Thailand is the largest Buddhist country in the world, with 95% of its 69 millionpopulationfollowing the religion. Those who consider themselves of the Hindu faith constitute just 0.03% percent of Thais (22,100 people) according to the 2015 census.

Despite the very small number of Hindus here, elements of Hinduism permeate Thailands socio-cultural life. Even as the group is a minority, various Hindu elements remain deeply embedded in the traditional culture and social life of the Thai people.

Hinduism arrived in Thailand partly along the land route from India via Burma, but also traversed the Bay of Bengal to Indonesia and was instrumental in the establishment of the maritime Sri Vijaya Empire. It is from Java that Hinduism also spread to Cambodia, and what is now Vietnam and northwards to Thailand absorbing local cultural elements along the way.

Waves of invasions, and especially the Khmer rule, left the residue of Hinduism in the Thai culture. And as is often the case with external influences, the elements have been absorbed and overlaid with Buddhist rituals seamlessly, giving them Thai characteristics.

Alongside their Buddhist beliefs, many Thais worship Hindu deities. One of them is the Brahma (Phra Phrom) at the famousErawan Shrine in Bangkok. People in deep anguish are known to go to this shrine, and when a wish has been granted, devotees hire dancers to performRam Kae Bon, to thank the god.

Statues of Ganesh, Indra (Phra In), and Shiva (Phra Isuan) can be found across Thailand.Ganesh is known asPhra Phikanetin Thai and is worshipped as the remover of obstacles. He is the deity Thai Buddhists often pray to before they start an important venture just as Hindus in Nepal and India do at Ganesh temples.

Buddhist relics in western Nepal, Sewa Bhattarai

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The Hindu gods of Buddhist Thailand - Nepali times

India (MNN) India deals another blow to religious freedom as four states consider anti-conversion laws. More about that here. Police often use anti-conversion rules to persecute Christians and other religious minorities, putting these groups at risk.

[Another] state that has one in process is Maharashtra a well-known state because of Mumbai, the economic and financial capital of India, John Pudaite of Bibles For The World says.

The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. (Photo credit: Dennis Jarvis/Flickr)

If state authorities pass the new legislation into law, close to two-thirds of Indias 1.3 billion people would now be under some anti-conversion law, Pudaite adds.

More India headlines here.

India is one of the worlds most challenging places to follow Christ, according to persecution watchdog groups like Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors.

Hindu radicals regularly persecute religious minorities. Plus, Indias constitution allows for religious freedom, but authorities target Christian outreach using anti-conversion laws as a pretense.

It puts Bibles For The World partners in a precarious situation. Were in touch with [our partners], urging them to continue their outreach but be careful, be cautious, Pudaite says.

When we reach out in love and provide blankets, or clothing or food or things like that, [it] can easily be misconstrued by anti-Christians as Oh, theyre enticing [people] with these material goods, he explains. More about Bibles For The Worlds ministry here.

Its unfortunate because they dont understand what our partners are offering is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

(Graphic courtesy VOM USA)

Now that you know, ask the Lord how He wants you to respond. Prayer is the easiest place to start. For believers in states with current or potential anti-conversion laws, pray for wisdom and discernment. Ask the Lord to protect believers in Uttar Pradesh, where police use a new anti-conversion law to arrest religious minorities.

It was pushed through and signed by the governor of the state [even though] the legislature is not sitting right now; theyre on vacation, Pudaite says.

He is allowed to do that for a period of up to six months until the actual state legislature ratifies it.

Enacting the controversial love jihad law was very significant because [Uttar Pradesh] is the largest state in India. If it were an independent country, this state would be number six or seven in terms of population in the entire world, Pudaite continues.

It has the strongest pro-Hindu population, so it is a very significant battleground for religious freedoms.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Abhishek K. Singh on Unsplash.

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India deals another blow to religious freedom - Mission Network News

After a social media drive by Hindus and Sikhs against the 'Halal' certification for products in the country, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has removed the word from its 'Red Meat Manual', reports Indian Express.

The APEDA, which comes under the Ministry of Commerce, handles agri-exports from the country.

While the earlier Red Meat Manual of APEDA prescribed animals to be "slaughtered strictly according to halal method to meet the requirement of Islamic countries, it is now amended to the animals are slaughtered according to the requirement of importing country/importer.

This change was reportedly made as the use of the word halal gave an impression that this was mandatory for all meat exports from the country.

It is a requirement by a majority of the importing countries/Importers. Halal Certification agencies are accredited directly by respective importing countries. No government agency has any role in this, the exports promotion body clarified.

The body also deleted these lines: The animals are slaughtered by halal system under strict vigilance of (a) recognised and registered Islamic body as per the tenets of Islamic Shariyat. The certificate for halal is issued by the representative of registered Islamic body under whose supervision the slaughter is conducted in order to meet the requirement of (the) importing country.

It should be noted that Hindu and Sikh organisations had opposed the use of the word 'Halal' in the old APEDA manual and alleged that the government seemed to be promoting halal meat.

The campaigners against halal certification said that this religious prescription in the manual led to job loss for non-muslims as they were kept out by slaughterhouses due to halal requirements. They have called these changes as just one step in the right direction and asserted that they would continue their campaign against halal certification.

Islamic countries allow the import of only halal-certified meat, and India exports buffalo meat to many of them including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Malaysia.

The rest is here:

Govt's Agri-Export Promotion Body Drops 'Halal' From Its Red Meat Manual After Outrage By Hindus, Sikhs - Swarajya

A name-game has started with the onset of New Year. This time, there's a concerted and consolidated effort to rename Aurangabad in Maharashtra as Sambhaji Nagar. In fact, hardcore Shiv Sainiks have been using the name Sambhaji Nagar in lieu of Aurangabad for nearly two decades because their party founder Bal Thackeray had 'renamed' it Sambhaji Nagar (after the name of Shivaji's son) a quarter of a century ago. Now the question is: Was Aurangzeb so bad and vicious as to be condemned as the 'Worst Mughal', to quote Indian (precisely, Hindu) historians Sacchidanand Sinha and Ishwari Prasad?

In her seminal tome, 'Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court,' the Stanford Post-Doctoral researcher Audrey Truschke is of the view that Aurangzeb was the most misunderstood Mughal because his certain alleged atrocities were amplified by the later-day historians, who called him a bigot of the first order and 'a humourless drybone' (to quote the late Akhilesh Mishra, the amateur but highly popular pop-historian of The Asian Age).

But that doesn't mean that he was a man without flaws. As a human and that too as a supreme ruler of the subcontinent, he committed certain blood-curdling atrocities -- incarcerating his father, executing his elder brother Dara Shikoh, who was to become the emperor, imposing Jaziya tax on Hindus and non-Muslims and converting legions of Hindus to Islam, torturing the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur and executing him, also executing Shivaji's son Sambhaji who refused to embrace Islam. The list of his atrocities is quite long.

But to quote the legendary British historian Sir Arnold Toynbee and ancient Roman historians Pliny the Jr. and Catullus, "A ruler's good-deeds and misdeeds must be juxtaposed to strike a perfect balance and then come to a conclusion whether he was indeed good or vile." So very true. The great Roman emperor Julius Caesar was pathologically against the Neo-Pagans and was a confirmed rapist, who did not spare even the mother of his dearest friend Brutus (yes, he raped Brutus's mother and made her his concubine; read 'Rise and Fall of Roman Empire' by Sir Edward Gibbon and 'Rome, the Dome ' by Sir Collingwood). Brutus killed his friend Caesar not because he was concerned about Rome and the Senate. He was fuming that his friend and emperor had raped his mother and made her a concubine in his seraglio. But Caesar is considered to be a great and even just (!) emperor by most historians and students of Wikipedia and WhatsApp University.

Aurangzeb wasn't an archetypical anti-Hindu. Granted, he was a strict Muslim, who offered namaz nine times (yes, there're nine namaz in Islam, five are mandatory, 4 are optional) a day, he didn't take any action when his two trusted courtiers Eram Khan and Raqsool Usman accepted Hinduism and became Dhaniram and Raichand. They remained with Aurangzeb till they breathed their last. He didn't punish or banish his favourite erstwhile Muslim courtiers.

He was against music not because music is haram or prohibited in Islam, but because he considered music to be 'Inguzeer-ul-khwam' (Arabic for a frivolous pastime or an unnecessary indulgence). He had indeed made it prohibitory or haram for his Muslim subjects but Hindus could sing bhajan and keertan. Read his Arabic treatise 'Fatwa-ul-Alamgir' (The edicts of Aurangzeb; only two copies are left, one at Al-Azhar, Cairo, and another one at the Archives of Oxford University). He clearly mentioned that ' Mausiqi bin halaal ul but-parastaan, deeham az'zeega'r haram un-Momin' (Music is acceptable to the idol-worshippers, but completely unacceptable to Momin or a true Muslim).

A polyglot emperor (Aurangzeb was extremely fond of learning new languages and already knew Persian, Arabic, Rekhta, the earliest form of today's Urdu, Khari Boli Hindi), he was a patron of Braj Kaavya written in Braj, spoken in Bharatpur, Mathura, Deeg and Vrindavan. It was Aurangzeb who promoted Rekhta as a lingua franca and could write early Hindi in Devanagari script and in old Shaurseni (read Rahul Sankrityayan's out-of-print, 'Aurangzeb: Pahloo-dar-pahloo').

Though he was against Shivaji and Marathas and was here in the Deccan for nearly 40 years to thwart the juggernaut of Shivaji's army, Maratha court historian Kanhoji Phadnis mentioned that he was all praise for Shivaji's command of Persian. If he demolished 836 temples, he also constructed 423 new ones.

If Aurangzeb executed Dara Shikoh, he also had his allied brother, Murad Baksh, held for murder, judged and then decapitated in public. Mind you, Murad had killed a Hindu courtesan.

He was a just emperor who didn't like ostentation. It was Aurangzeb who sternly stopped his indulgent father Shah Jahan to build yet another Taj Mahal in black marble stone across Yamuna. Aurangzeb's logic was, because of his father's whims, the exchequer was already empty and now the New Taj in Black Stone would invite black days for the poor people. You can see at India House, London, his hand-written letter to his father Shah Jahan, admonishing for wasting public money for his whims and vagaries.

And yes, it was Aurangzeb, who stopped his father from chopping off the hands of all the artisans involved in the building of a masterpiece called Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan indeed wanted to cut the hands of the artisans so that they could never create a replica of it anywhere in the world but was stopped in his sanguinary design by his most infamous and utterly 'heartless' son, Aurangzeb.

So, readers, you had better judge whether Aurangzeb was really as execrable a character as projected by biased and ignorant historians? Let posterity dispassionately evaluate the man who's so vilified in the collective consciousness of all Hindus and Indians on the subcontinent.

Lastly, if at all we must change the name of a place, it's Bakhtiyarpur in Patna district in Bihar, named after the Turkish invader Bakhtiyar Khilji, who incinerated the famed Nalanda University in 1200 CE and massacred the monks, teachers and students.

The writer is an advanced research scholar of Semitic languages, civilisations and cultures.

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Redefining Aurangzeb...more sinned against than sinning - Free Press Journal

The year 2020 has been difficult for everyone but with the support from our readers, OpIndia continued to publish news that are not covered by mainstream media. From stories on Grooming Jihad to unmasking civil society organizations, OpIndia published a lot of exclusive news stories.

On the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots and the investigation that followed, we have published numerous exclusive reports and also a book on the events and the conspiracy that led to the enormous bloodshed at the national capital.

Now that we are at the end of the year, we revisit some of the important news stories that we have reported this year.

OpIndia reported on the plight of Hindus at Maujpur, a Hindu dominated locality that witnessed widespread violence, in the aftermath of the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots. The Hindus in Maujpur were living in constant fear of being attacked by Islamist mobs. Vinod Kumar was shot dead in this area.

We discovered that men prepared to die and women of the house prepared to fight or die themselves if the Mohammaden mob comes for them is a story not uncommon with Hindu families living in fear since the Delhi anti-Hindu riots broke out. The media, on the other hand, was busy painting these riots as a pogrom against Muslims, incited by rabid Hindus.

A minor girl was abducted on gunpoint while she was returning from the marketwith her father. The incident took place on July 26 (Sunday) in Begusarais Bhikan Chak village that falls under Bachhwara police station. Dinesh, the father of the minor girl said that around 5 pm, seven people, including a female, approached them in a Bolero car while they were crossing the Panchayat Bhavan in Behrampur in Mansurchak Block inBegusaraidistrict and took away his daughter on gunpoint.

We brought the full story of the matter to public light.

OpIndia also reported on the Shaheen Bagh protests from the ground. We reported that contrary to the media narrative that this was a spontaneous protest, a lot of money was being spent on organizing it. The protests were extremely organized, for a protest that was touted to be spontaneous.

There was a security check as well where protesters would demand your identity proof and check your bags and even then, would continue keeping an eye on you. Media personnel are screened before they could talk with the protesters. A lot of the details was happily ignored by the mainstream media.

On the 4th of May, 2020, the life of one family in upscale Gurugram came to a screeching halt. A 17-year-old boy, Manav,jumpedfrom the 11th floor of his apartment building, landing on the road below and ultimately, losing his life. The Bois Locker Room controversy had claimed a victim. We interviewed his father to bring his side of the story and reveal how such a promising young life was cut short by the demented nature of social media.

South-Africa launched an anti-racism campaign led by President Ramaphosa. The campaign had significant opposition within South Africa as well. The launch of this campaign was to start with a virtual talk. The opening statements were to be delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa and then, a panel discussion was to ensue with several other panelists making their comments.

7 out of 8 of those panelists belonged to South Africa. However, there was one name that did not add up Anand Sharma, Congress leader. We reported the manner in which Congress could have potentially undermined Indian national interests in the process.

OpIndia accessed a conversation which is between Person A (Person in whose home a bar-o-meter is installed) and his neighbour, makes it evident that Person A was scared for his security and his familys safety after being allegedly coerced by the Mumbai Police.

The conversation accessed by OpIndia raised significant questions regarding the conduct of the Mumbai Police and the manner in which witnesses were being coerced in order to target Arnab Goswami and Republic TV.

The Prasar Bharati finally terminated its arrangement with the Press Trust of India (PTI) in October this year. Earlier, it was announced that the government of India institution will be reviewing its arrangement with the PTI following its interview with the Chinese Ambassador wherein the news agency was accused of providing a platform for the Chinese to run their propaganda.

OpIndia reported the precise reason why Prasar Bharti took that decision.

OpIndia hasaccessedscreenshots of Whatsapp chats between those who controlled the Delhi riots which further explain how the communal riots were not the handiwork of locals but it was a result of deeper conspiracy and planning.

The WhatsApp chats make it extremely clear that the riots were a deep seated conspiracy and not impromptu at all.

We, at OpIndia, have spent a lot of time discussing and reporting on the undue influence that foreign-funded NGOs exert over the institutions of our country and the narratives that drive politics in the media. We have reported extensively on the manner in which foreign-funded NGOs are using the Judiciary in order to meddle the internal affairs of India via elements like Harsh Mander.

This year, we reported how Harsh Mander is a member of an organization connected to the Italian Government and the Italian Secret Service.

While the Delhi anti-Hindu riots rage on, the country woke up to disturbing news on 26th January. An Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer, Ankit Sharma, had been brutally murdered and his tortured remains were recovered from a nearby drain. Some said that the IB officer was mercilessly thrown after the murder during the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, others alleged that the body was hidden so it would not be recovered.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media claimed that Ankit Sharma was murdered by a mob chanting Jai Shri Ram and went further to say that it was his brother who had made the claim. It was under these circumstances that OpIndia talked to the deceased IB constables brother.

The brother denied making any such claim ever and said that it was Tahir Hussain and the Islamist mob the former AAP Councilor was leading that was responsible for Ankit Sharmas murder.

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From the Dara Hua Hindus of Maujpur to Manavs tragic death and Shaheen Bagh ground report: Top 10 exclusive OpIndia news breaks of 2020 - OpIndia

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari has demanded United Nations to probe the extrajudicial killings of 11 Pakistani Hindus by India and ensure payment of reparations to families of the deceased, said a press release. In a letter written to UN High Commissioner, she said the extrajudicial executions by Indian security forces in Manipur, have not been fully investigated, and the state of India has failed to fulfill its obligation to carry out a prompt, thorough and effective investigation which is a clear breach to the Vienna Convention.

The minister in the letter demanded the constitution of an investigation team, under the auspices of the UN and urged India to allow the team for conducting a free, fair and impartial investigation into the matter and handing over of the dead bodies of deceased to family members.

It may be recalled that in August 2020, 11 Pakistan Hindus were executed extra judicially in Jodhpur District, of Indian state of Rajasthan.

There also appears to be a breach by India with respect to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) - the object and purpose of this Convention being inter alia respect for the principle of sovereign equality of States, the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of friendly relations among nations, the letter said.

Reportedly, the deceased include Budhu Ram (80 years), Raivya (35 years), Shamoon (25 years), Antari (75 years), Shrimati Lakshmi (39 years), Shrimati Devi (28 years) and five children, namely Mukadas (16 years), Zain (12 years), Dayaal (12 years), Danish (10 years) and Diya (5 years). Shrimati Mukhi, a surviving member of the family, registered a First Information Report (FIR) No. 219/2020 over the murder of her family members. She has alleged that the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, was behind the murder.

In light of this blatant denial of justice and breach of international norms, I request from your office the following interventions:

First, constituting an investigation team, under the auspices of the UN and urging India to allow the investigation team to conduct a free, fair and impartial investigation into the extrajudicial executions.

Second, recommending to India that it hand over the dead bodies of the deceased to family members, in line with international human rights standards.

Third, communicating to India the need to respect international law, in particular international human rights law to which it is a State Party, by ending impunity for the conduct of officials involved in gross human rights violations.

Fourth, counseling India to ensure payment of reparations to the family of the deceased.

As this incident falls within the broader pattern of human rights violations, being carried out on a State level, it is imperative that accountability be ensured, she added.

I write to you in the hope that these extrajudicial executions will not meet the same fate, i.e. denial of justice. In this vein, I am cognisant of the need to ensure the collective involvement of all human rights organisations in this quest for justice, accountability and bringing an end to the culture of impunity for extrajudicial executions perpetrated by Indian security forces' personnel. Accordingly, copies of this letter are being shared with human rights organisations and special procedures that have repeatedly raised concerns over the State of India's practice of extrajudicial executions, the letter added.

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UN urged to probe killing of Pakistani Hindus in India - The News International

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi administers the oath of office to members of the 117th House of Representatives on Jan. 3. (Erin Scott/AFP via Getty Images)

Every two years, Pew Research Center publishes a report on the religious affiliation of members of the incoming Congress. This report is the seventh in the series, which started with the 111th Congress that began in 2009.

Data on members of Congress comes from CQ Roll Call, which surveys members about their demographic characteristics, including religious affiliation. Pew Research Center researchers then code the data so that Congress can be compared with U.S. adults overall. For example, members of Congress who tell CQ Roll Call they are Southern Baptists are coded as Baptists a broader category (including Southern Baptists as well as other Baptists) used for analysis of the general public.

Data in this report covers members of Congress sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021. One contested election, in New Yorks 22nd District, was uncalled by the start of the new Congress. Congressman-elect Luke J. Letlow of Louisianas 5th District died before the swearing-in; his seat will go unfilled until a March special election. One representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, was sworn in provisionally on Jan. 3; she is included in this analysis. In addition, both of Georgias Senate seats were subject to runoff elections set to take place Jan. 5, 2021. Therefore, this analysis includes 531 members of Congress, rather than 535.

Data for all U.S. adults comes from aggregated Pew Research Center political surveys conducted on the telephone from January 2018 through July 2019 and summarized in the report In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace. Figures for Protestant subgroups and Unitarians come from the Centers 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, conducted June 4 to Sept. 30, 2014, among more than 35,000 Americans. For more information about how Pew Research Center measures the religious composition of the U.S., see here.

When it comes to religious affiliation, the 117th U.S. Congress looks similar to the previous Congress but quite different from Americans overall.

While about a quarter (26%) of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular just one member of the new Congress (Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.) identifies as religiously unaffiliated (0.2%).

Nearly nine-in-ten members of Congress identify as Christian (88%), compared with two-thirds of the general public (65%). Congress is both more heavily Protestant (55% vs. 43%) and more heavily Catholic (30% vs. 20%) than the U.S. adult population overall.

Members of Congress also are older, on average, than U.S. adults overall. At the start of the 116th Congress, the average representative was 57.6 years old, and the average senator was 62.9 years old. Pew Research Center surveys have found that adults in that age range are more likely to be Christian than the general public (74% of Americans ages 50 to 64 are Christian, compared with 65% of all Americans ages 18 and older). Still, Congress is more heavily Christian even than U.S. adults ages 50 to 64, by a margin of 14 percentage points.

Over the last several Congresses, there has been a marked increase in the share of members who identify themselves simply as Protestants or as Christians without further specifying a denomination. There are now 96 members of Congress in this category (18%). In the 111th Congress, the first for which Pew Research Center analyzed the religious affiliation of members of Congress, 39 members described themselves this way (7%). Meanwhile, the share of all U.S. adults in this category has held relatively steady.

Over the same period, the total number of Protestants in Congress has remained relatively stable: There were 295 Protestants in the 111th Congress, and there are 294 today. The increase in Protestants who do not specify a denomination has corresponded with a decrease in members who do identify with denominational families, such as Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Methodists.

Still, members of those three Protestant subgroups remain overrepresented in Congress compared with their share in the general public, while some other groups are underrepresented including Pentecostals (0.4% of Congress vs. 5% of all U.S. adults), nondenominational Protestants (2% vs. 6%) and Baptists (12% vs. 15%).

Jewish members also make up a larger share of Congress than they do of the general public (6% vs. 2%). The shares of most other non-Christian groups analyzed in this report (Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists) more closely match their percentages in the general public.

Nearly all non-Christian members of Congress are Democrats. Just three of the 261 Republicans who were sworn in on Jan. 3 (1%) do not identify as Christian; two are Jewish, and one declined to state a religious affiliation.

These are some of the key findings of an analysis by Pew Research Center of CQ Roll Call data on the religious affiliations of members of Congress, gathered through questionnaires and follow-up phone calls to candidates and members offices.The CQ questionnaire asks members what religious group, if any, they belong to. It does not attempt to measure their religious beliefs or practices. The Pew Research Center analysis compares the religious affiliations of members of Congress with the Centers survey data on the U.S. public.

The overall composition of the new Congress is similar to that of the previous Congress in part because 464 of the 531 members of the 117th Congress (87%) are returning members.

Methodists saw the largest loss seven seats followed closely by Baptists (six seats) and Catholics (five seats). There also are four fewer Lutherans in the 117th Congress than there were in the 116th. By contrast, Protestants who do not specify a denomination are up substantially, gaining 16 seats in the 117th Congress after also gaining 16 seats two years ago, when the 116th took office. Protestants in the Restorationist family also gained three seats (all members of Congress in this category identify with the Churches of Christ).

In total, there currently are three fewer Christians in the new Congress than there were in the previous Congress, although this gap is all but certain to narrow once three of the four open seats are filled. Five of the six candidates in the uncalled or outstanding races identify as Christians; Jon Ossoff, a Democrat running for Senate in Georgia, is Jewish.

When it comes to the 63 members of Congress who are not Christian, a slim majority (33) are Jewish, a number that has held relatively steady over the past several Congresses.

The next largest non-Christian group is made up of those who declined to specify a religious affiliation. There are 18 people in this category in the 117th Congress, the same as in the 116th, which had seen an increase of eight members in this group.

The three Muslim representatives from the 116th Congress return for the 117th: Reps. Andr Carson, D-Ind.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. Similarly, both Buddhists from the previous Congress return: Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson and Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie K. Hirono.

Unitarian Universalists gained one seat, as Rep. Deborah K. Ross, D-N.C., joins California Democratic Reps. Ami Bera and Judy Chu.

There are now two Hindus in Congress Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., both returning members. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who served in the 115th and 116th Congresses, ran for president in 2020 and withdrew her reelection bid for her House seat. She is replaced by Kai Kahele, who declined to specify a religious affiliation.

One member, California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman, describes himself as a humanist. He is listed in the other category. Fewer than three-tenths of 1% of U.S. adults specifically call themselves humanists.

Sinema is the only member of the 117th Congress who identifies as religiously unaffiliated. Both Sinema and Huffman have said they do not consider themselves atheists.

Most members of the House and Senate are Christians, with the House just slightly more Christian than the Senate (88% vs. 87%). And both chambers have a Protestant majority 55% of representatives are Protestant, as are 59% of senators.

Within Protestantism, the largest differences are in Presbyterians (3% in the House vs. 12% in the Senate) and Protestants who do not specify a denomination (20% in the House, 11% in the Senate).

Catholics make up a larger share in the House (31%) than in the Senate (24%).

The Senate, meanwhile, has a higher share of Jewish (8% vs. 6%) and Mormon (3% vs. 1%) members than the House does.

All of the Muslims, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists in Congress are in the House, while there is one Buddhist in each chamber.

The sole religiously unaffiliated member of Congress (Sinema) is in the Senate, and the only member in the other category (Huffman) is in the House.

Fully 99% of Republicans in Congress identify as Christians. There are two Jewish Republicans in the House, Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee. New York Rep. Chris Jacobs declined to specify a religious affiliation. All other Republicans in the 117th Congress identify as Christian in some way.

Most Republican members of Congress identify as Protestants (68%). The largest Protestant groups are Baptists (15%), Methodists (6%), Presbyterians (6%), Lutherans (5%) and Episcopalians (4%). However, 26% of Republicans are Protestants who do not specify a denomination up from 20% in the previous Congress. There are 15 Republican freshmen in this category, compared with three Democratic newcomers.

Now that Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico has retired, all nine members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons) in Congress are Republicans.

Democrats in Congress also are heavily Christian much more than U.S. adults overall (78% vs. 65%). But the share of Democrats who identify as Christian is 21 percentage points lower than among Republicans (99%). Democrats are much less likely than Republicans to identify as Protestant (43% vs. 68%). Conversely, Catholics make up a higher share among Democrats than they do among Republicans (34% vs. 26%).

Among Democrats, 11% are Jewish, and 6% did not specify a religious affiliation. All of the Unitarian Universalists (3), Muslims (3), Buddhists (2) and Hindus (2) in Congress are Democrats, as are the single members in the other and religiously unaffiliated categories.

While the small freshman class of the 117th Congress does little to change the overall makeup of the body, there are some notable differences in religious affiliation between incumbents and freshmen.

The freshman class is slightly more Christian than its incumbent counterpart. Just six of the 67 new members are not Christian: Three are Jewish, one is a Unitarian Universalist and two declined to share an affiliation.

The largest difference between newcomers and incumbents is in the share of Protestants who do not specify a denomination 27% of freshmen are in this category, compared with 17% of incumbents. Similarly, those who specifically describe themselves as nondenominational Protestants make up 2% of incumbents and 7% of freshmen.

Among freshmen, there are two Restorationists the same number as there are among incumbents.

Other Protestant subgroups are smaller among newcomers than they are among incumbents. For example, freshmen are less likely than incumbents to be Baptists (7% vs. 13%) or Methodists (3% vs. 7%).

Catholics, who make up 30% of Congress and 30% of incumbents, make up a smaller share of freshmen (27%). Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, make up just 1% of incumbents and 4% of freshmen (three new members).

While the U.S. population continues to become less Christian, Congress has held relatively steady in recent years and has remained heavily Christian. In the 87th Congress (which began in 1961), the earliest for which aggregated religion data is available, 95% of members were Christian, which closely matched the roughly 93% of Americans who identified the same way at the time, according to historical religion data from Gallup.

Since the early 60s, there has been a substantial decline in the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian, but just a 7-point drop in the share of members of Congress who identify that way. Today, 88% of Congress is Christian, while 65% of U.S. adults are Christian, according to Pew Research Center surveys.

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The religious composition of the 117th Congress | Pew Research Center - Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project

In a welcome move, the government of India has removed the word Halal from its Red Meat Manual issued by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

About 6 months ago, the issue of the Red Meat Manual reading as if it promotes and is imposing the Halal method of slaughter in India had surfaced. Platform UpWord had tweeted a picture with some problematic wording of the manual.

The excerpt that was tweeted by UpWord read, All animals must be slaughtered by Halal method in the presence of holy men approved by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind as per Islamic Shariyat, for certification.

Soon, the government had issued a clarification as to why the term Halal and the process is mentioned in the APEDA Red Meat Manual.

APEDA said that there is no condition imposed by the government of India and that the govt does not mandate that only Halal Meat has to be exported. However, it is the requirement of the majority of countries importing the meat. APEDA further clarified that Halal Certification agencies are accredited directly by the respective importing counties and no govt agency has a role in it.

Essentially the government of India says that in their Red Meat Manual, the standards for Halal slaughter are mentioned not because the government mandates that meat be slaughtered only by the Halal method, but because the importing countries require that the meat be slaughtered in this specific manner. Since most meat importing countries are Islamic countries, it follows the reason that those countries would demand that their meat be slaughtered only by the Halal method.

However, it is true that the wording of the manual did give the impression that the government was mandating and promoting the Halal method, which would essentially mean mandating a religious practise, even if it was to ensure that the importing countries continue to import our product.

Taking stock of the situation, the government of India has now changed the Red Meat Manual to exclude the word Halal from the manual altogether.

For example, in the older manual, the section on Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) had an entire sub-section on Halal.

However, how that section has been removed completely.

This was one of the main sections where the confusion was created as if the government of India mandated that slaughtering the meat using the Halal method was a part of the Safety Management System according to APEDA.

An entire section that read, The animals are slaughtered by Halal System under the strict vigilance of recognised and registered Islamic body as per the tenets of Islamic Shariyat. The certificate for Halal is issued by the representatives of registered Islamic body under whose supervision, the slaughter is conducted in order to meet the requirement of importing countries has also been removed.

Several such changes have been made in the red meat document wherein the word Halal has been removed.

The only place now where the word Halal appears is in the list of APEDA Registered Integrated Abattoirs Cum Meat Processing Plants, as a name of a plant itself.

Words like Islamic, Halal, Ulema, Shariyat etc, that were there earlier have been removed and do not appear in the Red Meat Manual anymore.

Essentially, the changes in the manual are to ensure that the wording is not misconstrued to mean that the government of India mandates the Halal method in any way, which demands the hegemony of Muslims.

It is a fact that importing countries are mostly Islamic countries and mandate that the meat be cut, cleaned, packaged etc in the Halal manner and thus, it is impossible for the government to do away with the Halal method of slaughter itself for the foreseeable future.

The change in the manual, however, can be seen as a big step towards changing the discourse. While the importing countries do mandate that the meat be cut, cleaned and packaged in accordance with the practice of Halal, the government itself not endorsing or appearing to mandate the practice opens up a window of opportunity for Hindus who wish to bring about a change.

When the manual had the word Halal in it, it was entirely possible to dismiss even the possibility of selling or exporting Jhatka meat, since the manual provided a loophole to exclusively stick to the Halal method of slaughter. It also gave the impression that a secular country is open to endorsing rigid religious practices as mandated by Islamic clerics and associations. This is not to say that the change in the wording itself can break the hegemony of the Halal cartel, however, it is essential to provide a window to Hindus to make the changes they wish to.

It is important to note that Halal is not just a dietary preference but a method that imposes Islamic supremacy on those who dont follow the faith.

Halal can only be performed by a Muslim man. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment at a Halal firm. There are certain other conditions that must be fulfilled that makes it quite clear that it is intrinsically an Islamic practice. Guidelines are available at theofficial websiteof a certification authority of Halal in India which makes it clear that non-Muslim employees cannot be employed in any part of the slaughtering process.

Throughout the document that lists the guidelines to Islamic slaughtering, care is taken to mention the religion of the employees involved. It makes it abundantly clear that only Muslim employees are allowed to participate in the entire process at every stage. Even the labelling of the meat can be done by Muslims only.

Thus, its quite apparent that when a person demands that he be served only Halal meat, he isnt merely exercising a diet preference but he is also playing a part in deciding who is involved in the process of slaughtering the animal and labelling it. Furthermore, Muslims are barred by their scriptures from consuming non-halal food. Thus, when a Muslim specifically demands Halal meat, its an explicit instance of them demanding service that can only be performed by Muslims. The obvious implication is that a Muslim denies service from a non-Muslim due to his religious identity.

The Halal certification department also specifies the exact Islamic method of slaughtering. It says that the slaughtering of the animal must be done in just one stroke without lifting the knife, using a sharp knife. It says that the windpipe (throat), food-tract (oesophagus) and the two jugular veins must be cut in a single stroke. Care must be taken that the head is not severed and the spinal cord is not cut. The rules also say that meat slaughtered by a machine cant be halal, it must be slaughtered by a Muslim person.

Essentially, the entire industry thus ensures the exclusion of people of all other faiths and ensures that only Muslims are employed. Not just that, they ensure that the meat is slaughtered while chanting Islamic slogans.

The Department of Halal Certification of the European Union makes it even more clear that employment opportunities at a Halal firm will be exclusively available to Muslims. Itsays, Slaughtering must be done by a sane adult Muslim. Animals slaughtered by a Non-Muslim will not be Halal. It states further, The name of Allah must be invoked (mentioned) at the time of slaughtering by saying: Bismillah Allahu Akbar. (In the Name of Allah; Allah is the Greatest.) If at the time of slaughtering the name of anyone else other than Allah is invoked (i.e. animal sacrificed for him/her), then the meat becomes Haram unlawful.

While the change in terminology by the government is a welcome step which opens a window for Hindus, the next steps have to be taken by Hindus themselves and not the government. While the change in the wording gives Hindus an opening, the government cannot create a demand for Jhatka meat and that is something that Hindus would have to do for themselves.

It is a fact that the Halal method of slaughter will continue on the ground since the demand for Halal meat is created by Muslims. If Hindus want the Jhatka method to take predominance, the demand itself will have to be created first, just as Islamic nations and those who belong to the faith of Islam created for Halal.

Only recently, for example, it was reported that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation was planning to make it necessary for eateries and meat retailers in its jurisdiction to specify whether the meat theyre serving ishalalorjhatka.

The resolution which has been approved by the standing committee of the civic body on Thursday and would now be going to the house of the Parliament for approval, states that thousands of eating places are working in 104 wards of 4 zones falling below SDMC and meat is being served in 90% eating places however its not displayed by them whether or not(it) is halal or jhatka. An identical state of affairs prevailed at meat retail shops, it read.

According to Hinduism and Sikhism, consuming halal meat is forbidden and in opposition to the religions Therefore, the committee resolves that this route be given to eating places and meat shops that it should be displayed mandatorily as to which meat is being bought and served by themthat halal or jhatka meat is available here, furthered the resolution.

This was possible because demand was created by Hindus for Jhatka meat. After the raging debate, several Hindus asked for Jhatka meat at eateries and questioned them about why Jhatka was not being served, which could be the dietary preference of people who belonged to faiths other than Islam.

Thus, while the government has taken the first step and removed the problematic nomenclature that promoted Islamic hegemony in the meat market, the market for Jhatka, for the slaughter process to take predominance, has to come from Hindus.

Link:

Govt of India removes the word Halal from its Red Meat Manual: Here is what it means - OpIndia

Religion and way of life

Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life.[note 1][note 2] It is the world's third-largest religion, with over 1.25billion followers, or 1516% of the global population, known as Hindus.[web 1][web 2] The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world,[note 3] many practitioners refer to their religion as Santana Dharma (Sanskrit: : "the Eternal Way"), which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts.[note 4] Another, though less fitting,[7] self-designation is Vaidika dharma,[11] the 'dharma related to the Vedas.'[web 3]

Hinduism includes a range of philosophies, and is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, pilgrimage to sacred sites and shared textual resources that discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (Ahis), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, virtue, and compassion, among others.[web 4][13] Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Pururthas, the proper goals or aims of human life; namely, dharma (ethics/duties), artha (prosperity/work), kama (desires/passions) and moksha (liberation/freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth/salvation),[14] as well as karma (action, intent and consequences) and sasra (cycle of death and rebirth).

Hindu practices include rituals such as puja (worship) and recitations, japa, meditation (dhyna), family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages. Along with the practice of various yogas, some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions and engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monasticism) in order to achieve Moksha.[18]

Hindu texts are classified into ruti ("heard") and Smti ("remembered"), the major scriptures of which are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Purnas, the Mahbhrata, the Rmyana, and the gamas.[19] There are six stika schools of Hindu philosophy, who recognise the authority of the Vedas, namely Snkhya, Yoga, Nyya, Vaisheshika, Mimms and Vednta.[20][21][22]

While the Puranic chronology presents a geneaology of thousands of years, starting with the Vedic rishis, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[note 5] or synthesis[note 6] of Brahmanical orthopraxy[note 7] with various Indian cultures,[24][25] having diverse roots[note 8] and no specific founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between ca. 500200 BCE and c. 300 CE, in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Purnas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.

Currently, the four largest denominations of Hinduism are the Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Sources of authority and eternal truths in the Hindu texts play an important role, but there is also a strong Hindu tradition of questioning authority in order to deepen the understanding of these truths and to further develop the tradition.[37] Hinduism is the most widely professed faith in India, Nepal and Mauritius. Significant numbers of Hindu communities are found in Southeast Asia including in Bali, Indonesia,[38] the Caribbean, North America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and other regions.[39][40]

The word Hind is derived from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit root Sindhu. The Proto-Iranian sound change *s > h occurred between 850 and 600 BCE, according to Asko Parpola.[44]

The use of the English term "Hinduism" to describe a collection of practices and beliefs is a fairly recent construction: it was first used by Raja Ram Mohun Roy in 181617. The term "Hinduism" was coined in around 1830 by those Indians who opposed British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from other religious groups. Before the British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, vara, jti, occupation and sect.

The word "Hindu" is much older, and it is believed that it was used as the name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.[note 9] 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)", more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I (550486 BCE). The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion. 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, and 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd al-Malik Isami.[note 10]

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.[50] The Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hind, which refers to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".[note 11]

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 Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. These texts used it to distinguish Hindus from Muslims who are called Yavanas (foreigners) or Mlecchas (barbarians), with the 16th-century Chaitanya Charitamrita text and the 17th-century Bhakta Mala text using the phrase "Hindu dharma".[54] 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.[55]

Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist.[56][57][58] According to Doniger, "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle - vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste - are subjects of debate, not dogma."

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".[note 1] 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.

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,[note 12] and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.[note 13]

Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent.[20] Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Devi) and Smartism (five deities treated as same). Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or ultimate reality or God, while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme. Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of tman (soul, self), reincarnation of one's tman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living).

McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand the expression of emotions among the Hindus.[67] The major kinds, according to McDaniel are Folk Hinduism, based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system; Vedic Hinduism based on the earliest layers of the Vedas traceable to 2nd millennium BCE; Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the Upanishads, including Advaita Vedanta, emphasizing knowledge and wisdom; Yogic Hinduism, following the text of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali emphasizing introspective awareness; Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and caste"; and bhakti or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual.[67]

Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity. The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism", "folk religions and tribal religions", and "founded religions". The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga",jnana-marga,bhakti-marga, and "heroism", which is rooted in militaristic traditions. These militaristic traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, Rama, believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu)[72] and parts of political Hinduism. "Heroism" is also called virya-marga. According to Michaels, one out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of the Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practicing or non-practicing. He classifies most Hindus as belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are salvation-focussed and often de-emphasize Brahman priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism. He includes among "founded religions" Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism that are now distinct religions, syncretic movements such as Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society, as well as various "Guru-isms" and new religious movements such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and ISKCON.

Inden states that the attempt to classify Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytizing missionaries and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their interests.[75] Hinduism was construed as emanating not from a reason of spirit but fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral justification for the colonial project.[75] From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have been at the foundation of Indology. Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.[75]

To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life.[76] Many practitioners refer to the "orthodox" form of Hinduism as Santana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way".[77][78] Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The Puranic chronology, the timeline of events in ancient Indian history as narrated in the Mahabaratha, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, envisions a chronology of events related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The Sanskrit word dharma has a much broader meaning than religion and is not its equivalent. All aspects of a Hindu life, namely acquiring wealth (artha), fulfillment of desires (kama), and attaining liberation (moksha), are part of dharma, which encapsulates the "right way of living" and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfillment.[80]

According to the editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica, Santana Dharma historically referred to the "eternal" duties religiously ordained in Hinduism, duties such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahis), purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism. These duties applied regardless of a Hindu's class, caste, or sect, and they contrasted with svadharma, one's "own duty", in accordance with one's class or caste (vara) and stage in life (pururtha).[web 4] In recent years, the term has been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism. Sanatana dharma has become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, that transcend history and are "unchanging, indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian".[web 4]

According to other scholars such as Kim Knott and Brian Hatcher, Santana Dharma refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and tradition with origins beyond human history, truths divinely revealed (Shruti) in the Vedas the most ancient of the world's scriptures. To many Hindus, the Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their tradition, states Hatcher. Hinduism, to them, is a tradition that can be traced at least to the ancient Vedic era.[note 14]

Some have referred to Hinduism as the Vaidika dharma. The word 'Vaidika' in Sanskrit means 'derived from or conformable to the Veda' or 'relating to the Veda'.[web 3] Traditional scholars employed the terms Vaidika and Avaidika, those who accept the Vedas as a source of authoritative knowledge and those who do not, to differentiate various Indian schools from Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka. According to Klaus Klostermaier, the term Vaidika dharma is the earliest self-designation of Hinduism. According to Arvind Sharma, the historical evidence suggests that "the Hindus were referring to their religion by the term vaidika dharma or a variant thereof" by the 4th-century CE.[11] According to Brian K. Smith, "[i]t is 'debatable at the very least' as to whether the term Vaidika Dharma cannot, with the proper concessions to historical, cultural and ideological specificity, be comparable to and translated as 'Hinduism' or 'Hindu religion'."[7]

According to Alexis Sanderson, the early Sanskrit texts differentiate between Vaidika, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saura, Buddhist and Jaina traditions. However, the late 1st-millennium CE Indic consensus had "indeed come to conceptualize a complex entity corresponding to Hinduism as opposed to Buddhism and Jainism excluding only certain forms of antinomian Shakta-Shaiva" from its fold.[web 5] Some in the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy considered the Agamas such as the Pancaratrika to be invalid because it did not conform to the Vedas. Some Kashmiri scholars rejected the esoteric tantric traditions to be a part of Vaidika dharma.[web 5][web 6] The Atimarga Shaivism ascetic tradition, datable to about 500 CE, challenged the Vaidika frame and insisted that their Agamas and practices were not only valid, they were superior than those of the Vaidikas.[web 7] However, adds Sanderson, this Shaiva ascetic tradition viewed themselves as being genuinely true to the Vedic tradition and "held unanimously that the ruti and Smti of Brahmanism are universally and uniquely valid in their own sphere, [...] and that as such they [Vedas] are man's sole means of valid knowledge [...]".[web 7]

The term Vaidika dharma means a code of practice that is "based on the Vedas", but it is unclear what "based on the Vedas" really implies, states Julius Lipner. The Vaidika dharma or "Vedic way of life", states Lipner, does not mean "Hinduism is necessarily religious" or that Hindus have a universally accepted "conventional or institutional meaning" for that term. To many, it is as much a cultural term. Many Hindus do not have a copy of the Vedas nor have they ever seen or personally read parts of a Veda, like a Christian, might relate to the Bible or a Muslim might to the Quran. Yet, states Lipner, "this does not mean that their [Hindus] whole life's orientation cannot be traced to the Vedas or that it does not in some way derive from it".

Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself [or herself] a Hindu,"[note 15] and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text."[85] Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states Lipner.

Beginning in the 19th century, Indian modernists re-asserted Hinduism as a major asset of Indian civilisation, meanwhile "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements and elevating the Vedic elements. Western stereotypes were reversed, emphasizing the universal aspects, and introducing modern approaches of social problems. This approach had a great appeal, not only in India, but also in the west. Major representatives of "Hindu modernism" are Raja Rammohan Roy, Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi. [Raja Rammohan Roy is known as the father of the Hindu Renaissance.[91] He was a major influence on Swami Vivekananda (18631902), who, according to Flood, was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating the West's view of Hinduism". Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity", and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony. According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms. According to Flood, Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking middle-class Hindus today". Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan sought to reconcile western rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and humanistic religious experience".

This "Global Hinduism" has a worldwide appeal, transcending national boundaries and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam and Buddhism", both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions. It emphasizes universal spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of humanity". It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation", or the Pizza effect, in which elements of Hindu culture have been exported to the West, gaining popularity there, and as a consequence also gained greater popularity in India. This globalization of Hindu culture brought "to the West teachings which have become an important cultural force in western societies, and which in turn have become an important cultural force in India, their place of origin".

The definition of Hinduism in Indian Law is: "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large".[98]

The term Hinduism was coined in Western ethnography in the 18th century,[55][note 16] and refers to the fusion[note 5] or synthesis[note 6] of various Indian cultures and traditions,[24][25] with diverse roots[note 8] and no founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500200 BCE and c. 300 CE, in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Puranas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India. Hinduism's tolerance to variations in belief and its broad range of traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western conceptions.

Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as a category with "fuzzy edges" rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category. Based on this idea Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism.[101]

Hindu beliefs are vast and diverse, and thus Hinduism is often referred to as a family of religions rather than a single religion.[web 9] Within each religion in this family of religions, there are different theologies, practices, and sacred texts.[web 10][102][103][104][web 11] Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena of India.[105] According to the Supreme Court of India,

Unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more".

Part of the problem with a single definition of the term Hinduism is the fact that Hinduism does not have a founder. It is a synthesis of various traditions,[109] the "Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions".

Theism is also difficult to use as a unifying doctrine for Hinduism, because while some Hindu philosophies postulate a theistic ontology of creation, other Hindus are or have been atheists.[111]

Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity. Most Hindu traditions revere a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas, although there are exceptions. These texts are a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus,[115][116] with Louis Renou stating that "even in the most orthodox domains, the reverence to the Vedas has come to be a simple raising of the hat".[115]

Halbfass states that, although Shaivism and Vaishnavism may be regarded as "self-contained religious constellations", there is a degree of interaction and reference between the "theoreticians and literary representatives" of each tradition that indicates the presence of "a wider sense of identity, a sense of coherence in a shared context and of inclusion in a common framework and horizon".

Brahmins played an essential role in the development of the post-Vedic Hindu synthesis, disseminating Vedic culture to local communities, and integrating local religiosity into the trans-regional Brahmanic culture. In the post-Gupta period Vedanta developed in southern India, where orthodox Brahmanic culture and the Hindu culture were preserved, building on ancient Vedic traditions while "accommoda[ting] the multiple demands of Hinduism."

The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India further developed from the 12th century CE.[121] Lorenzen traces the emergence of a "family resemblance", and what he calls as "beginnings of medieval and modern Hinduism" taking shape, at c. 300600 CE, with the development of the early Puranas, and continuities with the earlier Vedic religion. Lorenzen states that the establishment of a Hindu self-identity took place "through a process of mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim Other". According to Lorenzen, this "presence of the Other" is necessary to recognise the "loose family resemblance" among the various traditions and schools.

According to the Indologist Alexis Sanderson, before Islam arrived in India, the "Sanskrit sources differentiated Vaidika, Vaiava, aiva, kta, Saura, Buddhist, and Jaina traditions, but they had no name that denotes the first five of these as a collective entity over and against Buddhism and Jainism". This absence of a formal name, states Sanderson, does not mean that the corresponding concept of Hinduism did not exist. By late 1st-millennium CE, the concept of a belief and tradition distinct from Buddhism and Jainism had emerged.[web 5] This complex tradition accepted in its identity almost all of what is currently Hinduism, except certain antinomian tantric movements.[web 5] Some conservative thinkers of those times questioned whether certain Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta texts or practices were consistent with the Vedas, or were invalid in their entirety. Moderates then, and most orthoprax scholars later, agreed that though there are some variations, the foundation of their beliefs, the ritual grammar, the spiritual premises, and the soteriologies were the same. "This sense of greater unity", states Sanderson, "came to be called Hinduism".[web 5]

According to Nicholson, already between the 12th and the 16th centuries "certain thinkers began to treat as a single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the 'six systems' (saddarsana) of mainstream Hindu philosophy." The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Burley. Hacker called this "inclusivism" and Michaels speaks of "the identificatory habit". Lorenzen locates the origins of a distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus, and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other", which started well before 1800. Michaels notes:

As a counteraction to Islamic supremacy and as part of the continuing process of regionalization, two religious innovations developed in the Hindu religions: the formation of sects and a historicization which preceded later nationalism ... [S]aints and sometimes militant sect leaders, such as the Marathi poet Tukaram (16091649) and Ramdas (16081681), articulated ideas in which they glorified Hinduism and the past. The Brahmins also produced increasingly historical texts, especially eulogies and chronicles of sacred sites (Mahatmyas), or developed a reflexive passion for collecting and compiling extensive collections of quotations on various subjects.

This inclusivism[131] was further developed in the 19th and 20th centuries by Hindu reform movements and Neo-Vedanta, and has become characteristic of modern Hinduism.

The notion and reports on "Hinduism" as a "single world religious tradition" was also popularised by 19th-century proselytizing missionaries and European Indologists, roles sometimes served by the same person, who relied on texts preserved by Brahmins (priests) for their information of Indian religions, and animist observations that the missionary Orientalists presumed was Hinduism.[75] These reports influenced perceptions about Hinduism. Scholars such as Pennington state that the colonial polemical reports led to fabricated stereotypes where Hinduism was mere mystic paganism devoted to the service of devils,[note 17] while other scholars state that the colonial constructions influenced the belief that the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Manusmriti and such texts were the essence of Hindu religiosity, and in the modern association of 'Hindu doctrine' with the schools of Vedanta (in particular Advaita Vedanta) as a paradigmatic example of Hinduism's mystical nature".[note 18] Pennington, while concurring that the study of Hinduism as a world religion began in the colonial era, disagrees that Hinduism is a colonial European era invention.[143] He states that the shared theology, common ritual grammar and way of life of those who identify themselves as Hindus is traceable to ancient times.[143][note 19]

The Hindutva movement has extensively argued for the unity of Hinduism, dismissing the differences and regarding India as a Hindu-country since ancient times.

Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include (but are not restricted to) Dharma (ethics/duties), sasra (the continuing cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth), Karma (action, intent, and consequences), Moksha (liberation from sasra or liberation in this life), and the various yogas (paths or practices).

Classical Hindu thought accepts four proper goals or aims of human life, known as Pururthas: dharma, artha, kama and moksha.[14]

Dharma is considered the foremost goal of a human being in Hinduism.[150] The concept of dharma includes behaviors that are considered to be in accord with rta, the order that makes life and universe possible,[151] and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living".[152] Hindu dharma includes the religious duties, moral rights and duties of each individual, as well as behaviors that enable social order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous.[152] Dharma, according to Van Buitenen,[153] is that which all existing beings must accept and respect to sustain harmony and order in the world. It is, states Van Buitenen, the pursuit and execution of one's nature and true calling, thus playing one's role in cosmic concert.[153] The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states it as:

Nothing is higher than Dharma. The weak overcomes the stronger by Dharma, as over a king. Truly that Dharma is the Truth (Satya); Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks the Dharma"; and if he speaks Dharma, they say, "He speaks the Truth!" For both are one.

In the Mahabharata, Krishna defines dharma as upholding both this-worldly and other-worldly affairs. (Mbh 12.110.11). The word Santana means eternal, perennial, or forever; thus, Santana Dharma signifies that it is the dharma that has neither beginning nor end.[156]

Artha is objective and virtuous pursuit of wealth for livelihood, obligations, and economic prosperity. It is inclusive of political life, diplomacy, and material well-being. The artha concept includes all "means of life", activities and resources that enables one to be in a state one wants to be in, wealth, career and financial security. The proper pursuit of artha is considered an important aim of human life in Hinduism.[159]

Kma (Sanskrit, Pali: ) means desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, with or without sexual connotations.[160][161] In Hinduism, kama is considered an essential and healthy goal of human life when pursued without sacrificing dharma, artha and moksha.[162]

Moksha (Sanskrit: moka) or mukti (Sanskrit: ) is the ultimate, most important goal in Hinduism. In one sense, moksha is a concept associated with liberation from sorrow, suffering and sasra (birth-rebirth cycle). A release from this eschatological cycle, in after life, particularly in theistic schools of Hinduism is called moksha.[163][153][165] Due to belief in the indestructibility of the soul,[166] death is deemed insignificant with respect to the cosmic self.[167]

The meaning of moksha differs among the various Hindu schools of thought. For example, Advaita Vedanta holds that after attaining moksha a person knows their "soul, self" and identifies it as one with Brahman and everyone in all respects.[168][169] The followers of Dvaita (dualistic) schools, in moksha state, identify individual "soul, self" as distinct from Brahman but infinitesimally close, and after attaining moksha expect to spend eternity in a loka (heaven). To theistic schools of Hinduism, moksha is liberation from sasra, while for other schools such as the monistic school, moksha is possible in current life and is a psychological concept.[168][171][169] According to Deutsch, moksha is transcendental consciousness to the latter, the perfect state of being, of self-realization, of freedom and of "realizing the whole universe as the Self".[168][171]Moksha in these schools of Hinduism, suggests Klaus Klostermaier,[169] implies a setting free of hitherto fettered faculties, a removing of obstacles to an unrestricted life, permitting a person to be more truly a person in the full sense; the concept presumes an unused human potential of creativity, compassion and understanding which had been blocked and shut out. Moksha is more than liberation from life-rebirth cycle of suffering (sasra); Vedantic school separates this into two: jivanmukti (liberation in this life) and videhamukti (liberation after death).[169][172][173]

Karma translates literally as action, work, or deed,[174] and also refers to a Vedic theory of "moral law of cause and effect".[175][176] The theory is a combination of (1) causality that may be ethical or non-ethical; (2) ethicization, that is good or bad actions have consequences; and (3) rebirth.[177] Karma theory is interpreted as explaining the present circumstances of an individual with reference to his or her actions in the past. These actions and their consequences may be in a person's current life, or, according to some schools of Hinduism, in past lives.[177][178] This cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth is called sasra. Liberation from sasra through moksha is believed to ensure lasting happiness and peace.[180] Hindu scriptures teach that the future is both a function of current human effort derived from free will and past human actions that set the circumstances.[181]

Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with a wide variety of beliefs;[56][182][web 12] its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. It is sometimes referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others), but any such term is an overgeneralization.[184]

Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it? Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has arisen?

The Nasadiya Sukta (Creation Hymn) of the Rig Veda is one of the earliest texts which "demonstrates a sense of metaphysical speculation" about what created the universe, the concept of god(s) and The One, and whether even The One knows how the universe came into being.[189][190] The Rig Veda praises various deities, none superior nor inferior, in a henotheistic manner.[191] The hymns repeatedly refer to One Truth and Reality. The "One Truth" of Vedic literature, in modern era scholarship, has been interpreted as monotheism, monism, as well as a deified Hidden Principles behind the great happenings and processes of nature.[192]

Hindus believe that all living creatures have a soul. This soul the spirit or true "self" of every person, is called the tman. The soul is believed to be eternal. According to the monistic/pantheistic (non-dualist) theologies of Hinduism (such as Advaita Vedanta school), this Atman is indistinct from Brahman, the supreme spirit.[194] The goal of life, according to the Advaita school, is to realise that one's soul is identical to supreme soul, that the supreme soul is present in everything and everyone, all life is interconnected and there is oneness in all life.[195][196][197]Dualistic schools (Dvaita and Bhakti) understand Brahman as a Supreme Being separate from individual souls.[198] They worship the Supreme Being variously as Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, or Shakti, depending upon the sect. God is called Ishvara, Bhagavan, Parameshwara, Deva or Devi, and these terms have different meanings in different schools of Hinduism.

Hindu texts accept a polytheistic framework, but this is generally conceptualized as the divine essence or luminosity that gives vitality and animation to the inanimate natural substances.[202] There is a divine in everything, human beings, animals, trees and rivers. It is observable in offerings to rivers, trees, tools of one's work, animals and birds, rising sun, friends and guests, teachers and parents.[202][203][204] It is the divine in these that makes each sacred and worthy of reverence. This seeing divinity in everything, state Buttimer and Wallin, makes the Vedic foundations of Hinduism quite distinct from Animism.[202] The animistic premise sees multiplicity, power differences and competition between man and man, man and animal, as well as man and nature. The Vedic view does not see this competition, rather sees a unifying divinity that connects everyone and everything.[202][205][206]

The Hindu scriptures name celestial entities called Devas (or Dev in feminine form), which may be translated into English as gods or heavenly beings.[note 20] The devas are an integral part of Hindu culture and are depicted in art, architecture and through icons, and stories about them are related in the scriptures, particularly in Indian epic poetry and the Puranas. They are, however, often distinguished from Ishvara, a personal god, with many Hindus worshipping Ishvara in one of its particular manifestations as their ia devat, or chosen ideal. The choice is a matter of individual preference,[209] and of regional and family traditions.[209][note 21] The multitude of Devas are considered as manifestations of Brahman.[211]

The word avatar does not appear in the Vedic literature,[212] but appears in verb forms in post-Vedic literature, and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the 6th century CE.[213] Theologically, the reincarnation idea is most often associated with the avatars of Hindu god Vishnu, though the idea has been applied to other deities.[214] Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten Dashavatara of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are important in Vaishnavism theology. In the goddess-based Shaktism tradition, avatars of the Devi are found and all goddesses are considered to be different aspects of the same metaphysical Brahman[216] and Shakti (energy).[217][218] While avatars of other deities such as Ganesha and Shiva are also mentioned in medieval Hindu texts, this is minor and occasional.[219]

Both theistic and atheistic ideas, for epistemological and metaphysical reasons, are profuse in different schools of Hinduism. The early Nyaya school of Hinduism, for example, was non-theist/atheist,[220] but later Nyaya school scholars argued that God exists and offered proofs using its theory of logic.[221][222] Other schools disagreed with Nyaya scholars. Samkhya,[223] Mimamsa[224] and Carvaka schools of Hinduism, were non-theist/atheist, arguing that "God was an unnecessary metaphysical assumption".[web 13][226] Its Vaisheshika school started as another non-theistic tradition relying on naturalism and that all matter is eternal, but it later introduced the concept of a non-creator God.[227][228] The Yoga school of Hinduism accepted the concept of a "personal god" and left it to the Hindu to define his or her god.[230] Advaita Vedanta taught a monistic, abstract Self and Oneness in everything, with no room for gods or deity, a perspective that Mohanty calls, "spiritual, not religious".[231] Bhakti sub-schools of Vedanta taught a creator God that is distinct from each human being.[198]

According to Graham Schweig, Hinduism has the strongest presence of the divine feminine in world religion from ancient times to the present. The goddess is viewed as the heart of the most esoteric Saiva traditions.

Authority and eternal truths play an important role in Hinduism.[234] Religious traditions and truths are believed to be contained in its sacred texts, which are accessed and taught by sages, gurus, saints or avatars.[234] But there is also a strong tradition of the questioning of authority, internal debate and challenging of religious texts in Hinduism. The Hindus believe that this deepens the understanding of the eternal truths and further develops the tradition. Authority "was mediated through [...] an intellectual culture that tended to develop ideas collaboratively, and according to the shared logic of natural reason."[234] Narratives in the Upanishads present characters questioning persons of authority.[234] The Kena Upanishad repeatedly asks kena, 'by what' power something is the case.[234] The Katha Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita present narratives where the student criticizes the teacher's inferior answers.[234] In the Shiva Purana, Shiva questions Vishnu and Brahma.[234] Doubt plays a repeated role in the Mahabharata.[234]Jayadeva's Gita Govinda presents criticism via the character of Radha.[234]

Hinduism has no central doctrinal authority and many practising Hindus do not claim to belong to any particular denomination or tradition. Four major denominations are, however, used in scholarly studies: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism.[236] These denominations differ primarily in the central deity worshipped, the traditions and the soteriological outlook.[238] The denominations of Hinduism, states Lipner, are unlike those found in major religions of the world, because Hindu denominations are fuzzy with individuals practicing more than one, and he suggests the term "Hindu polycentrism".

Vaishnavism is the devotional religious tradition that worships Vishnu[note 22] and his avatars, particularly Krishna and Rama.[241] The adherents of this sect are generally non-ascetic, monastic, oriented towards community events and devotionalism practices inspired by "intimate loving, joyous, playful" Krishna and other Vishnu avatars.[238] These practices sometimes include community dancing, singing of Kirtans and Bhajans, with sound and music believed by some to have meditative and spiritual powers.[242] Temple worship and festivals are typically elaborate in Vaishnavism.[243] The Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana, along with Vishnu-oriented Puranas provide its theistic foundations.[244] Philosophically, their beliefs are rooted in the dualism sub-schools of Vedantic Hinduism.[245]

Shaivism is the tradition that focuses on Shiva. Shaivas are more attracted to ascetic individualism, and it has several sub-schools.[238] Their practices include bhakti-style devotionalism, yet their beliefs lean towards nondual, monistic schools of Hinduism such as Advaita and Raja Yoga.[236][242] Some Shaivas worship in temples, while others emphasize yoga, striving to be one with Shiva within.[247] Avatars are uncommon, and some Shaivas visualize god as half male, half female, as a fusion of the male and female principles (Ardhanarishvara). Shaivism is related to Shaktism, wherein Shakti is seen as spouse of Shiva.[236] Community celebrations include festivals, and participation, with Vaishnavas, in pilgrimages such as the Kumbh Mela.[248] Shaivism has been more commonly practiced in the Himalayan north from Kashmir to Nepal, and in south India.[249]

Shaktism focuses on goddess worship of Shakti or Devi as cosmic mother,[238] and it is particularly common in northeastern and eastern states of India such as Assam and Bengal. Devi is depicted as in gentler forms like Parvati, the consort of Shiva; or, as fierce warrior goddesses like Kali and Durga. Followers of Shaktism recognize Shakti as the power that underlies the male principle. Shaktism is also associated with Tantra practices.[250] Community celebrations include festivals, some of which include processions and idol immersion into sea or other water bodies.[251]

Smartism centers its worship simultaneously on all the major Hindu deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesha, Surya and Skanda. The Smarta tradition developed during the (early) Classical Period of Hinduism around the beginning of the Common Era, when Hinduism emerged from the interaction between Brahmanism and local traditions. The Smarta tradition is aligned with Advaita Vedanta, and regards Adi Shankara as its founder or reformer, who considered worship of God-with-attributes (Saguna Brahman) as a journey towards ultimately realizing God-without-attributes (nirguna Brahman, Atman, Self-knowledge).[255][256] The term Smartism is derived from Smriti texts of Hinduism, meaning those who remember the traditions in the texts.[236][257] This Hindu sect practices a philosophical Jnana yoga, scriptural studies, reflection, meditative path seeking an understanding of Self's oneness with God.[236][258]

There are no census data available on demographic history or trends for the traditions within Hinduism.[259] Estimates vary on the relative number of adherents in the different traditions of Hinduism. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, the Vaishnavism tradition is the largest group with about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus, followed by Shaivism with 252million or 26.6%, Shaktism with 30million or 3.2% and other traditions including Neo-Hinduism and Reform Hinduism with 25million or 2.6%.[260] In contrast, according to Jones and Ryan, Shaivism is the largest tradition of Hinduism.

The ancient scriptures of Hinduism are in Sanskrit. These texts are classified into two: Shruti and Smriti. Shruti is apauruey, "not made of a man" but revealed to the rishis (seers), and regarded as having the highest authority, while the smriti are manmade and have secondary authority. They are the two highest sources of dharma, the other two being ia chra/Sadchara (conduct of noble people) and finally tma tui ("what is pleasing to oneself")[note 24]

Hindu scriptures were composed, memorized and transmitted verbally, across generations, for many centuries before they were written down. Over many centuries, sages refined the teachings and expanded the Shruti and Smriti, as well as developed Shastras with epistemological and metaphysical theories of six classical schools of Hinduism.

Shruti (lit. that which is heard) primarily refers to the Vedas, which form the earliest record of the Hindu scriptures, and are regarded as eternal truths revealed to the ancient sages (rishis). There are four Vedas Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).[268][269] The first two parts of the Vedas were subsequently called the Karmaka (ritualistic portion), while the last two form the Jnaka (knowledge portion, discussing spiritual insight and philosophical teachings).[270][273]

The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought, and have profoundly influenced diverse traditions.[274][275][148] Of the Shrutis (Vedic corpus), they alone are widely influential among Hindus, considered scriptures par excellence of Hinduism, and their central ideas have continued to influence its thoughts and traditions.[274][146] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan states that the Upanishads have played a dominating role ever since their appearance.[276] There are 108 Muktik Upanishads in Hinduism, of which between 10 and 13 are variously counted by scholars as Principal Upanishads.[273][277] The most notable of the Smritis ("remembered") are the Hindu epics and the Puranas. The epics consist of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Bhagavad Gita is an integral part of the Mahabharata and one of the most popular sacred texts of Hinduism.[278] It is sometimes called Gitopanishad, then placed in the Shruti ("heard") category, being Upanishadic in content.[279] The Puranas, which started to be composed from c. 300 CE onward, contain extensive mythologies, and are central in the distribution of common themes of Hinduism through vivid narratives. The Yoga Sutras is a classical text for the Hindu Yoga tradition, which gained a renewed popularity in the 20th century.[281] Since the 19th-century Indian modernists have re-asserted the 'Aryan origins' of Hinduism, "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements and elevating the Vedic elements. Hindu modernists like Vivekananda see the Vedas as the laws of the spiritual world, which would still exist even if they were not revealed to the sages.[282][283] In Tantric tradition, the Agamas refer to authoritative scriptures or the teachings of Shiva to Shakti, while Nigamas refers to the Vedas and the teachings of Shakti to Shiva. In Agamic schools of Hinduism, the Vedic literature and the Agamas are equally authoritative.[285][286]

Most Hindus observe religious rituals at home.[288] The rituals vary greatly among regions, villages, and individuals. They are not mandatory in Hinduism. The nature and place of rituals is an individual's choice. Some devout Hindus perform daily rituals such as worshiping at dawn after bathing (usually at a family shrine, and typically includes lighting a lamp and offering foodstuffs before the images of deities), recitation from religious scripts, singing bhajans (devotional hymns), yoga, meditation, chanting mantras and others.

Vedic rituals of fire-oblation (yajna) and chanting of Vedic hymns are observed on special occasions, such as a Hindu wedding.[290] Other major life-stage events, such as rituals after death, include the yaja and chanting of Vedic mantras.[web 15]

The words of the mantras are "themselves sacred," and "do not constitute linguistic utterances." Instead, as Klostermaier notes, in their application in Vedic rituals they become magical sounds, "means to an end."[note 25] In the Brahmanical perspective, the sounds have their own meaning, mantras are considered as "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer. By reciting them the cosmos is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base. As long as the purity of the sounds is preserved, the recitation of the mantras will be efficacious, irrespective of whether their discursive meaning is understood by human beings."[224]

Major life stage milestones are celebrated as sanskara (saskra, rites of passage) in Hinduism.[293][294] The rites of passage are not mandatory, and vary in details by gender, community and regionally.[295] Gautama Dharmasutras composed in about the middle of 1st millennium BCE lists 48 sanskaras,[296] while Gryhasutra and other texts composed centuries later list between 12 and 16 sanskaras.[293][297] The list of sanskaras in Hinduism include both external rituals such as those marking a baby's birth and a baby's name giving ceremony, as well as inner rites of resolutions and ethics such as compassion towards all living beings and positive attitude.[296] The major traditional rites of passage in Hinduism include[295]Garbhadhana (pregnancy), Pumsavana (rite before the fetus begins moving and kicking in womb), Simantonnayana (parting of pregnant woman's hair, baby shower), Jatakarman (rite celebrating the new born baby), Namakarana (naming the child), Nishkramana (baby's first outing from home into the world), Annaprashana (baby's first feeding of solid food), Chudakarana (baby's first haircut, tonsure), Karnavedha (ear piercing), Vidyarambha (baby's start with knowledge), Upanayana (entry into a school rite),[298][299]Keshanta and Ritusuddhi (first shave for boys, menarche for girls), Samavartana (graduation ceremony), Vivaha (wedding), Vratas (fasting, spiritual studies) and Antyeshti (cremation for an adult, burial for a child).[300] In contemporary times, there is regional variation among Hindus as to which of these sanskaras are observed; in some cases, additional regional rites of passage such as rddha (ritual of feeding people after cremation) are practiced.[295]

Bhakti refers to devotion, participation in and the love of a personal god or a representational god by a devotee.[web 16][302]Bhakti-marga is considered in Hinduism as one of many possible paths of spirituality and alternative means to moksha.[303] The other paths, left to the choice of a Hindu, are Jnana-marga (path of knowledge), Karma-marga (path of works), Rja-marga (path of contemplation and meditation).[304][305]

Bhakti is practiced in a number of ways, ranging from reciting mantras, japas (incantations), to individual private prayers in one's home shrine,[306] or in a temple before a murti or sacred image of a deity.[307]Hindu temples and domestic altars, are important elements of worship in contemporary theistic Hinduism.[309] While many visit a temple on special occasions, most offer daily prayers at a domestic altar, typically a dedicated part of the home that includes sacred images of deities or gurus.[309]

One form of daily worship is aarti, or supplication, a ritual in which a flame is offered and accompanied by a song of praise.[310] Notable aartis include Om Jai Jagdish Hare, a prayer to Vishnu, Sukhakarta Dukhaharta, a prayer to Ganesha.[311][312] Aarti can be used to make offerings to entities ranging from deities to human exemplar[s].[310] For instance, Aarti is offered to Hanuman, a devotee of God, in many temples, including Balaji temples, where the primary deity is an incarnation of Vishnu.[313] In Swaminarayan temples and home shrines, aarti is offered to Swaminarayan, considered by followers to be supreme God.[314]

Other personal and community practices include puja as well as aarti, kirtan, or bhajan, where devotional verses and hymns are read or poems are sung by a group of devotees.[web 17][316] While the choice of the deity is at the discretion of the Hindu, the most observed traditions of Hindu devotion include Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism.[317] A Hindu may worship multiple deities, all as henotheistic manifestations of the same ultimate reality, cosmic spirit and absolute spiritual concept called Brahman.[211] Bhakti-marga, states Pechelis, is more than ritual devotionalism, it includes practices and spiritual activities aimed at refining one's state of mind, knowing god, participating in god, and internalizing god.[321] While bhakti practices are popular and easily observable aspect of Hinduism, not all Hindus practice bhakti, or believe in god-with-attributes (saguna Brahman).[322][323] Concurrent Hindu practices include a belief in god-without-attributes, and god within oneself.[324][325]

Hindu festivals (Sanskrit: Utsava; literally: "to lift higher") are ceremonies that weave individual and social life to dharma.[326][327] Hinduism has many festivals throughout the year, where the dates are set by the lunisolar Hindu calendar, many coinciding with either the full moon (Holi) or the new moon (Diwali), often with seasonal changes.[328] Some festivals are found only regionally and they celebrate local traditions, while a few such as Holi and Diwali are pan-Hindu.[328][329] The festivals typically celebrate events from Hinduism, connoting spiritual themes and celebrating aspects of human relationships such as the Sister-Brother bond over the Raksha Bandhan (or Bhai Dooj) festival.[327][330] The same festival sometimes marks different stories depending on the Hindu denomination, and the celebrations incorporate regional themes, traditional agriculture, local arts, family get togethers, Puja rituals and feasts.[326][331]

Some major regional or pan-Hindu festivals include:

Many adherents undertake pilgrimages, which have historically been an important part of Hinduism and remain so today. Pilgrimage sites are called Tirtha, Kshetra, Gopitha or Mahalaya. The process or journey associated with Tirtha is called Tirtha-yatra. According to the Hindu text Skanda Purana, Tirtha are of three kinds: Jangam Tirtha is to a place movable of a sadhu, a rishi, a guru; Sthawar Tirtha is to a place immovable, like Benaras, Haridwar, Mount Kailash, holy rivers; while Manas Tirtha is to a place of mind of truth, charity, patience, compassion, soft speech, soul.[336][337]Trtha-yatra is, states Knut A. Jacobsen, anything that has a salvific value to a Hindu, and includes pilgrimage sites such as mountains or forests or seashore or rivers or ponds, as well as virtues, actions, studies or state of mind.

Pilgrimage sites of Hinduism are mentioned in the epic Mahabharata and the Puranas. Most Puranas include large sections on Tirtha Mahatmya along with tourist guides,[342] which describe sacred sites and places to visit.[345] In these texts, Varanasi (Benares, Kashi), Rameshwaram, Kanchipuram, Dwarka, Puri, Haridwar, Sri Rangam, Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Tirupati, Mayapur, Nathdwara, twelve Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peetha have been mentioned as particularly holy sites, along with geographies where major rivers meet (sangam) or join the sea.Kumbhamela is another major pilgrimage on the eve of the solar festival Makar Sankranti. This pilgrimage rotates at a gap of three years among four sites: Prayag Raj at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, Haridwar near source of the Ganges, Ujjain on the Shipra river and Nasik on the bank of the Godavari river. This is one of world's largest mass pilgrimage, with an estimated 40 to 100 million people attending the event.[web 18] At this event, they say a prayer to the sun and bathe in the river, a tradition attributed to Adi Shankara.[349]

Some pilgrimages are part of a Vrata (vow), which a Hindu may make for a number of reasons. It may mark a special occasion, such as the birth of a baby, or as part of a rite of passage such as a baby's first haircut, or after healing from a sickness.[353] It may, states Eck, also be the result of prayers answered. An alternative reason for Tirtha, for some Hindus, is to respect wishes or in memory of a beloved person after his or her death. This may include dispersing their cremation ashes in a Tirtha region in a stream, river or sea to honor the wishes of the dead. The journey to a Tirtha, assert some Hindu texts, helps one overcome the sorrow of the loss.[note 26]

Other reasons for a Tirtha in Hinduism is to rejuvenate or gain spiritual merit by traveling to famed temples or bathe in rivers such as the Ganges.[357] Tirtha has been one of the recommended means of addressing remorse and to perform penance, for unintentional errors and intentional sins, in the Hindu tradition. The proper procedure for a pilgrimage is widely discussed in Hindu texts. The most accepted view is that the greatest austerity comes from traveling on foot, or part of the journey is on foot, and that the use of a conveyance is only acceptable if the pilgrimage is otherwise impossible.

Hindu society has been categorised into four classes, called varas. They are the Brahmins: Vedic teachers and priests; the Kshatriyas: warriors and kings; the Vaishyas: farmers and merchants; and the Shudras: servants and labourers. The Bhagavad Gt links the vara to an individual's duty (svadharma), inborn nature (svabhva), and natural tendencies (gua). The Manusmiti categorises the different castes.[web 19] Some mobility and flexibility within the varas challenge allegations of social discrimination in the caste system, as has been pointed out by several sociologists,[365] although some other scholars disagree.[367] Scholars debate whether the so-called caste system is part of Hinduism sanctioned by the scriptures or social custom.[web 20][note 27] And various contemporary scholars have argued that the caste system was constructed by the British colonial regime.[369] A renunciant man of knowledge is usually called Varatita or "beyond all varas" in Vedantic works. The bhiksu is advised to not bother about the caste of the family from which he begs his food. Scholars like Adi Sankara affirm that not only is Brahman beyond all varas, the man who is identified with Him also transcends the distinctions and limitations of caste.[370]

In whatever way a Hindu defines the goal of life, there are several methods (yogas) that sages have taught for reaching that goal. Yoga is a Hindu discipline which trains the body, mind, and consciousness for health, tranquility, and spiritual insight.[371] Texts dedicated to yoga include the Yoga Sutras, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Bhagavad Gita and, as their philosophical and historical basis, the Upanishads. Yoga is means, and the four major marga (paths) of Hinduism are: Bhakti Yoga (the path of love and devotion), Karma Yoga (the path of right action), Rja Yoga (the path of meditation), and Jna Yoga (the path of wisdom)[372] An individual may prefer one or some yogas over others, according to his or her inclination and understanding. Practice of one yoga does not exclude others. The modern practice of yoga as exercise has a contested relationship with Hinduism.

Hinduism has a developed system of symbolism and iconography to represent the sacred in art, architecture, literature and worship. These symbols gain their meaning from the scriptures or cultural traditions. The syllable Om (which represents the Brahman and Atman) has grown to represent Hinduism itself, while other markings such as the Swastika sign represent auspiciousness, and Tilaka (literally, seed) on forehead considered to be the location of spiritual third eye,[376] marks ceremonious welcome, blessing or one's participation in a ritual or rite of passage.[377] Elaborate Tilaka with lines may also identify a devotee of a particular denomination. Flowers, birds, animals, instruments, symmetric mandala drawings, objects, idols are all part of symbolic iconography in Hinduism.[378][379]

Hindus advocate the practice of ahis (nonviolence) and respect for all life because divinity is believed to permeate all beings, including plants and non-human animals. The term ahis appears in the Upanishads,[381] the epic Mahabharata[382] and ahis is the first of the five Yamas (vows of self-restraint) in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.[383]

In accordance with ahis, many Hindus embrace vegetarianism to respect higher forms of life. Estimates of strict lacto vegetarians in India (includes adherents of all religions) who never eat any meat, fish or eggs vary between 20% and 42%, while others are either less strict vegetarians or non-vegetarians.[384] Those who eat meat seek Jhatka (quick death) method of meat production, and dislike Halal (slow bled death) method, believing that quick death method reduces suffering to the animal.[385][386] The food habits vary with region, with Bengali Hindus and Hindus living in Himalayan regions, or river delta regions, regularly eating meat and fish.[387] Some avoid meat on specific festivals or occasions.[388] Observant Hindus who do eat meat almost always abstain from beef. The cow in Hindu society is traditionally identified as a caretaker and a maternal figure, and Hindu society honours the cow as a symbol of unselfish giving. There are many Hindu groups that have continued to abide by a strict vegetarian diet in modern times. Some adhere to a diet that is devoid of meat, eggs, and seafood.[391] Food affects body, mind and spirit in Hindu beliefs.[392][393] Hindu texts such as ilya Upanishad[394] and Svtmrma[395][396] recommend Mitahara (eating in moderation) as one of the Yamas (virtuous self restraints). The Bhagavad Gita links body and mind to food one consumes in verses 17.8 through 17.10.[397]

Some Hindus such as those belonging to the Shaktism tradition,[398] and Hindus in regions such as Bali and Nepal[400] practise animal sacrifice. The sacrificed animal is eaten as ritual food.[401] In contrast, the Vaishnava Hindus abhor and vigorously oppose animal sacrifice.[402] The principle of non-violence to animals has been so thoroughly adopted in Hinduism that animal sacrifice is uncommon[404] and historically reduced to a vestigial marginal practice.[405]

A Hindu temple is a house of god(s). It is a space and structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, infused with symbolism to express the ideas and beliefs of Hinduism.[407] A temple incorporates all elements of Hindu cosmology, the highest spire or dome representing Mount Meru reminder of the abode of Brahma and the center of spiritual universe, the carvings and iconography symbolically presenting dharma, kama, artha, moksha and karma.[409] The layout, the motifs, the plan and the building process recite ancient rituals, geometric symbolisms, and reflect beliefs and values innate within various schools of Hinduism.[407] Hindu temples are spiritual destinations for many Hindus (not all), as well as landmarks for arts, annual festivals, rite of passage rituals, and community celebrations.[411]

Hindu temples come in many styles, diverse locations, deploy different construction methods and are adapted to different deities and regional beliefs.[413] Two major styles of Hindu temples include the Gopuram style found in south India, and Nagara style found in north India.[web 22][web 23] Other styles include cave, forest and mountain temples.[414] Yet, despite their differences, almost all Hindu temples share certain common architectural principles, core ideas, symbolism and themes.[407] Many temples feature one or more idols (murtis). The idol and Grabhgriya in the Brahma-pada (the center of the temple), under the main spire, serves as a focal point (darsana, a sight) in a Hindu temple. In larger temples, the central space typically is surrounded by an ambulatory for the devotee to walk around and ritually circumambulate the Purusa (Brahman), the universal essence.[407]

Traditionally the life of a Hindu is divided into four ramas (phases or life stages; another meaning includes monastery).[416] The four ashramas are: Brahmacharya (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (retired) and Sannyasa (renunciation).[417] Brahmacharya represents the bachelor student stage of life. Grihastha refers to the individual's married life, with the duties of maintaining a household, raising a family, educating one's children, and leading a family-centred and a dharmic social life.[417] Grihastha stage starts with Hindu wedding, and has been considered as the most important of all stages in sociological context, as Hindus in this stage not only pursued a virtuous life, they produced food and wealth that sustained people in other stages of life, as well as the offsprings that continued mankind. Vanaprastha is the retirement stage, where a person hands over household responsibilities to the next generation, took an advisory role, and gradually withdrew from the world.[419][420] The Sannyasa stage marks renunciation and a state of disinterest and detachment from material life, generally without any meaningful property or home (ascetic state), and focused on Moksha, peace and simple spiritual life.[421][422] The Ashramas system has been one facet of the dharma concept in Hinduism. Combined with four proper goals of human life (Purusartha), the Ashramas system traditionally aimed at providing a Hindu with fulfilling life and spiritual liberation. While these stages are typically sequential, any person can enter Sannyasa (ascetic) stage and become an Ascetic at any time after the Brahmacharya stage.[423] Sannyasa is not religiously mandatory in Hinduism, and elderly people are free to live with their families.[424]

Some Hindus choose to live a monastic life (Sannysa) in pursuit of liberation (moksha) or another form of spiritual perfection.[18] Monastics commit themselves to a simple and celibate life, detached from material pursuits, of meditation and spiritual contemplation.[425] A Hindu monk is called a Sanys, Sdhu, or Swmi. A female renunciate is called a Sanysini. Renunciates receive high respect in Hindu society because of their simple ahis-driven lifestyle and dedication to spiritual liberation (moksha) believed to be the ultimate goal of life in Hinduism.[422] Some monastics live in monasteries, while others wander from place to place, depending on donated food and charity for their needs.

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Hinduism - Wikipedia

Hinduism, major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and comprising several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual. Although the name Hinduism is relatively new, having been coined by British writers in the first decades of the 19th century, it refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date to the 2nd millennium bce or possibly earlier. If the Indus valley civilization (3rd2nd millennium bce) was the earliest source of these traditions, as some scholars hold, then Hinduism is the oldest living religion on Earth. Its many sacred texts in Sanskrit and vernacular languages served as a vehicle for spreading the religion to other parts of the world, though ritual and the visual and performing arts also played a significant role in its transmission. From about the 4th century ce, Hinduism had a dominant presence in Southeast Asia, one that would last for more than 1,000 years.

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In the early 21st century, Hinduism had nearly one billion adherents worldwide and was the religion of about 80 percent of Indias population. Despite its global presence, however, it is best understood through its many distinctive regional manifestations.

The term Hinduism became familiar as a designator of religious ideas and practices distinctive to India with the publication of books such as Hinduism (1877) by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, the notable Oxford scholar and author of an influential Sanskrit dictionary. Initially it was an outsiders term, building on centuries-old usages of the word Hindu. Early travelers to the Indus valley, beginning with the Greeks and Persians, spoke of its inhabitants as Hindu (Greek: indoi), and, in the 16th century, residents of India themselves began very slowly to employ the term to distinguish themselves from the Turks. Gradually the distinction became primarily religious rather than ethnic, geographic, or cultural.

Since the late 19th century, Hindus have reacted to the term Hinduism in several ways. Some have rejected it in favour of indigenous formulations. Others have preferred Vedic religion, using the term Vedic to refer not only to the ancient religious texts known as the Vedas but also to a fluid corpus of sacred works in multiple languages and an orthoprax (traditionally sanctioned) way of life. Still others have chosen to call the religion sanatana dharma (eternal law), a formulation made popular in the 19th century and emphasizing the timeless elements of the tradition that are perceived to transcend local interpretations and practice. Finally, others, perhaps the majority, have simply accepted the term Hinduism or its analogues, especially hindu dharma (Hindu moral and religious law), in various Indic languages.

Since the early 20th century, textbooks on Hinduism have been written by Hindus themselves, often under the rubric of sanatana dharma. These efforts at self-explanation add a new layer to an elaborate tradition of explaining practice and doctrine that dates to the 1st millennium bce. The roots of Hinduism can be traced back much fartherboth textually, to the schools of commentary and debate preserved in epic and Vedic writings from the 2nd millennium bce, and visually, through artistic representations of yakshas (luminous spirits associated with specific locales and natural phenomena) and nagas (cobralike divinities), which were worshipped from about 400 bce. The roots of the tradition are also sometimes traced back to the female terra-cotta figurines found ubiquitously in excavations of sites associated with the Indus valley civilization and sometimes interpreted as goddesses.

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