So contentious is the definition of "Hinduism" that even India's Supreme Court refused to define what constitutes "Hinduism"! Thus, it has become a sort of free-for-all, with some claiming that "Hinduism" is merely a lifestyle, some others claiming that it is the "Sanatana Dharma" (eternal law) of India, and yet more claiming that any religion can be "accommodated within Hinduism," whatever that means! :) What then is this elusive notion named "Hinduism"? In this post, I trace back the evolution of the major religions of India, and how they relate to each other as well as the other major world religions. In doing so, I will present facts based on my readings of the evolution of the major world religions as well as my thoughts on what "Hinduism" is and who the "Hindus" of today are. I will also show how there are many surprising relationships among the world religions, and how many open research questions remain for historians and anthropologists.
Three Groups of Major World Religions:
Based on historical, anthropological, archaeological, hermeneutical, and linguistic evidence, scholars have managed to piece together how and when most of the major world religions originated and evolved. As with biology, there is also a convenient and popular taxonomy. There are 3 main groups of extant world religions: Abrahamic, Hindu/Indian/Dharmic, and Sinitic/Taoic. They are classified based on the geography of their origin: Abrahamic religions are from West Asia, Indian religions are from South Asia (the Indian subcontinent), while Taoic religions are from East Asia. After digesting the origins of these religions, I have created the following graphical representation of the chronological occurrence of each major world religion and how they relate to each other (click to enlarge):
The key lesson from the graph is that almost no major world religion existed or exists in isolation. Contrary to the claims made by the overzealous leaders and followers of most religions, almost all the extant religions of the world are simply ideas that have recycled and innovated upon a bunch of preexisting ideas! :) I will now explore each portion of the graph in detail.
Pre-historical Religions
We begin with pre-history because almost all the major extant world religions were originally derived from pre-historical animistic and polytheistic traditions. When human society was still in the hunter-gatherer phase (tens of thousands of years ago), man was at a loss to explain the powerful forces of nature. Hence, animism and polytheism seemed to be a natural solution. By anthropomorphizing physical entities such as the Sun, the Moon, rivers, mountains, stars, fire, etc., and by assigning "inexplicable powers" to them, man was able to mitigate some cognitive dissonance caused by his ignorance of how the physical world works, in terms of mechanistic explanations. Interestingly, this has been observed in almost all human societies across the world, be it the islands of the Pacific, the deserts of Egypt, the plains of India, or the rainforests of Africa. The most influential of these are the polytheistic religions of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the Indus peoples, the Proto-Semites, and the Sinitic peoples. All the major extant world religions of today are based on ideas and concepts derived from these ancient religions. Thus, I ignore many other polytheistic religions such as those from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Africa, and the Americas. We will now dive deeper into each of these four major polytheistic religions and their descendants.
Indo-European Polytheism and Its Descendants:
This is perhaps the most influential polytheistic religion in terms of both numbers and geographic extent. Developing over the course of several centuries from 6000 to 2000 years ago, this religion gave birth to some of the most famous polytheistic religions in history - Graeco-Roman polytheism of the ancient Greeks and Romans as well the Vedic Brahminical polytheism of the ancient Indians. With a rich pantheon of deities devoted to the forces of nature as well as emotions of man, this religion featured a bewildering array of Gods and Goddesses. Graeco-Roman polytheism is now extinct, and any remnant influence of those religions has been thoroughly expunged by the monotheistic Abrahamic religions. However, Vedic Brahminism still exists in India, both in its original form and in more diffused forms. Being the religion of the ancient Indo-Aryan peoples of India, it is one of the twin bases of the diverse Hindu group of religions. Thus, we shall explore it deeper to find the origin of the so-called "Hinduism."
Vedic Brahminism is, at its core, a heavily ritualistic and priest-oriented polytheistic religion. In fact, the central authoritative texts of this religion, the Vedas, are mostly manuals for rituals and praises for the numerous Gods of this religion. Being the chief religion of the Indo-Aryans that settled in the Ganges plains, this religion has decayed and lost its original character over the course of several millennia. Nevertheless, some of its ideas and concepts have been inherited by newer Hindu religions. At present, only a small sect of people called the Srauta Namboodiris of Kerala seem to follow this religion strictly. A key factor for the decay of Vedic Brahminism has been the continual dialogue between the priest-scholars of this religion, the brahmans (anglicized as brahmins), with the descendants of a mysterious Indus religion that is hypothesized to be the ancestor of Jainism, the shramans (more on this later). Eventually, the focus on nature Gods such as Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Agni, etc. that was at the core of Vedic Brahminism gave way to new "all-purpose" Gods such as Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, etc., which led to the creation of monotheistic Hindu religions. And the emphasis on ritual worship in Vedic Brahminism gave way to an emphasis on "personal devotion" in its daughter Hindu religions.
The ancestors of the Indo-Aryans of India also settled in ancient Iran, giving birth to a rival polytheistic religion there. In fact, Vedic Brahminism shares many interesting similarities with that religion. For example, the nature God Mitra (a name with roots in the proto-Indo-Iranian language that gave birth to both Avestan Persian and Vedic Sanskrit) is revered in both. Also, the Indo-Aryans called their Gods devas and Demons asuras, while the Iranians, in an apparent act of sibling rivalry, called their Gods ahuras and Demons devas! :D Eventually though, due to the efforts of a man named Zoroaster, the Iranians moved towards monotheism and chose a single ahura named "Ahura Mazda" as their sole God. This gave birth to what is probably the world's oldest extant monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism. Being the official religion of the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire, Zoroastrianism rose to become one of the most prestigious world religions. In fact, it is hypothesized that the ancient Semites were inspired to move towards monotheism due to Zoroastrian influence in the Levant (more on this later).
Indus Religion(s?):
One of the biggest open research challenges in anthropology, linguistics, and history is deciphering the script of the Indus Valley Civilization, an urbane Bronze-age civilization that predates the Ganges basin-based Sanskritic Vedic Brahminical civilization of the Indo-Aryans by several centuries. Locked away in their seals and artifacts are records of who the Indus peoples were, what their way of life was, and what their religion(s) was/were. It is hypothesized that the Indus peoples were the proto-Dravidians, who gradually migrated to southern India after regional climate change ravaged the Indus basin with extremes of floods and droughts. However, there is no concrete evidence for this yet. Excavations show that they might have had at least one polytheistic religion that included worshipping a powerful mother Goddess figure as well as various male deities. Yet, the Indus culture is also hypothesized to be where Jainism has its roots. Along with Vedic Brahminism, Jainism is one of the twin bases of the Hindu religions. Thus, we shall explore it a bit more deeply.
Jainism is, at its core, an individualistic atheistic religion. It could not be more different than Vedic Brahminism! It places great emphasis on personal spiritual experience through strict asceticism, unlike the priest and ritual-oriented Vedic Brahminical religion. There are no supernatural entities such as Gods and Goddesses that shower blessings on humans. Rather, it is through contemplation and introspection that a practitioner intuits his or her own problems and their solutions. A common mistake that people looking at Jainism make is that they assume that followers of this religion "worship" Mahavira and some other "Gods." In reality, these men are simply considered exemplary practitioners of Jainism, who passed on their insights and learning to others!
In this way, Jainism is truly unique as it is the first religion to break free of the shackles of theism (belief in supernatural entities).Two central ideas of Jainism are non-violence (ahimsa, which was eventually popularized as a political tool by Mahatma Gandhi) and the plurality of subjective experience (anekantavaada). The dialogue between Jainism and Vedic Brahminism gave birth to refinements in each religion, and resulted in the generation of new ideas. For example, it is hypothesized that the brahmans adopted vegetarianism from the shramans (in fact, many Jains remain more zealously vegetarian than the Brahmins of today), while the ideas of dharma, karma, and moksha, which originated in atheistic Jainism were adopted, redefined, and appropriated by the theists of Vedic Brahminism!
The Abrahamic Religions - A Brief Detour:
Meanwhile, in the Levant, in moving from the polytheistic religion of their ancestors towards a monotheistic religion with Yahweh as the sole God, the Jewish people created another highly influential world religion--Judaism. However, Judaism retained many archaic ritualistic and priest-oriented practices. Due to discontentment with the priestly class, the teachings of a Jewish reformer named Jesus became popular. His teachings were eventually repackaged by his followers to create a new monotheistic religion--Christianity--about 2000 years ago. Later on, as Christianity came to Europe, it was influenced by descendants of Indo-European polytheism (derisively referred to as pagan religions), and adopted some of their practices. Later on, about 1300 years ago, an Arab reformer named Mohammed accused Christianity of "contaminating" the monotheism of Judaism with polytheistic-style ideas. He wanted to restore Judaism-style strict aniconic monotheism (tawhid) and thus, he created a new monotheistic religion--Islam. Since there is practically no deep theological difference between Judaism and Islam, I occasionally refer to them together as Judeo-Islam! :)
Militarized Islamic empires conquered most of north Africa and West Asia in order to spread Islam, and destroyed the once-powerful religion of Zoroastrianism as well as other animistic and polytheistic religions of the Middle East. The Arab Islamic armies also attacked India but failed to make headway. Hence, the Hindu religions did not face the same fate as their sibling religion in Iran. In fact, a small population of Zoroastrians escaped from Iran to India (the Parsis), where they still live today. Finally, about 200 years ago, an Iranian reformer named Baha'ullah reformed Islam to create the Bahai religion, which is a less strict form of monotheism than Islam. Far away, in the United States, a businessman named Joseph Smith created the Mormon religion, which is basically an Americanized form of Christianity. These 5 religions together worship Yahweh as their sole God, with Abraham as a main patriarchal prophet. Thus, they are collectively known as the Abrahamic religions.
In my opinion, the Abrahamic religions are effectively a single religion that worship the same God Yahweh, but they have major political differences! :D
The Birth of New Hindu Religions:
Back in India, about 2500 years ago, a man named Siddhartha found the continual tussle between the theists of Vedic Brahminism and the atheists of Jainism to be futile. He was more interested in answering deeper questions of human happiness and suffering and did not find any of the existing Hindu religions satisfactory. He discovered the now-famous "middle way" between the extremes of sensual indulgence and asceticism. Eventually, his followers packaged his teachings as a new religion and called him the Buddha, and his religion, Buddhism. Buddhism, at its core, is an agnostic-atheistic religion. Like the Jains, the Buddhists do not believe in supernatural entities, but rather, consider contemplative practice and self-experience as paramount. But Buddhism does not require its followers to follow extreme asceticism, which makes it a "softer" daughter of Jainism.
After the efforts of Emperor Ashoka, the Great, Buddhism rose to prominence as a state religion of India. Furthermore, he sent emissaries to other parts of Asia to spread Buddhism, raising it to the status of a major world religion, which it remains today. Apart from Buddhism, minor atheistic religions/philosophies named Charvaka and Ajivika were also created, but are now extinct. Collectively, Jainism, Buddhism, Charvaka, and Ajivika are known as nastika darshana, which literally means religions that reject the authority of the Vedas, but can also be interpreted as the atheistic branch of Hindu religions. And as with Judeo-Islam, due to the fundamental similarities between Jainism and Buddhism, I occasionally refer to them together as Jaina-Buddhism.
Concomitant with the evolution of atheistic Hindu religions, the theistic branch was also undergoing its own evolution. In conjunction with the writing of new philosophical texts such as the Upanishads as well as the great epics (Ramayanam and Mahabharatam), theistic Hindus started gravitating towards monotheistic religions, akin to the Iranians and Jews. As had become common in India by then, there was no agreement among the Hindus even in this process of "monotheistization"! :D At least 4 major monotheistic religions evolved: Shaivism, in which Shiva is the one true God; Vaishnavism, with its Vishnu; Kaumaram, with its Karthikeya; and Shaktism, in which the divine mother is the one true God... er, Goddess! :D
Unlike Vedic Brahminism, these monotheistic Hindu religions were more easily graspable for laymen due to their emphasis on simple devotion (bhakti) rather than elaborate rituals (yajna) in Sanskrit, which by then had ceased to be the language of the masses. Thus, the monotheistic Hindu religions rose to prominence, relegating the polytheistic Vedic Brahminical religion to the sidelines. As it happened between the various monotheistic Abrahamic religions, the Hindu monotheists often warred against each other, especially Shaivism and Vaishnavism, which had become archrival religions. Vedic Brahminism, however, did not disappear in toto, but rather, its polytheistic beliefs and practices continued to influence the new Hindu monotheistic religions. Thus, strictly speaking, the Hindu monotheistic religions should be referred to as "henotheistic" monotheism, i.e., religions whose followers may acknowledge the existence of other Gods, but worship only one chosen God as their supreme entity.
From about 2200 years ago and for a millenium, 3 of these new Hindu religions came to dominate Indian culture and society: Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Buddhism.Across India, several kingdoms adopted these 3 religions as state religions (some also included Jainism and Shaktism in this list). As a brief, but interesting, aside, the Hindu religions also influenced other parts of Asia. Due to the close trading and cultural relationship between southeast Asia and southeastern Indian kingdoms, especially the Pallavas and the Cholas of South India and the Palas of East India, these 3 Hindu religions came to dominate southeast Asia as well. It was due to this cultural exchange that the massive architectural marvels of southeast Asia were built - Angkor Wat in Cambodia (a massive Vishnu temple - in fact, the world's largest Hindu temple; later, it was used as Buddhist temple), Prambanan (primarily, a Shiva temple), and Borobodur (a Buddhist temple), both in Indonesia. Eventually, Buddhism became more popular among the masses, while the theistic Hindu religions became extinct in southeast Asia (except in the island of Bali). Eventually, Islam supplanted the Hindu religions a few centuries ago in Indonesia and Malaysia, while Buddhism remains the dominant religion elsewhere in southeast Asia.
Advaita Vedantism: A Groundbreaking Post-Atheistic Theism:
In contrast to the developments in southeast Asia, in India itself, Buddhism (and Jainism) came under intense fire from the priest-scholars of the theistic Hindu religions. There was a renewed interest in the long-lost ways of the Vedic Brahminical religion, reinterpreted in light of the atheism of Jaina-Buddhism as well as the conflicts between the monotheistic Hindu religions. The most prominent of these priest-scholars was a man named Adi Shankara, from south India. About 1500 years ago, Adi Shankara traveled across India and held philosophical debates about the nature of reality with Jaina-Buddhist scholars in various royal courts across India. Most of these questions were about the "why" or "how" of life and death. Since Jaina-Buddhist scholars place an emphasis on logic and reason, they did not have satisfactory answers for some of these philosophical questions that are beyond the framework of logic and reason.
Thus, Adi Shankara and his followers scored many victories over Jaina-Buddhist scholars, eventually leading to the decline in both royal and popular support for Jaina-Buddhism. Adi Shankara's arguments were based on the abstract philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, who roots are buried in the later Vedas and Upanishads but had never been unearthed in practice. Thanks to the efforts of Adi Shankara and his intellectual followers (all the way down to Mahatma Gandhi himself!), Advaita Vedantism started rising to prominence as the dominant Hindu religion of India, which it remains today.
Advaita Vedantism, at its core, is a monistic religion (for all practical purposes, Smaartism is another name for this religion). The word "advaita" literally means "non-dual". Its strict interpretation is that man (read nature, or "creation") is not distinct from God (the divine, or "creator") but rather inseparable. Furthermore, God in Advaita Vedantism, given the name Brahman, or Parabrahmam, is not an anthropomorphic entity like in the monotheistic or polytheistic religions. Rather, Brahman is defined very abstractly as the "unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all matter, energy, space, and time." Such a definition of God is unprecedented in the history of major world religions. Essentially, Advaita Vedantists believe that God is one, but can have infinite names and forms, i.e., it is an inclusive and accretion-based religion, rather than the exclusivism of previous monotheistic religions.
In defining God as such, Advaita Vedantism achieved something truly remarkable--it reconciled the vast differences between Vedic polytheism and the various monotheistic Hindu religions.Essentially, an Advaita Vedantist is free to choose any form of God that he desires (ishtadevata) as long as he recognizes the underlying "unity in infinity". In fact, Adi Shankara instituted the tradition of Shanmata - worship of 6 of the then most popular Gods - Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Karthikeya, Ganesha, and Surya - as different aspects of the same God.
In contrast to most polytheistic and monotheistic religions, many of whose claims about God are falsifiable by the framework of scientific reasoning and logic, many of the claims of Advaita Vedantism are neither verifiable and falsifiable. Putting it bluntly, many of its claims constitute what scientists call "bullshit"! :D As an exampe, in the USA, a man named Deepak Chopra has espoused Advaita Vedantic ideas and repackaged it as "New Age" theism. He is regularly accused by sceptics and atheists of "bullshitting" when debating them on the question of God. :D Thus, one thing is clear to me from the twin lessons of Jaina-Buddhism defeating Vedic Brahminism and the various Hindu monotheisms, followed by Advaita Vedantism defeating Jaina-Buddhism in India:
Verifiable truths will eventually defeat falsifiable falsehoods, but even such truths can be given a run for their money by beautiful-sounding bullshit! :DI think a similar story will unfold in the Western world over the next few decades, with the relentless march of atheism and science defeating the Abrahamic religions, but eventually being defeated by New-Age-style or SBNR-style philosophies (akin to Advaita Vedantism).
On a more serious note, it is clear that Advaita Vedantism was designed to be intellectually-oriented in a manner similar to Jaina-Buddhism. Thus, many of its properties resemble Jaina-Buddhism. In fact, unlike Vedic Brahminism, which emphasizes ritual worship, and Hindu monotheisms, which emphasize personal devotion, both Advaita Vedantism and Jaina-Buddhism emphasize contemplation and self-discovery. This is why some Hindu scholars accuse Adi Shankara of being a "Buddhist in disguise"! :D Anyways, the Iyers of south India were the first major converts to Advaita Vedantism, from Shaivism, while the Iyengars rejected Advaita Vedantism in favor of Vaishnavism. Meanwhile, in North India, where invasions from West Asia had brought Islam, a philosopher named Guru Nanak reconciled Advaita Vedantism and Islam to create Sikhism, a new monotheistic Hindu religion. Many of Sikhism's practices are a hybrid of Islam and the Hindu religions. For all practical purposes, the core theology of Sikhism can be considered as a slightly restricted version of Advaita Vedantism.
Taoic Religions: Another Brief Detour
Buddhism was exported from India to China, where it mingled with the local animistic and polytheistic religions. The most popular among these is Taoism, which remains a popular religion for millions of Chinese. Lao Tzu is a prominent philosopher that is revered as a deity in this religion (although, he is revered otherwise as a human too). However, the most dominant religion in China is an atheistic religion created by a scholar named Confucius, a religion that we now call Confucianism. Confucius, like the Buddha, was not interested in philosophical questions of God, life, death, etc., but rather worldly questions of personal morality, family issues, administering the state, etc. Modern Chinese society, as well the state, are heavily influenced by Confucianism. Many followers of Lao Tzu and Confucius also follow the Buddha's teachings, leading to the creation of a new colloquial "religion" referred to as the "triple religion" in China and Vietnam. It is mostly an atheistic religion that reveres these three men as great philosophical teachers.
In neighboring Japan, the animistic religion of Shintoism remains the dominant religion there. While its followers revere several nature deities, spirits, and their ancestors, it is not an organized monotheistic or polytheistic religion like the Abrahamic religions or some Hindu religions. Thus, many Japanese also follow aspects of Buddhism and perhaps other Taoic religions. As an aside, I mention an interesting connection that binds India, China, and Japan. Perhaps the most famous religious export from Japan is Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism that has become synonymous with insight and inner peace. The founder of this sect is Bodhidharma, hypothesized to be a Pallava king from Kanchipuram in South India! He traveled from the Tamil land to China, teaching both the Shaolinquan and Chan, which later became Zen in Japan.
Conclusion:
Returning to India, I now answer the questions that I posed in the beginning. The inclusiveness of Advaita Vedantism proved so attractive and "politically correct" that Swami Vivekananda presented this religion as the "true Hinduism" at an international conference on religions. Other scholars, such as Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi, also came to consider Advaita Vedantism as the "Sanatana Dharma," or "eternal law" of India. Gandhi, in fact, argued for Yahweh (Allah in Arabic) and Jesus to be considered as more forms of Brahman, creating his own extension to Advaita Vedantism that I have labeled Gandhian Vedantism.
Gandhian Vedantism is the basis of what is known as "secularism" in India, at least to some parts of the society! :D Thus, whenever people mention "Hinduism" these days, it is by default assumed to be the monistic religion of Advaita Vedantism or its extension, Gandhian Vedantism. In fact, many Hindus themselves do not even realize these vast distinctions and/or do not even know the term Advaita Vedantism! However, it is incorrect to assume that all Hindus worship a single God in their desired form and are accepting of different definitions of God.
The atheists of Jaina-Buddhism, the monotheists of Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Shaivism, Sikhism, etc., the polytheists of Vedic Brahminism, as well as the followers of many indigenous folk religions of India (usually animistic and polytheistic) are as much "Hindu" as the monists of Advaita Vedantism and Gandhian Vedantism.Depending on whether Gandhian Vedantism can be considered a new Hindu religion (no one except me has used this term so far! :D), and depending on whether the Judeo-Muslims and Christians of India espouse Gandhian Vedantism, they too can be considered "Hindus." Thus, Judeo-Muslims that reject any other form/name of God other than Yahweh/Allah, and Christians that reject any other form/name of God other than Yahweh/Jesus/the Holy Spirit are not "Hindus" in the religious sense. In my opinion, any Indian (indeed, anyone) who believes that "God is one but has many names and forms" is technically a Hindu of the Advaita Vedantic kind in the religious sense, whether they recognize it or not. :)
