1.
Hinduism
–
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, 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 following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. 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, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
2.
Advaita Vedanta
–
Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy and religious practice, and one of the classic Indian paths to spiritual realization. The term Advaita refers to its idea that the soul is the same as the highest metaphysical Reality, Advaita Vedanta traces its roots in the oldest Upanishads. It relies on three textual sources called the Prasthanatrayi and it gives a unifying interpretation of the whole body of Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. Advaita Vedanta is the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta, which is one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, though its roots trace back to the 1st millennium BCE, the most prominent exponent of the Advaita Vedanta is considered by the tradition to be 8th century scholar Adi Shankara. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jivanmukti, the idea that moksha is achievable in this life in contrast to Indian philosophies that emphasize Videhamukti, Advaita Vedanta is one of the most studied and most influential schools of classical Indian thought. Many scholars describe it as a form of monism, others describe the Advaita philosophy as non-dualistic, beyond Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta interacted and developed with the other traditions of India such as Jainism and Buddhism. Advaita Vedanta texts espouse a spectrum of views from idealism, including illusionism, in modern times, its views appear in various Neo-Vedanta movements. It has been termed as the example of Hindu spirituality. The Advaita Vedanta school has referred to historically by various names, such as Advaita-vada, Abheda-darshana, Dvaita-vada-pratisedha. According to Richard King, a professor of Buddhist and Asian studies, traditional Advaita Vedanta centers on the study of the sruti especially the Principal Upanishads, along with the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. Within the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism are many sub-schools, of which Advaita is one, unlike Buddhism, but like Jainism, all Vedanta schools consider the existence of Atman as self evident. The Vedanta tradition also posits the concept of Brahman as the eternal, the sub-schools of Vedanta disagree on the relation between Atman and Brahman. The Advaita darsana considers them to be identical, Advaita Vedanta believes that the knowledge of ones true self or Atman is liberating. Correct knowledge, which destroys avidya, psychological and perceptual errors related to Atman and Brahman, is obtained through three stages of practice, sravana, manana and nididhyasana, the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism rejects the dualism of Samkhya. Advaita, like all Vedanta schools, states that Brahman is both the efficient and the cause, that from which the origination, subsistence. What created all existence is also present in and reflected in all beings and inert matter and this Brahman it postulates is sat-cit-ananda. Second, how did cit Brahman create material world, third, if ananda Brahman is pure bliss, why did the empirical world of sufferings arise. These are the questions that Advaita Vedanta thinkers have historically attempted to answer, Advaita establishes its truths, in part, from the oldest Principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and numerous other Hindu texts
3.
Balinese Hinduism
–
Balinese Hinduism is the form of Hinduism practiced by the majority of the population of Bali. Although the population of Indonesia is predominantly Muslim and Christian, 83% of the people on Bali identify as Hindu, Hinduism came to Indonesia from India in the first century CE. It was gradually replaced by Buddhism, which was the religion of Sumatra and Java. However, due to cultural barriers, Bali became the part of Indonesia to remain predominantly Hindu. The populations of the islands off the east coast of Bali are also mostly Hindu, the fundamental principle underlying Hinduism is that there is order in the cosmos, known as dharma. There is also a force, adharma. Hindus seek balance and harmony between two forces, thus freeing themselves from the never-ending cycle of reincarnation, attaining a state called moksa. Balinese Hinduism divides the cosmos into three layers, the highest level is heaven, or suarga, the abode of the gods. Next is the world of man, buwah, below this is hell or bhur, where the demons live and where peoples spirits are punished for misdeeds on earth. This tripartite division is mirrored in the body and the shrines found outside Balinese buildings. Along with the traditional Hindu gods such as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, Sang Hyang Widhi is the designation for one God in Balinese Hinduism. In the concept of Balinese tradition of Hinduism, Acintya or Sang Hyang Widhi is associated with the concept of Brahman, Balinese Hindu belief in a single God is in line with the first principle of the Indonesian state philosophy Pancasila. These ceremonies mark major events in a life, including birth, puberty, tooth filing. A baby must not touch the ground until it is 105 days old. Once the child reaches puberty, the six upper canine teeth are filed until they are even, marriage is seen as obligatory for Balinese Hindus, both for the establishment of a family and for the enhanced position in the village social structure accorded to the husband. Giving birth to children guarantees the patrilineal line, as well as ensuring there is somebody to perform the appropriate rituals essential for reincarnation and it marks the attainment of adulthood. The most important ceremonies take place after death, and result in the soul being freed to be eventually reincarnated. Unlike the death rites of other religions, the body is not the focus, as it is seen as nothing more than a temporary container of the soul
4.
Swaminarayan Sampraday
–
Swaminarayan Sampraday, known previously as the Uddhav Sampraday, is a Hindu sect propagated by Swaminarayan. Under the leadership of Swaminarayan, the movement gained strength, the organisation is based on vedic and puritic Hinduism. Apart from traditional Hindu scriptures, the sect has more than three thousand works written by its members, the most important are the Shikshapatri and the Vachanamrut. The Shikshapatri, which the Bombay Gazetteer described as a book of principles, was written by Swaminarayan in 1826. This was done by means of a document, called the Desh Vibhag Lekh. Followers of the faith are called Satsangis, are expected to follow basic rules set forth by Swaminarayan. Since its inception, the sect has had a number of ascetics, who contribute towards growth and development of the movement. They have a responsibility to take care of images in temples. These ascetics wear orange robes and lead a life, refraining from worldly pleasures. The Swaminarayan Sampraday has temples on five continents, six temples that Swaminarayan built during his lifetime are considered to be the most important within the faith. The Swaminarayan Sampraday began as the Uddhav Sampraday and was led by Ramanand Swami, in 1799, Swaminarayan, born as Neelkanth Varni, was initiated into the Uddhav Sampraday as an ascetic by his guru, Ramanand Swami, and given the name Sahajanand Swami. Fourteen days after Ramanand Swami died, Neelkanth Varni, now known as Sahajanand Swami and it was during this meeting that Swaminarayan introduced what he termed the father of all Mantras and described it as maha. Then he was known as Swaminarayan, and the name Swaminarayan Sampraday came into existence, the Swaminarayan Sampraday has its roots in the Vedas. It follows the Vaishnava tradition and to its followers represents a form of Hinduism, Swaminarayan built a number of temples during his time and except in Sarangpur, installed Krishna as central deity in each. The faith focusses on salvation through total devotion to the God developed through virtues, spiritual wisdom, the Swaminarayan Sampraday is devotion-focussed and advocates God within the disciplines of virtues. Swaminarayan propagated a philosophy called Vishistadvaita, which says that God is supreme, has a form, is the all-doer and is completely independent. He simply stated that souls never merge or dissolve into God and neither are they part of God, redemption consists in the realisation of ekantik dharma, comprising righteousness, right knowledge, detachment and devotion to that God. Swaminarayans lifetime objective for the organisation was to establish a permanent system of achieving the redemption from the cycle of life
5.
Malayalam
–
Malayalam /mʌləˈjɑːləm/ is a language spoken in India, predominantly in the state of Kerala. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was designated as a Classical Language in India in 2013 and it was developed to the current form mainly by the influence of the poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan in the 16th century. Malayalam has official status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is spoken by some 38 million people, according to one theory, Malayalam originated from Middle Tamil in the 7th century. However, the current understanding proposes the separation of Malayalam from Proto-Dravidian in the pre-historic era, Malayalam incorporated many elements from Sanskrit through the ages. Before Malayalam came into being, Old Tamil was used in literature and courts of a region called Tamilakam, including present day Kerala state, silappatikaramit was written by Chera prince Ilango Adigal from Chunkaparra, and is considered a classic in Sangam literature. Modern Malayalam still preserves many words from the ancient Tamil vocabulary of Sangam literature, the earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu alphabet, and later the Kolezhuttu, which derived from it. As Malayalam began to borrow words as well as the rules of grammar from Sanskrit. This developed into the modern Malayalam script, many medieval liturgical texts were written in an admixture of Sanskrit and early Malayalam, called Manipravalam. The oldest literary work in Malayalam, distinct from the Tamil tradition, is dated from between the 9th and 11th centuries, the first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Due to its lineage deriving from both Tamil and Sanskrit, the Malayalam script has the largest number of letters among the Indian language orthographies, the Malayalam script includes letters capable of representing almost all the sounds of all Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. Malayalam serves as a language on the islands including the Mahl-dominated Minicoy Island. The word Malayalam originated from the Sanskrit resp, Malayalam words malai or mala, meaning hill, and elam, meaning region. Malayalam thus translates as hill region and used to refer to the land of the Chera dynasty, the language Malayalam is alternatively called Alealum, Malayalani, Malayali, Malean, Maliyad, and Mallealle. The word Malayalam originally meant only for the name of the region, Malayanma or Malayayma represented the language. With the emergence of modern Malayalam language, the name of the language started to be known by the name of the region, hence now, the word Malayanma is considered by some to represent the olden Malayalam language. The language got the name Malayalam during the mid 19th century, the origin of Malayalam, an independent offshoot of the proto-Dravidian language, has been and continues to be an engaging pursuit among comparative historical linguists. Together with Tamil, Toda, Kannada and Tulu, Malayalam belongs to the group of Dravidian languages
6.
Kannada
–
The language has roughly 40 million native speakers who are called Kannadigas, and a total of 50.8 million speakers according to a 2001 census. It is one of the languages of India and the official. The Kannada language is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script, Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia, and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 6th-century Ganga dynasty and during the 9th-century Rashtrakuta Dynasty. Kannada has a literary history of over a thousand years. Based on the recommendations of the Committee of Linguistic Experts, appointed by the ministry of culture, in July 2011, a centre for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages at Mysore to facilitate research related to the language. Kannada is a Southern Dravidian language, and according to Dravidian scholar Sanford B, steever, its history can be conventionally divided into three periods, Old Kannada from 450–1200 CE, Middle Kannada from 1200–1700, and Modern Kannada from 1700 to the present. Kannada is influenced to an extent by Sanskrit. Influences of other such as Prakrit and Pali can also be found in the Kannada language. Literary Prakrit seems to have prevailed in Karnataka since ancient times, the vernacular Prakrit-speaking people may have come into contact with Kannada speakers, thus influencing their language, even before Kannada was used for administrative or liturgical purposes. Kannada phonetics, morphology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax show significant influence from these languages, some examples of naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada are, baṇṇa derived from vaṇṇa, hunnime from puṇṇivā. Examples of naturalized Sanskrit words in Kannada are, varṇa, arasu from rajan, paurṇimā, Kannada has numerous borrowed words such as dina, kopa, surya, mukha, nimiṣa and anna. Pre-old Kannada was the language of Banavasi in the early Common Era, the Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri has been suggested to contain words in identifiable Kannada. According to Jain tradition, Brahmi, the daughter of Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of Jainism, invented 18 alphabets, including Kannada, which points to the antiquity of the language. Supporting this tradition, an inscription of about the 9th century CE, containing specimens of different alphabets and it has been claimed that the Greek dramatists of the 5th–4th century BCE were familiar with the Kannada country and language. This would show a far more intimate contact of the Greeks with Kannada culture than with Indian culture elsewhere, the palm manuscripts contained texts written not only in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, but also in Sanskrit and Kannada. In the 150 CE Prakrit book Gaathaa Saptashati, written by Haala Raja, Kannada words like tIr, tuppa, on the Pallava Prakrit inscription of 250 CE of Hire Hadagalis Shivaskandavarman, the Kannada word kOTe transforms into koTTa. In the 350 CE Chandravalli Prakrit inscription, words of Kannada origin like punaaTa, in one more Prakrit inscription of 250 CE found in Malavalli, Kannada towns like vEgooraM, kundamuchchaMDi find a reference. Pliny the Elder was a naval and army commander in the early Roman Empire and he writes about pirates between Muziris and Nitrias
7.
Sikhism in the United States
–
Sikhism is a religion originating from South Asia which was introduced into the United States during the 19th century. The United States also has a number of converts to Sikhism. Sikh men are typically identifiable by their beards and Turbans. Sikh temples have also damaged due to being mistaken for mosques. Thind requested citizenship at the end of the war, being granted and revoked twice, far larger numbers of Sikhs served in World War II, and all American wars following. Currently, a Sikh doctor, Kamaljeet S. Kalsi, and dentist, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, are the only Sikh officers to be permitted to serve in uniform with beard and turban. In addition, Simranpreet Lamba was permitted to enlist, with exemption to wear his turban and beard, in 2010 due to his knowledge of Punjabi, in 2016, the New York City Police Department began to allow turbans, subject to standards compatible with unimpeded performance of duty. Many Sikhs started life in America working in mills, mines. Many early Sikh immigrants were restaurant owners, in 1956, Dalip Singh Saund became the first Asian Indian-born person to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. City planner Satyendra Huja was elected mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia in January 2012, amarjit Singh Buttar was elected in December 2001 to the Vernon, Connecticut Board of Education and won re-election in 2011. United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley was born a Sikh and later converted to Christianity. The largest and most rapidly growing Sikh community in New York City is based in the Richmond Hill area of the borough of Queens, conversely, in the Sikh Foundation of Virginia, most members comprise both recent and more established Jatt Sikhs, Ramgarhia Sikhs, and Sikh Rajputs. Most Sikhs of Española, New Mexico are non-Punjabi converts to Sikhism and these attacks were committed because many Americans incorrectly think Sikhs are Muslim Terrorists, with the appearance of terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden being the reason for that assumption. Sikhs have been a part of the American populace for more than 130 years, near the end of the 19th century, the state of Punjab of British India was hit hard by British practices of mercantilism. Many Sikhs emigrated to the United States and began arriving to work on farms in California and they traveled via Hong Kong to Angel Island, California, the western counterpart to Ellis Island in New York Harbor. A big effect on Sikh migration to the western states occurred during World War I and World War II, Sikhs fought bravely during these wars and began to live in England after their serving period. Among the Sikhs who already lived in America prior to the wars, many Sikhs joined them, mainly during World Wars I, among those who served in the US military include Bhagat Singh Thind in World War I. As a result of the September 11 attacks, some Sikh Americans have become subject to discrimination, balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner, was killed on September 15,2001 due to being mistaken for a Muslim
8.
Buddhism in the United States
–
Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Islam. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a number of converts of other ethnicities. In 2012, U-T San Diego estimated U. S. practitioners at 1.2 million people, in terms of percentage, Hawaii has the most Buddhists at 8% of the population due to its large Asian American community. A trend in Buddhism is export or evangelical Buddhist groups based in another country who actively recruit members in the US from various backgrounds, modern Buddhism is not just an American phenomenon. Soka Gakkai International is perhaps the most successful of Japans new religious movements that grew around the world after the end of World War II. Soka Gakkai, which means Value Creation Society, is one of three sects of Nichiren Buddhism that came to the United States during the 20th century, because of a rift with Nichiren Shōshū in 1991, the SGI has no priests of its own. Its main religious practice is chanting the mantra Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō, unlike trends such as Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan Buddhism, Soka Gakkai Buddhists do not practice meditative techniques other than chanting. An SGI YouTube series called Buddhist in America has over a million views in total as of 2015. Buddhism was introduced into the USA by Asian immigrants in the 19th century, in the United States, immigrants from China entered around 1820, but began to arrive in large numbers following the 1849 California Gold Rush. Immigrant Buddhist congregations in North America are as diverse as the different peoples of Asian Buddhist extraction who settled there, the Immigration Act of 1965 increased the number of immigrants arriving from China, Vietnam, and the Theravada-practicing countries of Southeast Asia. Fanciful accounts of a visit to North America at the end of the 5th century written by a Chinese monk named Huishen or Hushen can be found in the Wenxian Tongkao by Ma Tuan-Lin. This account is challenged but it is at least plausible in the words of James Ishmael Ford. The first Buddhist temple in America was built in 1853 in San Francisco by the Sze Yap Company, unfortunately a casualty of racism, these temples were often the subject of suspicion and ignorance by the rest of the population, and were dismissively called joss houses. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 curtailed growth of the Chinese American population, in both cases, immigration was at first primarily to Hawaii. Populations from other Asian Buddhist countries followed, and in each case, for instance, the first Japanese temple in Hawaii was built in 1896 near Paauhau by the Honpa Hongwanji branch of Jodo Shinshu. In 1898, Japanese missionaries and immigrants established a Young Mens Buddhist Association, the first Japanese Buddhist temple in the continental U. S. was built in San Francisco in 1899, and the first in Canada was built at the Ishikawa Hotel in Vancouver in 1905. The first Buddhist clergy to take up residence in the continental U. S. were Shuye Sonoda and Kakuryo Nishimjima, the Buddhist Churches of America and the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii are immigrant Buddhist organizations in the United States. The BCA is an affiliate of Japans Nishi Hongwanji, a sect of Jōdo Shinshū, all of the Buddhist Missions leadership, along with almost the entire Japanese American population, had been interned during World War II
9.
Hindu
–
Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. 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 the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
10.
History of Hinduism
–
History of Hinduism denotes a wide variety of related Hindu denominations native to the Indian Subcontinent, most of whom live in modern-day Nepal and India. Its history overlaps or coincides with the development of Indian religions since Iron Age India and it has thus been called the oldest living religion in the world. Scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots, the history of Hinduism is often divided into periods of development, with the first period being that of the historical Vedic religion dated from about 1900 BCE to 1400 BCE. The subsequent period, between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is a point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions, and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c.200 BCE to 500 CE, saw the classical Golden Age of Hinduism (, in this period the six branches of Hindu philosophy evolved, namely Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta. Monotheistic sects like Shaivism and Vaishnavism developed during this period through the Bhakti movement. Hinduism under both Hindu and Islamic rulers from c.1200 to 1750 CE, saw the prominence of the Bhakti movement. The colonial period saw the emergence of various Hindu reform movements partly inspired by movements, such as Unitarianism. The Partition of India in 1947 was along religious lines, with the Republic of India emerging with a Hindu majority. During the 20th century, due to the Indian diaspora, Hindu minorities have formed in all continents, with the largest communities in absolute numbers in the United States, Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions. After the Vedic period, between 500-200 BCE and c.300 CE, at the beginning of the Epic and Puranic c. q. Preclassical period, the Hindu synthesis emerged, which incorporated śramaṇic and Buddhist influences and this synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism. During the Gupta reign the first Puranas were written, which were used to disseminate mainstream religious ideology amongst pre-literate, the resulting Puranic Hinduism differed markedly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmaśāstras and the smritis. Hinduism co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism, to gain the upper hand at all levels in the 8th century. From northern India this Hindu synthesis, and its divisions, spread to southern India. This process of assimilation explains the diversity of local cultures in India half shrouded in a taddered cloak of conceptual unity. James Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations and this periodisation has been criticised, for the misconceptions it has given rise to. Another periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, the division in Ancient-Medieval-Modern overlooks the fact that the Muslim-conquests took place between the eight and the fourteenth century, while the south was never completely conquered
11.
Hindu mythology
–
As such, it is a subset of mainstream Indian and Nepali culture. The roots of mythology that evolved from classical Hinduism come from the times of the Vedic civilization, the four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda, contain allusions to many themes. The characters, philosophy and stories make up ancient Vedic myths are indelibly linked with Hindu beliefs. The Vedas are four in number, namely RigVeda, YajurVeda, SamaVeda, in the period of Classical Sanskrit, much material is preserved in the Sanskrit epics. Besides mythology proper, the voluminous epics also provide a range of information about ancient Nepali and Indian society, philosophy, culture, religion. The two great Hindu Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata tell the story of two incarnations of Vishnu. These two works are known as Itihasa, the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana serve as both religious scriptures and a rich source of philosophy and morality. The most famous of these chapters is the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata, in which Lord Krishna explains the concepts of duty and these stories are deeply embedded in Hindu philosophy and serve as parables and sources of devotion for Hindus. The Mahabharata is the worlds longest epic in verse, running to more than 2,000,000 lines, the epics themselves are set in different Yugas, or periods of time. The Ramayana, written by the Maharshi Valmiki, describes the life and times of Lord Rama, the Mahabharata, describing the life and times of the Pandavas, occurs in the Dvapara Yuga, a period associated with Lord Krishna. In total, there are 4 Yugas and these are the Satya or Krita Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. The avatara concept, however, belongs to the Puranic times, the Puranas deal with stories that are old and do not appear in the epics. They contain legends and stories about the origins of the world, and the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. They contain traditions related to ancient kings, seers, incarnations of God and legends about holy places, the Bhagavata Purana is probably the most read and popular of the Puranas. It chronicles the legends of the god Vishnu and his avatars on earth, the act of creation was thought of in more than one manner. One of the oldest cosmogonic myth in the Rigveda had come into existence as a cosmic egg, the Purusha Sukta narrates that all things were made out of the mangled limbs of Purusha, a magnified non-natural man, who was sacrificed by the gods. In the Puranas, Vishnu, in the shape of a boar, plunged into the cosmic waters, the Shatapatha Brahmana says that in the beginning, Prajapati, the first creator or father of all, was alone in the world. He differentiated himself into two beings, husband and wife, the wife, regarding union with her producer as incest, fled from his embraces assuming various animal disguises
12.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
–
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organisation. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who is worshipped by followers as Guru and spiritual master. Its core beliefs are based on select traditional Hindu scriptures, particularly the Bhagavad-gītā, ISKCON says it is a direct descendant of Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of yoga, in which those involved dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing the Supreme Lord. ISKCON today is a confederation of more than 550 centres, including 60 farm communities, some aiming for self-sufficiency,50 schools. In recent decades the most rapid expansions in membership have been within Eastern Europe, for further information see, Achintya Bheda Abheda and Gaudiya Vaishnavism ISKCON devotees follow a disciplic line of Gaudiya Bhagavata Vaishnavas and are the largest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism means worship of Vishnu, and Gauḍa refers to the area where this branch of Vaishnavism originated. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a following in India, especially West Bengal and Odisha and these works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the canon of ISKCON. Krishna is described as the source of all the avatars of God, to devotees, Radha represents Krishnas divine female counterpart, the original spiritual potency, and the embodiment of divine love. The individual soul is a personal identity which does not ultimately merge into any formless light or void as suggested by the monistic schools of Hinduism. Prabhupada most frequently offers Sanatana-dharma and Varnashrama dharma as more names for the religious system which accepts Vedic authority. It is a tradition which has its roots in the theistic Vedanta traditions. The popular nickname of Hare Krishnas for devotees of this movement comes from the mantra that devotees sing aloud or chant quietly on tulsi mala and this mantra, known also as the Maha Mantra, contains the names of God Krishna and Rama. To propagate a consciousness of Krishna, as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita, the principle of reincarnation is accepted. To teach and encourage the movement, congregational chanting of the holy names of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. To erect for the members, and for society at large, to bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life. With a view towards achieving the purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books. The four legs of Dharma are, Daya, Mercy Tapas, Self-Control or Austerity Satyam, Truthfulness Śaucam, Cleanliness of body, members try to spread Krishna consciousness, primarily by singing the Hare Krishna mantra in public places and by selling books written by Bhaktivedanta Swami
.
