Introduction to Hinduism

Hinduism is not a religion per se, but rather a variety of religious beliefs and practices making up the major religious traditions of the Indian subcontinent. Hindu is a Persian word for the people and culture of the Indus River region (northwest India), hence the synonym Indian. This overview of Hinduism explains that, unlike other world religions, Hinduism was not founded by any particular person, and it is not based on any one set of beliefs, or dogma. Hinduism is based on the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Truths, or Law, that have been realized and expounded by the rishis, or great seers, dating back to well over ten thousand years ago. Any Hinduism should note that it is the oldest living religion in the world.

During the second millennium B.C., nomadic Aryan tribes invaded the northern part of India, bringing a culture and theology that became integrated with the beliefs of the various indigenous agrarian communities that existed throughout India at that time. For many years the spiritual traditions of this ancient civilization were passed on orally, but eventually these sacred teachings were compiled into the world's oldest collection of spiritual texts, known as the Vedas. The Vedas were written down over a period of thousands of years, and evolved different theologies over time.

The Vedas consist of over 1,000 hymns, which describe the various relationships God has with man. No one theology is adopted in the Vedas, but rather a cosmology and philosophy that developed out of animistic, polytheistic, and pantheistic mythologies and evolved into a monotheistic relationship. The oldest Vedic text is the Rig Veda, which in its written form dates back to 1400 B.C.

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