Hinduism is a religion professed by about
450 million people called Hindus, the vast
majority of whom live in the Indian subcontinent,
where they constitute 84% of the population
of India and 11% of the population of Pakistan.
Although Hinduism is a religion, it is much
more. It includes not only theology but also
social institutions, a legal tradition, a
vast body of literature and art, some science,
and a great and varied mass of philosophy.
Hinduism's earliest literature is a collection
of ancient religious texts known as the Vedas
and written in an archaic form of Sanskrit.
The Vedas belonged to the Indo-Aryans, an
Indo-European people who appear to have entered
India frol11 the northwest around 1500-1200
B. C. The oldest Vedic work, the Rig Veda,
seems to have been compiled by around 1000
B. C. The Vedic texts are concerned with
theology, mythology, ritual, dogma, law,
cosmology, metaphysical speculation, ethics,
social order, and other subjects. Because
the religion or way of life formulated in
the Vedas was in the custody of a learned
and privileged class called Brahman, it is
known as Brahmanism.
Often in modern descriptions Brahmanism is
called "higher" Hinduism in contrast
to "lower" or "popular"
or "village" Hinduism. Popular
Hinduisim contains ideas and beliefs of undetermined
antiquity, some of them existing in India
before the Aryan invasion. It also includes
other non-Aryan material, much of which is
not confirmed in high antiquity but appears
in contemporary "primitive" or
"subliterate" cultures in India,
where it is now overlaid with a sprinkling
of items from the higher religion.
Beliefs and Practices
There exists, therefore, in Hinduism a wide
spectrum of both theology and cult, not blended
into a consistent whole, yet all tolerated
and sharing a peaceful coexistence. On the
lowest level this includes the most primitive
type of animism; on the highest, a rarefied
monism. Asceticism in a variety of forms
is widely practiced, and pilgrimage to holy
places, such as Vanarasi (Banaras, Benares),
is common.
Sacred Works. Hinduism has no formalized creeds nor standardized
forms of worship. There is no system of religious
government nor accepted scriptural canon,
although usually Hindus acknowledge the Vedas
as authoritative, regarding them as divine
in origin and having existed from eternity.
But few Hindus know anything about the content
of the Vedas. Instead most find their religious
authority and guidance in later sacred works
acknowledged to have been composed by human
beings.
For theology and mythology most Hindus rely
upon the two great Sanskrit epics-the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana, which grew up slowly between
400 B. C. and 400 A. D.-and versions of them
in modern vernaculars, such as that in Hindi
by Tulsi Das (1532-1623); also considered
authoritative are the Puranas, Sanskrit works
dealing with myths, legends, religious practices,
holy places, cosmogony, and history, the
most important of which were probably composed
between the 6th and 13th centuries; and a
class of texts called Mahatmya, usually recent
works, generally in Sanskrit, which purvey
local religious legends. For cosmogony and
cosmology most Hindus accept the statements
of the Puranas. For religious law they refer
less to the oldest legal textbooks called
Sutras (thought to be from before the 4th
century B. C.) , which are closely attached
to the Vedas, than to the later (2nd century
B. C. to 7th century A. D.) Shastras (Sastra).
In cult practice Hindus do not employ the
old and elaborate fire and soma rites of
the Vedic ritual texts known as Brahmanas
(l0th to 7th century B. C.) but use an infinite
variety of later developed ceremonies.
Nature of the Universe. To some Hindus all phenomenal existence
is only relatively real-these are adherents
to pure monism. Others may accept much simpler
concepts. Probably the greatest number of
those who recognize authority in the Hindu
scriptures accept in some form, though often
with considerable modification, the theory
of the Puranas concerning the recurring dissolution
(pralaya) of the universe and its recreation
(pratisarga). The elements of the universe
are matter (prakrti), which has three qualities
(guna): goodness (sattva), passion (rajas),
and darkness (tamas). Against matter is contrasted
spirit (purusa). From these, under impulse
from the self-existent masculine Brahma,
who is sometimes equated with matter or spirit
or with both, evolve all the gods, all other
animate creatures, the earth, the heavens,
and the hells.
Theology and Pantheon. Hindu theology varies greatly. Generally
it is polytheistic, with individual worshipers
or groups of worshipers having a preference
for a single member of the pantheon, or perhaps
several associated members. The old Vedic
deities are rarely so honored. Rather, in
higher Hinduism the great syncretic gods
Shiva (Siva) and Vishnu (Visnu) and deities
related or ancillary to them have been worshiped
for many centuries.
Vishnu is worshiped particularly in his avatars
(avatara), or incarnations, of which the
two most popular are Ramia Chandra, hero
of the Ramayana, and Krishna (Krsna), speaker
of the religious lyric Bhagavad Gita and
hero of a large body of legend centered at
Mathura. Vishnu's wife, Lakshmni (Laksmi),
is honored as the goddess of prosperity;
in the Krishna legend she is incarnated as
the milkmaid Radha, Krishna's mistress. Another
favorite is Hanuman, the monkey god, who
in the Ramayana helped Rama rescue Sita-Rama's
wife-whom the demon Ravana had abducted to
Ceylon. Shiva may be worshiped in the form
of the linga, a phallic symbol, with which
the worshiper may also honor the yoni, the
feminine generative symbol, representing
Shiva's consort Parvati, who is also known
by many other names. Shiva's sons Karttikeya
or Skanda, god of war, and Ganesha (Ganesa),
the elephant-headed god who removes obstacles
and brings good fortune, are popular deities.
Sectaries often wear distinguishing marks
on their foreheads. Sectarian adherence,
though sometimes polemical, need not be very
strict, and a Shaiva (Saiva, one belonging
to a Shiva sect) may on occasion worship
in a Vaishnava (Vaisanava, belonging to a
Vishnu sect) temple and vice versa.
Worship of the female generative principle,
personified as Shakti (Sakti, "power"),
is known as Shaktism. The universal mother,
Shakti, is also known as Devi ("goddess")
or by other names of Shiva's wife, such as
Parvati and Uma. Shaktism is a form of Tantrism,
a body of teachings considered to have been
revealed by Shiva in texts known as Tantra.
Tantrism is either "right-handed"
or "left-handed"; the chief distinction
is that adherents of the latter use ritual
involving erotic and magic practices.
On lower intellectual levels Hindus may worship
any of a large number of vegetation and fertility
godlings, divinities of disease or misfortune,
the village mother goddesses, ancestral spirits,
the sun, and the moon. Trees (such as the
variety of fig known as pipal) and stones
may be treated as sacred; also animals, such
as the monkey, the peacock, the cobra, and,
in some cases, the tiger and the horse. Rivers,
such as the Ganges, the Yamuna (Jumna), the
Narbada, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the
Kaveri (Cauvery), may be holy and so, too,
mountains, such as the Himalaya and the Vindhya
ranges. Astrology, divination, and the use
of omens are common. The evil eye is feared.
Although Hinduism embraces many gods and
cults, in its most sophisticated form it
may be monotheistic or even monistic. A Hindu
who aims at the highest goal strives to ascertain
and experience pure and ultimate Reality-The
One. Viewed in personal terms as the supreme
form of Shiva or Vishnu, this Reality is
monotheistic; conceived as being impersonal
and neuter, it is known as Brahma (neuter),
and is monistic. A person who wins to the
monistic Brahma (neuter) may continue to
live in the world, but he has become "one
who stands at the peak" (kutastha);
he has risen above all the opposites- good
and evil, pain and pleasure, sorrow and joy-which
no longer exist for him.
Rebirth and Release. In Hinduism, as in other native Indian religions,
the doctrine of rebirth in conditions determined
by one's actions (karma) in previous existences
is accepted axiomatically. Whenever anyone
dies, he is reborn as an animal or a human
being or a heavenly being or a hell-dweller,
and from that form he will again be reborn
and so on indefinitely. This cycle of rebirth
is called samsara.
The precise nature and environment of each
new body are determined by the balancing
of one's deeds, good and evil, in previous
existences. The impermanence of any existence,
however pleasant, makes existence itself
a thing of misery. Escape from the cycle
of existence is called release (moksa), or
extinction (nirvana, "blowing out")
of sorrow, and is the theoretical goal of
every being. However, the means of achieving
release are so arduous that only the most
iron willed can pursue it; most Hindus hope
only to win some improvement in the next
existence. Rarely does anyone strive for
more than a long life, perhaps lasting a
few million or billion years, in the heaven
of some god.
A being may attain salvation (release from
the cycle of rebirth) through perfect performance
of ceremonial works (karma)-that is, ritualism;
or through attainment of perfect knowledge
(jnana), essentially a philosophic goal;
toward which the greatest help is the practice
of meditation with the aid of the technique
known as yoga; or through some deity's grace
won by the worshiper's complete and loving
devotion (bhakti); or by the prosecution
of severe asceticism (tapas). In every case,
strong emphasis is laid upon having a guru
(spiritual preceptor), who may be viewed
as little less than God.
Worship. Places of worship range from the most primitive
of wayside shrines, consisting of a stone
set under a sacred tree and daubed with paint,
symbolizing some form of divinity, to the
most elaborate complex of structures constituting
an enormous temple. Certain cities are especially
holy to Hindus, the most holy being Varanasi.
Hindus use images freely in their worship
as comprehensible symbols of a deity that
in its true form is not apprehensible by
human senses, though for the unsophisticated
the use may be only that of idolatry. Worship
may consist of offerings of flowers, fruit,
grain, ghee (Hindi ghi, clarified butter),
money, and, in some connections, animal sacrifice.
A worshiper may appeal to the deity directly
or through the agency of a priest. Worship
is usually individual; an exception is the
chanting of religious lyrics by a group under
the stress of devotional emotion. In the
temples, ritual may be elaborate, involving
the use of Sanskrit verses recited by scholarly
priests, but many village priests know no
Sanskrit and confine themselves to the use
of vernaculars.
Religious authority vests in the Brahmans
(brahmana) who besides being custodians of
the sacred learning constitute the priesthood.
They officiate at religious ceremonies in
homes or temples and are other men's vicars
in dealing with the deities. As astrologers
they cast horoscopes and then interpret them
throughout a person's life to determine auspicious
and inauspicious moments and conditions for
specific undertakings.
Caste System. Hinduism has developed a hereditary caste
system as its social structure. The word
"caste" is a modification of the
Portuguese noun casta, meaning "pure
[race or lineage]," and is derived from
the Latin adjective castus ("pure");
the Indian term is jati, meaning "group
by birth." The various castes have different
social precedence. At the top are the Brahmans,
in traditional law constituting a highly
privileged group, who have been the codifiers
and formulators of the philosophy sanctioning
the system and the directors of the instrumentality
for enforcing its rules. They constitute
about 7% of the Hindu community. Caste is
hereditary, and it is not possible to transfer
from the caste in which one is born to another.
Neither can a non-Hindu individual ordinarily
become a member of a Hindu caste, though
under certain conditions a group can slowly
enter the system as a new caste.
The caste system prescribes strict regulations
concerning marriage, which must usually be
within the caste but outside the immediate
family or clan; eating, which is subject
to taboos and complicated rules respecting
the acceptance of food and drink from members
of other castes; and many other phases of
human relationship. In its most extreme form
it has imposed onerous disabilities upon
those lowest in the scale, known as Fifths,
or outcastes, who are estimated to comprise
20% of the Hindu community. Traditionally
these people performed the most degrading
forms of work. They were held to pollute
the higher castes through mere proximity
and were required to live in separate quarters
or in separate villages. Frequently they
were denied access to wells, roads, schools,
and temples used by the higher castes and
were forbidden by religious law to read or
hear the recitation of the scriptures. In
the 20th century these taboos, restrictions,
and impositions have been greatly eased.
In Hindu theory each caste has a separate
social function or occupation, but in practice
the rule does not hold. Since the criteria
are not sharply separated, the number of
castes is impossible to determine. Endogamous
groups of more than 500 members each probably
exceed 1,000 in number, but most of these
are of only local provenience.
Hindus classify the castes in five groups,
in descending order of social worth-Brahmans
(Brahmana), priests and scholars; Kshatriyas
(Ksatriya) or Rajanyas (Rajanya), temporal
rulers; Vaishyas (Vaisya), commons, or merchant
and artisan groups; Sudras or Shudras (Sudra),
servants; and Panchamas (Paficama, "fifth"),
outcastes, also known eclectically as untouchables,
exterior castes, scheduled castes, depressed
castes, pariahs, or in Gandhi's term, Harijan
("God's folk"). Members of the
three highest groups are called "twice
born" (dvija), because the boys undergo
a ceremony of initiation whereupon ideally
they enter upon their religious training.
The last two groups have no ceremony of initiation.
The fivefold classification is not rigid,
since a caste may in one census assign itself
to one of these groups but in the next to
the group higher. Every caste, no matter
how low in the scale, always knows another
that it considers lower.
Ethics. Man's duty (dharma) is to satisfy his caste
rules and fulfill his caste functions, to
honor the gods, to observe the ceremonies
that ideally accompany every important aspect
of life from conception to after death, and
to perform miscellaneous good works. The
latter include almsgiving, the undertaking
of vows and pilgrimages-often at specified
times when great numbers of people gather
in festivals-religious bathing, reverencing
the Brahmans, and feeding the poor. In Hindu
teaching since the time of the Sutras a man
devoted most fully to religion should divide
his life into four periods or stages (asrama):
(1) celibate studentship (brahma-carin);
(2) householder (grhastha), raising a family
and fulfilling his worldly duties; (3) forest-dweller
anchorite (vanaprastha), retiring with his
wife to a remote place for religious duties
and meditation; and (4) wandering ascetic
(samnyasin, bhiksu), having severed all ties
with family, living alone, subsisting on
alms. This fourfold scheme is rarely practiced
today.
The outstanding ethical principle is ahimsa
(Sanskrit ahimsa, or non-injury of living
creatures, which Gandhi called "nonviolence."
The doctrine's protection applies not only
to mankind but also to the animal world,
varying in application toward the separate
animal species but always demanding protection
of bovines, which hold a position of peculiar
sanctity in Hinduism. Acts violating one's
duty constitute offenses against religion
and may even be attended by ceremonial pollution.
This may be absolved by paying penalties
or by performing expiatory rites.
Hinduism has been an incorporating religion,
accepting and legitimizing ideas, deities,
and cult practices from many sources. It
blends its widely varying beliefs and practices
into a whole by admitting, without explicit
statement, that men are not intellectually
and spiritually equal. For this reason, it
is unrealistic to expect all human beings
to believe alike, pursue the same goals,
have identical behavior, attain the same
spiritual heights. Truth has one aspect to
one person, another aspect to a second person,
and still another to a third. Absolute truth
can be achieved by only the rarest individual,
but what any man sees is, within his limitations,
truth for him. Similarly, man's conduct is
governed by rules that vary according to
his spiritual and intellectual capacity.
In this relative view of life lies the sanction
for the caste system. A person is born to
the status that suits his attainments in
consequence of his deeds in previous existences;
the functions of that status are those which
he should fulfill-he should not by to fulfill
those of some other status, says the Bhagavad
Gita, even though he might perform them better
than the person to whom they belong. The
code of personal conduct under which he lives
is the one suitable to his status and to
him. A consequence of this view has been
that in Hindu thinking there has been little
concern about human rights; rather the emphasis
has been put upon the fulfillment of duties.
Yoga. This system of philosophy is an extension
of the Samkhya. It formulates systematically
the techniques of meditation known as yoga,
a word that means "harnessing"
or "control" and refers to the
control and suppression of the activities
of the mind and the sense organs so that
these will not interfere with the soul in
the attainment of self-realization. The Yoga
system of philosophy postulates a god, Ishvara
(Isvara) , who is really a particular soul,
supremely possessed of knowledge, goodness,
and power, no longer affected by karma. He
helps a worshiper in the early steps on the
road to salvation.
The first stage of the yoga technique is
designed to cause the evolutes of intelligence
(buddhi) to retract into intelligence, and
this is accomplished by kriya yoga (yoga
of observances of physical acts) in five
stages: (1) adoption of restraints (yama)
from lying, killing, and other evils; (2)
adoption of observances (niyama) of purity
and other virtues; (3) use of posture (asana)
suitable for meditation; (4) restraint of
breath (pranayama) ; and (5) withdrawal of
senses (pratyahara) from the objects of sense.
Then comes the second main stage of yoga,
known as superior or royal yoga (raja yoga),
in three phases (samyama): (1) concentration
(dharana) of the intelligence on an object
without wavering; (2) meditation (dhyana)
as an uninterrupted mental state; and (3)
trance (samadhi), in which the individual
is fully identified with the object of meditation.
Social Change. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries much
social reform has taken place in Hinduism,
in respect to institutions and practices
that received sanction in religious texts
of later date than the Vedas.
The most publicized of these was the rite
of suttee, or sati ("true woman, "
"faithful wife")-cremation of a
widow on her husband's funeral pyre. This
practice, frequent among the upper castes,
was opposed by Rammohun Roy and many other
Hindus and was made illegal in 1830 by the
governor-general of India, Lord William Bentinck,
without serious oposition. Hindu women's
civil rights, which had been severely curtailed
in post-Vedic and medieval times, were advocated
by a number of Hindus, including many Brahmans,
during the 19th and 2Oth centuries. Female
education was promoted by various reformers,
and today it is common on all educational
levels in India. Remarriage of Hindu widows,
formerly denied by sacred law, occurs today
though it is not yet frequent. In traditional
Hindu law a woman's position was much inferior
to a man's. She had no rights in joint family
property which was heritable only by surviving
males; females could inherit or will only
limited kinds of property, notably dowry.
Agitation by reformers led to liberalization
under British rule in the early part of the
20th century, and in post-independence India
to a drastic rewriting of the law in 1955-
1956, when Parliament adopted a reformed
"Hindu Code" in four bills. Marriage
is now monogamous for both Hindu males and
females, and divorce is possible even for
females, except in families that regard marriage
as a sacrament. Women can inherit property,
though sons still have birthright in ancestral
and joint-family property. The inheritance
rights of minors have been strengthened.
Caste discrimination, especially "untouchability,"
consisting of severe limitation upon the
civil rights of the lowest groups in Hindu
society, was opposed by many Indian reformers
over a long period, even before the days
of British rule but with little success.
In the 20th century the most influential
opponent of untouchability was Gandhi, and
his influence appears in the Constitution
of India (1950), which declares that "untouchability
is abolished." Enforcement of the abolition
is incomplete but public opinion is sympathetic
enough to make possible social contacts,
equal opportunity in education, inter-dining
with higher castes, and even occasional inter-marriage.
"Cow protection" is an issue today.
The doctrine of the sanctity and inviolability
of bovines unknown in Vedic times, when cattle
were regularly sacrificed and their meat
was eaten seems to have developed in the
early part of the Christian era. By the time
of the Muslim occupation, it was widespread
and firmly fixed in Hinduism and so became
one of the most frequent sources of Hindu-Muslim
hostility. Gandhi strongly advocated cow
protection; to him the cow was "a poem
of pity." A number of Indian states
have statutes prohibiting cow slaughter.
In 1955 a bill was introduced in the lower
house (Lok Sabha) of Parliament for full
national prohibition of cow slaughter. Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru intervened in the
debate, threatening to resign if the bill
were enacted, and it was defeated. Today
cow protection is a perennial item in political
campaigns and is used as a weapon against
those who do not support it.
Future of Hinduism. The promotion of such reforms as have been
mentioned does not mean that Hinduism is
moribund; it only means that theological
and social change is taking place. Of the
two, social change is the more provocative
and the more conspicuous. Hinduism has always
been tolerant of varying theological dogmas
and intellectual contradictions, which have
been able to live side by side in comparative
placidity. But intolerance in matters of
social practice has been characteristic of
the Hindu way of life, and reformation of
social institutions has usually been especially
difficult. But even in the case of social
reform today, the great encompassing frame
of Hinduism seems unshaken and, though subject
to some alteration, capable of enduring into
a long future.
Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Religion.
1987. Eliade, M., Ed. MacMillan Publishing,
Co., NY.
