131-449: Navayāna ( Devanagari : नवयान, IAST : Navayāna , meaning " New Vehicle "), otherwise known as Navayāna Buddhism , refers to the socially engaged form of Buddhism founded and developed by the Indian jurist, social reformer, and scholar B. R. Ambedkar ; it is otherwise called Neo-Buddhism and Ambedkarite Buddhism It is not any new sect, it is rather application of Buddhist principles for
262-466: A Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: Sindhu )", more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I (550–486 BCE). The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion. The word Hindu is found as heptahindu in Avesta – equivalent to Rigvedic sapta sindhu , while hndstn (pronounced Hindustan )
393-777: A शिरोरेखा śirorekhā , that runs along the top of full letters. In a cursory look, the Devanāgarī script appears different from other Indic scripts , such as Bengali-Assamese or Gurmukhi , but a closer examination reveals they are very similar except for angles and structural emphasis. Among the languages using it as a primary or secondary script are Marathi , Pāḷi , Sanskrit , Hindi , Boro , Nepali , Sherpa , Prakrit , Apabhramsha , Awadhi , Bhojpuri , Braj Bhasha , Chhattisgarhi , Haryanvi , Magahi , Nagpuri , Rajasthani , Khandeshi , Bhili , Dogri , Kashmiri , Maithili , Konkani , Sindhi , Nepal Bhasa , Mundari , Angika , Bajjika and Santali . The Devanāgarī script
524-411: A "post-religious religion" which transcends distinctions and as being driven by the "reasonable principle of sociality", not in the sense of spiritual doctrines, philosophical speculations and existentialist questions. According to Blackburn, "neither view of traditional Buddhism — as a social reform movement or as some other stable entity interpreted (or misinterpreted) from a social reform perspective —
655-441: A "single world religious tradition" was also popularised by 19th-century proselytising missionaries and European Indologists, roles sometimes served by the same person, who relied on texts preserved by Brahmins (priests) for their information of Indian religions, and animist observations that the missionary Orientalists presumed was Hinduism. These reports influenced perceptions about Hinduism. Scholars such as Pennington state that
786-416: A Hindu life, namely acquiring wealth ( artha ), fulfilment of desires ( kama ), and attaining liberation ( moksha ), are viewed here as part of "dharma", which encapsulates the "right way of living" and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfilment. The use of the term Sanātana Dharma for Hinduism is a modern usage, based on the belief that the origins of Hinduism lie beyond human history, as revealed in
917-438: A Hindu". According to Wendy Doniger , "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste – are subjects of debate, not dogma ." Because of 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". Hinduism has been variously defined as
1048-492: A Hindu's class, caste, or sect, and they contrasted with svadharma , one's "own duty", in accordance with one's class or caste ( varṇa ) and stage in life ( puruṣārtha ). In recent years, the term has been used by Hindu leaders, reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism. Sanatana dharma has become a synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, that transcend history and are "unchanging, indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian". Some have referred to Hinduism as
1179-457: A better alternative then Marxism or Communism, taking into account modern problems. While the term Navayāna is most commonly used in reference to the movement that Ambedkar founded in India, it is also (more rarely) used in a different sense, to refer to Westernized forms of Buddhism . Ambedkar didn't called his version of Buddhism " Navayāna " or "Neo-Buddhism". His book, The Buddha and His Dhamma
1310-421: A category with "fuzzy edges" rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category. Based on this idea Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory approach' to the definition of Hinduism. To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life. Many practitioners refer to
1441-543: A distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus, and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other", which started well before 1800. Michaels notes: As a counteraction to Islamic supremacy and as part of the continuing process of regionalization, two religious innovations developed in the Hindu religions: the formation of sects and a historicization which preceded later nationalism ... [S]aints and sometimes militant sect leaders, such as
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#17328559423431572-676: A great appeal in the West , most notably reflected in the popularisation of yoga and various sects such as Transcendental Meditation and the Hare Krishna movement . Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion, with approximately 1.20 billion followers, or around 15% of the global population, known as Hindus . It is the most widely professed faith in India , Nepal , Mauritius , and in Bali , Indonesia . Significant numbers of Hindu communities are found in
1703-406: A paradigmatic example of Hinduism's mystical nature". Pennington, while concurring that the study of Hinduism as a world religion began in the colonial era, disagrees that Hinduism is a colonial European era invention. He states that the shared theology, common ritual grammar and way of life of those who identify themselves as Hindus is traceable to ancient times. All of religion is contained in
1834-417: A reason of spirit but fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral justification for the colonial project. From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism. The early reports set
1965-450: A religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life". From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism, like other faiths, is appropriately referred to as a religion. In India, the term (Hindu) dharma is used, which is broader than the Western term "religion," and refers to the religious attitudes and behaviours, the 'right way to live', as preserved and transmitted in
2096-399: A sentence or half-verse may be marked with the " । " symbol (called a daṇḍa , meaning "bar", or called a pūrṇa virām , meaning "full stop/pause"). The end of a full verse may be marked with a double- daṇḍa , a " ॥ " symbol. A comma (called an alpa virām , meaning "short stop/pause") is used to denote a natural pause in speech. Punctuation marks of Western origin, such as
2227-488: A shared context and of inclusion in a common framework and horizon". Brahmins played an essential role in the development of the post-Vedic Hindu synthesis, disseminating Vedic culture to local communities, and integrating local religiosity into the trans-regional Brahmanic culture. In the post- Gupta period Vedanta developed in southern India, where orthodox Brahmanic culture and the Hindu culture were preserved, building on ancient Vedic traditions while "accommoda[ting]
2358-463: A single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the 'six systems' ( saddarsana ) of mainstream Hindu philosophy." The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Mikel Burley . Hacker called this "inclusivism" and Michaels speaks of "the identificatory habit". Lorenzen locates the origins of
2489-464: A theistic ontology of creation, other Hindus are or have been atheists . Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity. Most Hindu traditions revere a body of religious or sacred literature , the Vedas, although there are exceptions. These texts are a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus, though Louis Renou stated that "even in the most orthodox domains,
2620-453: A view that initially came into vogue during the colonial era. Richard Gombrich adds that Buddha should not be seen as a social reformer: "his concern was to reform individuals and help them leave society forever, not to reform the world... He never preached against social inequality, only declared it's irrelevance to salvation. He never tried to abolish the caste system nor to do away with slavery" Empirical evidence outside of India, such as in
2751-443: A worldwide appeal, transcending national boundaries and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam and Buddhism", both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions. It emphasises universal spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of humanity". It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation", or
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#17328559423432882-688: Is "often referred to as their 'bible' and its novel interpretation of the Buddhist path commonly constitutes their only source of knowledge on the subject". Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is regarded as a bodhisattva , the Maitreya , among the Indian Buddhists. In practice, the Navayana followers revere Ambedkar, states Deitrick (2013), as virtually on-par with the Buddha. He is considered as the one prophesied to appear and teach
3013-462: Is a table for Hindi, one for Sanskrit and Prakrit, etc. WX is a Roman transliteration scheme for Indian languages, widely used among the natural language processing community in India. It originated at IIT Kanpur for computational processing of Indian languages. The salient features of this transliteration scheme are as follows. ISCII is an 8-bit encoding. The lower 128 codepoints are plain ASCII ,
3144-611: Is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent . Also simply called Nāgari ( Sanskrit : नागरि , Nāgari ), it is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system ), based on the ancient Brāhmi script. It is one of the official scripts of the Republic of India and Nepal . It was developed and in regular use by the 8th century CE and achieved its modern form by 1000 CE. The Devanāgari script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants,
3275-456: Is an umbrella term for a range of Indian religious and spiritual traditions ( sampradaya s ) that are unified by the concept of dharma , a cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as first expounded in the Vedas . The word Hindu is an exonym , and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by
3406-642: Is associated with an application of the same name that enables typesetting in Indic scripts . The user inputs in Roman letters and the ITRANS pre-processor translates the Roman letters into Devanāgarī (or other Indic languages). The latest version of ITRANS is version 5.30 released in July 2001. It is similar to Velthuis system and was created by Avinash Chopde to help print various Indic scripts with personal computers. The disadvantage of
3537-518: Is celebrated as Dhammachakra Pravartan Day at Dikshabhoomi, Nagpur: I will accept and follow the teachings of Buddha. I will keep my people away from the different opinions of Hinayana and Mahayana, two religious orders. — B.R. Ambedkar The writings of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar were posthumously published as The Buddha and His Dhamma , and this is the scripture also known as Bible Buddhism bringing all important teaching of Buddha into one book. Among Navayana followers, state Keown & Prebish (2013), this
3668-566: Is closely related to the Nandināgarī script commonly found in numerous ancient manuscripts of South India , and it is distantly related to a number of southeast Asian scripts. Devanāgarī is formed by the addition of the word deva ( देव ) to the word nāgarī ( नागरी ). Nāgarī is an adjective derived from nagara ( नगर ), a Sanskrit word meaning "town" or "city," and literally means "urban" or "urbane". The word Nāgarī (implicitly modifying lipi , "script")
3799-639: Is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga , are currently the most prominent. The six āstika schools of Hindu philosophy, which recognise the authority of the Vedas are: Sānkhya , Yoga , Nyāya , Vaisheshika , Mimāmsā , and Vedānta . Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Devi) and Smartism (five deities treated as equals). Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many Hindus considering
3930-466: Is considered Bible of Buddhism and seems to be an attempt to unite all Buddhist sects. The followers of Navayāna Buddhism are generally called "Buddhists" ( Bauddha ) as well as Ambedkarite Buddhists , and rarely Navayana Buddhists . Almost 90% of Navayāna Buddhists live in Maharashtra . Ambedkar was an Indian leader influential during the colonial era and the early post-independence period of India. He
4061-546: Is devotionally worshipped.{{efn|... Ambedkar's re-interpretation of Buddhism and his formulation of Navayana has attracted admirers and criticism. The Navayana theories restate the core doctrines of Buddhism, according to Zelliot & Macy (1980), wherein Ambedkar's "social emphasis exclude[s] or distort some teaching, fundamental to traditional and canonical Buddhism". Anne Blackburn states that Ambedkar re‑interprets core concepts of Buddhism in class conflict terms, where nirvana
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4192-460: Is found in a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of northwestern South Asia. In Arabic texts, al-Hind referred to the land beyond the Indus and therefore, all the people in that land were Hindus. This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū . By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a popular alternative name of India , meaning
4323-548: Is historically accurate", thereby placing Navayana theories to be ahistorical, though it served as an important means for Dalit political mobilization and social movement. Scholars broadly accept that the depictions of the Buddha as a social reformer are inaccurate. Gombrich (2012) states that there is no evidence that the Buddha began or pursued social reforms; rather his aim was the salvation of those who joined his monastic order. Modernist interpreters of Buddhism, states Gombrich, keep picking up this "mistake from western authors",
4454-409: Is indicated by diacritics . The vowel अ ( a ) combines with the consonant क् ( k ) to form क ( ka ) with halant removed. But the diacritic series of क , ख , ग , घ ( ka, kha, ga, gha , respectively) is without any added vowel sign, as the vowel अ ( a ) is inherent . The combinations of all Sanskrit consonants and vowels, each in alphabetical order, are laid out in
4585-545: Is necessarily religious" or that Hindus have a universally accepted "conventional or institutional meaning" for that term. To many, it is as much a cultural term. Many Hindus do not have a copy of the Vedas nor have they ever seen or personally read parts of a Veda, like a Christian, might relate to the Bible or a Muslim might to the Quran. Yet, states Lipner, "this does not mean that their [Hindus] whole life's orientation cannot be traced to
4716-513: Is not the aim and end of spiritual pursuits, but a preparation for social action against inequality: Nibbana (Skt. nirvana ) the state or process which describes enlightenment, is considered [by Ambedkar] a precursor for moral action in the world and explicitly associated with a non-monastic lifestyle. Nibbana "means enough control over passion so as to enable one to walk on the path of righteousness". Ambedkar's understanding of dukkha and nibbana implies that moral action, for which nibbana
4847-546: Is part of the Brahmic family of scripts of India , Nepal , Tibet , and Southeast Asia . It is a descendant of the 3rd century BCE Brāhmī script , which evolved into the Nagari script which in turn gave birth to Devanāgarī and Nandināgarī . Devanāgarī has been widely adopted across India and Nepal to write Sanskrit , Marathi , Hindi , Central Indo-Aryan languages , Konkani , Boro , and various Nepalese languages. Some of
4978-526: Is preparation, will rectify sufferings of Mankind. Ambedkar considered all ideas in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism that relate to an individual's merit and spiritual development as insertions into Buddhism, and something that "cannot be accepted to be the word of the Buddha". Buddhism, to Ambedkar, must have been a social reform movement. Martin Fuchs states that Ambedkar's effort is to be admired as an attempt to seek
5109-503: Is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena of India. According to the Supreme Court of India , Unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy
5240-608: Is similar to the Krutidev typing method, popular in Rajasthan. The 'itrans' method is useful for those who know English (and the English keyboard) well but are not familiar with typing in Devanāgarī. Thousands of manuscripts of ancient and medieval era Sanskrit texts in Devanāgarī have been discovered since the 19th century. Major catalogues and census include: Hinduism Traditional Hinduism ( / ˈ h ɪ n d u ˌ ɪ z əm / )
5371-403: Is still the legal definition of a Hindu today. Hindu beliefs are vast and diverse, and thus Hinduism is often referred to as a family of religions rather than a single religion. Within each religion in this family of religions, there are different theologies, practices, and sacred texts. Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a declaration of faith or a creed ", but
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5502-450: Is the best in terms of ligatures but, because it is designed for Vedic as well, requires so much vertical space that it is not well suited for the "user interface font" (though an excellent choice for the "original field" font). Santipur OT is a beautiful font reflecting a very early [medieval era] typesetting style for Devanagari. Sanskrit 2003 is a good all-around font and has more ligatures than most fonts, though students will probably find
5633-562: Is the earliest self-designation of Hinduism. According to Arvind Sharma , the historical evidence suggests that "the Hindus were referring to their religion by the term vaidika dharma or a variant thereof" by the 4th-century CE. According to Brian K. Smith, "[i]t is 'debatable at the very least' as to whether the term Vaidika Dharma cannot, with the proper concessions to historical, cultural, and ideological specificity, be comparable to and translated as 'Hinduism' or 'Hindu religion'." Whatever
5764-467: Is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages. The orthography of this script reflects the pronunciation of the language. Unlike the Latin alphabet, the script has no concept of letter case . It is written from left to right, has a strong preference for symmetrical rounded shapes within squared outlines, and is recognisable by a horizontal line, known as
5895-687: Is the largest tradition of Hinduism. Vaishnavism is the devotional religious tradition that worships Vishnu and his avatars, particularly Krishna and Rama. The adherents of this sect are generally non-ascetic, monastic, oriented towards community events and devotionalism practices inspired by "intimate loving, joyous, playful" Krishna and other Vishnu avatars. These practices sometimes include community dancing, singing of Kirtans and Bhajans , with sound and music believed by some to have meditative and spiritual powers. Temple worship and festivals are typically elaborate in Vaishnavism. The Bhagavad Gita and
6026-671: Is the standard keyboard layout for Devanāgarī as standardized by the Government of India. It is inbuilt in all modern major operating systems . Microsoft Windows supports the InScript layout, which can be used to input unicode Devanāgarī characters. InScript is also available in some touchscreen mobile phones. This layout was used on manual typewriters when computers were not available or were uncommon. For backward compatibility some typing tools like Indic IME still provide this layout. Such tools work on phonetic transliteration. The user writes in
6157-460: Is used for writing languages other than Sanskrit, conjuncts are used mostly with Sanskrit words and loan words. Native words typically use the basic consonant and native speakers know to suppress the vowel when it is conventional to do so. For example, the native Hindi word karnā is written करना ( ka-ra-nā ). The government of these clusters ranges from widely to narrowly applicable rules, with special exceptions within. While standardised for
6288-485: Is visible in the Kutila inscription of Bareilly dated to VS 1049 (992 CE), which demonstrates the emergence of the horizontal bar to group letters belonging to a word. One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit texts from the early post- Maurya period consists of 1,413 Nāgarī pages of a commentary by Patanjali , with a composition date of about 150 BCE, the surviving copy transcribed about 14th century CE. In
6419-749: The Siddhaṃ matrika script (considered as the closest precursor to Nāgarī) was in use by Buddhists . Nāgarī has been the primus inter pares of the Indic scripts. It has long been used traditionally by religiously educated people in South Asia to record and transmit information, existing throughout the land in parallel with a wide variety of local scripts (such as Moḍī , Kaithi , and Mahajani ) used for administration, commerce, and other daily uses. Sharada remained in parallel use in Kashmir . An early version of Devanāgarī
6550-483: The bārākhaḍī ( बाराखडी ) or bārahkhaṛī ( बारहखड़ी ) table. In the following barakhadi table, the IAST transliteration of each combination will appear on mouseover: The following letter variants are also in use, particularly in older texts and in specific regions: As mentioned, successive consonants lacking a vowel in between them may physically join as a conjunct consonant or ligature . When Devanāgarī
6681-704: The Agamas such as the Pancaratrika to be invalid because it did not conform to the Vedas. Some Kashmiri scholars rejected the esoteric tantric traditions to be a part of Vaidika dharma. The Atimarga Shaivism ascetic tradition, datable to about 500 CE, challenged the Vaidika frame and insisted that their Agamas and practices were not only valid, they were superior than those of the Vaidikas. However, adds Sanderson, this Shaiva ascetic tradition viewed themselves as being genuinely true to
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#17328559423436812-498: The Government of India . A standard transliteration convention was codified in the ISO 15919 standard of 2001. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brāhmic graphemes to the Latin script. The Devanāgarī-specific portion is nearly identical to the academic standard for Sanskrit, IAST . The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is the academic standard for
6943-449: The Hindu texts . Sanātana Dharma refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and traditions with origins beyond human history– truths divinely revealed ( Shruti ) in the Vedas , the most ancient of the world's scriptures. To many Hindus, Hinduism is a tradition that can be traced at least to
7074-467: The Theosophical Society , as well as various " Guru -isms" and new religious movements such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , BAPS and ISKCON . Inden states that the attempt to classify Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytising missionaries and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their interests. Hinduism was construed as emanating not from
7205-560: The Vaidika dharma . The word 'Vaidika' in Sanskrit means 'derived from or conformable to the Veda' or 'relating to the Veda'. Traditional scholars employed the terms Vaidika and Avaidika, those who accept the Vedas as a source of authoritative knowledge and those who do not, to differentiate various Indian schools from Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka. According to Klaus Klostermaier, the term Vaidika dharma
7336-1253: The Vedas , the Upanishads , the Puranas , the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita ), the Ramayana , and the Agamas . 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 ). Hindu religious practices include devotion ( bhakti ), worship ( puja ), sacrificial rites ( yajna ), and meditation ( dhyana ) and yoga . Hinduism has no central doctrinal authority and many Hindus do not claim to belong to any denomination. However, scholarly studies notify four major denominations: Shaivism , Shaktism , Smartism , and Vaishnavism . The six Āstika schools of Hindu philosophy that recognise
7467-683: The colon , semicolon , exclamation mark , dash , and question mark have been in use in Devanāgarī script since at least the 1900s, matching their use in European languages. A variety of Unicode fonts are in use for Devanāgarī. These include Akshar, Annapurna, Arial , CDAC-Gist Surekh, CDAC-Gist Yogesh, Chandas, Gargi, Gurumaa, Jaipur, Jana, Kalimati, Kanjirowa, Lohit Devanagari, Mangal, Kokila, ,Preeti, Raghu, Sanskrit2003, Santipur OT, Siddhanta, and Thyaka. The form of Devanāgarī fonts vary with function. According to Harvard College for Sanskrit studies: Uttara [companion to Chandas ]
7598-403: The dhamma after it was forgotten; his iconography is a part of Indian Buddhist shrines and he is shown with a halo. Though Ambedkar states He is an ordinary man still Indian Buddhist shrines features images of the Ambedkar along with Buddha, and the followers bow and offer prayers before them in practice. According to Junghare (1988), for the followers of Navayana, Ambedkar has become a deity and
7729-457: The pizza effect , in which elements of Hindu culture have been exported to the West, gaining popularity there, and as a consequence also gained greater popularity in India. This globalisation of Hindu culture brought "to the West teachings which have become an important cultural force in western societies, and which in turn have become an important cultural force in India, their place of origin". The Hindutva movement has extensively argued for
7860-487: The "land of Hindus". Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by Xuanzang , and 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd al-Malik Isami . Some 16–18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts mention Hindu and Hindu dharma to distinguish from Muslims without positively defining these terms. In
7991-539: The "orthodox" form of Hinduism as Sanātana Dharma , "the eternal law" or the "eternal way". Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The Puranic chronology , as narrated in the Mahabharata , Ramayana , and the Puranas , envisions a timeline of events related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The word dharma is used here to mean religion similar to modern Indo-Aryan languages , rather than with its original Sanskrit meaning. All aspects of
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#17328559423438122-503: The 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The use of the English term "Hinduism" to describe a collection of practices and beliefs is a fairly recent construction. The term Hinduism was first used by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1816–17. By the 1840s, the term "Hinduism" was used by those Indians who opposed British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from Muslims and Christians. Before
8253-566: The 19th and 20th centuries by Hindu reform movements and Neo-Vedanta, and has become characteristic of modern Hinduism. Beginning in the 19th century, Indian modernists re-asserted Hinduism as a major asset of Indian civilisation, meanwhile "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric elements and elevating the Vedic elements. Western stereotypes were reversed, emphasising the universal aspects, and introducing modern approaches of social problems. This approach had great appeal, not only in India, but also in
8384-699: The 7th century, under the rule of Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire , Thonmi Sambhota was sent to Nepal to open marriage negotiations with a Nepali princess and to find a writing system suitable for the Tibetan language. He then invented the Tibetan script based on the Nāgarī used in Kashmir. He added 6 new characters for sounds that did not exist in Sanskrit. Other scripts closely related to Nāgarī (such as Siddhaṃ ) were introduced throughout East and Southeast Asia from
8515-603: The 7th to the 10th centuries CE: notably in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan. Most of the Southeast Asian scripts have roots in Dravidian scripts, but a few found in south-central regions of Java and isolated parts of southeast Asia resemble Devanāgarī or its prototypes. The Kawi script in particular is similar to the Devanāgarī in many respects, though the morphology of the script has local changes. The earliest inscriptions in
8646-516: The 9th century copper plate inscription of Devapaladeva (Bengal) which is also in early Devanāgarī script. The term kawi in Kawi script is a loan word from kāvya (poetry). According to anthropologists and Asian studies scholars John Norman Miksic and Goh Geok Yian, the 8th century version of early Nāgarī or Devanāgarī script was adopted in Java, Bali , and Khmer around the 8th–9th centuries, as evidenced by
8777-591: The Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practising or non-practicing. He classifies most Hindus as belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are moksha-focussed and often de-emphasise Brahman (Brahmin) priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism. He includes among "founded religions" Buddhism , Jainism , Sikhism that are now distinct religions, syncretic movements such as Brahmo Samaj and
8908-466: The British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, varna , jāti , occupation, and sect. "Hinduism" is an umbrella-term, referring to a broad range of sometimes opposite and often competitive traditions. The term "Hinduism"
9039-493: The Buddha philosophy as he theologizes his own political views". According to the 2011 Census of India there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India. Navayana Buddhists comprise about 87% (7.3 million) of the Indian Buddhist community, with nearly 90% (6.5 million) of all Navayana Buddhists in India living in Maharashtra state. A 2017 IndiaSpend.com report on census data says "Buddhists have a literacy rate of 81.29%, higher than
9170-517: The Buddhist movement, Navayāna is not considered an independent new branch of Buddhism native to India , distinct from the traditionally recognized branches of Theravāda , Mahāyāna , and Vajrayāna —considered to be foundational in the Buddhist tradition. It radically re-interprets what Buddhism is, re-emphasizing Buddha's engagement with the world as a guide and well wishers of human beings. Dr. Ambedkar emphasized on applying buddhist teachings. (Kind of engaged Buddhism). Ambedkar looked at Buddhism to be
9301-617: The Devanāgarī-like scripts are from around the 10th century CE, with many more between the 11th and 14th centuries. Some of the old-Devanāgarī inscriptions are found in Hindu temples of Java, such as the Prambanan temple. The Ligor and the Kalasan inscriptions of central Java, dated to the 8th century, are also in the Nāgarī script of north India. According to the epigraphist and Asian Studies scholar Lawrence Briggs, these may be related to
9432-944: The Indic language Misplaced Pages and other wikiprojects, including Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi, and Nepali Misplaced Pages. While some people use InScript , the majority uses either Google phonetic transliteration or the input facility Universal Language Selector provided on Misplaced Pages. On Indic language wikiprojects, the phonetic facility provided initially was java-based, and was later supported by Narayam extension for phonetic input facility. Currently Indic language Wiki projects are supported by Universal Language Selector (ULS) , that offers both phonetic keyboard (Aksharantaran, Marathi: अक्षरांतरण , Hindi: लिप्यंतरण, बोलनागरी ) and InScript keyboard (Marathi: मराठी लिपी ). The Ubuntu Linux operating system supports several keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī, including Harvard-Kyoto, WX notation , Bolanagari and phonetic. The 'remington' typing method in Ubuntu IBUS
9563-561: The Latin alphabet and the IME automatically converts it into Devanāgarī. Some popular phonetic typing tools are Akruti, Baraha IME and Google IME . The Mac OS X operating system includes two different keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī: one resembles the INSCRIPT/KDE Linux, while the other is a phonetic layout called "Devanāgarī QWERTY". Any one of the Unicode fonts input systems is fine for
9694-458: The Marathi poet Tukaram (1609–1649) and Ramdas (1608–1681), articulated ideas in which they glorified Hinduism and the past. The Brahmins also produced increasingly historical texts, especially eulogies and chronicles of sacred sites (Mahatmyas), or developed a reflexive passion for collecting and compiling extensive collections of quotations on various subjects. The notion and reports on "Hinduism" as
9825-692: The Theravada Buddhist monasteries of the Sinhalese society, suggests that class ideas have been prevalent among the sangha monks, and between the Buddhist monks and the laity. In all canonical Buddhist texts, the khattiyas (warrior class) are always mentioned first and never other classes such as brahmans , vessas , suddas . The novel interpretations and the dismissal of mainstream doctrines of Buddhism by Ambedkar as he formulated Navayana has led some to suggest that Navayana may more properly be called Ambedkarism. However, Ambedkar did not consider himself as
9956-507: The Vedanta, that is, in the three stages of the Vedanta philosophy, the Dvaita, Vishishtâdvaita and Advaita; one comes after the other. These are the three stages of spiritual growth in man. Each one is necessary. This is the essential of religion: the Vedanta, applied to the various ethnic customs and creeds of India, is Hinduism. — Swami Vivekananda This inclusivism was further developed in
10087-458: The Vedas or that it does not in some way derive from it". Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself [or herself] a Hindu," and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text." Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to
10218-446: The Vedas, or were invalid in their entirety. Moderates then, and most orthoprax scholars later, agreed that though there are some variations, the foundation of their beliefs, the ritual grammar, the spiritual premises, and the soteriologies were the same. "This sense of greater unity", states Sanderson, "came to be called Hinduism". According to Nicholson, already between the 12th and the 16th centuries "certain thinkers began to treat as
10349-403: The Vedic period, between c. 500 to 200 BCE , and c. 300 CE , in the period of the second urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism when the epics and the first Purānas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period , with the decline of Buddhism in India . Since the 19th century, modern Hinduism , influenced by western culture , has acquired
10480-467: The Vedic tradition and "held unanimously that the Śruti and Smṛti of Brahmanism are universally and uniquely valid in their own sphere, [...] and that as such they [Vedas] are man's sole means of valid knowledge [...]". The term Vaidika dharma means a code of practice that is "based on the Vedas", but it is unclear what "based on the Vedas" really implies, states Julius Lipner. The Vaidika dharma or "Vedic way of life", states Lipner, does not mean "Hinduism
10611-721: The West's view of Hinduism". Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity", and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony. According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms. According to Flood, Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking middle-class Hindus today". Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan sought to reconcile western rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and humanistic religious experience". This "Global Hinduism" has
10742-651: The above ASCII schemes is case-sensitivity, implying that transliterated names may not be capitalised. This difficulty is avoided with the system developed in 1996 by Frans Velthuis for TeX , loosely based on IAST, in which case is irrelevant. ALA-LC romanisation is a transliteration scheme approved by the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, and widely used in North American libraries. Transliteration tables are based on languages, so there
10873-573: The adoption of Nāgarī scripts. For example, the mid 8th-century Pattadakal pillar in Karnataka has text in both Siddha Matrika script, and an early Telugu-Kannada script; while, the Kangra Jawalamukhi inscription in Himachal Pradesh is written in both Sharada and Devanāgarī scripts. The Nāgarī script was in regular use by the 7th century CE, and it was fully developed by about
11004-547: The ancient Vedic era. The Western term "religion" to the extent it means "dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their tradition, states Hatcher. Sanātana Dharma historically referred to the "eternal" duties religiously ordained in Hinduism, duties such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings ( ahiṃsā ), purity, goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism. These duties applied regardless of
11135-447: The authority of the Vedas are: Samkhya , Yoga , Nyaya , Vaisheshika , Mīmāṃsā , and Vedanta . While the traditional Itihasa-Purana and its derived Epic-Puranic chronology present Hinduism as a tradition existing for thousands of years, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of Brahmanical orthopraxy with various Indian cultures, having diverse roots and no specific founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after
11266-508: The case, many Hindu religious sources see persons or groups which they consider as non-Vedic (and which reject Vedic varṇāśrama – 'caste and life stage' orthodoxy) as being heretics (pāṣaṇḍa/pākhaṇḍa). For example, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa considers Buddhists, Jains as well as some Shaiva groups like the Paśupatas and Kāpālins to be pāṣaṇḍas (heretics). According to Alexis Sanderson ,
11397-435: The central deity worshipped, the traditions and the soteriological outlook. The denominations of Hinduism, states Lipner, are unlike those found in major religions of the world, because Hindu denominations are fuzzy with individuals practising more than one, and he suggests the term "Hindu polycentrism". There are no census data available on demographic history or trends for the traditions within Hinduism. Estimates vary on
11528-424: The classical "karma-marga", jnana-marga , bhakti-marga , and "heroism", which is rooted in militaristic traditions . These militaristic traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, Rama , believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu) and parts of political Hinduism . "Heroism" is also called virya-marga . According to Michaels, one out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of
11659-435: The colonial polemical reports led to fabricated stereotypes where Hinduism was mere mystic paganism devoted to the service of devils, while other scholars state that the colonial constructions influenced the belief that the Vedas , Bhagavad Gita , Manusmriti and such texts were the essence of Hindu religiosity, and in the modern association of 'Hindu doctrine' with the schools of Vedanta (in particular Advaita Vedanta) as
11790-762: The countries of South Asia , in Southeast Asia , in the Caribbean , Middle East , North America , Europe , Oceania , Africa , and other regions . The word Hindū is an exonym , and is derived from the Sanskrit root Sindhu , believed to be the name of the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent . The Proto-Iranian sound change *s > h occurred between 850 and 600 BCE. According to Gavin Flood , "The actual term Hindu first occurs as
11921-609: The cultural influences such as Yoga and Hare Krishna movement by many missionaries organisations, especially by ISKCON and this is also due to the migration of Indian Hindus to the other nations of the world. Hinduism is growing fast in many western nations and in some African nations . Hinduism has no central doctrinal authority and many practising Hindus do not claim to belong to any particular denomination or tradition. Four major denominations are, however, used in scholarly studies: Shaivism , Shaktism , Smartism , and Vaishnavism . These denominations differ primarily in
12052-648: The deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal absolute or ultimate reality or Supreme God , while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme. Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of ātman (self), reincarnation of one's ātman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living), although variation exists, with some not following these beliefs. June McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand
12183-606: The earliest epigraphic evidence attesting to the developing Sanskrit Nāgarī script in ancient India is from the 1st to 4th century CE inscriptions discovered in Gujarat . Variants of script called nāgarī , recognisably close to Devanāgarī, are first attested from the 1st century CE Rudradaman inscriptions in Sanskrit, while the modern standardised form of Devanāgarī was in use by about 1000 CE. Medieval inscriptions suggest widespread diffusion of Nāgarī-related scripts, with biscripts presenting local script along with
12314-469: The early Sanskrit texts differentiate between Vaidika, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saura, Buddhist and Jaina traditions. However, the late 1st-millennium CE Indic consensus had "indeed come to conceptualize a complex entity corresponding to Hinduism as opposed to Buddhism and Jainism excluding only certain forms of antinomian Shakta-Shaiva" from its fold. Some in the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy considered
12445-684: The end of first millennium. The use of Sanskrit in Nāgarī script in medieval India is attested by numerous pillar and cave-temple inscriptions, including the 11th-century Udayagiri inscriptions in Madhya Pradesh , and an inscribed brick found in Uttar Pradesh , dated to be from 1217 CE, which is now held at the British Museum . The script's prototypes and related versions have been discovered with ancient relics outside India, in places such as Sri Lanka , Myanmar and Indonesia . In East Asia,
12576-628: The establishment of a Hindu self-identity took place "through a process of mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim Other". According to Lorenzen, this "presence of the Other" is necessary to recognise the "loose family resemblance" among the various traditions and schools. According to the Indologist Alexis Sanderson , before Islam arrived in India, the "Sanskrit sources differentiated Vaidika, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Śākta, Saura, Buddhist, and Jaina traditions, but they had no name that denotes
12707-449: The expression of emotions among the Hindus. The major kinds, according to McDaniel are Folk Hinduism , based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system; Vedic Hinduism based on the earliest layers of the Vedas, traceable to the 2nd millennium BCE; Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the Upanishads , including Advaita Vedanta , emphasising knowledge and wisdom; Yogic Hinduism, following
12838-637: The first Puranas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period , with the decline of Buddhism in India . Hinduism's variations in belief and its broad range of traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western conceptions. Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions; Hindus can be polytheistic , pantheistic , panentheistic , pandeistic , henotheistic , monotheistic , monistic , agnostic , atheistic or humanist . According to Mahatma Gandhi , "a man may not believe in God and still call himself
12969-646: The first five of these as a collective entity over and against Buddhism and Jainism". This absence of a formal name, states Sanderson, does not mean that the corresponding concept of Hinduism did not exist. By late 1st-millennium CE, the concept of a belief and tradition distinct from Buddhism and Jainism had emerged. This complex tradition accepted in its identity almost all of what is currently Hinduism, except certain antinomian tantric movements. Some conservative thinkers of those times questioned whether certain Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta texts or practices were consistent with
13100-558: The history of Hinduism, states Lipner. Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave the following definition in Gita Rahasya (1915): "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large". It was quoted by the Indian Supreme Court in 1966, and again in 1995, "as an 'adequate and satisfactory definition," and
13231-518: The keyboard. This makes typing in Harvard-Kyoto much easier than IAST. Harvard-Kyoto uses capital letters that can be difficult to read in the middle of words. ITRANS is a lossless transliteration scheme of Devanāgarī into ASCII that is widely used on Usenet . It is an extension of the Harvard-Kyoto scheme. In ITRANS, the word devanāgarī is written "devanaagarii" or "devanAgarI". ITRANS
13362-448: The major religions of the world in depth, namely Hinduism , Buddhism , Sikhism , Christianity , and Islam , for nearly 21 years. Thereafter, Ambedkar studied the sacred texts of Buddhism and found that maitri (loving kindness) & karuna(compassion) aren't practiced in all corners of life by Buddhists so he re-emphasized these teachings into what is called "New Vehicle" Buddhism, or Navayāna Ambedkar never used this term himself. It
13493-399: The many contemporaneous inscriptions of this period. The letter order of Devanāgarī, like nearly all Brāhmic scripts, is based on phonetic principles that consider both the manner and place of articulation of the consonants and vowels they represent. This arrangement is usually referred to as the varṇamālā (" garland of letters"). The format of Devanāgarī for Sanskrit serves as
13624-598: The modern term Sanātana Dharma ( lit. ' eternal dharma ' ), based on the belief that its origins lie beyond human history , as revealed in the Hindu texts . Another endonym for Hinduism is Vaidika Dharma ( lit. ' Vedic dharma ' ). Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared concepts that discuss theology , mythology , among other topics in textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti ( lit. ' heard ' ) and Smṛti ( lit. ' remembered ' ). The major Hindu scriptures are
13755-522: The most part, there are certain variations in clustering, of which the Unicode used on this page is just one scheme. The following are a number of rules: The pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit is written with various symbols depending on shakha . In the Rigveda , anudātta is written with a bar below the line ( ◌॒ ), svarita with a stroke above the line ( ◌॑ ) while udātta is unmarked. The end of
13886-432: The multiple demands of Hinduism." The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India further developed from the 12th century CE. Lorenzen traces the emergence of a "family resemblance", and what he calls as "beginnings of medieval and modern Hinduism" taking shape, at c. 300–600 CE, with the development of the early Puranas, and continuities with the earlier Vedic religion. Lorenzen states that
14017-422: The national average of 72.98%", but it does not distinguish Navayana Buddhists from other Buddhists. When compared to overall literacy rate of Maharashtra state where 80% of Buddhists are found, their literacy rate is 83.17% or slightly higher than statewide average of 82.34%. According to Jean Darian, the conversion to Buddhism and its growth in India has in part been because of non-religious factors, in particular
14148-849: The next two decades, Ambedkar studied Buddhist texts and wrote The Buddha and His Dhamma which is considered Bible of Buddhism. Dr. Ambedkar gave 22 vows to his followers on the day of mass conversion to Buddhism. Only the first 4 are highlighted by political minded people but they contain the essence of Buddhist practice if one reads to the end will understand that it contains the essence of Buddhism. The vows are as follows: 1. I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, nor shall I worship them. 2. I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna, nor shall I worship them. 3. I shall have no faith in ‘Gouri’, ‘Ganpathi’ and other Gods and Goddesses of Hindu religion, nor shall I worship them. 4. I do not believe in
14279-607: The noble eightfold path taught by Buddha Ambedkar re-emphasized Buddhist principles to address modern issues. Navayana dhamma doctrine as propounded by Ambedkar, states Sumant (2004), "does not situate morality in a transcendental [religious] domain", nor in "a civil association, including the state". Dhamma is derived from and the guiding principle for social conscience. Navayana Buddhism began in 1956, when Bhimrao R. Ambedkar adopted it, and 380,000 Dalit community members converted to Buddhism from Hinduism on 14 and 15 October 1956. After that on every year 14 October
14410-526: The originator of a new Buddhism, but stated that he was merely reviving what was original Buddhism after centuries of "misguided interpretation" by wrong headed Buddhist monks. Others, states Skaria, consider Ambedkar attempting a synthesis of the ideas of modern Karl Marx into the structure of ideas by the ancient Buddha, as Ambedkar worked on essays on both in the final years of his life. According to Janet Contursi, Ambedkar re-interprets Buddhist religion and with Navayana "speaks through Gautama and politicizes
14541-562: The political and economic needs of the community as well as the needs of the political leaders and the expanding administrative structure in India. According to Trevor Ling and Steven Axelrod, the intellectual and political side of Navayana Buddhist movement lost traction after the death of Ambedkar. Major festivals among Navayana Buddhists are: Devanagari Devanagari ( / ˌ d eɪ v ə ˈ n ɑː ɡ ə r i / DAY -və- NAH -gə-ree ; देवनागरी , IAST : Devanāgarī , Sanskrit pronunciation: [deːʋɐˈnaːɡɐriː] )
14672-619: The prototype for its application, with minor variations or additions, to other languages. The vowels and their arrangement are: The table below shows the consonant letters (in combination with inherent vowel a ) and their arrangement. To the right of the Devanāgarī letter it shows the Latin script transliteration using International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration , and the phonetic value ( IPA ) in Hindi . The table below shows consonants with common vowel diacritics and their ISO 15919 transliteration. Vowels in their independent form on
14803-451: The relative number of adherents in the different traditions of Hinduism. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, the Vaishnavism tradition is the largest group with about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus, followed by Shaivism with 252 million or 26.6%, Shaktism with 30 million or 3.2% and other traditions including Neo-Hinduism and Reform Hinduism with 25 million or 2.6%. In contrast, according to Jones and Ryan, Shaivism
14934-400: The reverence to the Vedas has come to be a simple raising of the hat". Halbfass states that, although Shaivism and Vaishnavism may be regarded as "self-contained religious constellations", there is a degree of interaction and reference between the "theoreticians and literary representatives" of each tradition that indicates the presence of "a wider sense of identity, a sense of coherence in
15065-497: The romanisation of Sanskrit. IAST is the de facto standard used in printed publications, like books, magazines, and electronic texts with Unicode fonts. It is based on a standard established by the Congress of Orientalists at Athens in 1912. The ISO 15919 standard of 2001 codified the transliteration convention to include an expanded standard for sister scripts of Devanāgarī. The National Library at Kolkata romanisation , intended for
15196-400: The romanisation of all Indic scripts, is an extension of IAST. Compared to IAST, Harvard-Kyoto looks much simpler. It does not contain all the diacritic marks that IAST contains. It was designed to simplify the task of putting large amount of Sanskrit textual material into machine readable form, and the inventors stated that it reduces the effort needed in transliteration of Sanskrit texts on
15327-552: The spacing of the CDAC-Gist Surekh font makes for quicker comprehension and reading. The Google Fonts project has a number of Unicode fonts for Devanāgarī in a variety of typefaces in serif, sans-serif, display and handwriting categories. There are several methods of Romanisation or transliteration from Devanāgarī to the Roman script . The Hunterian system is the national system of romanisation in India , officially adopted by
15458-617: The text of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali emphasising introspective awareness; Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and caste"; and bhakti or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual. Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity. The three Hindu religions are "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism", "folk religions and tribal religions", and "founded religions". The four forms of Hindu religiosity are
15589-482: The theory of incarnation of Gods. 5. I do not and shall not believe that the Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be, mischievous and false propaganda. 6. I shall not perform ‘Shraaddha’ nor, shall I give ‘pinddan’. 8. I shall not perform any ceremony through Hindu priests (brahmins). 9. I believe in equality of mankind. 10. I shall endeavour to establish equality 11. I shall follow
15720-449: The top and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) combined with the consonant ' k ' on the bottom. ' ka ' is without any added vowel sign, where the vowel ' a ' is inherent . A vowel combines with a consonant in their diacritic form. For example, the vowel आ ( ā ) combines with the consonant क् ( k ) to form the syllabic letter का ( kā ), with halant (cancel sign) removed and added vowel sign which
15851-447: The tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have been at the foundation of Indology . Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta. Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as
15982-461: The traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more". Part of the problem with a single definition of the term Hinduism is the fact that Hinduism does not have a founder. It is a synthesis of various traditions, the "Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions". Theism is also difficult to use as a unifying doctrine for Hinduism, because while some Hindu philosophies postulate
16113-458: The unity of Hinduism, dismissing the differences and regarding India as a Hindu-country since ancient times. And there are assumptions of political dominance of Hindu nationalism in India , also known as ' Neo-Hindutva '. There have also been increase in pre-dominance of Hindutva in Nepal , similar to that of India . The scope of Hinduism is also increasing in the other parts of the world, due to
16244-642: The upper 128 codepoints are ISCII-specific. It has been designed for representing not only Devanāgarī but also various other Indic scripts as well as a Latin-based script with diacritic marks used for transliteration of the Indic scripts. ISCII has largely been superseded by Unicode, which has, however, attempted to preserve the ISCII layout for its Indic language blocks. The Unicode Standard defines four blocks for Devanāgarī: Devanagari (U+0900–U+097F), Devanagari Extended (U+A8E0–U+A8FF), Devanagari Extended-A (U+11B00–11B5F), and Vedic Extensions (U+1CD0–U+1CFF). InScript
16375-440: The various traditions collectively referred to as "Hinduism." The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, and have also been taken over by critics of the Western view on India. Hinduism as it
16506-518: The welfare of many. B. R. Ambedkar was an Indian lawyer , politician , and scholar of Buddhism , and the Drafting Chairman of the Constitution of India . He was born in a Dalit (untouchable) family during the colonial era of India , studied abroad, became a Dalit leader, and announced in 1935 his intent to convert from Hinduism to a different religion, an endeavor which took him to study all
16637-460: The west. Major representatives of "Hindu modernism" are Ram Mohan Roy , Swami Vivekananda , Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi . Raja Rammohan Roy is known as the father of the Hindu Renaissance . He was a major influence on Swami Vivekananda, who, according to Flood, was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating
16768-470: Was coined in Western ethnography in the 18th century and refers to the fusion, or synthesis, of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500 –200 BCE and c. 300 CE , in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the epics and
16899-414: Was labelled on him by people after his death. Ambedkar heldHinduism conference on 13 October 1956, announcing his rejection of hinduism.Thereafter, he left Hinduism and adopted Buddhism as his religious faith, about six weeks before his death. Its adherents see Navayāna Buddhism not as a sect with radically different ideas, but rather as a new social movement founded on the principles of Buddhism . In
17030-613: Was the fourteenth child in an impoverished Maharashtra Schedule caste family, who studied abroad, returned to India in the 1920s and joined the political movement. His focus was social and political rights for the Depressed class community. To free his community from religious prejudice, he concluded that they must leave Hinduism and convert to a different religion. He chose Buddhism as the only way to end human sufferings . In 1935, during his disagreements with Mahatma Gandhi , Ambedkar announced his intent to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. Over
17161-409: Was used on its own to refer to a North Indian script, or perhaps a number of such scripts, as Al-Biruni attests in the 11th century; the form Devanāgarī is attested later, at least by the 18th century. The name of the Nandināgarī script is also formed by adding a prefix to the generic script name nāgarī . The precise origin and significance of the prefix deva remains unclear. Devanāgarī
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