culture

To trace the roots of Hinduism, one must go back to 1200 B.C., when the Aryans, who began to dominate the river in to the northwest of the sub-continent, invaded India. Their view of the world developed into a vast body of sacred utterances called the Vedas. In the oldest portion of the Vedas, there is reference to a river called Sindhu, and in later Sanskrit literature, the word Sindhu is often used to refer to the people and territory of the Indus area, in the northwest of the sub continent. Gradually, over the centuries, from Sindhu evolved the word Hindu.

It has, thus, both geographical and cultural connotations for it referred to both where and how the inhabitants lived as well as to what they looked like. However, the term Hindu gradually came to be referred quite around and beyond the Sindhu. In the first quarter of the third century B.C., Alexander of Macedonia called the great river 'Indos' and its inhabitants 'Indikoi' (Latin: Indus) and from this word came India and Indians!

The Aryans recognized the fundamental divisions of a settled agricultural society, a warrior aristocracy (Kshatriyas), priests (Brahmins) and the ordinary peasant (Vaishyas). In the early Aryan times, movement between these divisions was possible and the only barrier seems to have been that between Dravidas and Aryans, one of the words used to refer to the aboriginal of India. Dravidians were also known as Dasa, which came eventually to denote "slave". To the occupational categories was soon added a fourth category for Dravidas - the Shudra, or unclean, who might not study or hear the Vedic hymns. Gradually this social organization evolved into a hierarchical power-based, caste structure, which continues, in some form, to dominate many parts of Indian society.

The Aryan people spoke an archaic form of Sanskrit and intermingled with the indigenous people. The accommodation of Aryans views with indigenous ideas continues in literature subsequent to the Vedas, namely the Upanishads.

One prominent school of Indian philosophical thought is the Vedanta, the origin of which is traced to the Upanishads. Central to this doctrine is the notion of Brahman - Absolute. The Atman or individual self is ultimately the same as the single, formless Brahman but appears to be different, due to ignorance, called Maya. Ignorance stems from spiritual blindness arising from attachment and desire (Kama). Vidya or wisdom alone can free the individual from the bonds of ignorant desires, which trap him in this continuous circle of rebirth and human suffering. The burden of the past chains man to the material world and present action will, in turn, lead to their inevitable consequences in the future: this is the law of karma. The Vedanta advocates the ultimate release (Moksha), suffering in life and the attainment of bliss through self-realization.

While many Hindus may have repudiated the Vedas, not to mention been unfamiliar to these sacred utterances, it does not mean that their life's orientation cannot be traced to the Vedas. Most Hindus are religious and many implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas in orienting their lives. However, whether these beliefs alone are criteria of classifying a Hindu may be questioned. There is prevalence of some of these views amongst many non-Hindus as well. For example, most Buddhist and Jains and even some Christians believe in some form of karma and rebirth.

Theoretically, as a religious entity, Hindus presently constitute almost 80% of India and an overwhelming majority of them are religious, at least in a minimal sense. Nevertheless, one may be accepted as a Hindu by other Hindus without actually being religious. One may be polytheistic or monotheistic, monistic or pantheistic, even agnostic or atheistic, and still be a Hindu.

Similarly, caste alone could not explain the confirmation to Hindu identity because it would leave unexplained the many westernized Hindus in India today who openly live in direct opposition to traditional caste observances but who consider themselves Hindus. Furthermore, it is well known that for hundreds of years there has been Indian Christian who have either maintained caste or have been acknowledged as such by their Hindu peers. Whether caste is at all constitutive of being a Hindu is questionable.

The difficulty in defining Hinduism is perhaps due to the manner in which it has evolved. It has been influenced by the social structure of the society as well as by the imported religious movements from outside the subcontinent. For example, the devotional cult of Bhakti, a socio-religious development of the medieval period, attempted to cut across class, caste and religious barriers in Hinduism by adhering to the belief of the need to unite with God. Sufi ideas influenced its doctrines, as did also certain typically Muslim concepts, particularly those about social justice.

As this historical voyage comes to an end one may ask, even if rather disparagingly, 'What is Hinduism?' It seems most likely to conclude that to be a Hindu is to be culturally, not necessarily religiously, marked. Hinduism is a dynamic living reality whose strength lies in its ability to adapt to circumstances while it maintains strands of continuity with the past. It is a continuity of vital elements whose compositions vary as a function of the different living centers of Hinduism in and outside India.