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Hinduism is a very broad term for the religious practices
and doctrines of the Indian people. This tradition is believed
to have begun in about 1800 BCE with religious poems known as
the Vedas. The large Vedic library includes the Samhitas
and the Brahmanas; the Upanishads, the last books
of the Vedas, began to reject many of ancient India's
religious ideas in the early centuries CE. The Upanishads established
such basic practices and beliefs as cremation and reincarnation.
Buddhism
and Jainism had risen in the sixth-century BCE, also
in resistance to Vedic religion; each became a separate religion
in its own right. While Buddhism would die out within India
by the ninth century CE, Jainism continued as a distinct religion,
even though over time many of its practices became virtually
indistinguishable from Hindu rituals.
Hinduism is best known in the West through the doctrines of Advaita,
the belief that there is only one ultimate reality. Advaitans,
however, worshiped the many icons that represented the separate
manifestations of the ultimate Brahman. After the
decline of Vedic religion, bhakti devotional cults arose;
each sect worshiped a god such as Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, or Krishna.
Bhakti devotions have remained a predominant form of Hindu worship
up through the modern era. The Sikh movement arose in the early
sixteenth century; it also grew to have a significant influence
in modern India.
Muslim
invasions into the Indian subcontinent during the early eleventh
century established Islam as yet another religious tradition
in India.
Hindus and Muslims generally lived in a peaceful co-existence
until the nineteenth century. Then, political agitation against
Britain's dominion in India led to sectarian conflict. In 1947,
the country was partitioned into a predominantly Hindu India,
a predominantly Muslim
Pakistan,
a Buddhist
Sri Lanka, and territories for yet other religious minorities.
Many different religious systems flourish in India, and it has
produced several new religious movements such as transcendental
meditation, theosophy, and the Hare Krishna movement.
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On
two audiotapes - about three hours in length.
Narrator: Ben Kingsley
Author: Dr. Gregory Kozlowski
Editor: Professor Walter Harrelson
Publisher: Knowledge Products, Inc.
This
title is part of the Audio Classics Series by
Knowledge Products. Knowledge Products publishes a variety of
audio presentations on the great ideas and events of history.
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