Gavin flood an introduction to hinduism pdf

Religion

Hinduism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life,[note 1] widely practiced in South Asia. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world,[note 2] and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal tradition," or the "eternal way," beyond human history.[4][5] Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[note 3]

or synthesis[6][note 4] of various Indian cultures and traditions,[7][note 5] with diverse roots[8][note 6] and no founder.[9] This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE[10] following the Vedic period (1500 BCE to 500 BCE).[10][11]

Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Śruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered"). These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics.[12] Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas.[13][14] Sources of authority and eternal truths in its texts play an important role, but there is also a strong Hindu tradition of the questioning of this authority, to deepen the understanding of these truths and to further develop the tradition.[15]

Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma (ethics/duties), Artha (prosperity/work), Kama (desires/passions) and Moksha (liberation/freedom/salvation);[16][17] karma (action, intent and consequences), Saṃsāra (cycle of rebirth), and the various Yogas (paths or practices to attain moksha).[14][18] Hindu practices include rituals such as puja (worship) and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages. Some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monastic practices) to achieve Moksha.[19] Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, and compassion, among others.[web 1][20] The four largest denominations of Hinduism are the Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism.[21]

Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus.[web 2][22] Hindus form the majority of the population in India, Nepal, Mauritius and the island of Bali in Indonesia. Significant Hindu communities are also found in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, and many other countries.[23][24]

Contents

1 Etymology 2 Definitions

2.1 Typology 2.2 Indigenous understanding 2.3 Western understanding

3 Diversity and unity 3.1 Diversity 3.2 Sense of unity

4 Beliefs 4.1 Purusharthas (objectives of human life) 4.2 Karma and samsara 4.3 Moksha 4.4 Concept of God 4.5 Authority

5 Main traditions 6 Scriptures 7 Practices

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_period
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_cosmology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_texts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_pilgrimage_sites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_texts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Aruti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smriti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_philosophy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_mythology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80gama_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_temple
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80gama_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puru%E1%B9%A3%C4%81rtha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puja_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskara_(rite_of_passage)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannyasa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_denominations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnavism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaivism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaktism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarta_Tradition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suriname
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_by_country
7.1 Rituals 7.2 Life-cycle rites of passage 7.3 Bhakti (worship) 7.4 Festivals 7.5 Pilgrimage

8 Person and society 8.1 Varnas 8.2 Yoga 8.3 Symbolism 8.4 Ahimsa, vegetarianism and other food customs 8.5 Education

9 Institutions 9.1 Temple 9.2 Ashrama 9.3 Monasticism

10 History 10.1 Periodisation 10.2 Origins 10.3 Prevedic religions (until c. 1500 BCE) 10.4 Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE) 10.5 "Second Urbanisation" (c. 500–200 BCE) 10.6 Classical Hinduism (c. 200 BCE – 1100 CE) 10.7 Islamic rule and Bhakti movement of Hinduism (c. 1200–1750 CE) 10.8 Modern Hinduism (from circa 1800)

11 Demographics 11.1 Conversion debate

12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 Sources

15.1 Printed sources 15.2 Web-sources

16 Further reading 17 External links

Etymology

The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan[25]/Sanskrit[26] root Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent (modern day Pakistan and Northern India).[26][note 7] According to Gavin Flood, "The actual term 'Hindu' first occurs as a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu)",[26] more specifically in the 6th- century BCE inscription of Darius I (550–486 BCE).[27] The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion.[26] 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,[27] and 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd al-Malik Isami.[note 8]

Thapar states that the word Hindu is found as heptahindu in Avesta – equivalent to Rigvedic sapta sindhu, while hndstn (pronounced Hindustan) is found in a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of northwestern South Asia.[35] The Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus.[36] This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū, which refers to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".[37][note 9]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_India
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isami_(historian)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avesta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasanian_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_India
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".[38] 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.[39]

Definitions

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, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist.[40][41][42] Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult.[26] The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it".[43] Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life."[44][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.[45] Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism,[46][note 10] and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India.[47][note 11]

Typology

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.[48] 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).[49][50] 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.[51] Other notable characteristics include a belief in existence of ātman (soul, self), reincarnation of one's ātman, 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 expression of emotions among the Hindus.[52] 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.[52]

Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity.[53] The three Hindu religions

AUM, a stylised letter of Devanagari script, used as a religious symbol in Hinduism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajatarangini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudiya_Vaishnavism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Charitamrita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Bhagavata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yona#Later_meanings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mleccha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality#Hinduism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darsanas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_(philosophy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishnavism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaivism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaktism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarta_Tradition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_Hinduism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhakti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aum_Om_navy_blue_circle_coral.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari
Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity.[53] The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism,", "folk religions and tribal religions," and "founded religions.[54] The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga",[55] jnana-marga,[56] bhakti-marga,[56] and "heroism," which is rooted in militaristic traditions, such as Ramaism and parts of political Hinduism.[55] This is also called virya-marga.[56] 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.[57] 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.[58]

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.[59] 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.[59] From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that has 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 monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.[59]

Indigenous understanding

Sanātana Dharma

To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life.[60] Many practitioners refer to the "orthodox" form of Hinduism as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal way".[61] [62] The Sanskrit word dharma has a much deeper 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.[63][64]

Sanātana Dharma refers to the "eternal" duties all Hindus have to follow, regardless of class, caste, or sect, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self- restraint, generosity, and asceticism. This is contrasted with svadharma, one's "own duty", the duties to be followed by members of a specific varna and jāti.[web 1] According to Knott, this also

... refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, and its truths have been divinely revealed (Shruti) and passed down through the ages to the present day in the most ancient of the world's scriptures, the Veda. (Knott 1998, p. 5)

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica,

The term has also more recently been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism as a unified world religion. Sanatana dharma has thus become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, the latter conceived of as not only transcendent of history and unchanging but also as indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian.[web 1]

Hindu modernism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhakti_yoga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannyasa#Warrior_ascetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C4%ABrya_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmo_Samaj
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophical_Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Mahesh_Yogi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISKCON
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita#Svadharma_and_svabhava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%81ti
Beginning in the 19th century, Indian modernists re-asserted Hinduism as a major asset of Indian civilisation,[67] meanwhile "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements[68] and elevating the Vedic elements. Western stereotypes were reversed, emphasizing the universal aspects, and introducing modern approaches of social problems.[67] This approach had a great appeal, not only in India, but also in the west.[67] Major representatives of "Hindu modernism"[69] are Raja Rammohan Roy, Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi.[70]

Raja Rammohan Roy is known as the father of the Hindu Renaissance.[71] He was a major influence on Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), 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."[72] 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",[69] and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony.[69] According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms.[69] According to Flood, Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking middle-class Hindus today."[73] Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan sought to reconcile western rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and humanistic religious experience."[74]

This "Global Hinduism"[75] has a worldwide appeal, transcending national boundaries[75] and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam and Buddhism",[75] both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions.[75] It emphasizes universal spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of humanity."[75] It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation",[76] or the Pizza effect,[76] 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.[76] 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."[77]

Western understanding

Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[note 3] or synthesis[note 4][6] of various Indian cultures and traditions.[7][note 5] which emerged after the Vedic period, between 500[10]-200[11] BCE and c. 300 CE,[10] the beginning of the "Epic and Puranic" c.q. "Preclassical" period.[10][11]

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.[80]

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 Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism.[81]

Diversity and unity

Diversity

Swami Vivekananda was a key figure in introducing Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and the United States,[65] raising interfaith awareness and making Hinduism a world religion.[66]

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Hinduism has been described as a tradition having a "complex, organic, multileveled and sometimes internally inconsistent nature."[82] Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of faith or a creed",[26] but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena of India.[83] 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".[84]

Part of the problem with a single definition of the term Hinduism is the fact that Hinduism does not have a founder.[85] It is a synthesis of various traditions,[86] the "Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions."[78]

Some Hindu philosophies postulate a theistic ontology of creation, of sustenance, and of the destruction of the universe, yet some Hindus are atheists, as they view Hinduism more as philosophy than religion.

Sense of unity

Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity.[87] Most Hindu traditions revere a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas,[88] although there are exceptions.[89] These texts are a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus,[90][91] 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".[90][92]

Halbfass states that, although Shaivism and Vaishaism may be regarded as "self-contained religious constellations",[87] there is a degree of interaction and reference between the "theoreticians and literary representatives"[87] of each tradition which 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".[87]

Indigenous developments

The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India was already noted from the 12th century CE on.[93] Lorenzen traces the emergence of a "family resemblance", and what he calls as "beginnings of medieval and modern Hinduism" taking shape, at c. 300-600 CE, with the development of the early Puranas, and continuities with the earlier Vedic religion.[94] Lorenzen states that the establishment of a Hindu self-identity took place "through a process of mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim Other."[95] According to Lorenzen, this "presence of the Other"[95] is necessary to recognise the "loose family resemblance" among the various traditions and schools,[96]

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."[97] The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Burley.[98] Hacker called this "inclusivism"[88]

and Michaels speaks of "the identificatory habit".[12] Lorenzen locates the origins of a distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus,[99] and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other",[100][note 12] which started well before 1800.[101] 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 (1609-1649) and Ramdas (1608-1681), articulated ideas in

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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.[102]

This inclusivism[103] was further developed in the 19th and 20th centuries by Hindu reform movements and Neo-Vedanta,[104] and has become characteristic of modern Hinduism.[88]

Colonial influences

The notion and reports on "Hinduism" as a "single world religious tradition"[105] was 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 which the missionary Orientalists presumed was Hinduism.[105][59][106] These reports influenced perceptions about Hinduism. Some scholars state that the colonial polemical reports led to fabricated stereotypes where Hinduism was mere mystic paganism devoted to the service of devils,[note 13] 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 paradigmatic example of Hinduism's mystical nature".[108][note 14] 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.[115] 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.[115][note 15]

Beliefs

Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include (but are not restricted to) Dharma (ethics/duties), Samsāra (the continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action, intent and consequences), Moksha (liberation from samsara or liberation in this life), and the various Yogas (paths or practices).[18]

Purusharthas (objectives of human life)

Classical Hindu thought accepts four proper goals or aims of human life: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. These are known as the Puruṣārthas:[16][17]

Dharma (righteousness, ethics)

Dharma is considered the foremost goal of a human being in Hinduism.[122] The concept Dharma includes behaviors that are considered to be in accord with rta, the order that makes life and universe possible,[123] and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living".[124] 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.[124] Dharma, according to Van Buitenen,[125] 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.[125] The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states it as: