of all Upanishads. It has three khandas or parts. The madhu khanda contemplates on the relationship between the individual and the Universal self. The muni khanda or yajnavalkya is a debate which goes on to give the philosophical backing to the earlier teaching. The khila khanda tackles various rituals of worship and meditation.

Chandogya Upanishad
This Upanishad is a part of the Sama-Veda (see The Vedas). The name comes from the singer of the songs (samans) who is called Chandoga. The initial chapters of the Upanishad, discuss the ritual of sacrifice. The others debate the origin and profundity of the concept of Om, among other things.

Aitareya Upanishad
This one forms part of the Rig-Veda. The purpose is to make the reader understand the deeper meaning of sacrifice and to take him away from the outer trappings of the actual act.

Taittriya Upanishad
A part of the Yajur-Veda, this Upanishad is divided into three sections or vallis. The siksa valli deals with the phonetics of the chants, while the others, brahmananda valli and bhrgu valli deal with self-realization.

Isa Upanishad
Also called the Isavasya Upanishad, this book deals with the union of God, the world, being and becoming. The stress is on the Absolute in relation with the world (paramesvara). The gist of the teachings is that a person's worldly and otherworldly goals need not necessarily be opposed to each other.

Kena Upanishad
The name of this Upanishad comes from the first word kena, or by whom. It has two sections of prose and two of poetry. The verses deal with the supreme spirit or the absolute principle (brahmaana) and the prose talks of ishvara (god). The moral of the story is that the knowledge of ishvara reveals the way to self-realization.

Katha Upanishad
Also called the Kathakopanishad, this Upanishad uses a story (katha) involving a young Brahmin boy called Nachiketa to reveal the truths of this world and the other beyond the veil.

Prashna Upanishad
Prashna literally means question, and this book is part of the Athrava-Veda. It addresses questions pertaining to the ultimate cause, the power of Om, relation of the supreme to the constituents of the world.

Mundaka Upanishad
This book also belongs to the Atharva-Veda. The name is derived from 'mund' or to shave, meaning that anyone who understands the Upanishads is s(h)aved from ignorance. This book inscribes the importance of knowing the supreme brahmaana, only by which knowledge can one attain self-realization.

Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya is an exquisite treatise which expounds on the principle of Om and its metaphysical significance in various states of being, waking, dream and the dreamless sleep. The subtlest and most profound of the Upanishads, it is said that this alone will lead one to the path of enlightenment.

Svetasvatara Upanishad
The name of this Upanishad is after its teacher. It comments on the unity of the souls and the world in one all-encompassing reality. The concept of there being one god is also talked about here. It is dedicated to Rudra, the storm god.

Kausitaki Brahmana Upanishad
The Upanishad has come down to us in bits here and pieces there. The core of the text is dedicated to illustrating the fact that the path to release is through knowledge.

Maitri Upanishad
This is a comparatively later Upanishad as it has references to the Trinity of Hindu Gods (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) which is a later development, and plus references to the world being illusory in character reflects Buddhist influence.

Subala Upanishad
Belonging to the Yajur-Veda, this Upanishad puts down a dialogue between the sage Subala and Brahma the creator of the Hindu Trinity of Gods. It discusses the universe and the absolute.

Jabala Upanishad
Belonging to the Athrava-Veda this Upanishad addresses some questions pertaining to renunciation.

Paingala Upanishad
The Paingala is again a dialog, this between Yajnavalkya, the sage mentioned the Brhad-aranyaka's muni khanda and Paingala, a student of his. It discusses meditation and its effects.

Kaivalya Upanishad
This Upanishad delves into the state of kaivalya or being alone.

Vajrasucika Upanishad
Belonging to the Sama-Veda the Vajrasucika reflects on the nature of the supreme being.

The core of the teachings of the Upanishads is summed up in three words: tat tvam as� you are that.


Puranas


The Puranas contain the essence of the Vedas. They were written to impress the teachings of the Vedas onto the masses and to generate devotion to God in them. They have five characteristics: history, cosmology (with symbolical illustrations of philosophical principles), secondary creation, genealogy of kings, and Manvantaras (the period of Manu's rule consisting of 71 celestial yugas).

The Puranas were meant, not for the scholars, but for ordinary people who could not understand high philosophy and could not study the Vedas. There is an emphasis on the worship of Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), Shiva (the destroyer), Surya (the Sun God), Ganesha (the elephant headed god known to be the remover of obstructions ), and Shakti (the goddess). All the Puranas belong to the class of Suhrit-Sammitas, or the Friendly Treatises, while the Vedas are called Prabhu-Sammitas or Commanding Treatises with great authority.

There are 18 Puranas : Brahma Purana, Padma Purana, Vishnu Purana, Vayu Purana or Siva Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Narada Purana, Markandeya Purana, Agni Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Linga Purana, Varaha Purana, Skanda Purana, Vamana Purana, Kurma Purana, Matsya Purana, Garuda Purana and Brahmanda Purana.

Of these, six are Sattvic Puranas glorifying Vishnu; six are Rajasic, glorifying Brahma; six are Tamasic, glorifying Siva. Vyasa, the son of Rishi Parasara, is said to be the author of them all.

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WHAT IS HINDUISM?

Hinduism: A Short History by Klaus K. klostermaier

WHAT IS HINDUISM?

Hinduism is unlike any of the other major historic religions. It does not claim an identifiable human founder or a specific origin in history -- some Hindus derive their tradition from a primeval revelation of the Supreme, others consider it the beginningless sanatana dharma, the eternal law that governs everything, independently of any divine or human agent -- nor has it ever rejected a parent tradition from which it separated as a rebel child, as all others have done. Hindus had not found it necessary to define ``the essentials of Hinduism'' or prove it different from other religions until challenged by break-away spiritual movements like Buddhism or invaders from outside, who wanted to impose their own religions, such as Islam and Christianity.

Traditional Hinduism has preserved surprisingly much of the character of autochthonous native traditions, maintaining the holistic, all-embracing approach typical of these: there is no hard and fast distinction between the sacred and the secular, no strict separation of religious ritual from essential daily activities, no real difference or tension between religion and culture.

The various branches of what became known as ``Hinduism'' do not have a common creed and they do not demand from their followers any declaration of a ``Hindu'' faith. Until recently one could not become a Hindu unless one was born into a Hindu family; and one could not cease to be a Hindu if one was born a Hindu. As far as one's membership in the Hindu community was concerned, it did not matter what one thought or believed as long as one participated in the traditional rituals, which were also part and parcel of traditional Indian culture. On the other hand, many of the sampradayas, specific worship traditions within Hinduism, draw very close and narrow boundaries: those who wish to be members must obey a very strict regimen with regard to diet, life-style, reading, and worship; they must not accept the teachings of any other sampradaya, or read books or listen to sermons from them.

Left to itself the large and old Hindu civilization quietly appropriated whatever was brought into it from the outside, absorbed it, transformed it, and made it part of its own. That process of assimilation was disturbed in a major way first by the massive onslaught of Islamic conquerors from the tenth century C.E. onwards. The Muslims came to conquer India and to covert the native ``idolaters'' to their own religion. The rigid monotheism of Islam, the exclusivity claim of Mohammed's revelation, the rejection of the caste system proved irreconcilable with the native religio-cultural traditions of India.

While Islam could claim partial successes -- for over half a millennium most of India was under Muslim rule and a third of the population accepted Islam -- it generated a resistance among Hindus who began to realize an identity of their own based on their native ``Hindu'' traditions. Not by accident was it that from the eleventh century onwards nibandhas were composed -- encyclopedic works that collected Hindu legal traditions, information about Hindu holy places, Hindu rituals, and customs of all sampradayas. Hindus became aware of Hinduism as distinct from Islam. Islamic hostility toward ``idolatry'' further served to underscore the differences between Hindu traditions and other religions.

The second major disturbance was created by Western European powers from the sixteenth century C.E. onwards. While the main interest of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danish, the French and the English -- all of whom established colonies in India -- was trade, they were soon persuaded by the ecclesiastical powers of their homebases that they also had a duty to spread their Christian faith among the heathen.

Notwithstanding the presence of significant groups of indigenous Christians, who had lived for centuries peacefully side by side with their Hindu neighbors, the European Churchmen of various denominations considered India a mission field to be harvested for their sectarian Western Christian Churches. By demanding from the citizens of Goa, the first European colony on Indian soil, either to convert to the Catholic Church or to emigrate, the Portuguese established a hard and fast line between Christianity and Hinduism, and also made sure that future relations between the two religions were based on hostility and exclusivity. Like Islam, Christianity became a foreign invader and remained a foreign religio-cultural presence in India. It also provoked a reaction and a resistance among Hindus that became quite articulate from the end of the nineteenth century onwards.

The term ``Hinduism'' has recently been problematized in western scholarly literature. ``Hindutva,'' the Indian-languages equivalent, identified with a cultural political program promoted by right-wing Hindu political parties and extremist Hindu organizations, is viewed with suspicion and apprehension by many non-Hindus. Some question the appropriateness of the very word ``Hinduism,'' which, they say, is an ``orientalist construct'' invented by western colonial interest. All agree that the term ``Hindu'' was imposed on the Indians by outsiders. However, the designation ``Hindu'' has meanwhile been adopted by Indians themselves, who identify their religion as ``Hinduism'' over against Islam or Christianity. Others deny historic validity to the very notion of ``Hinduism'' prior to nineteenth century ``Neo-Hinduism,'' which arose as a reaction to Christianity, the religion of the foreign colonizers.

The global designation ``Hinduism'' is apt to disguise the great diversity of Indian religious traditions. Till very recently ``Hindus'' defined their religious identities by using specific appellations like Vaisnava, S�aiva, S�akta, Smarta etc., and several modern movements like the Ramakrishna Mission and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness emphatically denied being ``Hindu,'' so as not to be identified with other branches of Hinduism that hold beliefs contrary to their own.

THE MEANING OF ``HISTORY''

There is an uncanny resemblance between the original Greek word historia and the Sanskrit term for history, itihasa, meaning both story and history (in the modern sense), tale, narrative, as well as the event narrated and told. Herodotus, commonly called the ``Father of History'' in the West, offers in his Historiae a great variety of reports about events observed by himself, about customs of other peoples, about tales and traditions whose authority he was not able to vouchsafe. By comparison Indian itihasa, as reflected in the Epics and the Puranas, also consists of a rich store of historical events and legends, of myths and of moral lessons inextricably interwoven in order to tell a story, not to document ``facts.''

History writing in a more narrow sense is not unknown to India: the Buddhists chronicled the progress of their missions, and the famous Rajatarangini documents several centuries of Kashmir's history. The Upanisads maintained lists of guru-paramparas, containing scores of genealogies of teacher--disciple successions. But they give no dates and no references that allow precise dating by comparison with historic figures or events elsewhere. The Puranas contain many lists of dynasties and attempts have been made to identify these names and to relate them to datable rulers outside India and to historic events. There are Digvijayas, records of the encounters of great teachers with their opponents, temple-chronicles, like the Koil Olugu, that faithfully describes the history of Srirangam, and undoubtedly there are still many undiscovered manuscripts with historical information on many persons and places in India.

However, history in the modern sense, a chronological write-up of past events, the recording of ``facts, nothing but facts,'' was never popular with Hindus. They were seeking meaning in their religious texts, not resumes of past events. Mahatma Gandhi once said, when doubts about the historicity of the person of Jesus were expressed, that even if it should be proven that Jesus never lived, the Sermon on the Mount would still be true for him.

Until recently Hindus had found it rather unnecessary to prove the historicity of avataras like Rama and Krsna. Should endeavors of recent Hindu scholarship to find such proof be successful, that would probably not change anything for those who had always considered Rama and Krsna manifestations of the divine, their teaching a revelation, and their myths profoundly symbolically meaningful. It might, however, fuel competition between Hinduism and Christianity, pitting a historical Rama and Krsna against a historical Christ, and possibly worshipers of the one against worshipers of the other in an attempt to prove one to be the ``only true god.''

On a philosophical level, Hindus always made a distinction between appearance and reality, rating the waking consciousness, in which we note ``facts,'' lower in comparison to other states of awareness, in which we note ``ideas.'' Hinduism is a state of mind rather than an assembly of facts or a chronological sequence of events. The re-interpretations of scriptural texts, which Hindu acaryas have undertaken throughout the ages, and the freedom with which contemporary Hindu teachers modify traditional teachings and modernize ancient symbolisms, should caution us not to expect much enlightenment concerning the essentials of Hinduism from a ``history of Hinduism'' in the modern sense.

Most Hindus believe that the series of events which we call ``history'' repeats itself endlessly in a never-ending cycle. It is quite significant that some major Hindu schools of thought identify this self-repeating factual world (samsara) with maya (deception), or avidya (ignorance). A kind of ``higher ignorance'' can well be assumed to be the basis of a ``history'' that is content with documenting appearances and describing surface events.

One of the favorite images in South Indian Vaisnava temples shows Visnu resting on s�esa, the coiled up world-snake representing eternity. The philosophy associated with this image opens up a new horizon for the philosophy of history; there is not only one human history and one universe, there are -- in succession -- many universes and many histories rolled up underneath the deity! What would be the meaning of these, in their totality, and what would be the purpose of the many universes?

A HISTORY OF HINDUISM?

In the light of the foregoing, it appears that history in the modern sense may not be the best approach to understand Hinduism. That point can also be proven by examining attempts to write histories of Hinduism. A history of Hinduism does not work as a history of Christianity or even a history of Buddhism works for understanding the content of these traditions. In Hinduism the momentous event of a foundation at one point in time, the initial splash in the water, from which concentric circles expand to cover an ever-wider part of the total surface, is absent. The waves that carried Hinduism to a great many shores are not connected to a central historic fact nor to a common historic movement.

The idea of a ``History of Hinduism,'' short or long, is almost a contradiction in terms. Hindus call their tradition sanatana dharma, the eternal law, and everything of religious importance is termed anadi, beginningless. Hinduism has never consciously given up anything of its large heritage that accumulated over the centuries. It appropriated many ideas and practices from many quarters, brought forth many creative minds, developed a large number of traditions that differ from each other in many respects but which collectively form what became known as ``Hinduism.''

Given all the discussion about ``Hinduism'' and the fact that the word ``Hindu'' has become a loaded term in today's India as well as in Indological writing, a clarification may be appropriate before setting out to introduce the reader to this short history of Hinduism. The term Hinduism has been fully accepted by today's ``Hindus'' and is hardly replaceable by any other designation to describe the religious culture of the majority of the inhabitants of India. The acceptance of the term Hindu by the adherents of this tradition makes it advisable to apply it when dealing with their beliefs and customs. While an extension of the term Hinduism to the earliest sources of the Hindu tradition is clearly an extrapolation, it appears justifiable. There are, after all, historical parallels that have been accepted unquestioningly by scholars and the general public alike.

There is little justification for the divisions found in much western scholarly writing between ``Vedism,'' ``Brahmanism,'' and ``Hinduism.'' If the term ``Hinduism'' is found problematic in connection with the Vedas and the Brahmanas, which certainly do not use the term, it is equally problematic in its application to the Epics and the Puranas, who do not use it either. Inversely, today's Hindus call their living religious traditions ``vedic,'' defining ``Hinduism'' as vaidika dharma, and making acceptance of the Veda as scripture the criterion of ``orthodoxy.'' It would hardly find the approval of those who are critical of the term ``Hinduism'' to replace it by ``Vedic Religion.''

In this book ``Hinduism'' is used as an umbrella designation for all traditions that declare allegiance to the Veda, however tenuous the actual connection with that body of writing might be, and however old or recent the particular branch might be. While speaking of ``Hinduism,'' without qualifying the term each time by a hundred caveats, it will also be made quite clear that Hinduism is not one homogeneous ``religion'' (in the biblical sense) but a ``family of religions,'' a vast and heterogenous tradition without a common leader, a common center or a common body of teachings.

Hinduism has continually been developing new expressions. It has aptly been compared to a Banyan tree that constantly sends forth new shoots that develop into trunks from which other roots originate to form other trunks, and so forth. The Banyan tree simile not only illustrates the diversity but also the interconnectedness of the countless forms under which ``Hinduism'' appears. While Hinduism may be lacking a definable doctrinal unity or uniformity in worship and ritual, it surely has a distinct shape of its own when set over against Islam or Christianity.

PROBLEMS IN CONSTRUCTING A HISTORIC SCHEMA OF HINDUISM

In the absence of a general common denominator and of an authoritative institution it is impossible to construct a schema for a history of Hinduism that provides a clear and commonly accepted periodization. While there certainly has been development, and innovation is not unknown to Hinduism, the situation was always complex and not amenable to being fitted into ``time lines,'' suggesting a progressive movement from a point A in the remote past via a point B in recent history to a point C today.

India has been called a ``living museum'' and Hinduism is as good an example to demonstrate the truth of this statement as any other facet of Indian culture. Side by side with naked Hindu sadhus practicing archaic forms of penance and living a life of utter contempt for comfort and hygiene, there are jet-set Hindu gurus who move among millionaires and surround themselves with every luxury imaginable. One still can see Vedic altars being built in today's India and observe Vedic sacrifices being offered accompanied by the muttering of Vedic hymns -- rites and compositions that may be six thousand or more years old. One can also see temples built in a futuristic style where worshipers offer obeisance to images of still living teachers accompanied by rock music and the latest in electronic sounds. There are Hindus who find their faith best expressed in the theology of medieval masters, and there are Hindus who have rejected everything from the past for the sake of a complete reinterpretation of traditional beliefs.

The periodization offered in the following pages must be taken with more than just a grain of salt. Although Western scholars, since the early nineteenth century, have labored hard to stick labels with historic dates on the written sources of Hinduism, many of these dates are far from established (the dates given by the experts often vary by thousands of years!) and even when and where they are certain, they may be of limited relevance to a history of Hinduism as a whole.

Accepting, hypothetically, the claim made by many Hindus that Hinduism is ``vedic,'' i.e. based on the collections of books called Veda, we could postulate an initial period of ``Vedic religion'' that represents the ``beginnings'' of Hinduism. Apart from the questionable nature of this assumption -- there is a counterclaim established by tradition and supported by some scholars, that the Puranas are older than the Vedas, and ``mainstream Hinduism'' alive in Vaisnavism, S�aivism, S�aktism, and others contains a large heritage of un-vedic and possibly pre-Vedic beliefs and practices -- the problem about dating the ``Vedic period'' has given rise to one of the most enduring and most hotly conducted scholarly debates of our time, summarized in chapter 3 of this book.

In the so-called post-Vedic period, the development of Hinduism proper, instead of one, there is a multitude of fairly exclusive, frequently intertwining traditions, whose history is difficult to trace, because of many local variants of each. Things are made more complicated through the appropriation of particular philosophical schools by specific religious traditions, the formation of parallel teaching lines, and the emergence of new sects.

ATTEMPTING A PERIODIZATION OF INDIAN HISTORY

In Joseph E. Schwartzberg's A Historical Atlas of South Asia the following periodization of the history of India, and within it, the history of Hinduism, is given:

I. Prehistory, comprising everything from the early Stone Age to the Indus Civilization (``Harappan Era'').

II. The Vedic Age.

III. The Age of the Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata).

IV. The Pre-Mauryan Age.

V. The Mauryas.

VI. The Post-Mauryan Period.

VII. The Imperial Guptas and the Classical Age.

VIII. Kingdoms and Regional Cultures of the 8th through the 12th Centuries.

IX. The Period of the Delhi Sultanate.

X. The Mughal Period.

XI. The Contest for Power and the Establishment of British Supremacy 1707--1857 [The only period with precise years given for events and persons mentioned].

XII. Imperial India and the growth of National Identity, comprising also the ``Indian Renaissance'' and Hindu Reform Movements.

XIII. Post-Independence India.

Jan Gonda, until his death in 1997, was for many decades the acknowledged doyen of European Indology and a prolific writer on many aspects of Hinduism. He contributed two volumes on Hinduism for a comprehensive series on ``The Religions of Mankind.'' His major divisions are as follows:

I. Veda and Older Hinduism

1. Vedic (and Brahmanic) Hinduism

2. Epic (and Puranic) Hinduism

II. Younger Hinduism

1. Major Phases of Post-epic Hinduism

2. Vaisnavism

3. S�aivism

4. Hinduism in the 19th and 20th Centuries

In his Chronology he provides the following dates for the key periods:

2600--1600 B.C.E. Indus-Civilisation.

From 1200 B.C.E. Aryan immigration to India: Development of Vedas.

From 600 B.C.E. The Oldest Upanisads.

c.200 B.C.E. The Bhagavadgita.

From 4th century B.C.E. to 2nd century C.E. Development of Ramayana.

From 4th century B.C.E. to 4th century C.E. Development of Mahabharata.

From the 2nd to the 6th century C.E. Expansion of Hinduism into Southeast Asia.

320 C.E. to 6th century C.E. the Gupta Dynasty.

3rd to 5th centuries C.E. Origin of Visnu Purana.

7th century C.E. Flowering of Vedanta.

8th century C.E. Origin of Samhita literature; Pan�caratra.

After 7th century C.E. Development of bhakti Movements.

7th to 9th centuries C.E. Period of Brahmanic Reconstruction.

With great reluctance I am offering my own very tentative periodization of the ``History of Hinduism.'' Most Western experts will probably object to the first half -- its rationale will be provided in the text itself.

I. Beginnings of the Vedic ritual and textual tradition: possibly as early as 6000 B.C.E. in Northwest India (Saptasindhu), superseding and incorporating earlier local (village) cults.

II. Consolidation and expansion of Vedic tradition, formation of the ``Canon'' of the Rgveda and emergence of ritual specialists: c.4000 B.C.E.

III. Full flowering of Vedic religion in the Panjab and adjacent areas: c.3000 B.C.E. This would also include the so-called ``Indus civilization.''

IV. Major natural cataclysms and desiccation of Sindh and adjacent areas followed by migrations from the indus area eastward towards the Gangetic plains: As a result of population pressure building up in the Yamuna-Ganges doab the Mahabharata war was precipitated c.1900 B.C.E. Gradual acceptance of S�aivism and Vaisnavism.

V. Internal Disputes and Development of Many Mutually Incom�patible (``heterodox'') Traditions: while most of these, like the Ajivikas, have died out, some survived: Jainism (re-organization in the seventh century B.C.E. of an older independent ascetic movement) and Buddhism (originating in the sixth century B.C.E.). For several centuries (300 B.C.E. to 300 C.E.) non-Hindu traditions were dominant in India, and from there expanded into neighbouring countries.

VI. Restoration of Hinduism under the Guptas: from the late fourth century C.E. to the sixth century. Anti-Buddhist and anti-Jain polemics and development of orthodox (non-theistic) Hindu theologies (Mimamsa and Vedanta) as well as of mainstream (theistic) sampradayas (Vaisnavism, S�aivism, later also S�aktism). Foundation of Hindu kingdoms in the countries of South East Asia (Indonesia, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines).

VII. Repression of Hinduism under Muslim Rule: from c.1200 C.E. till about 1800 C.E. Disappearance of Hinduism from public life, cultivation of personal piety (bhakti) and private ritual (Tantra).

VIII. Emergence of new Hindu kingdoms in Muslim-dominated India: Vijayanagara (1336--1565) and Maharastra (eighteenth century).

IX. Rising of reformers of Hinduism under British (Christian) influence: nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Development of a distinct Hindu identity and a Hindu consciousness.

X. Partition of India (1947): formation of a theocratic Indian Muslim State (Pakistan) and a secular Indian democratic state (Bharat). Efforts by Hindu nationalist political parties to ``hinduize'' Bharat and transform it into a Hindu rastra.

Basic Hindu Source Literature

The total mass of writings considered Hindu Scriptures, i.e. books that are religiously authoritative and believed inspired by a superhuman agency, far exceeds any scriptural tradition of any other religion. While much of it is accepted as divinely revealed only by believers in particular communities, there is a large corpus of books that form the basis of the ``Vedic tradition'' and that (at least nominally) is accepted by all Hindus as ``sacred.'' Although writing down of sacred texts was apparently forbidden for a long time, the collection of such texts, the memorization and their recitation, was central to ancient Indian traditions.

SRUTI AND SMRTI

The authoritative Hindu religious literature is divided into two main categories: sruti (literally: ``that which has been heard'') and smrti (literally: ``that which has been remembered''). Sruti has the connotation of ``revelation,'' ``truth'' in an unquestionable sense, norm of belief and practice. Smrti bases its authority on the standing of the writer to which it is attributed, authoritative only to the extent to which it conforms to sruti. It offers a certain freedom of choice between conflicting opinions, allows interpretation that is more than the mere establishing of the one correct meaning of words and sentences.

Sruti is identical with the Veda (literally ``knowledge'') in its wider sense, which comprises:

(a) the Veda in the narrower sense, i.e. the four samhitas (literally ``collections'')

Rg-Veda (Veda of hymns, or verses)

Sama-Veda (Veda of melodies)

Yajur-Veda (Veda of rituals)

Atharva-Veda (Veda of incantations and spells)

(b) the Brahmanas, large texts explanatory of the rituals, associated with each of the four samhitas as follows:

Rg-Veda: (1)�Aitareya (As�valayana)

(2)�Kaus�itaki (Samkhayana)

Yajur-Veda: (1)�Taittiriya

(2) S�athapatha

Sama-Veda: Eight, of which the most important are

(1)�Praudha (Pan�cavims�a)

(2)�Tandya

(3)�Sadvims�a

Atharva-Veda: Gopatha

(c) Aranyakas, literally ``forest treatises,'' i.e. teachings no longer relating to sacrifice and ritual, namely:

(1)�Brhad

(2)�Taittiriya

(3)�Aitareya

(4)�Kaus�itaki

(d) Upanisads, also called ``Vedanta,'' ``end of the Veda,'' mystical utterances designed to teach the means for liberation from rebirth and all suffering. There is a very large number of these, of whom 108 are usually enumerated as ``genuine.'' The so-called ``Major Upanisads,'' commented upon by classical authors, are about ten to twelve. There is a large number of so-called ``sectarian Upanisads,'' compendia of Vaisnava, Saiva, and Sakta teachings and practices, and others.

Smrti or ``Tradition'' comprises a very large number of heterogeneous works, classified as follows:

(a) Smrtis, Codes of Law, often introduced by creation narratives and concluded by advice on how to reach salvation. They are fairly numerous, but some have acquired an authority that stands out, such as Manu-Smrti, attributed to Manu, the forefather of all humans now living, Yajn�avalkya-Smrti, attributed to an important Vedic sage, Visnu-Smrti, and many others.

(b) Itihasa, ``history,'' comprising the two ancient Indian epics

Ramayana

Mahabharata (including Bhagavadgita)

(c) Puranas, ``old books,'' texts that provide information about the creation of the universe, about genealogies of patriarchs and kings, rules of life and mythologies of the major deities they are dealing with. They are subdivided into 18 Maha-Puranas, ``Great Puranas,'' classified according to the deity they are devoted to, and a large number of Upa-Puranas, ``Lesser Puranas.''

1. The Maha-Puranas comprise:

6 Vaisnava (sattvika) Puranas:

Visnu-Purana

Naradiya-Purana

Bhagavata-Purana

Garuda-Purana

Padma-Purana

Varaha-Purana

6 Saiva (tamasa) Puranas:

Matsya-Purana

Kurma-Purana

Linga-Purana

Siva-Purana

Skanda-Purana

Agni-Purana

6 Brahma (rajasa) Puranas:

Brahma-Purana

Brahmanda-Purana

Brahmavaivarta-Purana

Markandeya-Purana

Bhavisya-Purana

Vamana-Purana

2. Upa-Puranas, of which there are a large number.

The ascription to either category is not undisputed. Thus e.g. the Saktas consider the (Maha)-Devi Bhagavata Purana a ``Maha-Purana,'' while others classify it as a ``Upa-Purana.''

In general, the members of a particular sampradaya would consider the Purana, that they adopt as theirs, as sruti, revelation, with the same authority as that of the Vedas.

3. Numerous Sthala-Puranas, works that describe the history of a particular holy place (sthala), embellishing it with numerous miraculous events associated with the image and its worship.

THE SUTRAS

At a certain time, when memorizing the increasingly voluminous primary literature apparently became next to impossible, short compendia, sutras (literally ``threads''), were composed that presented the essentials of each discipline in a succinct and reliable manner. In the course of time, virtually all subjects of traditional learning received their sutras. Thus we have in the context of religion Srauta-Sutras, summarizing the rules applying to public sacrifices; Grhya-Sutras, providing a summary of domestic rites; Kalpa-Sutras, compendia of other rituals; Dharma-Sutras, manuals of religious and secular law; and Sulva-Sutras, providing elementary geometry and rules of construction for fire-altars and so forth.

When the Veda became difficult to understand owing to the archaic language it used and the distance in time between its composers and its later students, Vedangas, books teaching the auxiliary sciences connected with Veda-study, were provided. Thus we have Siksa (phonetics), Chandas (meter), Vyakarana (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Jyotisa (astronomy) and Kalpa (ritual).

While training in the Vedas was mandatory for brahmins in order to enable them to fulfill their priestly duties, very often they were also taught secular subjects, termed Upa-Vedas (sciences not connected with Veda-study). The traditional subjects were Ayur-Veda (medicine), Gandharva-Veda (music and dancing), Dhanur-Veda (archery), and Sthapatya-Veda (architecture).

Sectarian Scriptures

In addition to the vast body of writing described above, which forms the common heritage of Hinduism, there is an extensive sectarian literature which advocates tenets that are exclusive to certain sampradayas and are not shared by other Hindus. Thus there are numerous Samhitas, sectarian Vaisnava writings; Agamas, sectarian Saivite works; and Tantras, sectarian Sakta books. By the followers of these sampradayas these works are considered revealed (sruti) and equal in authority to the Veda. While offering some philosophical reflections on the nature of God, world, and living beings from the specific theological perspective which the particular sect advocates, they are mostly concerned with ritual and with regulations of the life of the devotees. Some are manuals of worship as it is performed in major temples. Thus the Paramesvara Samhita, to mention just one example, codifies the worship of the great Visnu sanctuary at Srirangam, the Somasambhupaddhati details the daily ritual in South Indian Siva temples.

While the classification of Hindu scriptures is fairly universally accepted, both the relative and the absolute dating are controversial. With regard to the relative dating, there are Hindu scholars who assume that the Atharvaveda is older than the Rgveda and there is a fairly strong Hindu tradition that insists that the Puranas are as old as the Vedas, antedating the epics.

With regard to absolute dating the gap between those who accept the Aryan invasion theory and those who do not is enormous. Because the dating has to be seen in this context, no figures will be mentioned here and the reader is advised to compare the sets of dates provided earlier. The estimated age of Epics, Puranas, and Tantras will be mentioned when dealing with these writings. There is a tendency among Hindus to consider scriptures ``beginningless'' (anadi) and to take literally the claim of many of them to be direct revelations from the Supreme -- again removing them from any meaningful historical process of dating.

NON-SANSKRIT RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

There is an ancient rivalry between North and South in India that also extends to language and scriptures. While the North insists on the primacy of Sanskrit scriptures and considers Sanskrit the only sacred language proper, the South claims that Tamil is older than Sanskrit and that certain Tamil writings are on an equal footing with Sanskrit sruti. This linguistic cum religious issue came to the fore in medieval Tamilnadu: the acaryas of Srirangam had the Tamil hymns of the Alvars recited in temple-worship, side by side with Sanskrit hymns. One branch of Srivaisnavas, the Vadagalais, even placed the Tamil writings above the Sanskritic ones.

With the development of popular bhakti movements, which replaced much of traditional Brahminism and its ritual, compositions in the vernaculars of India also became part of religious ritual. The Hindi re-creation of the Ramayana, Tulsidasa's Ramcaritmanas all but eclipsed Valmiki's Sanskrit original and the inspired poetry of singers in many tongues became the preferred hymns sung by groups of devotees meeting for bhajan singing. The religious literature created by hundreds of saint-singers is enormous.

In addition, contemporary leaders and poets add to the volume. For the devotees of a particular guru his or her words are usually inspired and worth recording and repeating. Thus the recorded conversations of saints like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharsi, Anandamayi Ma, and many others are treated as ``Gospels'' by their followers and read out in religious gatherings. There is, quite literally, no end to producing ever more religious literature and there is no hope that any single person could read all of it.

NOTES

``Indian Islam'' did develop some peculiarities that were frowned upon by Islamic authorities elsewhere, and from the sixteenth century onwards there was considerable interest in upper-class Muslim circles in becoming familiar with and even accepting certain aspects of the Hindu tradition. Sufism, as it developed in India, incorporates many Buddhist and Hindu features.

The ``St. Thomas Christians'' in India trace their origins back to a direct disciple of Jesus, whose tomb they believe to be in St. Thome, near Cennai (Madras). They probably originated from a group of Syrian merchants who settled in India in the fourth century. They still use Syriac as liturgical language and until recently their bishops came from the see of Edessa.

Richard F. Young, Resistant Hinduism. Sanskrit Sources on Anti-Christian Polemics in Early Nineteenth-Century India, Vienna: Indologisches Institut der Universitat Wien, 1981

The term ``Hindu-dharma'' occurs for the first time in Sanskrit literature in Chapter 33 of the Merutantra (date unknown, but certainly fairly recent, because it refers already to the English foreigners and their capital London).

A comprehensive encyclopedic description of Hinduism in Hindi authored by Ramdas Gaur and published in Samvat 1995 (1938 C.E.) carried the title Hindutva. It was planned to be paralleled by similar volumes on all other major religions.

Vir Savarkar's seminal 1938 English essay ``Essentials of Hindutva'' attempts to differentiate between Hindutva as ``Hindu culture'' shared by all who live in India, and Hinduism, as a religion, which is not shared by all. This is usually the interpretation given today by the advocates of a ``Hindu India'' and Hindutva.

The Indian expression ``Hindu-dharma'' is used over against ``Isai-dharma,'' or ``Islam-dharma''.

Taranatha's History of Buddhism in India, Buston's History of Buddhism, the Culavamsa and the Mahavamsa, are the best-known examples.

Cf. A. D. Pusalker, ``Historical Traditions,'' in The History and Culture of the Indian People, vol. I, Bombay, 4 1965, pp.271--336.

Whereas the rulers in most other countries had their court-chroniclers, singing the praises of their masters and immortalising their great deeds, such a custom was curiously absent in ancient India. Possibly the Indian tradition of considering kings as but one element of the state, and not the raison d'etre of it, prevented them from having their deeds recorded by a court historian. The Muslims, who ruled India, left voluminous records of their activities.

I am following the same logic by which historians of Christianity apply the term ``Christians'' to the immediate followers of Jesus, while the term ``Christianoi'' was coined by outsiders at a later time and it took centuries before becoming universally accepted by the ``Christians'' as self-designation.

In this respect Hinduism is not that different from today's Christianity either. While ``Christianity'' is considered one ``religion,'' all of whose followers are supposed to accept the New Testament as their scripture and Jesus of Nazareth as their saviour, in reality there have been from the very beginning many independent and mutually exclusive ``Christian Churches'' whose interpretations of the New Testament as well as customs and forms of worship have hardly anything in common. Still, nobody objects to using the term ``Christianity'' in connection with works on the ``History of Christianity.''

Joseph E. Schwartzberg, A Historical Atlas of South Asia, New York--Oxford: Oxford University Press, second impression, with additional material, 1992.

Die Religionen Indiens, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1960--63.

Sankara commented on sixteen.

Hundreds of these have been published with English translations by the Adyar Library.

So far no translation into a Western language exists of this text, which was published in 1953 at Srirangam.

Sanskrit text with French translation by H. Brunner-Lachaux, published by the Institut Fran‡ais d'Indologie at Pondicherry in two volumes, 1963 and 1968.

Govinda Krishna Pillai, Vedic History (Set in Chronology), Kitabistan: Allahabad, 1959.

Some idea of its range can be gained from J. N. Farquhar, An Outline of the Religious Literature of India, originally published by Oxford University Press in 1920, Indian reprint 1967 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass). Since then much more has been printed and produced.



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HINDU DHARM -GLOBAL RELIGION OF THE MODERN WORLD

-Author Anil Chawla

All over India and in almost every part of the world, there are millions of people who call themselves Hindu. Yet, the question “Who is a Hindu?” is often raised. Some people define Hinduism on geographical basis, while some others do so on the basis of system of worship and belief; there are others who link Hinduism to ancient Indian culture. This controversy about definition is unique to Hinduism. Other religions like Islam, Christianity etc. are devoid of any such dispute since they are based on one book. The belief in a sacred book is fundamental to such religions. Anyone believing in the book is a follower while anyone not believing in the book is an outsider to the religion. A Hindu is under no compulsion to believe in any book or any prophet or even a single system of worship or hall of worship. The freedom that a Hindu has makes it difficult to define Hinduism.
Before proceeding any further, one must understand the historical background that has led to this controversy. Hindus have been subjected to nearly a thousand years of slavery. The struggle for existence that Hindus faced during this long period is unique in human history. To understand this glorious struggle, one must compare Indian history with American history. It was approximately the same time when a group of persons reached America and another group of persons reached India. Both the groups were from the same part of the world and were of the same white race. At that time, population of America and India was nearly equal. Today, the original inhabitants of America have become almost extinct. Their civilization, culture and religion is almost dead; there are of course some remnants which are objects of wonder and are kept as curios displayed in a museum. The atrocities in India were identical to those in America, but the original inhabitants of India survived. A magnificent building that was an inspiration to many has been demolished completely and what has been left behind is only a mass of rubble.

All the traditional institutions of the Indian society were systematically destroyed during nearly a thousand years of foreign rule (first Islamic and later British, Portugese and French). Books were burnt. Persons who were active in preservation and growth of knowledge were forced by all possible means to give up their pursuits. Attempts were made to remove all symbols of Hindu religion from the surface of the earth. A grand civilization was reduced to ashes. Today, Hindu finds himself sitting with these ashes and a few semi-burnt pieces of what was once a magnificent building. He has a dream to reconstruct the grand building, to get back to the glory that seems almost fictional.

When Lech Walesa became the first non-communist President of Poland he said that it is easy to make fish-soup from a fish but it is very difficult to make a fish out of fish-soup. If the same example were to be applied to the Indian society and nation, one finds that India does not even have the soup - the colonial masters drank it. There are only a few skeletal remains. The present generation of Hindus has to reconstruct a new living civilization and rebuild the cultural edifice from these skeletal remains.

Hindus have survived the long arduous journey but have lost a lot. The biggest loss has been of self-identity. A person who has just escaped from a big terrible fire is primarily concerned with his burnt skin and the wounds rather than the torn clothes. The first fifty years of post-independent India have been spent on arranging for essentials for livelihood. Forgetting the old wounds, taking control of the life as it is, the Indian psyche has slowly started looking at its own identity and has started asking questions about itself. The question “Who is a Hindu?” is the first step in this search for self-identity. It is an attempt to seek the foundation stone for Hindu Reconstruction and Renaissance.
It will be relevant to discuss the various definitions of Hindu in vogue. One definition defines Hindu on geographical basis. It is said that the word “Hindu” is derived from the word “Sindhu” based on the contention that the aggressors from the Western side started calling persons living near river Sindhu as Hindu. Geographical definition of Hindu treats every person living in Indian sub-continent or having some emotional attachment to the Indian sub-continent as a Hindu. This is possibly the most narrow and restricted definition of Hindu. A slave often starts seeing himself through the eyes of the master. If it is accepted that Hindu is a distorted version of Sindhu, it will also have to be accepted that there was no Hindu in existence before the attack from the western side. If it is accepted that only a person living on Indian soil is Hindu, the problem would arise about Hindu temples of Thailand. It is a well accepted fact that at one time, Hindu religion and culture exerted strong influence on the whole of Asia. If Hindu religion is based on devotion towards a block of land, it is obvious that Hinduism cannot spread beyond that block of land. If an appeal is made to the Hindus living across the world to be devoted to the Indian soil, such an appeal can possibly serve some vested interests but it will block the growth of Hindu religion. In such a case, instead of becoming a global ideological revolution, Hindu religion will become a vehicle to satisfy the interests of inhabitants of a particular land-mass.
The traditionalist definition of Hindu prescribes that anyone accepting the ancient Indian culture and traditions is Hindu. The philosophical bankruptcy of the traditionalist definition is of the same order as that of the geographist definition. The traditionalist mind is inherently conservative and is opposed to all change and growth. Everything old is considered good, while everything modern is looked down upon. The traditionalist treats the “puratan” (ancient) as “sanatan” (eternal or natural or essential) and sacred. The traditionalist invokes “bhakti” (devotion and faith) to close the mental doors to any fresh thought. This is contrary to the concept of Hindu. A closed mind cannot be the distinguishing feature of a Hindu. If Hindu religion was a closed-minded religion, there would have been no Upanishads and Puranas after Vedas. Diversity of opinion and clash of opinions is a frequent phenomenon in ancient Hindu texts. Considering the ancient as sacred will block the growth of Hinduism. Moreover, when only a few remnants of the ancient are available and the circumstances in the present time and world (desh-kal) are completely different, it is necessary to begin the job of reconstruction and renaissance by starting from first principles and fundamental values. The old can be a guide, but it is necessary to give up the presumption that everything ancient is sacred. Hence, the traditionalist definition of Hinduism is not only incomplete and shallow, it is a big obstacle in the growth of Hinduism.
Often attempts have been made to define Hinduism on the basis of some beliefs and/or symbols. For example - Hindu is one who worships Ram; Hindu is one who worships the cow; Hindu is one who worships Krishna; Hindu is one who considers Ganges to be sacred; Hindu is one who considers the plant of tulasi as sacred; Hindu is one who begins his worship with OM. Each of these is a belief of a section of the Hindus. However, any one of the above individually or some/all of the above taken together cannot be considered to be the fundamental basis of Hinduism. The diversity of opinions and contradictions are too strong. A worshipper of Ram is a Hindu just as a worshipper of formless Supreme Being is also a Hindu; Ganges is considered sacred by many Hindus while there are others who have ridiculed it; idol worshippers are Hindus while there are some Hindus who are opposed to all idolatry worship; the devotees of OM and Gayatri Mantra are Hindus just as someone who considers Krishna to be his/her lover is also a Hindu; there are Hindus who follow a devotional life and there are Hindus who believe in self-attainment through work or knowledge. Clearly, Hinduism cannot be defined on the basis of any one belief or tradition or symbol.

There is one practical definition which is the most well accepted definition of Hindu. Every person whose parents or at least father is/was a Hindu and who has not accepted any other religion is a Hindu. For the past more than hundred years the rulers of India and the so-called guardians of Hinduism have accepted and adopted this definition. As per this definition a person can only be born as a Hindu, there is no way by which a person may adopt Hinduism or be converted to Hinduism. The damage that this definition has done to Hinduism has probably not been done by any other definition. At the time when Hinduism spread from Egypt to Japan, it is certain that there was no such definition of Hinduism. The damage that Hinduism has suffered by stopping the entry of people from other religions is possibly much more than the damage done by Christian missionaries and Islamic aggressors. Various visionaries like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Shradhananda etc. had in unambiguous terms pointed to the damage that Hinduism has suffered on this account. If Hindus are serious about Hindu Renaissance and dream of a glorious future for Hinduism in every part of the world, it will be necessary to make new Hindus in every nook and corner of the world. To do this Hindus must first free themselves of this heredity based (racial) definition of Hindu.

The definition of Hindu that seems plausible treats the word “Hindu” as being made up of two words Ha + Indu. Ha means the sky and Indu means the moon. This can be interpreted to mean that one who spreads cool light like the moon in the sky is a Hindu. Another word associated with Hindu is Bharat. Often the word Bharat is associated with the name of a King. The more logical interpretation is however to treat BHARAT as made up of two words Bha + Rat. Bha means Light and Rat means the one who is full of or saturated with. In other words Bharat means The one Who is full of and spreads light. Looked at carefully, Bharat and Hindu have identical meanings. The word Bharatvarsh has often been used for a large part of land. Varsh means varsha or rain. Combining the meanings of Bharat and varsh we can understand that the word Bharatvarsh was used for the region where the Hindu knowledge rained or had influence. It is not proper to treat Bharat as only the name of a part of land. Instead of the geographical definition of Hindu as the one who lives in the land known as Bharat, it will be proper to say that wherever in the world there are Hindus, they will be full of light and spread light and there will be Bharat.

Another meaning of the word Hindu can also be considered. In Sanskrit, ocean has been called as Indujanak, the father of Indu (moon). The meaning of the word Ha in a Sanskrit dictionary is water as well as sky. If we take a comprehensive view of the meanings of Ha and Indu, we see the complete universe from the ocean to the sky in the word Hindu. Hence, it will be proper to conclude that a Hindu is someone who believes in everything from the ocean to the sky.

The totality of the sky including the earth and the oceans is named as Universe or Cosmos and is known by the word Brahm in Sanskrit. This Universe or Cosmos is shashwat or eternal, in other words it has always been and shall always be, though it may keep changing. Hindu sees himself as a part of the Universe or Cosmos. A Hindu’s belief, faith, actions, lifestyle, thoughts should be in accordance with the rules of the Cosmos. There could possibly be different views about the Cosmos between two persons due to different perspectives. However, if the difference of views is due to different perspectives and not due to pre-conceived notions, both the persons, though holding divergent views are Hindus.

While understanding the word Hindu, it is also necessary to understand the word Dharm. The word Dharan and Dharm have the same root. Dharan means to wear or to carry and Dharm refers to what is put on. Dharm can be compared to clothing. Just as a person changes his clothes as per the time-place and his own personal requirements, the Dharm for a Hindu is constantly changing. This concept of Dharm is neither possible nor imaginable for any one-book-based religion. A hindu’s Dharm, on one hand helps him live his life as per the requirements of the cosmos and on the other hand, assists him in acting as per his own nature and aptitude. Just as cosmos or universe is considered to be constantly changing but shashwat or eternal, Dharm is considered to be under constant change but still sanatan or permanent.

Oneness with the Cosmos and the concept of a Dharm that is in accordance with this oneness can be said to be Hindu Dharm. This complex philosophy has been elaborated by the aphoristic words SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM. The three words define the Hindu way of life as completely and correctly as is ever possible. An English translation of the aphorism can be Truth, Universal Welfare & Nice feelings of the Inner Being. The translation is not very accurate. (Incidentally, it may be mentioned that Greek and early Christian authors also seemed to believe in this triad of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram. Augustine devotes much space in The City of God to a discussion of Greek philosophy. In the Augustinian synthesis of Christ and Plato, the classical triad of virtues - truth, beauty, and goodness - become part of the Christian ethic.)
It is important to understand each of the concepts to fully appreciate the Hindu mind.


SATYAM –
The first fundamental condition for Hindu Dharm is Satyam or truth. The cosmos or the world is experienced by us through our senses and we make an image of the world or parts of it on our mind. If the image corresponds to the world as it exists, the image is truth or else it is not truth. Our capacities and abilities to see, observe, experience and understand are limited. Hence, our ability to create mental images of the world is limited. Just as four blind men described an elephant in four different ways, we make different images of the world. For example, a biologist and a poet look at a flower in different ways. Hindu accepts this difference in perspective and therefore opinions, while at the same time giving utmost importance to Satyam or truth. If any idea or thought is against truth, a Hindu can never accept it.

The evaluation of the correspondence between the image and the world is by means of evidence or proof. There can be an epistemological debate about the suitability of different types of possible evidence and proof. It is likely that some types of evidence are accepted by one while the same types of evidence are rejected by others. Such a difference of opinion is well-accepted. For example, the experience of God by the inner self has been accepted as sufficient evidence for the existence of God by some while others have refused to accept such experience as evidence. This led to different versions of truth for theists and atheists. But both are Hindus because both believe in Truth. Hinduism is possibly the only major religion of the world which accepted atheism.

It is important to compare the commitment of a Hindu towards truth with that of the followers of other religions. For a Christian, every word in Bible is the ultimate truth. During the reign of the Church, any attempt to even collect evidence that might contradict something written in the Bible was considered blasphemy and was punishable by death. Apparently, some holy book says that a man has more teeth and ribs than a woman has. During the medieval period, it was blasphemy and criminal offence to try to gather evidence against the sacred book by counting the teeth or ribs of men and women. For hundreds of years no one in Europe could hence count teeth or ribs. In any single-book-based religion such problems are likely to occur at some time or the other. Both Christianity and Islam have at some points in their history opposed science since it clashed with the truth as provided in their sacred books.

Hinduism has never and can never be opposed to Science due to the fundamental belief in truth. It was this belief in truth that led to the development and growth of science and knowledge in ancient India. The glow of science and knowledge made the Hindu full of light and the region that was illuminated by this shower of light was called Bharatvarsh.


SHIVAM -

After accepting Truth, it is necessary to go a step further and look at the welfare of the world. Every act, belief and thought of a human being must be evaluated on the basis of the criterion of welfare of the world. An act or belief or thought is not proper or acceptable if it does not promote the welfare of the world even though it may be based on Truth. For example, a person’s strong desire may be a reality or a truth but if the satisfaction of the desire does not lead to universal welfare, it is not proper to permit the person to satisfy his desire.
Just as there can be differences of opinion and perception in matters related to truth, there may be differences of opinion regarding the concept of universal welfare, which may change from time to time and from region to region and also based on the nature and aptitude of various individuals. Such differences of opinion are well accepted and though there may be debate or discussion to resolve the differences, there is no attempt to iron out all differences and arrive at a uniform standard code. The acceptance of differences based on the needs of place-time and individuals has led to Hindu Dharm becoming different for each person, for every region and from time to time. However, if anyone ignores the argument of welfare and advances quotations from any book as an argument, he is not a Hindu.
The concept of SHIVAM as universal welfare based on the realities of time and place is deeply embedded in the Hindu psyche. On various occasions this has been demonstrated. For example India was one of the first few countries in the world to accept abortion since the majority of the population (Hindus) appreciated the benefits of legalized abortion without any religious restrictions. Even in matters like giving electoral rights to women there has been no dispute since the issues are examined on merits rather than on the basis of books written a few centuries ago.

The examples of accepting contradictory actions and beliefs based on different ground realities are too numerous to cite. There are Hindus who are strictly vegetarians while there are others who are permitted to eat meat. There are Hindus who fast on some days during the year while on the same days there are Hindus who would eat meat and offer meat to their family deities. The opposites are always justified by logic of welfare or Shivam as might be existing at that time and place.


SUNDARAM –
Along with Satyam and Shivam, the third fundamental foundation stone of Hindu thought is Sundaram. Anything that leads to nice (or “Su”) feelings in the inner being of a person can be called as SUNDARAM or aesthetic. It is very difficult to define the nice feelings in the inner being and each person may have his own opinion in the matter. The purpose of all arts is to give pleasure by creating nice aesthetic feelings. A Hindu accepts all arts and accepts each person’s version of SUNDARAM. Hindu accepts freedom of the individual in this regard, subject, of course, to Satyam and Shivam.

It may seem strange that something as obvious as aesthetics needs to be defined as a key fundamental block of a belief system. Yet if we look at the treatment of the subject by other religions, the distinction is too glaring. Islam treats all visual arts like painting and sculpture as forbidden and even puts strictures on music. Christian churches have also from time to time made attempts to prescribe what is right and what is wrong in arts. In more than five thousand years of history of Hinduism there have never been any attempts of similar nature.

SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM –

The triad expresses completely and comprehensively the essence of Hindu Dharm. It may well be asked that which of the three is more important and in case of conflict, which one should be given priority. There have been different opinions in this regard, yet a prominent view has been that the conflicts among the three are only apparent. Deep within there is a unity in the three elements of the triad. So, any fundamental conflict is not possible. This school of thought believes that the aphorism literally translates as Satyam is Shivam and Shivam is Sundaram. In other words the aphorism affirms the unity of the triad. So a Hindu is expected to follow all three elements of the triad and give due importance to each in his life. However, even while giving due importance to all three, it is likely that an individual may emphasize one or the other element depending on one’s own nature and aptitude. For example, truth may be more important for a scientist while aesthetics may be the central concern for an artist. Both are members of one unified society and many such different persons combine together to form a balanced society which has the correct combination of Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram.


SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM can also be expressed as Science, Ethics and Art. Any one who accepts the triad as fundamental basis of his belief system is a Hindu, irrespective of his/her geographic location, race, national loyalties, system of worship, deity of worship, food habits, language, etc. Defined in this manner, Hindu Dharm becomes a truly global religion of the modern world. Acquiring strengths from its ancient roots Hindu Dharm becomes the human-values-based religion of the modern scientific age. The ability to constantly transform itself enables Hindu Dharm to rejuvenate and always be fresh and new. Hindu Dharm is neither “opium for the masses” nor does it bind anyone in perennial chains. Hindu Dharm is the liberator of mankind and is an engine of growth, prosperity and fulfillment for the individual as well as for the society on a long term sustainable basis.

From the muddy cesspool of history, one can always pick some instances that support the above view and also some that do not. History cannot and should not become the guide or touchstone for philosophy. However, surprisingly the above definition of Hindu Dharm finds extensive support in an analysis of the Indian psyche as it evolved over the centuries and faced a diverse set of circumstances. But the most surprising part comes when one tries to understand the preachings of Lord Jesus Christ in the light of the basic principles of Hinduism.

If one studies the preachings of Lord Jesus Christ, devoid of the views of others who followed him as well as of the various churches, one finds a striking similarity between him and many Hindu saints (for example Sai Baba of Shirdi). The concept of church was not given by Lord Jesus Christ. Neither did the Lord write the Bible nor any other book. It may not be improper to say that the Lord was a Hindu. The relationship between the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ and the essentials of Hinduism needs to be studied. It may also be interesting to explore the etymology of the word Christianity which has an identical sound as “KRISHNA NEETI” (the ethics of Lord Krishna). This is not the subject of this essay and will need more research. However, based on initial impressions, it may well be concluded that Lord Jesus preached a version of Hinduism and was crucified for his revolutionary ideas. The scenario that seems likely is that after the death of Jesus, his followers started a process of compromises which led to the acceptance of Old Testament, writing of the New Testament in a form acceptable to the ruling classes and foundation of the Church.

It may be further added that just as Lord Jesus Christ’s sayings were misused and distorted by Church, there are attempts to narrow and restrict Hinduism. The churchification of Hinduism is a danger that needs to be guarded against. In recent years, people who know nothing of Hinduism have emerged as the self-proclaimed defenders of the faith. They are interpreting Hinduism in their own way and are declaring their versions to be the official versions. For a religion which does not even prohibit the eating of human flesh, vegetarianism and non-violence are being declared as fundamental values. Hindus are being asked to be loyal to a geographic entity or a nation. There is even an attempt to show that Hindus are one race. The harm that such ignorant proclaimed defenders of the faith may inflict on Hinduism is enormous. It must be remembered that the dark ages of Europe were not a result of anything that Lord Jesus said.

European Renaissance was an attempt to break the vice-like grip of the church on all aspects of European life. It was a revolt against the Church and not against Lord Jesus Christ. As years have passed, the influence of church in European (and American) life has decreased considerably. Nowadays, a Christian takes almost all important decisions of his life based on his own self assessment and intellect. The life of a Christian is now regulated more and more by SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM though he/she himself/herself would not define it that way. Concern with ecological considerations and serious attempts to live life as per nature’s laws can also be seen as an attempt to attain the oneness with cosmos which is most fundamental to Hinduism.

The move of the world to a more rational and humane existence is in fact a move towards Hinduism. It is time that Hindus realized this and took up the leadership in this ongoing historical movement which has transformed the world in the past four/five centuries. As men and women across the world (from all races and communities) understand and adopt the “Global Religion of the Modern World” – Hindu Dharm based on Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram – they will not only transform their own lives but will also make the world a better place to live in.

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Religion in India:Hinduism, Culture, and Conflict

Religion in India:Hinduism, Culture, and Conflict

Background of Lesson: Students will learn the basic tenets and features of Hinduism,
including its focus on multiple-god worship, the concept of reincarnation, and the
historical caste system. Students will then relate this to the formation of India and the
circumstances that have created religion-based conflict in recent years.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
o Identify and understand the basic principles of Hinduism, including the system
of worship and the central concept of reincarnation.
o Understand various connections between Hinduism and general Indian culture,
including its history with a caste system.
o Incorporate basic knowledge of India’s history into their understanding of
religious conflict, especially the conflict over Kashmir, that persists in India
today, centuries later.
o Relate the Hindu-Muslim conflict to other instances of religious rifts across
other countries and periods.
Lesson Plan: Day One
The Basic Tenets of Hinduism
Note: This lesson can be extended to two days with the implementation of a small
research project and a more in-depth look at various facets of Hinduism. See numbers 4
and 5 for details.
1. (10 minutes) - Brainstorm what students know about India. What images,
names, places, ideas, etc. come to mind when you mention the word “India”?
Write their ideas on the board.
Explain that 86% of Indians are Hindu and that Hinduism has had a profound
effect on shaping the country and the way Indians live their lives.
Ask students the following: Which of the things on this list do you think are
related to Hinduism? (For example, if students mention anything about castes,
cows, the Ganges, etc., these can all be related to Hinduism.) Transfer their
ideas to a new list about Hinduism. Ask them what else they know about
Hinduism, if anything.
2. (15 minutes) - Provide students with background information on Hinduism by
giving them the handout “Basic Beliefs of Hinduism” (Appendix 1). Read the
two introductory paragraphs together and the section entitled “Gods and
Goddesses.” Then stop and ask the following questions:
o In what ways is Hinduism similar to other religions you know about? In
what ways is it different?
o What’s the significance of water in Hinduism? How is water regarded in
other religions, either in similar or different ways?
o How do Hindus worship? How does worship fit into their everyday lives?
3. (15 minutes) - Now read, individually or as a class, the second part of the
handout, “Reincarnation and Castes.” Following the reading, have another
discussion:
o How does the concept of reincarnation fit in with India’s caste system?
o What do you think of the caste system? What would it be like to be an
“untouchable”? A Brahmin?
o What do you think is happening to the caste system now in India in the
wake of modern influences and globalization?
o Why are some traditions so difficult to let go?
Now turn the discussion toward individual students’ experiences that relate to
the concept of a caste system. Ask the following questions:
o Have you ever felt like you were part of a distinct class?
o In what ways do you identify yourself? In other words, what labels do
you use to describe yourself? Encourage students to come up with
identities related to gender, ethnicity, skin color, religion, sexual
orientation, activities, class, and anything else they suggest.
o Ask students to think about the ways in which their own identity factors
are different from or similar to others’ labels. How and when do these
identities matter?
4. (10 minutes or longer if you extend it to Day Two) - Share pictorial
representations of the various gods (see Appendix 2). Gather students’
impressions and talk about the characteristics of each god based on his or her
appearance. If you have extra time and access to the Internet, have students,
either individually or in small groups, research different Hindu gods and their
roles in the faith as a whole. Have them look for pictures, descriptions, and
functions and share their findings with the class.
5. (15 minutes or more, best for Day Two) - Read the handout on food in India as
it relates to Hinduism (see Appendix 3).
o What’s the role of the cow in Hinduism?
o Are there any other religions that hold certain animals in high esteem?
o How are Hindus’ diets affected by their faith?
o What are some other food restrictions you know of that are based on
religion?
o Have you ever changed your diet because of your belief system?
Lesson Plan: Day Two
The Birth of India and Religious Conflict
1. (15 minutes) - Brief students on the history of India (see Appendix 4),
including the nature of Hindu-Muslim relations and the conflict over Kashmir.
Share with students the timeline of India’s history (see first link in Appendix 5);
to avoid overwhelming students with details, you might want to make the
timeline into a transparency and point out key dates.
Focus your subsequent discussion on the conflict over Kashmir:
o What’s the basis for the conflict in Kashmir? (Feel free to supplement
this talk with other articles. See Appendix 5 for links.)
o What other states can you think of that have been created on the basis
of religion? What kinds of problems persist in these countries, either
within the country or surrounding it (problems with their neighbors)?
o Within our own country, what kinds of religious division do you
experience or witness?
2. (35 minutes) - Explain to students that the conflict between Muslims and
Hindus in India and Pakistan is not limited to the fight over Kashmir. In recent
years, various holy sites in India have been the source of much dispute, given
that they have been places of religious importance for both religions. Have
students read the article “Religious tension hangs heavy in sacred Hindu city”
(Appendix 6).
In small groups, have students discuss answers to the following questions:
o What are some of the major reasons for the violence and tension in these
parts of India?
o How must it feel to live in that kind of environment? In what ways
have you experienced similar tension, even if on a smaller scale?
o In what ways is this tension similar to other religious conflicts around
the globe?
o How is the situation different for Hindus and Muslims? What reasons to
both groups have for wanting control of the holy sites?
o Do you think religion is ever a justification for fighting? Explain.
o Think back to our discussion yesterday on identities. In what ways is
religion an important part of your identity?
o How can you effectively ease tension in religion in your community?
Outside of your community?
o Have you ever been in a situation where your differences have created
conflict? What happened? Specifically, have you ever experienced or
witnessed conflict (of any scale) over religion or ethnicity? (If students
have trouble with this question, you may want to remind them of the
violence and discrimination against Muslims after the 9/11 attacks and
gather their comparisons.) Ask students to think about derisive
comments and jokes they hear about various groups of ethnicity,
religion, gender, etc.
As a class, have students share some of the ideas they expressed in their smaller
discussions. Explain to students that while violence between Hindus and
Muslims in India reached an apex in 2002, tensions are still simmering, and fear
of another major outbreak of violence is very present. Pose these questions to
students:
o Why are disputes of a religious nature so difficult to resolve?
o What kinds of solutions have you seen work or not work with other
religious conflicts? What do you think can be done to reduce the
tension, and in many cases, violence in India between Hindus and
Muslims? What will both parties have to do?
o When have you seen violence, discrimination, or hate in your
community, what caused it? How was the conflict resolved? What kinds
of problems still persist based on the idea of ‘otherness’ (differences
regarding ethnicity, religion, gender, skin color, etc.)?
Appendix 1
Hinduism: The Basics
Hinduism is considered the world's oldest living religion. It originated in India
approximately 4,000 years ago. Most Hindus live in India, with approximately 83% of
Indians belonging to this faith. The Immigration Act of 1965 has increased migration
of Hindus to the United States. The USA census of the year 2000 is expected to report
1,000,000 people with Indian ancestry.
Hinduism is different from most religions. There is no prophet, no book, no dogma.
They use poetic phrases passed down thousands of years to express their philosophy of
life. Writings such as the Bhagwad Gita (BUHG un vvhd GEE tah) contain statements
such as, "Truth is one, the wise perceive it in many ways". Statements such as this
recognize the possible limitations of their viewpoint. They are receptive to the opinion
of others. They refuse to condemn society to a single interpretation of reality.
Gods & Goddesses
Hindus have numerous gods and goddesses; but they are all manifestations of one
supreme being, Brahmam or the Universal Spirit. Hindus believe that everything is
cyclic. The universe has been created, sustained, and destroyed many times. There are
three major expressions of Brahman who rule over these manifestations of the universe:
1. Brahman, who created the world
2. Vishnu, who sustains the universe for 432 million human years
3. Shiva, who destroys the universe. This begins the cycle again.
Brahman is not generally worshipped by the individual. Vishnu and Shiva are the two
main gods of Hinduism that are worshipped by the masses. Vishnu has a kindly nature
and is thought to try to insure the welfare of humanity. He descends from heaven to
earth in one of his avatars (physical forms) whenever a catastrophe faces the universe
or if humanity needs comfort and guidance. While Vishnu is very involved with
humanity, Shiva is aloof from people. He is sometimes pictured meditating alone. Shiva
has a third eye of higher consciousness or wisdom located in his forehead. He has great
power and is beyond the distinctions of good and evil. He can be loving. He saves man
by "drinking" (removing) man's sins, hence Shiva's throat is blue.
Water is used in all rituals; it is an element of purification. The faithful offer water to
the Gods, to the Wise Ones, and to the souls of the departed. To the water itself, is
offered milk, as a symbol of fertility and plenty. In India, the river is considered a
loving mother dispensing bounty, fertility, and prosperity. The Ganges (GAN jeez) River,
the greatest waterway in India is also considered the most sacred. It is called Mother
Ganges by millions of Hindus. Each year millions visit it, bathe in it, and take samples
home. Those that are ill hope to be cured by the water. If not cured, at least to die in
its comforting waters, since it is thought that they will go straight to Paradise.
Great Temples exist throughout India; they honor different gods. Hindus go to the
Temple to worship as individuals. They do not worship as a congregation nor is there
any day set aside for worship. The Temples are spread over acres and are like little
towns. In the outer areas one will find tanks for ritualistic bathing, shrines, halls, and
bazaars. Artists and sculptors practice their professions and sell their wares. Vendors
hawk flowers, sandalwood, and souvenirs. The inner part of the Temple is where the
image of the deity is kept. As one prays in this cool, darkened prayer hall; it is believed
that the soul unites with the three forms of Brahman.
Devout Hindus also start their mornings with personal prayer and religious rituals
(puja). The worship can not begin until he visits a stream to touch the purifying
waters. Before eating, puja is also performed.
Reincarnation & Castes
Hindus believe nothing that once existed is ever completely destroyed, it merely
undergoes a change in its form. Reincarnation is the rebirth of the soul after death into
the body of another. This belief in reincarnation has resulted in a caste system. The
castes divide the people into lifelong social positions. They are born into a caste. It is
felt that the way one has lived in a previous life dictates into which caste you are born.
If you have been a good person you are awarded by being born into a higher caste. The
person who has been evil is punished by having to live his life as part of a lower caste.
The original castes or orders were based on the different parts of the body of a god,
Purusa.
o Mouth - priests and teachers called Brahmins
o Arms - warriors and rulers, the Ksatriyas
o Thigh - farmers and traders, Vaisyas
o Feet - menial laborers, the Sudras
Today these four original divisions have been divided into thousands of different
castes. For each caste there are definite rules and regulations that dictate with whom
they could marry, with whom they could socialize, and what they could eat.
Those that did not belong to any caste were thought to be created from darkness that
Brahma discarded when he was creating the universe. These are known as outcasts or
untouchables. The government has tried to outlaw the caste system, especially
untouchables, but it has been difficult in the small villages.
o Brahmins are the privileged or highest caste. Originally they were not
permitted to engage in any type of work other than study and religious
teachings. Now they can become lawyers, doctors, businessmen,
government employees or university professors. Being a member of this
caste still retains an esteemed social position. Originally, those from
other castes were expected to support and sustain the Brahmins with
gifts of food or money. The gifts provided the donator great benefits or
merit. Brahmins are expected to be lacto-vegetarians.
o Ksatriyas as the warriors and rulers were originally obligated to protect
the community. They had to be willing to give their lives to protect the
Brahmins and the sacred animals. Since they were warriors they were
permitted to kill animals, other than the sacred cow, to eat.
o The Vaisyas as farmers and traders were supposed to make money to
improve the economic conditions of the country. They were encouraged
to give gifts to the Brahmins and money to build Temples.
o The Sudras serve the three higher classes with diligence and
humbleness. Some of the subdivisions created out of this class are the
weavers and the carpenters.
o The outcasts or untouchables are not allowed to enter the villages and
towns except to do the most menial labor. They are not allowed to own
land or to build houses. They live in wretched conditions.
Appendix 2
Ganesha – deity of intellect & wisdom Vishnu – deity of creation
Shiva – deity of destruction Krishna – origin of all
incarnations
Appendix 3
Hinduism & Food
Lacto-Vegetarians
Hindus believe that all living things contain a part of the divine spirit. Therefore, all
life is sacred. If you take the life of even the smallest creature it is as if you harm part
of Brahman. Most pious Hindus, especially Brahmins, are lacto-vegetarians. This means
that the only animal foods that they eat are dairy foods. The pious do not eat eggs
since they are the beginning of life. As vegetarianism is considered the most desired
method of eating, non-vegetarians eat vegetarian meals on auspicious or religious
occasions. Avoiding meat is thought to contribute to inner self-improvement and
physical well-being. Even some vegetables are considered taboo by Orthodox Hindus
who do not eat onion, garlic, turnips, or mushrooms.
Meats Eaten: Those that do eat meat, eat it in small amounts with starches such as rice
or bread. The main meat consumed by Hindu non-vegetarians is goat while some enjoy
lamb or buffalo. Chicken and pork are sometimes avoided since these two animals are
scavengers and they are considered unclean. Hindus who live in the area of Bengal
(Eastern India) and on the Western coastal area eat fish.
Sacred Cow
All Hindus avoid eating beef since they venerate the cow. The cows appear to know
that they are sacred. It is estimated that 40,000 cows wander the streets of New Delhi
being patted by each person they meet. They amble slowly crossing highways or relax in
the middle of the road if they feel so inclined. While all animals are considered sacred,
the cow has been singled out as particularly sacred because they:
o Have given years of faithful service in helping man till the soil
and pull the carts.
o Provide man with food, milk.
o Provide man with fuel, in form of cow dung, to heat his home
and cook his food.
o In Hindu mythology the cow was created by Brahman on the same
day as the Brahmins thus it is an animal venerated above all others.
o Symbol of motherhood.
Foods Effects
Hindus believe that there is a connection between foods, moods, fitness and longevity.
Foods are divided into three major categories depending upon how they are believed to
effect the body.
o Sattvic foods are thought to contribute to making a person serene,
enlightened, healthy, and long-lived. It is considered very
complimentary to say that at a person is sattvic. Sattvic foods include
rice, wheat, ghee, most legumes, some other vegetables, milk and milk
products (except cheeses made from rennet). Rennet comes from the
stomach of animals; to obtain it, the animal would have to be
slaughtered.
o Rajasic foods are believed to contribute to a person becoming
aggressive, greedy, passionate and desiring of power. Warriors were
encouraged to eat these foods. Rajasic foods are some meats, eggs, and
foods that are very bitter, sour, salty, rich and/or spicy.
o Tamasic foods when used for pleasure and in excess can contribute to
lust, malice, confusion, slothfulness, and dullness. These foods are
garlic, pickled, preserved, stale, or rotten foods and alcohol or drugs.
Indian Medicine
The classic system of Indian medicine called Ayurveda (the Code of Life and Longevity)
involves the interaction of "humors" in the body and foods. If they are in balance the
body will be healthy, out of balance the body will become ill.
o Kapha foods like white sugar, millet and buttermilk are thought to be
heavy, dense, and mucus-producing. They should be avoided when one
suffers from respiratory ailments.
o Vata or vayu are the "wind" or gas producing foods such as some
legumes. They are thought to be "unpredictable" and should be avoided
when the stomach is bloated.
o "Hot" or ushna foods include mungo bean, cowpea, ripe eggplant, and
papaya. These foods are thought to promote digestion.
o "Cool" or seeta foods consist of the "typical" foods eaten by a lactovegetarian;
many cereals, like rice, wheat, mung beans, kidney beans,
most fruits and vegetables, milk from most animals except goats, butter
and ghee. These foods are thought to impart strength and nourishment.
Obesity Disapproved
Even when one is eating proper foods, moderation is advocated since obesity is not
approved. The laws of food consumption dictate that solid food should fill half the
stomach, liquid one-fourth, and the remainder should be left empty for smooth
digestion.
Fasting is practiced by many Hindus on days particular to the god that they worship.
There is no "formula" for fasting as in other religions. It can be for one meal, part of
the day, or for a few days, or can just involve eating a sparse diet or avoiding a
particular food group. Fasting is thought to cleanse the body and uplift the spirit.
Sacred Kitchen
In the Hindu home the kitchen is considered sacred. Proper reference must be observed
when preparing and consuming food. Those who prepare, and those who eat, must
purify themselves first by ritual bathing of the entire body.
A Brahmin will not accept cooked food from a member of a lower caste, but will accept
uncooked food. The shadow of a lower caste person can render the food unfit to eat.
There are vast differences between North and South India, not only in culture,
language, and climate, but also in cuisine.
Appendix 4
India - History
Indian history can be traced back over some 5,000 years. The country’s rich natural
resources - spices, indigo, sugar, cotton, silk, sandalwood, and ivory - made it a target
for invasion and colonization by European powers from the fifteenth century onwards.
The history of the British in India begins in 1600,
with the setting up of the East India Company, a
trading company designed to exploit India’s rich
natural resources. The company gradually extended
its rule through India, and in 1858 the British
crown took over from the East India Company as
the ruler of India. Britain then ruled India as part
of the British Empire until the independence
movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi and others,
succeeded in gaining Indian independence in
1947.
Following independence India was divided up in a
process called partition, to create Pakistan as a
Muslim state. This was a difficult process; many millions of people had to travel
between the new states, and in the unrest, people were killed. Mahatma Gandhi
opposed partition; he was assassinated by a Hindu fundamentalist.
Newly independent, India worked to establish strong institutions of justice, media and
bureaucracy. It is now the largest democracy in the world and reviving the traditional
Panchayat (village council) system makes sure people can take part in democracy. Fast
economic reform has also made India the world’s tenth most industrialised country,
with a globally competitive computer market and its own space programme. But border
disputes continue to be an issue. In 1962, war broke out with China over the India-
China border and in 1971, war with Pakistan led to India recognising the new state of
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
The dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir began at independence and has
rumbled on ever since with periodic outbreaks of cross-border skirmishing. The
potential dangers of conflict over Kashmir were underlined when both countries tested
nuclear weapons within weeks of each other in May 1998 and for several months in
2002 there seemed to be a real risk of war.
Photo: Rajendra Shaw/Oxfam
Appendix 5
Timeline of India’s History:
http:/ / w w w.kamat.com/kalranga/timeline/timeline.ht m
Resources for the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir:
Great resource on entire Kashmir conflict:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2002/kashmir_flashpoint/default.stm
Religion and Conflict: Hindus and Muslims in India:
http:/ / w w w.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/classroom/lp5.htm l
PBS overview of conflict:
http:/ / w w w.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/india/index.htm l
Appendix 6
World>Asia: South & Central from the May 22, 2002 edition
Religious tension hangs heavy in sacred Hindu city
In the Indian city of Mathura, Hindus and Muslims hold on to a shaky peace at a holy
site.
By Diana Coulter | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
MATHURA, INDIA – Sharafat Khan's husky baritone, well-tuned for bartering in this
noisy Indian marketplace, lowers to a whisper when he discusses Gujarat, a violencetorn
region far from his hometown.
"Yes, we are watching the murder of our Muslim brothers there, and we are worrying.
Maybe we are next," says the burly iron fabricator, as he huddles close to his son. "I
was born in Mathura. I have friends here who are both Hindu and Muslim, but I know
that could change, if only someone decides to play more political games."
Gujarat and its communal violence may be hundreds of miles away, but many in
Mathura, such as Mr. Khan, are nervously watching the region's rising death count, now
close to one thousand.
Violence in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya escalated Feb. 27 after a Muslim mob
firebombed a train carrying Hindus who wanted a temple re-built on a mosque site
there. The incident sparked India's worst religious violence in a decade.
Residents of Mathura worry that a similar scenario awaits them, because their city, like
Ayodhya, is home to a highly significant religious site being fought over by Hindus and
Muslims.
Some 3,000 holy places are scattered across India, where hundreds of years ago Muslim
rulers are said to have destroyed sacred Hindu temples to build mosques. But Mathura,
Ayodhya, and Varanasi are three that were singled out for dispute in the early 1990s by
Hindu extremists because of their religious importance.
At Mathura, citizens are trying to stay calm. But around the corner from Khan's sidewalk
stall, sweets shop owner Laxmandass Maheshwori admits he is concerned.
"We are Hindu, but we live in a Muslim area and are very happy together. And now my
business is just six months old, and it is good...," says Mr. Maheshwori before adding in
a hushed tone: "If something happens here, then everything will be lost."
To most foreign tourists, Mathura would seem a nondescript, semi-industrial city to be
rushed past enroute to a viewing of the Taj Mahal in nearby Agra.
But at the city's heart, not far from the sacred bathing ghats that lead down to the
Yamuna River, lies the disputed land where Hindu pilgrims flock to find the birthplace
of Krishna – and, right next door, Muslims regularly turn to face Mecca at a red
sandstone mosque.
Mathura is recognized as one of Hinduism's seven sacred cities. Hindus believe that
Krishna was born here 3,500 years ago in a prison cell where his parents were held
captive by a tyrannical king.
A series of Muslim invaders – concluding with Emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century –
razed the site, then built a mosque in its place. Now, a more recent Krishna temple also
stands cheek by jowl beside it, blaring Hindu bhajans (hymns) across the mosque's
cobblestones.
The tension at the site is palpable. At the Hindu temple, so-called "Black Cat" elite
commandos accompanied by city, regional, and intelligence bureau officers patrol the
grounds. To enter the complex, visitors must go through airport-style electronic arches,
then be patted down. A two-story-high, barbed-wire fence circles and divides the
temple and mosque.
At the mosque, security isn't as tight. Muslim families, goats, and bulls live on the
grounds.
A Hindu soldier on the mosque's perimeter was blunt about his view of the future.
"These Muslims don't like us here. We will wait some time, then they will be meat," says
the soldier, making a swift chopping motion with his hand.
In his concrete room at the mosque, the Muslim cleric, Imam Abdul Wazid says he
continues to preach "about living together like brothers and good neighbors, always
trying to get along."
But he still hears the worry in peoples' voices. "People talk about Gujarat and wonder if
this trouble will come here," the Imam says.
A high-ranking district official has said that the government is spending 400,000
rupees (more than $8,000) per day to protect both monuments.
"[Government officials] are worried that if trouble erupts here, it will just keep
spreading until we have a massive conflict across India and maybe with (mostly
Muslim) Pakistan," says Mohini Giri, chairperson of the Guild of Service, a women's
charitable group who has interviewed officials about the issue.
In addition, India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has "a bloody nose because
of the Gujarat crisis, and they are very keen to stabilize," before upcoming state
elections and the 2004 general election, says Vinod Mehta, editor in chief of Outlook, a
respected Indian newsmagazine. "I don't think they want to be further marginalized."
Mr. Mehta says hopefully, the government is learning lessons from Gujarat.
Police in Gujarat now, for example, gather elders from both Hindu and Muslim
communities to sort out problems and talk peace so that no future flare-ups occur.
Mehta says the future of Mathura will depend on how the Gujarat conflict develops.
"The people who would be behind any Mathura agitation are the same people as the
perpetrators of the carnage in Gujarat, and right now, I don't think they have the
capacity to spread their activities so far out and have two or three things going at
once," says Mr. Mehta.
At his sweets stall, Maheshwori believes there is still room for hope in this city.
"Hindus and Muslims live

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