History of Hinduism

Embark on a journey through the rich and intricate history of Hinduism, a tapestry woven with threads of ancient wisdom, cultural evolution, and spiritual exploration. Rooted in the ancient traditions of the Indian subcontinent, the history of Hinduism stretches back millennia, from the hymns of the Rigveda to the deep philosophical explorations of the Upanishads.

This meta-description invites you to explore the dynamic evolution of Hinduism as it is shaped by various cultures, schools of philosophy, and the contributions of revered sages

From the advent of the Bhakti movement to the spread of Hindu thought beyond India, this history unfolds as a story of resilience, adaptation, and the search for spiritual understanding. Immerse yourself in the timeless stories, rituals, and philosophical insights that have shaped Hinduism into a living and enduring global tradition.

History of Hinduism

Historical Facts	History of Hinduism
Pre-Vedic Era	Indus Valley Civilization, early religious practices
Vedic Period	Rigveda composed the emergence of Vedic gods and rituals
Upanishadic Era	Rigveda composed the emergence of Vedic gods and rituals
Epic Period	Ramayana and Mahabharata, featuring Lord Rama and Lord Krishna
Classical Age	Development of Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, and temple architecture
Medieval Period	Bhakti and Sufi movements, temple construction, Islamic influence
Colonial Period	British influence, codification of Hindu law
Modern Era	Hindu reform movements, independence movements, and post-independence developments

Introduction

The term Hinduism as a religious designation refers to the original religious philosophy of the people living in modern India and the rest of the Indian subcontinent. It is a synthesis of many spiritual traditions of the region and does not have a clearly defined set of beliefs in the same way as other religions. It is widely accepted that Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion, but no historical figure is known to be its founder. The roots of Hinduism are diverse and are probably a synthesis of various regional tribal beliefs.

Roots of Hinduism

(1) While Puranic chronology represents a genealogy of thousands of years, scholars consider Hinduism to be a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions. Its roots include the historical Vedic religion, itself a product of “composite Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations”, which evolved into the Brahmanical religion and ideology of the Kuru kingdom of Iron Age civilization in northern India, but also the Sramanas or renunciation traditions of Northeast India and the Mesolithic cultures and Neolithic cultures of India, such as the religions of the Indus Valley Civilization, Dravidian traditions, and local traditions and tribal religions.

(2) This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between 500–200 BC and c. 300 AD, during the second urbanization and early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Puranas were composed. This Brahmanical synthesis incorporated Shamanic and Buddhist influences and the emerging Bhakti tradition into the Brahmanical fold through smriti literature. This synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Jainism and Buddhism. During the Gupta reign, the first Puranas were written and used to spread “mainstream religious ideology among illiterate and tribal groups undergoing acculturation”. The resulting Puranic Hinduism differed significantly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmasūtras and smritis. Hinduism co-existed with Buddhism for several centuries before finally gaining dominance at all levels in the 8th century.

(3) From North India, this “Hindu synthesis” and its social divisions spread to South India and parts of Southeast Asia as the courts and rulers adopted Brahmanical culture. This was aided by the settlement of Brahmins on land granted by local rulers, the incorporation and assimilation of popular non-Vedic gods, and a process of Sanskritization in which “people from many strata of society throughout the subcontinent tended to conform their religious and social lives to Brahminical norms.” This process of assimilation explains the wide variety of local cultures in India as “half-shrouded in a torn cloak of conceptual unity”.

(4) According to Eliot Deutsche, Brahmins played a vital role in the development of this synthesis. They were bilingual and bicultural, speaking both their local language and a popular Sanskrit that transcended regional differences in culture and language. They were able to “translate the mainstream of the great culture in terms of the village and the culture of the village in terms of the mainstream”, thus integrating the local culture into a larger whole. While the Vaidikas and, to a lesser extent, the Smartas remained faithful to the traditional Vedic tradition, a new Brahminism arose that composed litanies for local and regional gods and became servants of these local traditions.

Hindu Concepts of Time

Hindus generally believe that time is cyclical, similar to the four seasons, and eternal rather than linear and bounded. The texts refer to successive ages (yuga), designated as gold, silver, copper, and iron. During the golden age, people were pious and adhered to dharma (law, duty, and truth), but its power waned over time until it had to be revived by divine intervention. With each passing age, the good qualities diminish until we reach the present iron or dark age (kali yuga), marked by cruelty, hypocrisy, materialism, and so on. Such ideas challenge the widespread linear view that humans inevitably progress.

Major historical periods

Although it is difficult to date the early history of Hinduism with certainty, the following list represents a rough chronology.

• (i) Before 2000 BC: Indus Valley Civilization
• (ii) 1500–500 BCE: Vedic civilization
• (iii) 500 BC–500 AD: Epic, Puranic and Classical period
• (iv) 500 – 1500 AD: Middle Ages
• (v) 1500–1757 CE: Pre-modern period
• (vi) 1757-1947 CE: The British Period
• (vii) 1947 CE – Present: Independent India

Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization was located in the basin of the Indus River, which flows through present-day Pakistan. It developed around 2500 BCE, although its origins date back to the Neolithic period. It disappeared in 1500 B.C. The Indus Valley was a developed urban culture similar to the civilizations of Mesopotamia. Two large cities were discovered: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which gave us the alternative name of the Harappan culture. About 40,000 people lived in these cities, enjoying a fairly high standard of living with sophisticated water systems; most houses have drainage systems, wells, and garbage chutes. Grain was the basis of the economy, and large granaries collected grain as a tax. The civilization was extensive, from the eastern foothills of the Himalayas to Lothar on the coast of Gujarat and to Sutgagen Dor near the Iranian border. Some cities of the Indus Valley culture have yet to be excavated. The Indus civilization did not develop as a result of contact with other civilizations, such as Sumer or Egypt, but was an indigenous development growing out of earlier local cultures.

Indus Valley Religion

We know little about the religion, social structure, or politics of this early civilization, and we don’t know the language, but seals have been found with what appears to be a script written on them. This has not been successfully deciphered, and some scholars now question whether it is writing, although this is disputed. Indus Valley religion appears to have included temple rituals and ritual bathing in the “great bath” found at Mohenjo-Daro. There is some evidence of animal sacrifice at Kalibangan. Several terracotta figurines, possibly depictions of goddesses, and a seal depicting a seated figure surrounded by animals, believed by some scholars to be the prototype of the god Shiva, were found. Others have disputed this, pointing out that it closely resembles Elamite seals depicting seated bulls. One painting, carved in talc (steatite), depicts a fighting lion figure that recalls the Mesopotamian myth of Gilgamesh. There may be connections between the Indus Valley Civilization and later Hinduism, as suggested by the apparent emphasis on ritual bathing, sacrifice, and goddess worship. But ritual purity, sacrifice, and an emphasis on fertility are common to other ancient religions as well.

Vedic period

There are two main theories about the early development of early South Asian traditions. The Aryan Migration Thesis states that groups from the Indus Valley who called themselves “Aryans” (the nobles) migrated to the subcontinent and became the dominant cultural force. Hinduism, in this view, derives from their religion recorded in the Veda, along with elements of indigenous traditions they encountered. The cultural transformation thesis is that Aryan culture is a development of the Indus Valley culture. In this view, there was no Aryan migration (or invasion) and the Indus Valley culture was an Aryan or Vedic culture. There are two sources of knowledge about this ancient period – language and archeology – and we can make two comments about them. First, the language of the Vedic culture was Vedic Sanskrit, which is related to other languages ​​in the Indo-European language group. This suggests that Indo-European speakers had a common linguistic origin known to scholars as Proto-Indo-European. Second, there appears to be archaeological continuity from the Neolithic period on the subcontinent. The history of this period is therefore complex. One of the key issues is that no horse remains have been found in the Indus Valley, but horse sacrifice is central to the Vedas. The debate is ongoing.

Vedic Religion

Taking the ‘Vedic period’ to refer to the period when the Vedas were composed, we can say that the early Vedic religion was centered around sacrifice and the sharing of sacrificial food with each other and with many gods (devas). The term “sacrifice” (home, yajna) is not limited to animal sacrifice but applies more broadly to any offering to the sacred fire (such as milk and clarified butter). Some Vedic rituals were very elaborate and continue to this day. The sacrifice was offered to various Vedic gods (devas) who lived in different spheres of the hierarchical universe, divided into three broad spheres: earth, atmosphere, and sky. The earth contains the god of plants Soma, the god of fire Agni, and the god of priestly power Brhaspati. The atmosphere contains the warrior Indra, the wind Vayu, the storm gods or Maruts, and the terrible Rudra. Heaven contains the sky-god Dyaus (from the same root as Zeus), the Lord of Cosmic Law (or lip) Varuna, his friend the night-god Mitra, the sustainer Pushana, and the pervading Vishnu.

Epic, Puranic, and Classical Ages

This period, beginning around the time of the Gautam Buddha (who died c. 400 BCE) saw the composition of other texts, the Dharma Sutras and Sastras, the two epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and subsequently the Puranas, containing many stories that are still popular today. The famous Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata. The idea of ​​dharma (law, duty, truth) central to Hinduism was expressed in the genre of texts known as the dharma sutras and sastras. The Dharma Sutras recognizes three sources of dharma: revelation (ie, the Veda), tradition (the smrtis), and good custom. The Laws of Manu add “what is pleasing to ourselves”. During this period, the Vedic fire sacrifice was minimized with the development of devotional worship (puja) of images of deities in temples. The rise of the Gupta Empire (320-500 CE) saw the development of the great traditions of Vaishnavism (centered on Vishnu), Shaivism (centered on Shiva), and Shaktism (centered on Devi). From this period we can recognize many elements in Hinduism today, such as bhakti (devotion) and temple worship. This period saw the development of poetic literature. These texts were composed in Sanskrit, which became the most important element of the shared culture.

Medieval period

From 500 AD we have the rise of devotion (bhakti) to the main deities, especially Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi. With the collapse of the Gupta Empire, regional kingdoms developed that supported different religions. For example, the Cholas in the south supported Shaivism. This period saw the development of large regional temples such as the Jagganatha at Puri in Orissa, the Shiva temple at Chidambaram in Tamilnadu, and the Shiva temple at Thanjavur, also in Tamilnadu. All these temples installed the main deity and were centers of religious and political power.

Saint-Poets and Gurus in the Middle Ages

During this period religious literature developed not only in Sanskrit but also in the vernacular languages ​​, especially TamilPoets, and saints recorded their devotional feelings here. Most notable are the twelve Vaishnava Alvars (6th–9th centuries), including one famous poetess-saint called Andal, and the sixty-three Saiva Nayanars (8th–10th centuries). The following key thinkers and teachers (acharyas or gurus) consolidated these teachings: They formulated new theologies, maintained by their disciplic successions (sampradaya). Shankara (780–820) traveled widely and defeated the scholars of unorthodox movements, Buddhism and Jainism, who established prominent seats of learning throughout India at the turn of the millennium. He re-established the authority of the Vedic canon, promoted Advaita (monism), and laid the foundations for the further development of the tradition known as Vedanta.

Development of Vaishnavism and Shaivism during the Medieval Period

Vaishnava philosophers Ramanuja, Madhva (13th century), and others followed, writing their biblical commentaries, proposing new theologies, and establishing their successions. Ramanuja qualified Shankar’s impersonal philosophy and Madhva argued more strongly for the existence of a personal God. Similarly, Shaivism developed during this period, with prominent philosophers such as Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025) writing commentaries on the Tantras, an alternative revelation to the Vedas, and other texts. The Tantras came to be revered as revelations that complemented or replaced the Vedas. Some of these texts advocated ritually polluting practices such as offering alcohol, meat, and ritual sex to wild deities, but most of these texts simply deal with daily and occasional rituals, temple construction, cosmology, and so on.

Pre-modern period

Alongside the development of Hindu traditions, most prevalent in the south, was the rise of Islam in the north as a religious and political force in India. The new religion of Islam reached Indian shores around the 8th century through traders sailing the Arabian Sea and Muslim armies conquering the northwestern provinces. Muslim political power began with the Turkish Sultanate around 1200 and culminated in the Mughal Empire (from 1526). Akbar (1542–1605) was a liberal emperor and allowed Hindus to practice freely. However, his great-grandson Aurangzeb (1618–1707) destroyed many temples and curtailed Hindu practice. During this period, we had another development in devotional religion (bhakti). The Sant tradition in the north, mainly in Maharashtra and Punjab, expressed in poetry devotion to both a god without attributes (nirguna) and a god with attributes (sauna), such as parental love for his devotees. The Sant tradition combines elements of bhakti, meditation or yoga, and Islamic mysticism. Even today, the poetry of Princess Mirabai and other saints like Tukaram, Surdas, and Dadu is popular.

British Period

Robert Clive’s victory at the Battle of Plassey (1757) heralded the end of the Mughal Empire and the rise of British rule in India. Initially, the British did not interfere with the religion and culture of the Indian people, allowing the Hindus to practice their religion without hindrance. But later, missionaries came and preached Christianity. Shortly thereafter, the first scholars came ashore, and although initially sympathetic, they were often motivated by a desire to Westernize the local population. Chairs of Indology were established at Oxford and other universities in Europe.

Hindu Reformers during the British Period

The nineteenth century saw the development of the ‘Hindu Renaissance’ with reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) presenting Hinduism as a rational, ethical religion and founding the Brahmo Samaj to promote these ideas. Another reformer, Dayananda Sarasvati (1824–83), advocated a return to Vedic religion, which emphasized an eternal, omnipotent, and impersonal God. He wanted, through his Arya Samaj society, to return to the ‘eternal law’ or Sanatana dharma of Hinduism before the Puranas and the epics. Both of these reformers wished to rid Hinduism of what they considered to be superstition. These groups were instrumental in sowing the seeds of Indian nationalism and Hindu missionary movements that later traveled to the West. Another important figure was Paramahamsa Ramakrishna (1836–86), who proclaimed the unity of all religions. His disciple Vivekananda (1863–1902) developed his ideas and combined them with a political vision of a united India. These ideas were developed by Gandhi (1869–1948), who was instrumental in creating an independent India. Gandhi, a holy man and politician, is probably the most famous Indian of the twentieth century. He helped negotiate independence but was bitterly disappointed by the partition of his country. He was assassinated in 1948. Gandhi drew much of his strength and conviction from Hindu teachings such as the concept of ahimsa (non-violence) and advocated a patriotism that was magnanimous and generous.

Hindutva during the British period

During the resistance to colonial rule, the term “Hindu” became charged with cultural and political significance. One of the central ideas was Hindutva (Hinduism), created by V.D. Savarkar, which refers to a socio-political force that could unite Hindus against “threatening others”. Cultural organizations such as the RSS (Rashtriya Svayam-Sevak Sangh) and the VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) adopted and developed this ideal, which found political expression in the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). These sectarian ideas continued even after independence.

Independent India

The partition of India in 1947 and the resulting bloodshed reinforced nationalist tendencies, specifically the notions of India as a “Hindu country” and of Hinduism as an “Indian religion”. These tendencies have continued, and communal violence has often erupted since then. In 1992, Hindus were incited to demolish the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, which they believe was deliberately and provocatively built over Rama’s birthplace. Tensions were exacerbated by attempts to shield Hindus from other religions and the backlash of the ongoing Hindutva movement.

Identity in the Hindu Diaspora

Post-war Hindu movements imported to the West and widespread Hindu migration have, however, raised questions about the precise nature of Hindu identity. From the 1960s on, many Indians migrated to Britain and North America. Gurus traveled to the West to care for nascent Hindu communities, sometimes starting missionary movements that attracted Western interest. In the late 1960s, transcendental meditation gained worldwide popularity and attracted the attention of celebrities such as the Beatles. Perhaps most conspicuous was the Hare Krishna movement, whose male followers sported shaved heads and saffron robes. Many such Western adherents and occasional yoga practitioners were also attracted to the non-sectarian spiritual aspects of Hinduism. Many Hindu youth in the diaspora similarly preferred these universal aspects of Hinduism, standing in tension with its more political and sectarian elements. By the end of the millennium, Hindu communities were well established abroad and excelling socially, economically, and academically. They built many magnificent temples, like Swaminarayan. Hindus in the diaspora were particularly concerned about preserving their tradition and felt an obligation to respond to Hindu youth who sought a rational basis for practices that had previously been passed down through family customs. They are now particularly concerned with how to deal with contentious issues such as caste, intermarriage,e and the status of women. In many ways, Hindus in the West are returning to their roots.

Conclusion

The early history of Hinduism is the subject of much debate for many reasons. First, there was no “Hinduism” in the strict sense before modern times, although the sources of Hindu traditions are very old. Second, Hinduism is not a single religion but encompasses many traditions. Thirdly, Hinduism has no specific starting point. The traditions that flow into Hinduism can go back several thousand years, and some practitioners claim that Hindu revelation is eternal. Although the emphasis here is on personal spirituality, the history of Hinduism is closely related to social and political developments, such as the rise and fall of various kingdoms and empires. The early history of Hinduism is difficult to date, and Hindus are more concerned with the substance of a story or text than its date.

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