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The Hidden History of the Human Race (The Condensed Edition of Forbidden Archeology), Michael A. Cremo, Torchlight Publishing, May 15, 1999, ISBN 0892133252; Hindu nationalism. Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and the Making of Hindu Nationalism in India, Meera Nanda, Rutgers University Press, 2003.
The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. [1] It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age, with some of its traditions tracing back to prehistoric religions such as those of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation.
The Hindu religion traces its beginnings to the Vedas. Everything that is established in the Hindu faith such as the gods and goddesses, doctrines, chants, spiritual insights, etc. flow from the poetry of Vedic hymns. The Vedas offer an honor to the sun and moon, water and wind, and to the order in Nature that is universal.
Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. [39] The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it". [67] Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life".
Hinduism, otherwise a highly polytheistic, pantheistic or monotheistic religion, also tolerated atheistic schools. The thoroughly materialistic and anti-religious philosophical Cārvāka school that originated around the 6th century BCE is the most explicitly atheistic school of Indian philosophy.
Archaeological sites in such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila and Lahuradewa in present-day Uttar Pradesh show iron implements from the period between 1800 BCE and 1200 BCE. [47] Early iron objects found in India can be dated to 1400 BCE by employing the method of radio carbon dating. [ 48 ]
Hindu and Buddhist religious establishments of South and Southeast Asia came to be centres of production and commerce as they accumulated capital donated by patrons. They engaged in estate management, craftsmanship, and trade. Buddhism in particular travelled alongside the maritime trade, promoting literacy, art, and the use of coinage. [138]
The history of India up to (and including) the times of the Buddha, with his life generally placed into the 6th or 5th century BCE, is a subject of a major scholarly debate. The vast majority of historians in the Western world accept the theory of Aryan Migration with c. 1500-1200 BCE dates for the displacement of Indus civilization by Aryans ...