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There is actually no such religion as Hinduism. The land was called Hindustan because of a mispronunciation of the River Sindhu by the Persians. The people of the land now called Hindustan, whatever their religious persuasion, did not object to being identified as Hindu. It was the British who first used Hindu to label those people who were neither Christian nor Muslim. The Buddhists and Jains, and later, the Sikhs differentiated themselves from the Hindus, presumably because of politico-cultural conflicts.
One can say that there are millions of religions in Bharath. In a land where personal exploration of the spiritual space is encouraged, there have been countless sages and seers who have peered into the mystical depths and expounded on what they have learned. Countless ordinary people are reported to have experienced extraordinary encounters with a realm beyond time and space. In a history that began even before the Rig Veda was first sung and has spanned many millennia, it is small wonder that so much spiritual and religious diversity has emerged.
In much of that time, there had been no attempt to consolidate the spiritual diversity into a single philosophy, simply because there was no such need. The people were quite content to follow their own preferred paths. But over time, the practices became corrupted, primarily because the Varna occupational categories were rendered hereditary and caste became a curse of birth. Brahmins hoarded both the Sanskrit language and Vedic knowledge and those of the supposedly lower castes were poorly treated by society. Religious practices decayed into meaningless worldly rituals.
Jainism, which is believed to have been started in ancient times by the mythical Rishabanatha, began to gain popularity, especially since the then common languages of Pali and Prakrit were used by Jain monks to spread their teaching of non-violence. The control of Vedic practices by the Brahmins led the Kshyatria rulers to move away from the Vedic Dharma. Chandragupta, the first Mauryan Emperor, was so taken up by Jain teaching that he abdicated his throne, gave up worldly pursuits and became a Jain monk.
Meanwhile, Buddhism was also gaining popularity through the preaching of Buddhist monks who travelled all around the country teaching the Middle Path of non-extremes, again in the easily accessible Pali language. Asoka, the third Mauryan Emperor, defeated his competition and went on to conquer most of Central and North Bharath. Then he atoned for the violence of his ascension and sought internal peace by becoming a Buddhist. Unlike Chandragupta who abdicated his throne, Asoka remained Emperor and was primarily responsible for the widespread introduction of Buddhism. Under Asoka’s patronage, Buddhist monks travelled to all parts of Bharath and beyond, expounding their philosophy in East and Southeast Asia as well. Like Jainism, Buddhism also grew to become the majority religion in Bharath. But unlike Jainism, Buddhism also spread to many other parts of the world.
In the Southern part of Bharath, the Tamil kingdoms of the Pandiyas (4th BCE to 14th CE), the Cholas (2nd BCE to 13th CE) and the Cheras (3rd BCE to 3rd CE and 9th CE to 12th CE) waxed and waned at different times but successfully held to the ancient traditions. They were able to resist the spread of Jainism and Buddhism by both monastic preaching and military incursions and later, remained the last bastion against the advance of the Mughal armies. The revival of the Vedic Dharma in the North can be attributed to Adi Shankara (circa CE 788 - 820) who hailed from the land today called Kerala. With his clear comprehension and explanation of Vedic Dharma, he was able to debate and defeat the arguments of the Jain and Buddhist monks. Shankara condensed the complexities of the Upanishads into four paths of Self Realization – Bhakthi, Karma, Njana and Kriya (explained later). He showed his listeners how the needs of every kind of spiritual seeker can be fulfilled by Vedic Dharma. In the modern era, Swami Vivekananda was one among many other Yogis who brought Shankara’s Vedic Dharma to the world beyond Bharath.
While the term Hinduism has gained popular use, reformists who seek to shrug off the vestiges of colonialism have taken to using the term Sanathana Dharma which means Eternal Dharma. Opponents have objected because there is no such term found in the Vedas. However, the word Hindu is not found in the Vedas either and there is no specific collective Vedic term for all the beliefs and practices that have emerged from Bharath. In a global context, it is convenient to have a common term to represent the complex theological and religious traditions of the land. Both Sanathana Dharma and Vedic Dharma are appropriate and can be used interchangeably.
Notes:
- Bharath is the traditional name for India. The river Sindhu was mispronounced as Hindu by the Persians and the land beyond the river named Hindustan. The Greeks contracted it further, the river became the Indus and the land was called India.
- Dharma – a multifaceted word meaning constant universal principle or law, social code of virtue or morality, purpose of individual existence and so on.
- There are 4 Vedas – Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. While the actual dates of revelation are not known, astronomical descriptions contained therein suggest great antiquity.
- There are 4 varnas or occupational categories: Brahman – scholar/philosopher, Kshatriya – warrior/ruler, Vaishya – merchant, and Shudra – menial worker.
- The Mauryan Empire (BCE 321 – 185) was the first empire to encompass most of the subcontinent. Chandragupta, whom the Greeks recorded as Sandracottus, defeated Alexander’s army and ended his conquest of the world.
- The oral history suggests that the Pandiyas were already ruling during a period known as the First Sangam (Academy) when the most ancient Tamil literary and spiritual works were composed.
- Upanishads - Philosophical commentaries on the Vedas
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