Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life,[note 1] found most notably in India and Nepal.

Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, [note 2] and some practitioners
and scholars refer to it as Santana Dharma, "the eternal law," or the "eternal
way,"[4] beyond human origins.[5] Scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion[note 3] or
synthesis[6][note 4] of various Indian cultures and traditions,[7][note 5] with diverse roots[8][note
6]
and no founder.[9] This "Hindu synthesis" started to develop between 500 BCE and
300 CE[10] following theVedic period (1500 BCE to 500 BCE).[10][11]

Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared

concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to
sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti ("heard") and Smriti ("remembered").
These texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals,
and temple building, among other topics.[12] Major scriptures include
the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Agamas.[13][14] Sources of
authority and eternal truths in its texts play an important role, but there is also a strong
Hindu tradition of the questioning of this authority, to deepen the understanding of these
truths and to further develop the tradition.[15]

Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Pururthas, the proper goals or
aims of human life,
namely Dharma(ethics/duties), Artha (prosperity/work), Kama (desires/passions)
and Moksha (liberation/freedom/salvation);[16][17] karma (action, intent and
consequences), samsara (cycle of rebirth), and the various Yogas (paths or practices to
attain moksha).[14][18] Hindu practices include rituals such as puja (worship) and
recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional
pilgrimages. Some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions, then
engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monastic practices) to achieve Moksha.[19] Hinduism
prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings
(ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, and compassion, among others. [web 1][20]

Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, with over 1 billion followers or 15% of the
global population, known as Hindus.[web 2][21]The majority of Hindus reside
in India, Nepal, Mauritius, and Bali in Indonesia.

History of Hinduism denotes a wide variety of related Hindu denominations native to the Indian
Subcontinent, most of whom live in modern-day Nepal and India.[1] Its history overlaps or coincides
with the development of Indian religions since Iron Age India. It has thus been called the "oldest
living religion" in the world.[note 1] Scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis[2][3][4] of various Indian
cultures and traditions,[3][5][2] with diverse roots[6] and no single founder or source.[7][note 2]

The history of Hinduism is often divided into periods of development, with the first period being that
of the historical Vedic religiondated from about 1900 BCE to 1400 BCE.[8][note 3] The subsequent period,
between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions",
[11]
and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period,
from c. 200 BCE to 500 CE, saw the classical "Golden Age" of Hinduism ((c. 320-650 CE), which
coincides with theGupta Empire.[citation needed] In this period the six branches of Hindu philosophy evolved,
namely Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika,Mms, and Vedanta. Monotheistic sects
like Shaivism and Vaishnavism developed during this same period through the Bhakti movement.
The period from roughly 650 to 1100 CE forms the late Classical period [12] or early Middle Ages, in
which classical Pauranic Hinduism is established, and Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, which
incorporated Buddhist thought into Vedanta, marking a shift from realistic to idealistic thought.

Hinduism under both Hindu and Islamic rulers from c. 1200 to 1750 CE,[13][14] saw the increasing
prominence of the Bhakti movement, which remains influential today. The colonial period saw the
emergence of various Hindu reform movements partly inspired by western movements, such
as Unitarianism and Theosophy. The Partition of India in 1947 was along religious lines, with
the Republic of Indiaemerging with a Hindu majority. During the 20th century, due to the Indian
diaspora, Hindu minorities have formed in all continents, with the largest communities in absolute
numbers in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the Republic of India, Hindu
nationalism has emerged as a strong political force since the 1980s, the Hindutva Bharatiya Janata
Party forming the Government of India from 1999 to 2004, and its first state government in South
India in 2006, and also the Narendra Modi led Government from 2014.

Main articles: Indo-Aryans and Indo-Aryan migration

See also: Proto-Indo-Europeans, Proto-Indo-European religion, Indo-Iranians, and Proto-Indo-

Iranian religion

The Vedic period, named after the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans,[60][note 24] lasted from c. 1750 to 500
BCE.[61][note 25] The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which many
scholars believe originated in Kurgan culture of the Central Asiansteppes.[62][47][note 26][note 27] Indeed, the
Vedic religion, including the names of certain deities, was in essence a branch of the same religious
tradition as the ancient Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Germanic peoples. For example, the Vedic
god Dyaus Pita is a variant of the Proto-Indo-European god *Dyus ph2ter (or simply *Dyus), from
which also derive the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter. Similarly the Vedic Manu and Yama derive
from the PIE *Manu and *Yemo, from which also derive the Germanic Mannus and Ymir.

The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists[63] who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the
Indus Valley Civilization,[64][65][66][note 28] The Indo-Aryans were a branch of theIndo-Iranians, which
originated in the Andronovo culture[67] in the Bactria-Margiana era, in present northern Afghanistan.
[68]
The roots of this culture go back further to theSintashta culture, with funeral sacrifices which show
close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the Rig Veda.[69]

The Indo-Aryans split-off around 1800-1600 BCE from the Iranians,[70] where-after they were
defeated and split into two groups by the Iranians,[71] who dominated the Central Eurasian steppe
zone[72] and "chased them to the extermities of Central Eurasia." [72] One group were the Indo-Aryans
who founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria[68](ca.1500-1300 BCE). The other group were the
Vedic people, who were pursued by the Iranians "across the Near East to the Levant (the lands of
the eastern Mediterranean littoral), across Iran into India."[73]

During the Early Vedic period (c. 1500 - 1100 BCE[63]) Vedic tribes were pastoralists, wandering
around in north-west India.[74] After 1100 BCE, with the introduction of iron, the Vedic tribes moved
into the western Ganges Plain, adapting an agrarian lifestyle. [63][75][76] Rudimentary state-forms
appeared, of which the Kuru-tribe and realm was the most influential.[63][77] It was a tribal union, which
developed into the first recorded state-level society in South Asia around 1000 BCE.[63] It decisively
changed the Vedic heritage of the early Vedic period, collecting the Vedic hymns into collections, and
developing new rituals which gained their position in Indian civilization as the orthodox srauta rituals,
[63]
which contributed to the so-called "classical synthesis"[78] or "Hindu synthesis".[3]

Hindu ( pronunciation (helpinfo)) refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally,
ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism.[1] It has historically been used as a
geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia.[2]

The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time. Starting with the Persian and Greek
references to India in the 1st millennium BCE through the texts of the medieval era, [3] the term Hindu
implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in Indian subcontinent around or
beyond Sindhu (Indus) river.[4] By the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who
were not Turks or Muslims.[4][a][b]

The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural
sense, is unclear.[2][5]Competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era,
 or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars.
[5][6][7]
A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in some texts dated between the 13th and
18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages.[6][8] The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such
asVidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma (Hinduism) and contrasted it
with Turaka dharma (Islam).[9] The Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term 'Hindu' in
religious context in 1649.[10] In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer
to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals
and Arabs following Islam.[2][4] By mid-19th century, colonial orientalist texts further distinguished
Hindus from Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains,[2] but the colonial laws continued to consider all of them to
be within the scope of the term Hindu until about mid-20th century.[11] Scholars state that the custom
of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. [12][13]

At more than 1.03 billion,[14] Hindus are the world's third largest group after Christians and Muslims.
The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to India's 2011
census.[15] After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing
order: Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United
Kingdomand Myanmar.[16] These together accounted for 99% of the world's Hindu population, and the
remaining nations of the world together had about 6 million Hindus in 2010. [16]

Contents
[hide]

1Etymology

2Terminology

o 2.1Medieval-era usage (8th to 18th century)

o 2.2Colonial-era usage (18th to 20th century)

o 2.3Contemporary usage

o 2.4Disputes

3History of Hindu identity

o 3.1Hindu identity midst other Indian religions

o 3.2Hindu persecution

o 3.3Hindu nationalism

4Demographics
 5See also

6Notes

7References

8Further reading

Bourdieu's work was primarily concerned with the dynamics of power in society, and especially the
diverse and subtle ways in which power is transferred and social order maintained within and across
generations. In conscious opposition to the idealist tradition of much of Western philosophy, his work
often emphasized the corporeal nature of social life and stressed the role of practice and
embodiment in social dynamics. Building upon the theories of Martin Heidegger, Ludwig
Wittgenstein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty,Edmund Husserl, Georges Canguilhem, Karl Marx, Gaston
Bachelard, Max Weber, mile Durkheim, Claude Lvi-Strauss, Erwin Panofsky, and Marcel
Mauss (among others), his research pioneered novel investigative frameworks and methods, and
introduced such influential concepts as cultural, social, and symbolic forms of capital (as opposed to
traditional economic forms of capital), thecultural reproduction, the habitus, the field or location,
and symbolic violence. Another notable influence on Bourdieu was Blaise Pascal, after whom
Bourdieu titled his Pascalian Meditations. Bourdieu's major contributions to the sociology of
education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence in
several related academic fields (e.g. anthropology, media and cultural studies, education), popular
culture, and the arts.