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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.
It is viewed as those eternal truths and traditions with origins beyond human history– truths divinely revealed in the Vedas, the most ancient of the world's scriptures. [98] [99] To many Hindus, Hinduism is a tradition that can be traced at least to the ancient Vedic era. The Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an ...
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.
Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include karma (action, intent and consequences), saṃsāra (the cycle of death and rebirth) and the four Puruṣārthas, proper goals or aims of human life, namely: dharma (ethics/duties), artha (prosperity/work), kama (desires/passions) and moksha (liberation/freedom from passions and ultimately saṃsāra).
Manu (Sanskrit: मनु) is a term found with various meanings in Hinduism.In early texts, it refers to the archetypal man, or the first man (progenitor of humanity).The Sanskrit term for 'human', मनुष्य (IAST: manuṣya) or मानव (IAST: mānava) means 'of Manu' or 'children of Manu'. [1]
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Hinduism: Hinduism – predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. [1] Its followers are called Hindus, who refer to it as Sanātana Dharma [2] (Sanskrit: सनातनधर्मः, lit.
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (c. 1500 –900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain c. 600 BCE.
The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedicism or Vedism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, [a] constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE).