The Religions Book

94

T

here is, strictly speaking,

no single religion that

can accurately be called

“Hinduism”; this is a modern

Western term for the different

religions and spiritual philosophies

that have originated within the

Indian subcontinent. Nevertheless,

there are some basic features of

these religious ideas and practices

that are shared by the majority of

Hindus, and it is these ideas that

are grouped together under the

umbrella of Hinduism. In practice,

individual Hindus are free to

choose which deities they worship,

whether they do so at home or at a

temple, and how often they take

part in religious activities. But they

share a common social and religious

background that sets Hinduism

apart from other belief systems,

especially the monotheistic faiths.

In the same way as other

religions, however, Hinduism seeks

to explain how human life fits into

the universal context. Its rituals

and practices aim to address three

levels of relationship—person to

the divine; person to person;

and person to him or herself—and

how all of these relate in turn to

the universal order of all things.

A RATIONAL WORLD

IN CONTEXT

KEY SOURCE

The Vedas

WHEN AND WHERE

1500–500 BCE

BEFORE

From prehistory Early beliefs

regard events as unpredictable

or at the whim of the gods.

1700 BCE Aryan races begin

a migration into the Indian

subcontinent.

AFTER

6th century BCE The authority

of the Brahmin class to perform

sacrifices is challenged by

both Buddha and Mahavira,

founder of the Jain movement.

6th century CE Devotional

Hinduism, or bhakti, becomes

popular; worshippers make

their own offerings in order to

develop a personal relationship

with the gods, an idea very

different from the establishing

of order by Vedic sacrifice.

The eternal cosmic order

Dharma, or “right way,” is

a key term for expressing what

Hinduism is about. In its original

form, sanatana dharma, it may be

translated from Sanskrit as “the

eternal order of things,” truth, or

reality. It expresses the idea that

there is an underlying structure

and meaning to the world; beneath

the complexity and apparently

random nature of events, there

are some fundamental principles,

and, underpinning these, a single,

unchanging reality. These ideas are

demonstrated in Hinduism in the

hierarchy of gods and goddesses,

each of whom expresses particular

aspects of a single truth.

The idea of an eternal order

also has implications both for the

individual and for society. Religion is

effectively a way of understanding

the place of humanity in the world.

If the world is capable of being

understood, and if it has a definite

hierarchy or structure, then, by

following that order, a person can

live in harmony with the rest of

society and with the universe as a

whole. A key feature of the forms

of religion that came together as

Hinduism was that, in following this

There is an underlying, rational

order to the universe.

This sense of order is acknowledged

when we perform sacrifices to the gods.

In the sacrifice, we learn our place in

this order and the right way to live.

Through sacrifice we maintain

the order of the universe.