I wrote this article for a website, which may have published it by now, to dispel the ignorance of their two-paragraph definition of Hinduism.
Hinduism
In Brief
Gerald L. “Moss”
Bliss, D.D.
There
is a paucity of information in the West as to what is the religion
called “Hinduism”. The truth of the matter is that it is no
single religion, but a grouping of religions, all of which originated
at different times and locales in what is commonly called the Indian
Subcontinent.
Anthropologically
speaking, the earliest two religions of the Bharat Peninsula (as the
Indians themselves often refer to their country) were Vaishnavism, as
epitomized by the various Vedas and Upanishads, and Shaivism, found
in the earliest texts in Tamil.
The
Vedic civilization is believed to have formed around the Saraswati
River, now mostly a dry ditch seen only in satellite photos, which
relocated to the area around the Indus River when the Saraswati dried
up (in other words, modern day Eastern Iran and Afghanistan,
relocating to modern Pakistan). The Vedas themselves may (or may
not) predate the Saraswati civilization; indeed, some find passages
in the Sama Veda which appears to have originated either in the
farthest Arctic regions or even off-planet, depending on who you
believe. The infamous caste system of present-day India was due to a
mis-reading of the Vedas; originally it was little different from the
European system of Guilds.
At any
rate, the Vedic civilization was based on the Vedas, which spoke the
worship of Vishnu (hence Vaishnavism) and his ten avatars (the tenth
is assumed to be incarnated yet in the future). The Upanishads
expanded upon the Vedas, and other great poems, such as the
Mahabharata (of which the popular Bhagavad Gita is a part), further
resulted in the religion’s growth among the people.
The
ancient Tamil documents spoke of Shiva as the Creator (with his
Shakti, which can either be seen as his creative energy, his feminine
side, or even his wife). The Tamil-speaking (and related languages)
people were in the southeast of India, now the states of Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh, and the country of Sri Lanka.
Apparently
at some point, the two cultures traveled widely enough to meet one
another. In what is perhaps the only time in the history of mankind,
these two cultures examined each others’ religions, and rather than
declaring war, declared them co-equal (which through the centuries
has confused even Hindu scholars into thinking it truly is a single
religion).
In the
background, for whatever reason the women were mostly left out of the
observances of this religion, and from this rose the worship of Devi,
or Shakti, which today is called Shaktism. All three groups today
include male and female worshippers, but only the Shaktins have any
females in the priesthood.
The
fourth, and smallest, sect which makes up “Hinduism” is called
Smarta or Smartism. The Smartas believe in the Vedas and other
Vaishnava writings, but rather than believe in Vishnu as the Supreme
Deity, they feel it is up to the believer to choose his or her
primary deity from among the gods. The main effect this has had upon
Hinduism has been the naming of the ultimate deity as Brahman, as he
is often referred to in the Vedas, and allowing Vishnu, Shiva, and
and Brahma to be seen as a tripartate form of Brahman; they can be
trivialized to “preserver, destroyer, and creator”, as they often
are when seen by the West, or considered each and all to be full
Brahman.
Around
the 6th
Century b.c.e., the 24th
Tirthankar, Mahavira, solidified the Tirthankar teachings into
Jainism, still a powerful sect despite its small size and belief
non-procreation, as well as in the holiness of the tiniest creature
on the planet. This is perhaps the gentlest religion on the planet,
as it reveres all life and seeks to harm nothing in any way.
The
next “reform movement” in Hinduism was begun by Gautama, called
“the Buddha”. At one point in time, Buddhism encompassed not
only most of India but also much of eastern Asia. The earliest
origins are clouded in history, but the Second Council (which became
schismatic) was thought to have been held around 100 b.c.e. As the
Buddha mostly taught the same basic spirituality but was essentially
non-theistic (practice was emphasized over belief), it engulfed many
other native religions in the region, but this was ultimately
responded to.
In
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kashmir, from 800 to 1100 c.e., new
versions of Shaivite thought emerged, adopting the Vedas but
promoting Shiva as the Supreme Deity and expanding upon both ancient
teachings and the more modern Buddhist teachings, showing the
“fallacies” in either or both, resulting in Virashaiva and
Kashmir (Trika) Shaivism. In the predominantly Vaishnavite areas of
Punjab and Bengal, Krishna emerged from the Mahabharata as the
Supreme Form of Deity (Vishnu).
Around
this time also came the Islamic invasion, which nearly wiped out
Vedic teachings and destroyed thousands of books (some of which
survived by having been transported out of India by Buddhist monks
over centuries). Remember, by this time even the Shaivas had adopted
the Vedas.
About
1600 c.e., the great teacher Arjan Dev, in Punjab, collected the
greatest surviving teachings in the Hindu world, in poetry form,
forming what became the Adi Granth, and created the Sikh religion
using this book as their center. This book by itself preserved much
of the sacred poetry from the torch of the Moslems, as the Sikhs
became known as ferocious fighters and, slowly, beat back the
invading Moslems. The Adi Granth was expanded by later Sikh Gurus,
until, upon the death of the 10th
Guru, the book itself was proclaimed the True Guru (Guru Granth
Sahib).
The
various forms of Hinduism have changed the West in many small ways,
but are still largely misunderstood in the West. For instance,
Buddhist monks created “malas”, necklaces of meditation beads,
well before Christ; when this came into contact with the Catholic
Church, I cannot say, but it was modified into the Rosary. Madame
Blavatsky in the 19th
Century c.e. tried to adopt and even alter Hindusim and present it to
the West as Theosophy; she hoped to raise J. Krishnamurti to be the
Avatar for the New Age, but the man himself, upon reaching majority,
declined the honor.
Much
more could be said; indeed, much of what I just presented is in doubt
and the sources may be fuzzy. Hinduism today consists of (in the
view of Hindus) Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism, and Shaktism, but it
is easily seen how one could include Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,
as well as other sub-sects (such as ISKCON, a branch of Vaishnavism),
into the mix.
In the
last 20 years, Western Pagans have found many similarities between
their beliefs and those of the various Hindu religions. The result
is IndoPaganism, which was reported on in PanGaea Magazine, Spring
2007, by Devi Spring.
There
is no end to this subject. It is my fervent hope that this document
can be improved, especially with the addition of appropriate
footnotes.
Moss
Bliss
January
30, 2008