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114-558: Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Swamy Temple is an Indian Hindu temple dedicated to Krishna at Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district of Kerala . The temple is believed to have been built during 15th century CE by the local ruler Chembakasserry Pooradam Thirunal-Devanarayanan Thampuran. It is one of the seven greatest temples in Travancore . It is considered one among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of Vaishnavate tradition. The idol at Ambalappuzha

228-444: A 64-squared chess board is 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains, translating to trillions of tons of rice. Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form and told the king that he did not have to pay the debt immediately but could pay him over time. The king would serve paal-payasam (pudding made of rice) in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt was paid off. The Amabalapuzha Temple Festival

342-489: A Hindu religious identity". Scholars state that Hindu, Buddhist and Jain identities are retrospectively-introduced modern constructions. Inscriptional evidence from the 8th century onwards, in regions such as South India, suggests that medieval era India, at both elite and folk religious practices level, likely had a "shared religious culture", and their collective identities were "multiple, layered and fuzzy". Even among Hinduism denominations such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism,

456-516: A North western Indian region of seven rivers and as an India whole). The Greek cognates of the same terms are " Indus " (for the river) and " India " (for the land of the river). Likewise Hebrew cognate hōd-dū refers to India mentioned in Hebrew Bible ( Esther 1:1 ). The term " Hindu " also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond

570-604: A common name for the country. Al-Biruni 's 11th-century text Tarikh Al-Hind , and the texts of the Delhi Sultanate period use the term 'Hindu', where it includes all non-Islamic people such as Buddhists, and retains the ambiguity of being "a region or a religion". The 'Hindu' community occurs as the amorphous 'Other' of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, according to the Indian historian Romila Thapar . The comparative religion scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that

684-523: A consequence, religious groups have an interest in being recognised as distinct from the Hindu majority in order to qualify as a "religious minority". Thus, the Supreme Court was forced to consider the question whether Jainism is part of Hinduism in 2005 and 2006. Starting after the 10th century and particularly after the 12th century Islamic invasion, states Sheldon Pollock , the political response fused with

798-576: A diversity of beliefs, and seems to oscillate between Hindus holding a centralist and pluralist religious views. In the texts of Delhi Sultanate era, states Sharma, the term Hindu remains ambiguous on whether it means people of a region or religion, giving the example of Ibn Battuta's explanation of the name "Hindu Kush" for a mountain range in Afghanistan. It was so called, wrote Ibn Battuta, because many Indian slaves died there of snow cold, as they were marched across that mountain range. The term Hindu there

912-566: A fixed set of religious beliefs within Hinduism. 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. Hindus subscribe to a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but have no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, nor a single founding prophet; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. Because of

1026-401: A reasonable construction of history. However, the existence of non-textual evidence such as cave temples separated by thousands of kilometers, as well as lists of medieval era pilgrimage sites, is evidence of a shared sacred geography and existence of a community that was self-aware of shared religious premises and landscape. Further, it is a norm in evolving cultures that there is a gap between

1140-430: A result of Western influence during its colonial history. Scholars such as Fleming and Eck state that the post-Epic era literature from the 1st millennium CE amply demonstrate that there was a historic concept of the Indian subcontinent as a sacred geography, where the sacredness was a shared set of religious ideas. For example, the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shaivism and fifty-one Shaktipithas of Shaktism are described in

1254-625: A sacred pilgrimage site is documented in the Varanasimahatmya text embedded inside the Skanda Purana , and the oldest versions of this text are dated to 6th to 8th-century CE. The idea of twelve sacred sites in Shiva Hindu tradition spread across the Indian subcontinent appears not only in the medieval era temples but also in copper plate inscriptions and temple seals discovered in different sites. According to Bhardwaj, non-Hindu texts such as

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1368-747: A saint. [...] When Khusraw stopped at his residence, [Arjan] came out and had an interview with [Khusraw]. Giving him some elementary spiritual precepts picked up here and there, he made a mark with saffron on his forehead, which is called qashqa in the idiom of the Hindus and which they consider lucky. When this was reported to me, I realized how perfectly false he was and ordered him brought to me. I awarded his houses and dwellings and those of his children to Murtaza Khan, and I ordered his possessions and goods confiscated and him executed. Sikh scholar Pashaura Singh states, "in Persian writings, Sikhs were regarded as Hindu in

1482-581: A uniform civil code, where all citizens are subject to the same laws, everyone has equal civil rights, and individual rights do not depend on the individual's religion. In contrast, opponents of Hindu nationalists remark that eliminating religious law from India poses a threat to the cultural identity and religious rights of Muslims, and people of Islamic faith have a constitutional right to Islamic shariah -based personal laws. A specific law, contentious between Hindu nationalists and their opponents in India, relates to

1596-436: A very modest claim and being a man of few material needs, all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chess-board in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square, sixteen in fifth square and so on. Every square will have double of its predecessor. The king lost

1710-598: A wedding or when a baby is born or cremation rituals. Some Hindus go on pilgrimage to shared sites they consider spiritually significant, practice one or more forms of bhakti or puja , celebrate mythology and epics, major festivals, love and respect for guru and family, and other cultural traditions. A Hindu could: In the Constitution of India , the word "Hindu" has been used in some places to denote persons professing any of these religions: Hinduism , Jainism , Buddhism or Sikhism . This however has been challenged by

1824-469: Is a controversial political subject, with no consensus about what it means or implies in terms of the form of government and religious rights of the minorities. There are 1.2 billion Hindus worldwide (15% of world's population), with about 95% of them being concentrated in India alone. Along with Christians (31.5%), Muslims (23.2%) and Buddhists (7.1%), Hindus are one of the four major religious groups of

1938-464: Is a term used to describe the culture and identity of Hindus and Hinduism , including the historic Vedic people . Hindu culture can be intensively seen in the form of art , architecture , history , diet , clothing , astrology and other forms. The culture of India and Hinduism is deeply influenced and assimilated with each other. With the Indianisation of southeast Asia and Greater India ,

2052-651: Is ambivalent and could mean geographical region or religion. The term Hindu appears in the texts from the Mughal Empire era. Jahangir , for example, called the Sikh Guru Arjan a Hindu: There was a Hindu named Arjan in Gobindwal on the banks of the Beas River. Pretending to be a spiritual guide, he had won over as devotees many simple-minded Indians and even some ignorant, stupid Muslims by broadcasting his claims to be

2166-474: Is an organic relation of Sikhs to Hindus, states Zaehner, both in religious thought and their communities, and virtually all Sikhs' ancestors were Hindus. Marriages between Sikhs and Hindus, particularly among Khatris , were frequent. Some Hindu families brought up a son as a Sikh, and some Hindus view Sikhism as a tradition within Hinduism, even though the Sikh faith is a distinct religion. Julius Lipner states that

2280-631: Is documented in Islamic literature such as those relating to 8th century Muhammad bin-Qasim , 11th century Mahmud of Ghazni , the Persian traveler Al Biruni, the 14th century Islamic army invasion led by Timur, and various Sunni Islamic rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. There were occasional exceptions such as Akbar who stopped the persecution of Hindus, and occasional severe persecution such as under Aurangzeb , who destroyed temples, forcibly converted non-Muslims to Islam and banned

2394-464: Is due to the elusive description of both countries, the fact that they start and end the list, the fact that they are both characterized by the same Deava-created winter, and the fact that they are both connected with a mythical river. As regards Airyanem Vaejah, it has been interpreted as "the traditional homeland" or "the ancient homeland" of the Iranians . These definitions perpetuate interpretations of

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2508-542: Is likened to Parthasarthi form of Vishnu , holding a whip in his right hand and a conch in his left. During the raids of Tipu Sultan in 1789, the idol of Sri Krishna from the Guruvayoor Temple was brought to the Ambalappuzha Temple for safe keeping for three years. Payasam , a sweet pudding made of rice and milk is served in the temple and is believed that Guruvayoorappan visits the temple daily to accept

2622-673: Is the Kayan Yasn, dedicated to the Khvarenah ( Avestan : xᵛarənah , 'glory') of the Kayanian dynasty . This glory is first bestowed by Ahura Mazda upon the Pishdadian dynasty , the mythical predecessors of the Kayanian dynasty. Yet after the downfall of Yima , they lose the glory which then becomes unseized or unappropriated ( axᵛarəta ). In search of a legitimate holder, the glory finally reaches

2736-525: Is the first chapter of the Vendidad ( Avestan : vi.daēwa.dāta , 'The Law repudiating the Deavas '). It consists of a list of the sixteen good lands ( asah ) and countries ( šōiθra ) created by Ahura Mazda . Each country is introduced with a verse describing its Ohrmazdian characteristic, followed by one describing the corresponding counter-creation ( paityāra ) by Angra Mainyu . The only exceptions are

2850-651: Is the longest of the Yashts and is dedicated to the veneration of the Fravashi , a unique Zoroastrian concept similar to and connected with the concept of the soul ( urvan ). In Yt. 13.143-44, the Fravashi of the righteous living in the lands of five different peoples are praised: We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in the Aryan countries; We worship the Fravashis of the holy women in

2964-932: Is the origin of the Amabalapuzha Temple Festival, also referred to as the Chambakulam Moolam water festival. This festival is conducted every year on the Moolam day of the Mithunam month of the Malayalam era. The Aaraattu festival takes place on the Thiruvonam day in March–April. Hindu Traditional Hindus ( Hindustani: [ˈɦɪndu] ; / ˈ h ɪ n d uː z / ; also known as Sanātanīs ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism , also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma . Historically,

3078-554: Is this Rama to be described.. who freed Varanasi from the mleccha (barbarian, Turk Muslim) horde, and built there a golden temple of Sarngadhara". Pollock notes that the Yadava king Ramacandra is described as a devotee of deity Shiva (Shaivism), yet his political achievements and temple construction sponsorship in Varanasi, far from his kingdom's location in the Deccan region, is described in

3192-584: Is visible. Overall, however, the area described is smaller. If Airyanem Vaejah can be located in Khwarazm, then the northern border of the two lists would coincide. Regardless, the area described in the Vendidad extends further east, south and, depending on the identification of some place names, west. The causes for this difference are not known but it may reflect Iranian/Zoroastrian movements over time. The Fravardin Yasht

3306-487: The Hindu Sabhas (Hindu associations), and ultimately a Hindu-identity driven nationalism in the 1920s. The colonial era Hindu revivalism and mobilisation, along with Hindu nationalism, states Peter van der Veer, was primarily a reaction to and competition with Muslim separatism and Muslim nationalism. The successes of each side fed the fears of the other, leading to the growth of Hindu nationalism and Muslim nationalism in

3420-455: The Iranians . Sources for such geographical references are exclusively found in the younger Avestan portion of the text, in particular in the Vendidad and several of the Yashts . The identification of these Avestan place names with real locations is often supported by comparisons with references made in later Iranian sources. A major challenge to establish these connections is the fact that

3534-579: The Kansayoya sea . At this point, the Yasht provides a detailed description of the hydrography of the Sistan Basin , in particular of Hāmūn-e Helmand : (the Unappropriated Glory ) which is coming over to Saoshyant Verethrajan who will rise from the area where the Kansayoya sea is situated by the (River) Haetumant and Mount Ushada around which the many watercourses meet, coming from

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3648-762: The Sindhu (Indus) River . By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims . Since ancient times, Hindu has been used to refer to people inhibiting region beyond the Sindhu river, therefore some assumptions that medieval Persian authors considered Hindu as derogatory is not accepted by practicing Hindus themselves as those references are much later to references used in pre-Islamic Persian sources, early Arab and Indian sources, all of them had positive connotation only as they either referred to region or followers of Hinduism. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within

3762-578: The United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom . These together accounted for 99% of the world's Hindu population, and the remaining nations of the world combined had about 6 million Hindus as of 2010 . The word Hindu is an exonym . This word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu , which means "a large body of water", covering "river, ocean". It was used as

3876-813: The Upanishads . The Puranas and the Itihasa (mainly Ramayana and the Mahabharata ) are enduring traditions among Indonesian Hindus, expressed in community dances and shadow puppet ( wayang ) performances. As in India, Indonesian Hindus recognise four paths of spirituality, calling it Catur Marga . Similarly, like Hindus in India, Balinese Hindus believe that there are four proper goals of human life, calling it Catur Purusartha – dharma (pursuit of moral and ethical living), artha (pursuit of wealth and creative activity), kama (pursuit of joy and love) and moksha (pursuit of self-knowledge and liberation). Hindu culture

3990-399: The "lived and historical realities" of a religious tradition and the emergence of related "textual authorities". The tradition and temples likely existed well before the medieval era Hindu manuscripts appeared that describe them and the sacred geography. This, states Fleming, is apparent given the sophistication of the architecture and the sacred sites along with the variance in the versions of

4104-583: The 17th-century Bhakta Mala text using the phrase "Hindu dharma ". Scholar Arvind Sharma notes that the term "Hindus" was used in the 'Brahmanabad settlement' which Muhammad ibn Qasim made with non-Muslims after the Arab invasion of northwestern Sindh region of India, in 712 CE. The term 'Hindu' meant people who were non-Muslims, and it included Buddhists of the region. In the 11th-century text of Al Biruni, Hindus are referred to as "religious antagonists" to Islam, as those who believe in rebirth, presents them to hold

4218-767: The 1920s, as a reaction to the Islamic Khilafat Movement wherein Indian Muslims championed and took the cause of the Turkish Ottoman sultan as the Caliph of all Muslims, at the end of the World War I . Hindus viewed this development as one of divided loyalties of Indian Muslim population, of pan-Islamic hegemony, and questioned whether Indian Muslims were a part of an inclusive anti-colonial Indian nationalism. The Hindu nationalism ideology that emerged, states Jeffrelot,

4332-574: The 19th century as a response to British colonialism by Indian nationalists and neo-Hinduism gurus. Jaffrelot states that the efforts of Christian missionaries and Islamic proselytizers, during the British colonial era, each of whom tried to gain new converts to their own religion, by stereotyping and stigmatising Hindus to an identity of being inferior and superstitious, contributed to Hindus re-asserting their spiritual heritage and counter cross examining Islam and Christianity, forming organisations such as

4446-509: The 7th-century CE Chinese text Records on the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang . Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose "connotation overflows in the religious" according to Arvind Sharma . While Xuanzang suggested that the term refers to the country named after the moon, another Buddhist scholar I-tsing contradicted the conclusion saying that In-tu was not

4560-662: The Airyanem Vaejah as Urheimat des Awestavolkes , Urland of the Indo-Iranians or the Wiege aller iranischen Arier . While the first chapter of the Vendidad contains the longest and most elaborate geographical description in the Avesta , several of the Yashts ( Avestan : yašt , 'prayer, honor') contain additional information. Of particular interest here are the Mihr Yasht,

4674-556: The Aryan countries. We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in the Turanian countries; We worship the Fravashis of the holy women in the Turanian countries. We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in the Sairimyan countries; We worship the Fravashis of the holy women in the Sairimyan countries. We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in the Saini countries; We worship the Fravashis of

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4788-471: The European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. Other prominent mentions of 'Hindu' include the epigraphical inscriptions from Andhra Pradesh kingdoms who battled military expansion of Muslim dynasties in the 14th century, where the word 'Hindu' partly implies a religious identity in contrast to 'Turks' or Islamic religious identity. The term Hindu

4902-575: The Farvardin Yasht, and the Zamyad Yasht, in which a number of passages mention geographically relevant features such as mountains, regions, peoples, and rivers in various contexts. The Mihr Yasht is the second longest of the Yashts and is dedicated to the Zoroastrian deity Mithra ( Avestan : miθra , 'covenant'). In it, a second list of Iranian countries is presented, albeit being shorter than

5016-873: The Fravardin Yasht and do not appear in other parts of the Avesta. Their name, however, is found in later traditions involving the mythological ancestors of the Arya, the Turya and the Sarima. In these traditions, a figure known as Sarm, in Pahlavi texts, and Salm , in the Shahname , is given the western part of the known world to rule over. In addition, their name has been connected to the later Sarmatians based on etymological grounds. The Sarmatians were an Iranian speaking tribe that came into contact with

5130-611: The Fravardin Yasht are depicted as faithful followers of Ahura Mazda, most passages in the Avesta as well as later Iranian tradition depicts them in a consistently antagonistic role. Their homeland is typically located in Transoxiania . After Turkic peoples began to spread in Central Asia , the term Turanian was increasingly applied to them. Regardless, the Turanians at the time of the Avesta were Iranian. The Sarima are mentioned only in

5244-477: The Greeks in the western steppe during classical antiquity but their origins are assumed to be in the southern Ural region. The Saini are the forth group of people mentioned in the Fravardin Yasht. They do not appear in other parts of the Avesta or in later Iranian tradition. Nor are any later groups known from historical sources to be associated with them. As a result, their identity remains unclear. The Daha are

5358-731: The Hindu identities, states Leslie Orr, lacked "firm definitions and clear boundaries". Overlaps in Jain-Hindu identities have included Jains worshipping Hindu deities, intermarriages between Jains and Hindus, and medieval era Jain temples featuring Hindu religious icons and sculpture. Beyond India, on Java island of Indonesia , historical records attest to marriages between Hindus and Buddhists, medieval era temple architecture and sculptures that simultaneously incorporate Hindu and Buddhist themes, where Hinduism and Buddhism merged and functioned as "two separate paths within one overall system", according to Ann Kenney and other scholars. Similarly, there

5472-523: The Hindu identity and religious response to Islamic invasion and wars developed in different kingdoms, such as wars between Islamic Sultanates and the Vijayanagara kingdom, and Islamic raids on the kingdoms in Tamil Nadu . These wars were described not just using the mythical story of Rama from Ramayana, states Chattopadhyaya, the medieval records used a wide range of religious symbolism and myths that are now considered as part of Hindu literature. This emergence of religious with political terminology began with

5586-413: The Hindu-majority post-British India. After the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Hindu nationalism movement developed the concept of Hindutva in second half of the 20th century. The Hindu nationalism movement has sought to reform Indian laws, that critics say attempts to impose Hindu values on India's Islamic minority. Gerald Larson states, for example, that Hindu nationalists have sought

5700-701: The Hindus and intensely scrutinized them, but did not interrogate and avoided reporting the practices and religion of Mughal and Arabs in South Asia", and often relied on Muslim scholars to characterise Hindus. In contemporary era, the term Hindus are individuals who identify with one or more aspects of Hinduism , whether they are practising or non-practicing or Laissez-faire . The term does not include those who identify with other Indian religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism or various animist tribal religions found in India such as Sarnaism . The term Hindu, in contemporary parlance, includes people who accept themselves as culturally or ethnically Hindu rather than with

5814-450: The Indian subcontinent. In the 20th century, the sense of religious nationalism grew in India, states van der Veer, but only Muslim nationalism succeeded with the formation of the West and East Pakistan (later split into Pakistan and Bangladesh), as "an Islamic state" upon independence. Religious riots and social trauma followed as millions of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs moved out of the newly created Islamic states and resettled into

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5928-403: The Indic religious culture and doctrines. Temples dedicated to deity Rama were built from north to south India, and textual records as well as hagiographic inscriptions began comparing the Hindu epic of Ramayana to regional kings and their response to Islamic attacks. The Yadava king of Devagiri named Ramacandra , for example states Pollock, is described in a 13th-century record as, "How

6042-420: The Iranian people often used the same name for different places. As a result, not all Avestan place names can be identified with certainty with present-day locations and therefore remain subject to debate. Modern scholarship, however, agrees that the place names in the Avesta are concentrated in the eastern regions of Greater Iran up to the Indo - Iranian border. The main Avestan text of geographical interest

6156-515: The Puranic literature. According to Diana L. Eck and other Indologists such as André Wink, Muslim invaders were aware of Hindu sacred geography such as Mathura, Ujjain, and Varanasi by the 11th century. These sites became a target of their serial attacks in the centuries that followed. The Hindus have been persecuted during the medieval and modern era. The medieval persecution included waves of plunder, killing, destruction of temples and enslavement by Turk-Mongol Muslim armies from central Asia. This

6270-611: The Sikhs and by neo-Buddhists who were formerly Hindus. According to Sheen and Boyle, Jains have not objected to being covered by personal laws termed under 'Hindu', but Indian courts have acknowledged that Jainism is a distinct religion. The Republic of India is in the peculiar situation that the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly been called upon to define "Hinduism" because the Constitution of India , while it prohibits "discrimination of any citizen" on grounds of religion in article 15, article 30 foresees special rights for "All minorities, whether based on religion or language". As

6384-424: The Urva ( urvaδā , 'liquid'), the Erezi ( Ǝrəzī ), and the Zurenumaiti ( zurənumaitī ). None of these names relate directly to known Sistani rivers but a number of studies have tried to establish such connections. These attempts rely on parallels in Pahlavi literature like the Bundahishn and the Tarikh-i Sistan , where a number of Sistani rivers are mentioned. Further features of Sistani geography recur in

6498-410: The Vendidad are located in the eastern part of Greater Iran, i.e. centered around modern day Afghanistan and Tajikistan . Since then, a number of revisions of Gnoli's work have been proposed, often attempting to derive the position of the more uncertain place names from an assumed arrangement according to which countries appear in the list. The following list presents these place names and discusses

6612-434: The Yavanas [Muslims], The Kali age now deserves deepest congratulations for being at the zenith of its power, gone is the sacred learning, hidden is refinement, hushed is the voice of Dharma . The historiographic writings in Telugu language from the 13th- and 14th-century Kakatiya dynasty period presents a similar "alien other (Turk)" and "self-identity (Hindu)" contrast. Chattopadhyaya, and other scholars, state that

6726-449: The Zoroastrian community in general. This ethnic epithet appears both in the Avesta as well as in early Iranian history as the self designation of the Iranian people. This interpretation is, however, context specific, since all people mentioned in the Avesta appear to be speakers of Iranian languages and would therefore be Iranian in a linguistic sense. Moreover, the term Arya ( Sanskrit : ārya ) also appears in ancient India as

6840-433: The available evidence points to these other peoples being Iranian tribes living in the steppes north of the Aryas. A memory of this kinship between them may be found in the Iranian epic Shahnameh , where the legendary Iranian hero Thraetaona has three sons, Iraj (Aryan), Tur (Turanian) and Salm (Sairima). It is therefore plausible that the Turanians, Sairima, Dahi, and possibly the Saini were part of or associated with

6954-438: The broader phenomenon of Scythian cultures . The Zamyad Yasht is named after Zam , the Zoroastrian divinity that personifies the Earth. The extant version of the Zamyad Yasht consists of two parts. The first part is a fragment of eight sections (Yt. 19.1-8) containing a list of 40 mountains. Despite its geographical character, the list is interpreted to represent mythology rather than geography. The second, much longer part

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7068-423: The celebration of Hindu festivals such as Holi and Diwali . Other recorded persecution of Hindus include those under the reign of 18th century Tipu Sultan in south India, and during the colonial era. In the modern era, religious persecution of Hindus have been reported outside India in Pakistan and Bangladesh . Christophe Jaffrelot states that modern Hindu nationalism was born in Maharashtra , in

7182-410: The culture has also influenced a long region and other religions people of that area. All Indian religions , including Buddhism , Jainism and Sikhism are deeply influenced and soft-powered by Hinduism . Avestan geography Identifying such connections is important for localizing the people of the Avesta and is therefore crucial for understanding the early history of Zoroastrianism and

7296-431: The custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs is a modern phenomena, but one that is a convenient abstraction. Distinguishing Indian traditions is a fairly recent practice, states Lipner, and is the result of "not only Western preconceptions about the nature of religion in general and of religion in India in particular, but also with the political awareness that has arisen in India" in its people and

7410-466: The different localization attempts made by scholars throughout the years: In summary, there is a broad consensus regarding about half of the lands on this list, while Vakereta, Urva, Khnenta, Ragha, Chakhra and Varena are disputed to varying degrees. Airyanem Vaejah and Rangha, however, remain the most debated items. This is because these two place names may not only be geographical locations, but can also be interpreted as part of Iranian cosmology . This

7524-421: The early medieval era Puranas as pilgrimage sites around a theme. This sacred geography and Shaiva temples with same iconography, shared themes, motifs and embedded legends are found across India, from the Himalayas to hills of South India, from Ellora Caves to Varanasi by about the middle of 1st millennium. Shakti temples, dated to a few centuries later, are verifiable across the subcontinent. Varanasi as

7638-485: The first Muslim invasion of Sindh in the 8th century CE, and intensified 13th century onwards. The 14th-century Sanskrit text, Madhuravijayam , a memoir written by Gangadevi , the wife of Vijayanagara prince, for example describes the consequences of war using religious terms, I very much lament for what happened to the groves in Madhura , The coconut trees have all been cut and in their place are to be seen,   rows of iron spikes with human skulls dangling at

7752-447: The first and eleventh country on the list where two verses explain its Ahrimanic counter-creation: The first of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda , created, was the Airyanem Vaejah , by the good river Daitya. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu , who is all death, and he counter-created the serpent in the river and winter, a work of the Deavas . There are ten winter months there, two summer months; and those are cold for

7866-405: The game and sage demanded the agreed-upon prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chess board, the king soon realised the true nature of the sage's demands. The royal granary soon ran out of grains of rice. The king realised that he will never be able to fulfill the promised reward as the number of grains was increasing as a geometric progression and the total amount of rice required for

7980-486: The highest percentage of Hindus (in decreasing order) are Nepal , India , Mauritius , Fiji , Guyana , Bhutan , Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago , Qatar , Sri Lanka , Kuwait , Bangladesh , Réunion , Malaysia , and Singapore . The fertility rate, that is children per woman, for Hindus is 2.4, which is less than the world average of 2.5. Pew Research projects that there will be 1.4 billion Hindus by 2050. In more ancient times, Hindu kingdoms arose and spread

8094-494: The historical records in Vaishnavism terms of Rama, a deity Vishnu avatar. Pollock presents many such examples and suggests an emerging Hindu political identity that was grounded in the Hindu religious text of Ramayana, one that has continued into the modern times, and suggests that this historic process began with the arrival of Islam in India. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya has questioned the Pollock theory and presented textual and inscriptional evidence. According to Chattopadhyaya,

8208-471: The holy women in the Saini countries. We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in the Dahi countries; We worship the Fravashis of the holy women in the Dahi countries. We worship the Fravashis of the holy men in all countries; We worship the Fravashis of the holy women in all countries. The Arya ( airiia , 'Iranians') are the main ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta, where they are typically equated with

8322-476: The influential Asiatick Researches founded in the 18th century, later called The Asiatic Society , initially identified just two religions in India – Islam, and Hinduism. These orientalists included all Indian religions such as Buddhism as a subgroup of Hinduism in the 18th century. These texts called followers of Islam as Mohamedans , and all others as Hindus . The text, by the early 19th century, began dividing Hindus into separate groups, for chronology studies of

8436-606: The land dominated by this mountain. Ilya Gershevitch has, for instance, argued that it should be located in the upper Helmand plain close to the Koh-i-Baba . Pouruta on the other hand has been connected to the Parautoi mentioned by Ptolemy ; a tribe that lived close to the Hindu Kush in the Ghor ( gairi , "mountain") region. Compared with the list in the Vendidad, a substantial overlap

8550-764: The last people being mentioned in the Fravardin Yasht. They appear as the Dahae in later historical sources. The Dahae were an Iranian speaking tribe which in antiquity lived modern day Turkmenistan . In addition to the Dahae, the name of the Daha appears as the Dasa in the Vedas , where they are described as non-Aryan adversaries of the Vedic Aryans. It is not known whether these etymological connections support an ethnic connections as well. Taken together,

8664-486: The legal age of marriage for girls. Hindu nationalists seek that the legal age for marriage be eighteen that is universally applied to all girls regardless of their religion and that marriages be registered with local government to verify the age of marriage. Muslim clerics consider this proposal as unacceptable because under the shariah-derived personal law, a Muslim girl can be married at any age after she reaches puberty. Hindu nationalism in India, states Katharine Adeney,

8778-560: The list of the Vendidad , whereas Chorasmia ( xᵛāirizəm , 'nourishing land') is a historical region south of the Aral lake. This leaves Ishkata ( iškatā ) and Pouruta ( pourutā ) to be identified. The place name Ishkata is mentioned several times in the Avesta. While in Yt. 193 and Yt. 10.11, Ishkata refers to a mountain in the Hindu Kush , the term in Yt. 11.14 has been interpreted as referring to

8892-664: The local Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear. Competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era , or that it may have developed post-8th century CE after the Muslim invasions and medieval Hindu–Muslim wars . A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in some texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and Bengali . The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati , Kabir , Tulsidas and Eknath used

9006-509: The memoirs of Chinese Buddhist and Persian Muslim travellers attest to the existence and significance of the pilgrimage to sacred geography among Hindus by later 1st millennium CE. According to Fleming, those who question whether the term Hindu and Hinduism are a modern construction in a religious context present their arguments based on some texts that have survived into the modern era, either of Islamic courts or of literature published by Western missionaries or colonial-era Indologists aiming for

9120-415: The mid-19th century, colonial orientalist texts further distinguished Hindus from Buddhists , Sikhs and Jains , but the colonial laws continued to consider all of them to be within the scope of the term Hindu until about mid-20th century. Scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. At approximately 1.2 billion, Hindus are

9234-399: The military and political campaign during the medieval era wars in Deccan peninsula of India, and in the north India, were no longer a quest for sovereignty, they embodied a political and religious animosity against the "otherness of Islam", and this began the historical process of Hindu identity formation. Andrew Nicholson, in his review of scholarship on Hindu identity history, states that

9348-526: The most mighty surveys the whole land inahbitated by the Iranians; where gallant rulers organize many attacks, where high, sheltering mountains with ample pasture provide solicitous for cattle; where deep lakes stand with surging waves; where navigable rivers rush with wide a swell towards Parutian Ishkata, Haraivian Margu , Sogdian Gava , and Chorasmia . The middle items on this list, namely Haraivian Margu , and Sogdian Gava , are also found in

9462-780: The mountains. Towards (Mount Ushada) the (River) Khvastra flows to meet (the others), towards it the Khvastra hurries to meet (the others), and (so do) the Huvaspa and the Fradata, the beautiful Khvarenanguhaiti, the strong Ushtavaiti, the Urva rich in pastures, the Erezi, and the Zurenumaiti; towards (Mount Ushada) the Haetumant flows to meet (the others), towards it the Haetumant hurries (to meet

9576-659: The name of the Indus River and also referred to its tributaries. The actual term 'hindu' first occurs, states Gavin Flood, as "a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu )", more specifically in the 5th-century BCE, DNa inscription of Darius I . The Punjab region , called Sapta Sindhu in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta . The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions

9690-411: The offering. According to the legend, Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess (or chaturanga ). The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he won. The sage told the king that he had

9804-538: The one in the Vendidad. The list is found in verses Yt. 10.12-10.14, where the text describes how Mithra reaches Mount Hara and looks at the entirety of the Iranian lands ( airiio.shaiianem ): Grass-land magnate Mithra we worship ...; who is the first supernatural god to approach across the Hara , in front of the immortal swift-horsed sun; who is the first to seize the beautiful gold-painted mountain tops; from there

9918-595: The others), being splendid and glorious, parading with its white surges and sending down many floods. Apart from the Helmand River , these verses contain the names of eight other rivers flowing into lake Hamun; namely the Khvastra ( xᵛāstrā , 'good pasture'), the Huvaspa ( hvaspā , 'good horse'), the Fradata ( fradaθā , 'wealthy'), the Khvarenanguhaiti ( xᵛarənahvaitī ), the Ushtavaiti ( uštavaitī ),

10032-503: The people of the Avesta was centered around the Hindu Kush range. To the north, it included Sogdiana , Bactria , Aria , Margiana and Chorasmia ; an area later known as Greater Khorasan under the Sassanians. To the south, it included Arachosia , Drangiana , Gandara and the upper Punjab up to the Indus River ; an area known as Ariana , the land of the Arya, to the Greeks. This strong focus on Eastern Iran has also implication for

10146-431: The phrase Hindu dharma (Hinduism) and contrasted it with Turaka dharma ( Islam ). The Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term 'Hindu' in a religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus , in contrast to Mohamedans for groups such as Turks, Mughals and Arabs , who were adherents of Islam. By

10260-511: The points, In the highways which were once charming with anklets sound of beautiful women,   are now heard ear-piercing noises of Brahmins being dragged, bound in iron-fetters, The waters of Tambraparni , which were once white with sandal paste,   are now flowing red with the blood of cows slaughtered by miscreants, Earth is no longer the producer of wealth, nor does Indra give timely rains, The God of death takes his undue toll of what are left lives if undestroyed by

10374-433: The province of Hi[n]dush , referring to northwestern India. The people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian language in the 8th century text Chachnama . According to D. N. Jha , the term 'Hindu' in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term and did not refer to a religion. Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in

10488-464: The religion and traditions across Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand , Nepal , Burma , Malaysia , Indonesia , Cambodia , Laos , Philippines , and what is now central Vietnam . Over 3 million Hindus are found in Bali Indonesia, a culture whose origins trace back to ideas brought by Hindu traders to Indonesian islands in the 1st millennium CE. Their sacred texts are also the Vedas and

10602-449: The religions have drawn their curved swords;" however, the date of this text is unclear and considered by most scholars to be more recent. In Islamic literature, 'Abd al-Malik Isami 's Persian work, Futuhu's-salatin , composed in the Deccan under Bahmani rule in 1350, uses the word ' hindi' to mean Indian in the ethno-geographical sense and the word ' hindu' to mean 'Hindu' in

10716-408: The same verses, like the Kansayoya sea or Mount Ushada , both of which are closely connected to Zoroastrian eschatology . Together with the description in the Vendidad, these passages make Sistan the best described region in the Avesta. A comparison of the first chapter of the Vendidad with the passages of geographical interest in the great Yashts shows that the geographical area of interest for

10830-523: The self-designation of the people of the Vedas . The Arya of the Vedas show many similarities with the Arya of the Avesta and must have formed a single people at one point . Their relationship at the time of the Avesta is, however, unknown. The Turya ( tūiriia , 'Turanians') are the second major ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta. They are commonly known as the Turanians from later Pahlavi sources as well as Iranian legend . While some Turanians in

10944-473: The sense of a follower of the Hindu religion". The poet Vidyapati 's Kirtilata (1380) uses the term Hindu in the sense of a religion, it contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks (Muslims) in a city and concludes "The Hindus and the Turks live close together; Each makes fun of the other's religion ( dhamme )." One of the earliest uses of word 'Hindu' in a religious context, in a European language (Spanish),

11058-443: The sense of non-Muslim Indians". However, scholars like Robert Fraser and Mary Hammond opine that Sikhism began initially as a militant sect of Hinduism and it got formally separated from Hinduism only in the 20th century. During the colonial era, the term Hindu had connotations of native religions of India, that is religions other than Christianity and Islam. In early colonial era Anglo-Hindu laws and British India court system,

11172-470: The term 'Hindu' retained its geographical reference initially: 'Indian', 'indigenous, local', virtually 'native'. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves and their "traditional ways" from those of the invaders. The text Prithviraj Raso , by Chand Bardai , about the 1192 CE defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan at the hands of Muhammad Ghori , is full of references to "Hindus" and "Turks", and at one stage, says "both

11286-408: The term Hindu referred to people of all Indian religions as well as two non-Indian religions: Judaism and Zoroastrianism. In the 20th century, personal laws were formulated for Hindus, and the term 'Hindu' in these colonial 'Hindu laws' applied to Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in addition to denominational Hindus. Beyond the stipulations of British colonial law, European orientalists and particularly

11400-500: The term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent . It is assumed that the term "Hindu" traces back to Avestan scripture Vendidad which refers to land of seven rivers as Hapta Hendu which itself is a cognate to Sanskrit term Sapta Sindhuḥ (This term Sapta Sindhuḥ is mentioned in RigVeda that refers to

11514-610: The time of composition of the text. Starting with the rise of the Achaemenid Empire , the political focus of the Iranian world shifted decidedly to the West. The near-total absence of western Iranians place names, with the possible exception of Rey and Hyrcania , makes it unlikely that the composition of these texts happened after the rise of the Acheminids. Modern scholarship therefore finds

11628-505: The various beliefs. Among the earliest terms to emerge were Seeks and their College (later spelled Sikhs by Charles Wilkins), Boudhism (later spelled Buddhism), and in the 9th volume of Asiatick Researches report on religions in India, the term Jainism received notice. According to Pennington, the terms Hindu and Hinduism were thus constructed for colonial studies of India. The various sub-divisions and separation of subgroup terms were assumed to be result of "communal conflict", and Hindu

11742-451: The vernacular literature of Bhakti movement sants from 15th to 17th century, such as Kabir , Anantadas, Eknath, Vidyapati, suggests that distinct religious identities, between Hindus and Turks (Muslims), had formed during these centuries. The poetry of this period contrasts Hindu and Islamic identities, states Nicholson, and the literature vilifies the Muslims coupled with a "distinct sense of

11856-538: The waters, cold for the earth, cold for the trees. Winter falls there, with the worst of all plagues. The second of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Gava, inhabited by the Sogdians. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the locust, which brings death unto cattle and plants. ... The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created,

11970-424: The wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it". A Hindu may, by his or her choice, draw upon ideas of other Indian or non-Indian religious thought as a resource, follow or evolve his or her personal beliefs, and still identify as a Hindu. In 1995, Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar

12084-472: The world's third-largest religious group after Christians and Muslims. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million (94.3% of the global Hindu population), live in India , according to the 2011 Indian census. After India, the next nine countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order: Nepal , Bangladesh , Indonesia , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , the United States , Malaysia ,

12198-560: The world. Most Hindus are found in Asian countries. The top twenty-five countries with the most Hindu residents and citizens (in decreasing order) are India , Nepal , Bangladesh , Indonesia , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , United States , Malaysia , Myanmar , United Kingdom , Mauritius , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Canada , Australia , Saudi Arabia , Trinidad and Tobago , Singapore , Fiji , Qatar , Kuwait , Guyana , Bhutan , Oman and Yemen . The top fifteen countries with

12312-623: Was codified by Savarkar while he was a political prisoner of the British colonial authorities. Chris Bayly traces the roots of Hindu nationalism to the Hindu identity and political independence achieved by the Maratha confederacy , that overthrew the Islamic Mughal empire in large parts of India, allowing Hindus the freedom to pursue any of their diverse religious beliefs and restored Hindu holy places such as Varanasi. A few scholars view Hindu mobilisation and consequent nationalism to have emerged in

12426-664: Was constructed by these orientalists to imply people who adhered to "ancient default oppressive religious substratum of India", states Pennington. Followers of other Indian religions so identified were later referred Buddhists, Sikhs or Jains and distinguished from Hindus, in an antagonistic two-dimensional manner, with Hindus and Hinduism stereotyped as irrational traditional and others as rational reform religions. However, these mid-19th-century reports offered no indication of doctrinal or ritual differences between Hindu and Buddhist, or other newly constructed religious identities. These colonial studies, states Pennigton, "puzzled endlessly about

12540-615: Was established during the fifteenth century CE. At this time, central parts of Alappuzha district were ruled by the Chembakassery Devanarayana Dynasty. The rulers of this dynasty were highly religious and decided that an idol of Krishna was to be brought to the Amabalapuzha Sree Krishna Swamy Temple from the Karinkulam temple. The celebration in commemoration of the bringing of this idol of Krishna

12654-435: Was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c.  1450 ) and some 16th- to 18th-century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata . These texts used it to contrast Hindus from Muslims who are called Yavanas (foreigners) or Mlecchas (barbarians), with the 16th-century Chaitanya Charitamrita text and

12768-442: Was quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling: Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, Hindus share philosophical concepts, such as but not limiting to dharma , karma , kama , artha , moksha and samsara , even if each subscribes to a diversity of views. Hindus also have shared texts such as the Vedas with embedded Upanishads , and common ritual grammar ( Sanskara (rite of passage) ) such as rituals during

12882-538: Was the land by the floods of the Rangha , where people live who have no chiefs. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created winter, a work of the Daevas. Early Pahlavi sources have traditionally located many of these countries in the western Iranian regions; a tendency that was followed by much of 20th century scholarship. This changed with the work of Gherardo Gnoli who argued that all place names in

12996-407: Was the publication in 1649 by Sebastio Manrique . In the Indian historian DN Jha 's essay "Looking for a Hindu identity" , he writes: "No Indians described themselves as Hindus before the fourteenth century" and that "The British borrowed the word 'Hindu' from India, gave it a new meaning and significance, [and] reimported it into India as a reified phenomenon called Hinduism." In the 18th century,

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