Hinduism
Introduction
Between 1500 and 500 BCE, a people called the Aryans became the most important group in northern India. They shaped India’s culture and religion. The Aryans produced important sacred writings. These are called the Vedas.
Aryans believed in a number of different gods and goddesses. These beings could be spoken to through the ceremonies of priests called Brahmins. Through these ceremonies, a person might be able to reach union with the unchanging force that underlies the universe. This force is called brahman.
Originally union with brahman was only considered possible for Brahmins. However, in the third century BCE this began to change. In time, the brahmanic religion became open to all people. The religion later became known as Hinduism.
Hinduism allowed people to worship gods directly, without priests. Gods could be honored in a number of ways. Worshippers could say prayers or sing hymns. Or, they could dance, present offerings, or visit holy sites.
Religious ideas and practices
For Hindus, life was an endless, repeating cycle. Souls were reincarnated, or reborn, over and over. The actions a person performed during their life were known as karma. They set a person’s status, or social position, in the next life. Good deeds led to a higher status. Bad deeds led to a lower status. The final goal of life was to escape this endless cycle of birth and rebirth. This could only happen if a person reached moksha, a state of freedom and knowledge. A person who reached moksha became united with brahman.
Each Hindu worshipped one or more gods and goddesses. These gods and goddesses were considered to be a part of brahman. Statues and paintings of them were found in homes and temples. Over the centuries, new gods were added.
To reach brahman, Hindus had to live a moral life. This “right way of living” was known as dharma.
Society and family life
Every ancient society divided its people into various social groups. Aryan society was no different. People were divided into separate strata, or social levels. Priests
and warriors were the two highest strata, the Brahmin and the Kshatriya. Merchants formed the third stratum, the Vaishya. Peasants and laborers made up the fourth and largest stratum, the Shudra. The Vedas claim this system was created by the gods.
Over time, Indians were divided into thousands of separate groups, based on their occupation or job. These groups were known as jatis. People were born into a jati. Often, they married within their own group. Each jati had its own roles, religious rituals, and status.
In the late 1400s, Portuguese traders came to India. They called the jati groups “casta.” This became the English word “caste.”
Certain jobs were seen as too lowly for even the Shudras. Those who did them were viewed as outside of the caste system. This developed into the idea that certain groups were “untouchable.” They were considered impure.
Most Indians were not allowed to perform the most important religious ceremonies. These could only be done by male Brahmins. Male Brahmins were also the only ones allowed to study sacred texts.
The spread of Hinduism
Over time, Hinduism spread into Nepal and Sri Lanka. In both places, it blended with local religions. Hinduism also spread into Southeast Asia. There too, imported Indian traditions mixed with local ones. Huge stone temples were built to Hindu gods. However, native gods and spirits remained important.
Today, there are about a billion Hindus. About 95 percent of them live in India.
Sources
Flood, Gavin D. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Knott, Kim, Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Koller, John M. The Indian Way: An Introduction to the Philosophies and Religions of India. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2004.
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is Distinguished Professor of History emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and currently the president of the World History Association. She is the author or editor of thirty books that have appeared in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Chinese, Turkish, and Korean.
Image credits
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:
Cover: Hoysaleswara Temple, Halebid, Karnataka, India. © Photo by: Wayne and Miriam Caravella/IndiaPictures/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
The sixth century CE Dashavatara Temple to the god Vishnu in north-central India also contains images of various other gods and goddesses. It is one of the oldest surviving Hindu stone temples. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AFront_side_of_the_Dashavatara_Temple_in_Deogarh.jpg
Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, the largest religious structure in the world, was built as a Hindu temple by the rulers of the Khmer Empire in the twelfth century. When the rulers became Buddhist, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist holy site. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angkor_Wat_Aerial_View_Siem_Reap_Cambodia_2011.jpg
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