Hinduism

                                   

Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life, in South Asia, most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology,shared textual resources, pilgrimage to sacred sites and the questioning of authority. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism andShaktism among others, each with an interwoven diversity of beliefs and practices. With approximately one billion followers, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion by population, after Christianity and Islam.

Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the worldand some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way" beyond human origins. Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots and no founder. This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE, after the Vedic times.Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, among others.

Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include (but are not restricted to), the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life,namely Dharma (ethics/duties), Artha (prosperity/work), Kama (emotions/sexuality) and Moksha (liberation/freedom) karma(action, intent and consequences), samsara (cycle of rebirth), and the various Yogas (paths or practices to attain moksha) Hindu practices include rituals such as puja (worship) and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages. Some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa(ascetic practices) to achieve moksha.

Hindu texts are classified into Shruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered"). These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology,Vedic yajna, Yoga and agamic rituals and temple building, among other topics.^[19] Major scriptures include the Vedas andUpanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agama

The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan^[22]/Sanskrit^[23] word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent (modern day Pakistan and Northern India).^{[23][note 7]} According to Gavin Flood, "The actual term 'Hindu' first occurs as a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu)",^[23] more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I (550–486 BCE).^[24] The term 'Hindu' in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion.^[23] Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang,^[24] and 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd al-Malik Isami.^{[note 8]}

Thapar states that the word Hindu is found as heptahindu in Avesta – equivalent to Rigvedic sapta sindhu, while hndstn (pronounced Hindustan) is found in a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of northwestern South Asia.^[32] The Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus.^[33] This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū, which refers to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".^{[34][note 9]}

The term Hindu was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450) and some 16th- to 18th-century BengaliGaudiya Vaishnava texts including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. These texts used it to contrast Hindus from Muslims who are called Yavanas (foreigners) orMlecchas (barbarians), with the 16th-century Chaitanya Charitamrita text and the 17th century Bhakta Mala text using the phrase "Hindu dharma".^[35] It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions native to India