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Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, [a] but scholars regard Hinduism as a relatively recent synthesis [2] [3] [4] of various Indian cultures and traditions, [2] [3] [5] with diverse roots [6] and no single founder, [7] [b] which emerged around the beginning of the Common Era. [8] [c]
In Indian texts, Hindu dharma ("Hindu religion") was often used to refer to Hinduism. [ 45 ] [ 47 ] Starting in the 17th century, European merchants and colonists adopted "Hindu" (often with the English spelling "Hindoo") to refer to residents of India as a religious community.
[120] [121] The term Hindu, in contemporary parlance, includes people who accept themselves as culturally or ethnically Hindu rather than with a fixed set of religious beliefs within Hinduism. [64] One need not be religious in the minimal sense, states Julius Lipner, to be accepted as Hindu by Hindus, or to describe oneself as Hindu. [122]
Among its direct roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India and, as such, Hinduism is often called the "oldest living religion" [8] or the "oldest living major religion" in the world. [9] [10] [11] [12]
Religious tradition founded Life of founder Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'í [34] [35] Shaykhism, precursor of Bábism [36] [37] 1753–1826 Ram Mohan Roy: Brahmo Samaj: 1772–1833 Swaminarayan: Swaminarayan Sampraday: 1781–1830 Auguste Comte: Religion of Humanity: 1798–1857 Nakayama Miki: Tenrikyo: 1798–1887 Ignaz von Döllinger: Old Catholic ...
According to a 2020 estimate by The World Religion Database (WRD), hosted at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), the Vaishnavism tradition is the largest group with about 399 million Hindus, followed by Shaivism with 385 million Hindus, Shaktism with 305 million Hindus and other traditions including ...
Hinduism (/ ˈ h ɪ n d u ˌ ɪ z əm /) is an umbrella term for a range of Indian religious and spiritual traditions (sampradayas) [1] that are unified by adherence to the concept of dharma, a cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as first expounded in the Vedas.
The Bhagavad Gita (/ ˈ b ʌ ɡ ə v ə d ˈ ɡ iː t ɑː /; [1] Sanskrit: भगवद्गीता, IPA: [ˌbʱɐɡɐʋɐd ˈɡiːtɑː], romanized: bhagavad-gītā, lit. 'God's song'), [a] often referred to as the Gita (IAST: gītā), is a Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, [7] which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata.