The concepts of Hindu and Hinduism are problematic for several
reasons.
Hindu and Hinduism are words of Persian origin from the 12th
century C.E.; thus, they are not native to India.
Those who have conceptualized Hinduism have been western European
What do we mean by "religion" (cf. Our definition)
notion of sacred reality
made manifest in human experience
in such a way as to produce long-lasting ways of thinking, feeling &
activity
with respect to problems of ordering & understanding existence
Questions
When you attempt to understand a new religious tradition, what is the
most important thing to learn? Would you focus on its doctrines, the
way it tells stories, its art, its rituals, or its institutions?
Would you focus on something else?
If you were trying to explain your own religious tradition to someone
who knew nothing about it, what would be the most important thing for
that person to learn?
Hinduism
Hinduism is not just a part or aspect of Indian life or culture; it
is far more encompassing than that.
It structures and influences every aspect of Hindu life, including
e.g. The oldest and most important of these collections contains more
than a thousand songs to various gods and goddesses and is aptly
named the Rig, meaning praise. Scholars believe it was composed
between 2300 and 1200 B.C.E.
many different gods sung to
Humans
The Veda regarded humans as being individual souls
and members of a stratified society.
For the Aryans, the essence of human life is the soul, which they
associated with the breath, designated by the word atman.
The Aryans' strong emphasis on ritual over doctrine and belief -
was the basis of the Vedic tradition.
Classical Hinduism
Transformations of thought in the Axial Age (c. 800–200 B.C.E.) led
to the re-evaluation of Vedic ritual and new ideas about the nature
of human existence.
Deeper spiritual questions led to the examination of human nature and
the possibility of an afterlife.
(This evolution in Indian religion was roughly contemporaneous with similar developments in other civilizations, including ancient Greece, China, Mesopotamia, and Israel.)
The function of religion changed from that of cosmic maintenance to
one of personal enlightenment and transformation.
Classical Hinduism established the central problem of human existence
for Hindus – samsara, the cycle of continual transmigrations of
the soul.
Karma, even good karma, keeps a person bound to the cycle of
transmigration. One path the Hindu tradition offers for the
attainment of moksha, or ultimate release, is the path of wisdom.
The path of wisdom found in the Axial Age, when the most important
Hindu responses to the anxieties about death and rebirth were
recorded in a collection of texts called the Upanishads. The oldest
of the Upanishads was probably composed between 800–400 B.C.E.,
but actually written down much later.
Modern Hinduism has had to face challenges brought by the advent of
Islam and Western culture.