Understanding the Religions of the World

An Introduction

Willoughby Deming

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781118770559
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Religions

Understanding the Religions of the World offers a new approach to the study of religion which moves away from the purely descriptive and instead helps students understand how religions actually 'work'. Covering all the main faith traditions, it combines historical context, contemporary beliefs and practices, and original theory, with numerous study features and valuable overviews.

• A major new student-focused textbook concentrating on contemporary practices and beliefs of world religions
• Brings together a team of experts to provide a uniquely comprehensive coverage of religious traditions, including African religions and the religions of Oceania, which are rarely covered in detail
• Integrates original theory by arguing that each religion operates according to its own logic and order, and that they fulfill our need for a point of orientation
• Incorporates extensive student features including chapter introductions, 'did you know?' sections, boxed examples/material, numerous images and maps, conclusions, study questions and teaching plans, available on publication at www.wiley.com/go/deming

CHAPTER 1
Hinduism

God is in everyone. A murti (idol) of the Hindu god Ganesha, elephant-headed son of the great god Shiva and remover of obstacles. Source: Will Deming.

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DID YOU KNOW…

The popular term avatar comes from Hinduism, where it has been used for hundreds of years to describe the ten incarnations of the great god Vishnu. In Hinduism an avatar is a form by which this god can cross over from his reality into ours.

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OVERVIEW

Hinduism is the predominant religion of India, the world's second most populous country. More than 80 percent of its population, or about 1 billion people, identify themselves as Hindu. The next largest religion in India is Islam, at about 13 percent of the population, followed by Christianity and Sikhism, at about 2.3 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. More than 30 million Hindus also live in the countries surrounding India, such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan; and large populations can be found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, Mauritius, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Figure 1.1 A map showing the relative Hindu populations in different countries around the world.

Hindus have no single scripture that codifies their core beliefs, nor do they have a governing body that establishes a standard for religious practices. Instead, Hindus recognize an enormous diversity within their religion. In India alone one finds innumerable regional differences, and outside the country this diversity is sometimes even greater. Indonesians, for example, practice forms of Hinduism that incorporate elements from Islamic and folk traditions.

It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the name “Hinduism,” which manages to gather this diversity neatly—perhaps too neatly—under a single designation, was not created by Hindus themselves. Rather, the ancient Persians used “Hindu” to designate their neighbors to the east, who lived along the banks of the Indus river. But even the Persians did not intend to identify the religion of these people, just their geographical location. Only when India was under British colonial rule in the eighteenth century did “Hinduism” gain currency as an umbrella term for the religion. The British, who thought of religions as theological systems, and who governed India by taking into account the religious affiliation of their subjects, needed terms to distinguish Indians of this religion from Indians who were Sikhs, or Muslims, or something else. In contrast, Hindus had traditionally referred to their religious activities simply as dharma (duty), and distinguished themselves from others in various ways, such as calling themselves Aryans (noble people), or followers of Brahmins (Hindu priests), or devotees of a particular god in the Hindu pantheon. Today, many Hindus also accept and use the names “Hindu” and “Hinduism” to speak of themselves and their religion, despite its unusual diversity.

In an attempt to envision such a multiform religion, Julius Lipner has likened Hinduism to the famous banyan tree near Kolkata (Calcutta), in West Bengal. The banyan, India's national tree, can become quite old. It prospers by sending out a profusion of aerial roots which become new trunks that cover large areas and assimilate everything in their path. The Kolkata banyan, which is estimated to be over two centuries old, covers approximately four acres. It has no central trunk or core segment, but is nonetheless a single tree. In a similar way, we can understand Hinduism as a single entity, but one whose diversity almost defies description. (Julius Lipner, “On Hinduism and Hinduisms: The Way of the Banyan,” ch 1, pp. 9–34 in The Hindu World, ed. Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, New York and London: Routledge, 2004).

Figure 1.2 Like India's banyan tree, Hinduism can appear to have no center or main trunk. Source: Photo by Murky.

History

Timeline
2300 to 2000 BCE	The Indus Valley civilization is at its height.
2000-1500 BCE	The Indus Valley civilization is in decline.
1700-1500 BCE	Aryans migrate into the Indus Valley; the Rig-Veda is composed.
1200-900 BCE	The Collections are brought to completion.
900 BCE	Aryan peoples spread eastward to the Ganges river.
800-600 BCE	The Brahmanas are composed.
500-400 BCE	The first Upanishads are composed; Buddhism begins.
5th–4th century	The caste system begins to take shape.
300 BCE–300 CE	The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are composed; the practice of puja begins.
3rd century BCE	Ashoka becomes king of the Mauryan dynasty.
1st century CE	The Bhagavad Gita is composed.
2nd century CE	The first evidence of Hindu temples.
3rd–4th century CE	Devotional practices (bhakti) become popular in south India among Tamils.
350 CE	The first Puranas are composed.
7th century CE	Devotional practices (bhakti) are used widely in Hinduism.
1000 CE	Muslims enter the Punjab.
1206-1526 CE	The Delhi Sultanate.
1526 CE–18th century	The Mughal Dynasty.
mid-13th century	Buddhism disappears from most of India.
15th century CE	Sikhism founded.
1600 CE	The East India Company establishes offices in Kolkata.
1757 CE	The beginning of British colonial domination.
18th and 19th centuries	The Hindu Renaissance.
1869-1948 CE	Mohandas Gandhi.
1872-1950 CE	Aurobindo Ghosh.
1947 CE	End of British rule; millions of Hindus and Muslims are uprooted and resettled during India's Partition, which created the nation of Pakistan.
1950	The Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste.
1980s	The resurgence of Hindu Nationalism.

The Indus Valley

Hinduism began in the middle of the second millennium BCE in the Indus valley, a fertile region fed by five tributaries of the Indus river. Today this area is known as the Punjab (five rivers), and is divided between the nations of India and Pakistan. From approximately 2300 to 2000 BCE a complex, urban civilization flourished in the Indus Valley. It had two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-da...