During parts of the Muslim Period, which lasted from about to , Islamic rulers prevented Hindus from worshipping their deities, and some temples were destroyed. Indian statesman and activist Mahatma Gandhi, Between and , the British controlled India. At first, the new rulers allowed Hindus to practice their religion without interference.
But later, Christian missionaries sought to convert and westernize the people. Many reformers emerged during the British Period. The partition of India occurred in , and Gandhi was assassinated in British India was split into what are now the independent nations of India and Pakistan , and Hinduism became the major religion of India. Starting in the s, many Hindus migrated to North America and Britain, spreading their faith and philosophies to the western world.
An early 18th century depiction of Devi revered by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Hindus worship many gods and goddesses in addition to Brahman, who is believed to be the supreme God force present in all things.
Followers of Hinduism can visit the Mandir any time they please. Hindus can also worship at home, and many have a special shrine dedicated to certain gods and goddesses. The giving of offerings is an important part of Hindu worship.
Others believe that all the deities are a manifestation of one. The caste system is a social hierarchy in India that divides Hindus based on their karma and dharma. Many scholars believe the system dates back more than 3, years. Many subcategories also exist within each caste. Today, the caste system still exists in India but is loosely followed. Many of the old customs are overlooked, but some traditions, such as only marrying within a specific caste, are still embraced. These cities housed about 40, people who enjoyed quite a high standard of living with sophisticated water systems; most houses having drainage systems, wells, and rubbish chutes.
Grain was the basis of the economy and large grain stores collected grain as tax. The civilisation was extensive, from the eastern foothills of the Himalayas, to Lothar on the Gujarat coast, and to Sutgagen Dor near the Iranian border.
Some cities of the Indus valley culture have yet to be excavated. The Indus civilisation did not develop as a result of contact with other civilisations such as Sumer or Egypt but was an indigenous development growing out of earlier, local cultures. We know little of the religion, social structure or politics of this early civilisation and we do not know the language, but seals have been found with what looks like a script inscribed on them.
This has not been deciphered successfully and some scholars now question whether it is in fact a script, although this is contentious. Religion in the Indus valley seems to have involved temple rituals and ritual bathing in the 'great bath' found at Mohenjo-Daro.
There is some evidence of animal sacrifice at Kalibangan. A number of terracotta figurines have been found, perhaps goddess images, and a seal depicting a seated figure surrounded by animals that some scholars thought to be a prototype of the god Shiva. Others have disputed this, pointing out that it bears a close resemblance to Elamite seals depicting seated bulls. One image, carved on soapstone steatite , depicts a figure battling with lions which is reminiscent of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh myth.
There may be continuities between the Indus Valley civilisation and later Hinduism as suggested by the apparent emphasis on ritual bathing, sacrifice, and goddess worship. But ritual purity, sacrifice and an emphasis on fertility are common to other ancient religions. There are two sources of knowledge about this ancient period - language and archaeology - and we can make two comments about them. Firstly, the language of vedic culture was vedic Sanskrit, which is related to other languages in the Indo-European language group.
This suggests that Indo-European speakers had a common linguistic origin known by scholars as Proto-Indo-European. Secondly, there does seem to be archaeological continuity in the subcontinent from the Neolithic period. The history of this period is therefore complex.
One of the key problems is that no horse remains have been found in the Indus Valley but in the Veda the horse sacrifice is central.
The debate is ongoing. If we take 'Vedic Period' to refer to the period when the Vedas were composed, we can say that early vedic religion centred around the sacrifice and sharing the sacrificial meal with each other and with the many gods devas. The term 'sacrifice' homa , yajna is not confined to offering animals but refers more widely to any offering into the sacred fire such as milk and clarified butter. Some of the vedic rituals were very elaborate and continue to the present day.
Sacrifice was offered to different vedic gods devas who lived in different realms of a hierarchical universe divided into three broad realms: earth, atmosphere and sky. Earth contains the plant god Soma, the fire god Agni, and the god of priestly power, Brhaspati. The Atmosphere contains the warrior Indra, the wind Vayu, the storm gods or Maruts and the terrible Rudra.
The Sky contains the sky god Dyaus from the same root as Zeus , the Lord of cosmic law or rta Varuna, his friend the god of night Mitra, the nourisher Pushan, and the pervader Vishnu. This period, beginning from around the time of Buddha died c. The famous Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata. The idea of dharma law, duty, truth which is central to Hinduism was expressed in a genre of texts known as Dharma Sutras and Shastras.
The Dharma Sutras recognise three sources of dharma: revelation i. The Laws of Manu adds 'what is pleasing to oneself'. During this period the vedic fire sacrifice became minimised with the development of devotional worship puja to images of deities in temples. From this period we can recognise many elements in present day Hinduism, such as bhakti devotion and temple worship. This period saw the development of poetic literature. Harrappa was first excavated in These cities indicate a centralized state with extensive town planning, common construction techniques, regular weights and measures, as well as trade, farming and domesticated animals.
The word "Hindu" originates from the Sanskrit word for river, sindhu. The Indus River running through northwest India into Pakistan received its name from the Sanskrit term sindhu. The Persians designated the land around the Indus River as Hindu, a mispronunciation of the Sanskrit sindhu. In archaeologists uncovered evidence of an ancient civilization along the Indus River, which today is dated to around BC and thought to represent one of the largest centers of human habitation in the ancient world.
Scholars believe that the Indus Valley Civilization had begun to decline by BC, possibly due to climate change. Because of its location between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian plateau, the area has seen many military invasions including Alexander the Great, the Persian empire, and the Kushan empire.
To distinguish themselves, they called all non-Muslims Hindus; the name of the land became, by default, the name of the people and their religion Schoeps, , p.
Hindus hold that there is one supreme God--Brahman. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Research Paper. Ben Davis January 26, When and how did Hinduism begin? When did Hindu come to India? Who is the main founder of Hinduism? Where did Hinduism originate from?
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