Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The word Hinduism is used to refer to the complex religious tradition which has evolved organically in the Indian subcontinent over several thousand years and is today represented by the highly diverse beliefs and practices of more than 650 million Hindus. Apart from communities in neighbouring states, and those communities in such places as Bali, South-West Africa and the Caribbean that have been created by migration (together forming less than 10 per cent of the totality), the majority of Hindus live in India, where they constitute over four-fifths of the entire population. Hinduism is so diverse internally that the only way of defining it acceptably is externally, in terms of people and places; the term ‘Hindu’ is, in origin, simply the Persian word for Indian. The land of India is crucial to Hinduism; its sacred geography is honoured by pilgrimages and other ritual acts and has become deeply embedded in Hindu mythology and scriptures. There are two principal reasons why it is preferable to regard Hinduism as an evolving religious tradition rather than as a single, separate ‘religion’ in the sense that the term is usually understood. The first reason is that Hinduism displays few of the characteristics that are generally expected of a religion. It has no founder, nor is it prophetic. It is not creedal, nor is any particular doctrine, dogma or practice held to be essential to ... log in or subscribe to read full text