Hinduism

Hinduism is a broad name for religious traditions with deep historical roots in South Asia, rather than a single institution organized around one founder or universally binding statement of belief. Scholars use the term for communities and practices with overlapping histories, texts and ideas, while people who identify as Hindu may understand that identity in different ways. The English word “Hinduism” became familiar as a religious label in the nineteenth century; the older word “Hindu” had geographic associations with lands and peoples beyond the Indus River. The relatively recent label therefore describes traditions that are much older than the word itself.

The Vedas, a collection of Sanskrit religious texts transmitted orally, are among the tradition’s oldest and most influential sources. The Upanishads developed philosophical questions associated with Vedic literature; later influential works include the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, which contains the Bhagavad Gita, as well as Puranas and texts in many regional languages. Hindu thinkers have debated such concepts as dharma (duty or the ordering of life), karma (action and its consequences), samsara (the cycle of rebirth), and moksha (release from that cycle). Their meanings and importance differ among traditions. Hindu philosophy includes several distinct schools; no single comprehensive doctrine is shared by all Hindus.

Hindu religious life is expressed through many forms of worship and community practice. Puja—acts of honoring a deity—may take place in a home or temple, and observances can include offerings, prayer, recitation, pilgrimage and festivals. Devotional traditions include Vaishnavism, associated with Vishnu and forms such as Krishna and Rama; Shaivism, centered on Shiva; and Shaktism, focused on the Goddess or divine power. These broad groupings contain further schools and regional expressions, and not every Hindu follows the same rituals or relates to the divine in the same way. Bhakti, or devotion, has inspired influential movements and poetry in many Indian languages.

Hinduism did not begin at a single datable moment. The Rigveda, an early body of hymns, is a key literary source for its history and is generally placed in the second millennium BCE; the sacrificial religion reflected in it was not identical to Hindu practices today. Later developments combined reinterpretations of Vedic traditions with regional customs, devotional movements, philosophical debate and new religious texts. Some scholars have proposed links between features of the Indus Valley civilization and later Hindu traditions, but interpretations of that archaeological evidence remain uncertain. Hindu communities and movements subsequently spread beyond South Asia, and the tradition continues to be practiced and reinterpreted in many parts of the world.