Modern Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (Bengali: শ্রী অরবিন্দ (অরবিন্দ ঘোষ) Sri Ôrobindo) (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, major Indian English poet, philosopher, and yogi. He joined the movement for India's freedom from British rule and for a duration (1905–10), became one of · Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (b. 22 August 1877, Colombo, Ceylon, d. 9 September 1947, Needham, Massachusetts) was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described · Dayananda Saraswati Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati (February 12, 1824 – October 31, 1883) was an important Hindu religious scholar, reformer and the founder of the Arya Samaj, "Society of Nobles", a Hindu reform movement, founded in 1875. He was the first man who gave the call for Swarajya - "India for Indians" in 1876 which was later furthered by · Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, pronounced [moːɦən̪d̪aːs kərəmʨən̪d̪ ɡaːn̪d̪ʱiː] ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered satyagraha—resistance to tyranny · Krishnananda Sri Swami Krishnananda Saraswati Maharaj was a Hindu saint. He was a foremost disciple of Swami Sivananda and served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, India from 1958 until 2001. Author of more than 200 texts, Krishnananda wrote and lectured prolifically on yoga, religion, and metaphysics. His lectures, though · Narayana Guru Sri Nārāyana Guru (1855–1928), also known as Sree Nārāyana Guru Swami, was a Hindu saint, sage, prophet and social reformer of India. The Guru was born into an Ezhava family, in an era when people from backward communities like the Ezhavas faced much social injustices in the caste-ridden Kerala society. Gurudevan, as he was fondly known to · Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (September 1, 1896 – November 14, 1977) was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement". His mission was to propagate the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a form of Hinduism that had been · Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (February 18, 1836 - August 16, 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay (Bangla: গদাধর চট্টোপাধ্যায় Gôdadhor Chôţţopaddhae), was a famous mystic of 19th-century India. His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami · Ramana Maharshi Sri Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 – April 14, 1950), born Venkataraman Iyer, was a Hindu sage. He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After having attained liberation at the age of 16, he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus, at Tiruvannamalai, and lived there for the rest of · Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, OM, FBA, ; (5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice-President of India (1952-1962), and its second President (1962-1967) · Sivananda Swami Sivananda Saraswati was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a well known proponent of Sivananda Yoga and Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism. He lived most of the later part of his life · Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (January 12, 1863–July 4, 1902), born Narendranath Dutta was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Hindu philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America and is also credited with raising · Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh (Bengali: মুকুন্দ লাল ঘোষ Mukundo Lal Ghosh), was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a Yogi

Hinduism Portal Hinduism is a religion originating in the Indian subcontinent, based on the Vedas, and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The term, "Hinduism," is heterogeneous, as Hinduism consists of several schools of thought. It encompasses many religious rituals that widely vary in practice, as well as many diverse sects Hindu Mythology Portal Hindu mythology is the large body of mythology related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Indian mythology

A Hindu ( pronunciation (help·info), Devanagari Devanagari , also called Nagari (Nāgarī, the name of its parent writing system), is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, does not have distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together. Devanāgarī is the main script: हिन्दु) is an adherent of Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions, a set of religious Indian religions are the related religious traditions that originated in the Indian subcontinent, namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, inclusive of their sub-schools and various related traditions. They form a subgroup of the larger classes of "Eastern religions" and also Indo-European religions . Indian religions have, philosophical The term Indian philosophy , may refer to any of several traditions of philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent, including Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, and Jain philosophy. Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying theme of Dharma, and similarly attempt to and cultural The culture of India has been shaped not only by its long history, unique geography and diverse demography, but also by its ancient heritages, which were formed during the Indus Valley Civilization and evolved further during the Vedic age, rise and decline of Buddhism, the Golden age, invasions from Central Asia, European colonization and the rise systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent and other terms, is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate south of the Himalayas, forming a land mass which extends southward into the Indian Ocean. The vast body of Hindu scriptures Literature regarded as central to the Vedic Hindu literary tradition was predominantly composed in Sanskrit. Indeed, much of the morphology and linguistic philosophy inherent in the learning of Sanskrit is inextricably linked to study of the Vedas and other Vedic texts, divided into Śruti Śruti , often spelled shruti or shruthi, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law. These sacred works span the entire history of Hinduism, beginning with some of the earliest known Hindu texts and ending in ("revealed") and Smriti Smṛti , literally "that which is remembered," refers to a specific body of Hindu religious scripture, and is a codified component of Hindu customary law. Smṛti also denotes non-Shruti texts and is generally seen as secondary in authority to Shruti. The literature which comprises the Smriti was composed after the Vedas around 500 BCE ("remembered"), lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs, which primarily include dhárma Dharma (Sanskrit: dhárma, Pāḷi dhamma) is a multivalent term of great importance in Indian philosophy and religions. In the context of Hinduism, it means one's righteous duty, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, class, occupation, and gender. In modern Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to religion, depending on, kárma Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म kárma , kárman- "act, action, performance"; Pali: kamma) in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect (i.e., the cycle called saṃsāra) originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, ahimsa Ahimsa is a term meaning to do no harm (literally: the avoidance of violence - himsa). It is an important tenet of the Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism and especially Jainism). Ahimsa is a rule of conduct that bars the killing or injuring of living beings. It is closely connected with the notion that all kinds of violence entail negative and saṃsāra. Vedānta Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a sandhied form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas." and yoga Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Within Hinduism, it also refers to one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy, and to the goal towards which that school directs its practices. In Jainism, yoga is are one of the several core schools of Hindu philosophy In Hindu history, the distinction of the six orthodox schools was current in the Gupta period "golden age" of Hinduism. With the disappearance of Vaishshika and Mimamsa, it was obsolete by the later Middle Ages, when the various sub-schools of Vedanta began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy. Nyaya, broadly known as the Sanātana Dharma The Sanskrit term Sanātana Dharma or Dharmam Sanātanam (Pali: Dhammo Sanatano धम्मो सनातानो), translating to approximately "eternal law", is a historical phrase revived in late 19th century Hindu revivalism as a name for Hinduism, first used by Vivekananda.[citation needed]. The word Hindu is at times attributed to all persons professing Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions, Jainism Jainism is an ancient religion of India that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to progress the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state of supreme being is called Jina (, Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by adherents as an or Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in fifteenth century Punjab on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world. This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharma as is used in the Constitution of India Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of the government and spells out the fundamental rights, directive principles and duties of citizens. Passed by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, it came.^[1]

Hinduism is regarded as the oldest of the world's major religions. Hindu mythology Hindu mythology is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Indian mythology and philosophy In Hindu history, the distinction of the six orthodox schools was current in the Gupta period "golden age" of Hinduism. With the disappearance of Vaishshika and Mimamsa, it was obsolete by the later Middle Ages, when the various sub-schools of Vedanta began to rise to prominence as the main divisions of religious philosophy. Nyaya have had a profound impact in many parts of the world, especially southern and south-eastern Asia. With more than a billion adherents, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 1 billion, live in India.^[2] Other countries with large Hindu populations, such as Nepal, Mauritius and the island of Bali, can be found in various parts of the world.

Etymology

The word Hindu is the mispronunciation of the Sanskrit word Sindhu by the Persians, the historic local appellation for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.^[3] and is first seen as a reference to the river Sindhu in the Rig Veda.^[4] The word Hindu is found in Persian literature. Hindu-e-falak. The usage of the word Hindu was further popularized by the Arabic term al-Hind referring to the land of the people who live across river Indus.^[5] By the 13th century, Hindustān emerged as a popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".^[6]

Originally, Hindu was a secular term which was used to describe all inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent (or Hindustan) irrespective of their religious affiliation. It occurs sporadically in some 16th-18th century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts, including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata, usually to contrast Hindus with Yavanas or Mlecchas.^[7] It appears in South Indian and Kashmiri texts from at least 1323 CE,^[8] and increasingly so during British rule. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of Indian religions as Hindus. Eventually, it came to define a precisely religious identity that includes any person of Indian origin who neither practiced Abrahamic religions nor non-Vedic Indian religions, such as Jainism, Sikhism or Buddhism, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices related to Sanātana Dharma.^[9]

One of the accepted views is that ism was added to Hindu around 1830 to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans in contrast to other religions. The term Hinduism was soon appropriated by the Hindus in India themselves as they tried to establish a national, social and cultural identity opposed to European colonialism in India.^[9]

History

The earliest evidence for prehistoric religion in India date back to the late Neolithic in the early Harappan period (5500–2600 BCE).^[10][11] The beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era (1500–500 BCE) are called the "historical Vedic religion". Modern Hinduism grew out of the Vedas, the oldest of which is the Rigveda, dated to 1700–1100 BCE.^[12] The Vedas center on worship of deities such as Indra, Varuna and Agni, and on the Soma ritual. They performed fire-sacrifices, called yajña, and chanted Vedic mantras but did not build temples or icons.^{[citation needed]} The oldest Vedic traditions exhibit strong similarities to Zoroastrianism and other Indo-European religions.^[13]

The major Sanskrit epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, were compiled over a protracted period during the late centuries BCE and the early centuries CE. They contain mythological stories about the rulers and wars of ancient India, and are interspersed with religious and philosophical treatises. The later Puranas recount tales about devas and devis, their interactions with humans and their battles against demons.

Three major movements underpinned the naissance of a new epoch of Hindu thought: the advent and spread of Upanishadic, Jaina, and Buddhist philosophico-religious thought throughout the broader Indian landmass.^[14] Mahavira (24th Tirthankar of Jains) and Buddha (founder of Buddhism) taught that to achieve moksha or nirvana, one did not have to accept the authority of the Vedas or the caste system. Buddha went a step further and claimed that the existence of a Self/soul or God was unnecessary.^[15] Buddhism peaked during the reign of Asoka the Great of the Mauryan Empire, who unified the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE. After 200 CE several schools of thought were formally codified in Indian philosophy, including Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva-Mimamsa and Vedanta.^[16] Charvaka, the founder of an atheistic materialist school, came to the fore in North India in the sixth century BCE.^[17] Between 400 BCE and 1000 CE Hinduism expanded at the expense of Buddhism.^[18]

Sanskritic culture went into decline after the end of the Gupta period. The early medieval Puranas helped establish a religious mainstream among the pre-literate tribal societies undergoing acculturation. The tenets of Brahmanic Hinduism and of the Dharmashastras underwent a radical transformation at the hands of the Purana composers, resulting in the rise of a mainstream "Hinduism" that overshadowed all earlier traditions.^[19]

Though Islam came to India in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders and the conquest of Sindh, it started to become a major religion during the later Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent.^[17] During this period Buddhism declined rapidly and many Hindus converted to Islam. Numerous Muslim rulers such as Aurangzeb destroyed Hindu temples and persecuted non-Muslims; however some, such as Akbar, were more tolerant. Hinduism underwent profound changes, in large part due to the influence of the prominent teachers Ramanuja, Madhva, and Chaitanya.^[17] Followers of the Bhakti movement moved away from the abstract concept of Brahman, which the philosopher Adi Shankara consolidated a few centuries before, with emotional, passionate devotion towards the more accessible avatars, especially Krishna and Rama.^[20]

Indology as an academic discipline of studying Indian culture from a European perspective was established in the 19th century, led by scholars such as Max Müller and John Woodroffe. They brought Vedic, Puranic and Tantric literature and philosophy to Europe and the United States. At the same time, societies such as the Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society attempted to reconcile and fuse Abrahamic and Dharmic philosophies, endeavouring to institute societal reform. This period saw the emergence of movements which, while highly innovative, were rooted in indigenous tradition. They were based on the personalities and teachings of individuals, as with Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi. Prominent Hindu philosophers, including Aurobindo and Prabhupada (founder of ISKCON), translated, reformulated and presented Hinduism's foundational texts for contemporary audiences in new iterations, attracting followers and attention in India and abroad. Others such as Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, B.K.S. Iyengar and Swami Rama have also been instrumental in raising the profiles of Yoga and Vedanta in the West. Today modern movements, such as ISKCON and the Swaminarayan Faith, attract a large amount of followers across the world.^[21]

Definition

The roots of the diverse set of religious beliefs, traditions and philosophy of Hindus were laid during the Vedic age which originated in India between 2000 and 1500 BC.^[24] The ancient Vedic religion is considered by most scholars as the predecessor of the modern religion of Hindus^[25] and it has had a profound impact on India's history, culture and philosophy. The Vedas are the oldest sacred books of Hinduism and lay the foundation of several schools of Hindu thought.^[26] The Upanishads refers to those scriptures which form the core teachings of the Vedānta philosophy.^[27] Adi Shankara's commentaries on the Upanishads led to the rise of Advaita Vedanta, the most influential sub-school of Vedanta.

In the holy text Merutantra,the word Hindu is defined as "Hinani Gunani Dushyanti iti Hindu".Meaning that Gunani that which destroys the inferior raja-tama components or gunas is a Hindu.Thus, to be a Hindu is to follow a way of life that enhances the spiritually pure sattva component and sattva predominant qualities like love, courage, humility, expansiveness, etc.and overcomes the spiritually impure raja-tama predominant attitude like anger, lust, jealousy, greed, attachment, pride etc.

Hinduism consists of several sects and denominations, of which Vaishnavism and Shaivism are by far the most popular.^[28] Other aspects include folk and conservative Vedic Hinduism. Since the 18th century, Hinduism has accommodated a host of new religious and reform movements, with Arya Samaj being one of the most notable Hindu revivalist organizations. Due to the wide diversity in the beliefs, practices and traditions encompassed by Hinduism, there is no universally accepted definition on who a Hindu is, or even agreement on whether term Hinduism represents a religious, cultural or socio-political entity. In 1995, Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar was quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling:^[29]

When we think of the Hindu religion, 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 subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.

Thus some scholars argue that the Hinduism is not a religion per se but rather a reification of a diverse set of traditions and practices by scholars who constituted a unified system and arbitrarily labeled it Hinduism.^[30] The usage may also have been necessitated by the desire to distinguish between "Hindus" and followers of other religions during the periodic census undertaken by the colonial British government in India. Other scholars, while seeing Hinduism as a 19th century construct, view Hinduism as a response to British colonialism by Indian nationalists who forged a unified tradition centered on oral and written Sanskrit texts adopted as scriptures.^[31]

A commonly held view, though, is that while Hinduism contains both "uniting and dispersing tendencies", it has a common central thread of philosophical concepts (including dharma, moksha and samsara), practices (puja, bhakti etc.) and cultural traditions.^[32] These common elements originating (or being codified within) the Vedic, Upanishad and Puranic scriptures and epics. Thus a Hindu could :

• follow any of the Hindu schools of philosophy, such as Advaita (non-dualism), Vishishtadvaita (non-dualism of the qualified whole), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism with non-dualism), etc.^[33][34]

• follow a tradition centered on any particular form of the Divine, such as Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, etc.^[35]

• practice any one of the various forms of yoga systems; including bhakti (Hindu devotional movements) in order to achieve moksha.

In 1995, while considering the question "who are Hindus and what are the broad features of Hindu religion", the Supreme Court of India highlighted Bal Gangadhar Tilak's formulation of Hinduism's defining features:^[29]

Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and the realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large, that indeed is the distinguishing feature of Hindu religion.

Some thinkers have attempted to distinguish between the concept of Hinduism as a religion, and a Hindu as a member of a nationalist or socio-political class. Veer Savarkar in his influential pamphlet "Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?" considered geographical unity, common culture and common race to be the defining qualities of Hindus; thus a Hindu was a person who saw India "as his Fatherland as well as his Holy land, that is, the cradle land of his religion".^[36] This conceptualization of Hinduism, has led to establishment of Hindutva as the dominant force in Hindu nationalism over the last century.^[37]

Customs and traditions

Ethnic and cultural fabric

Hinduism, its religious doctrines, traditions and observances are very typical and inextricably linked to the culture and demographics of India. Hinduism has one of the most ethnically diverse bodies of adherents in the world. It is hard to classify Hinduism as a religion because the framework, symbols, leaders and books of reference that make up a typical religion are not uniquely identified in the case of Hinduism. Hinduism is almost 4,000 years old. Most commonly it can be seen as a "way of life" which gives rise to many other civilized forms of religions.

Large tribes and communities indigenous to India are closely linked to the synthesis and formation of Hindu civilization. People of East Asian roots living in the states of north eastern India and Nepal were also a part of the earliest Hindu civilization. Immigration and settlement of people from Central Asia and people of Indo-Greek heritage have brought their own influence on Hindu society.

The roots of Hinduism in southern India, and amongst tribal and indigenous communities is just as ancient and fundamentally contributive to the foundations of the religious and philosophical system.

Ancient Hindu kingdoms arose and spread the religion and traditions across South East Asia, particularly Thailand, Nepal, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and what is now central Vietnam. A form of Hinduism particularly different from Indian roots and traditions is practiced in Bali, Indonesia, where Hindus form 90% of the population. Indian migrants have taken Hinduism and Hindu culture to South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius and other countries in and around the Indian Ocean, and in the nations of the West Indies and the Caribbean.

Hindu ceremonies, observances and pilgrimages

Hinduism is also very diverse in the religious ceremonies performed by its adherents for different periods and events in life, and for death. Principal Festivity of the Hindus also vary from region to region which include Diwali, Shivratri, Ram Navami, Janmashtmi, Ganapati, Durgapuja, Holi, Navaratri, etc.

Many Hindus make pilgrimages to the holy shrines (known as tirthas). Hindu holy shrines include Mount Kailash, Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Rameshwaram, and Kedarnath. Prominent Hindu holy cities include Varanasi (Benaras), Kathmandu (Nepal), Tirupati, Haridwar, Nashik, Ujjain, Dwarka, Puri, Prayaga, Mathura, Mayapur and Ayodhya.

Goddess Durga's holy shrine in Vaishno Devi attracts thousands of devotees every year. Hundreds of millions of Hindus annually visit holy rivers such as the Ganges ("Ganga" in Sanskrit) and temples near them, wash and bathe themselves to purify their sins. The Kumbha Mela (the Great Fair) is a gathering of between 10 to 20 million Hindus upon the banks of the holy rivers at Allahabad (Prayag), Ujjain, Nashik, as periodically ordained in different parts of India by Hinduism's priestly leadership. The most famous is at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh which is known as "Sangam".

Initiation

Sixteen sanskars (rituals)

These are various rituals necessary within a life of Hindu. These samskaram are applied during different phases of life. These are:

1. Garbhadhan Sanskar (Conception)
2. Punsavan Sanskar (Protection)
3. Simantanayan Sanskar (Bringing Happiness to mother)
4. Jatakarm Sanskar (Child Birth)
5. Namakaran Sanskar (Naming of Child)
6. Nishkraman Sanskar (First outdoor visit)
7. Annaprashan Sanskar (First food feeding)
8. Chudkaram Sanskar (Haircutting)
9. Karnavedh Sanskar (Ear piercing)
10. Upnayan (Sacred thread wearing)
11. Vedarambh Sanskar (Study starting)
12. Samavartna Sanskar (Education completion)
13. Vivah Sanskar (Marriage)
14. Vanprasth Sanskar (Preparation for renouncing)
15. Sanyas Sanskar (Renouncing)
16. Antyesti Sanskar (Funeral)

Some Hindus may perform initiation ceremonies like Upanayana or Janoy or 'Vratabandha'. These ceremonies have variants depending on the caste, the culture and the region.

In a ceremony administered by a priest, a coir string, known as Janoy, Poonool (lit. "flower thread, "Tamil), janivara (Kannada, Marathi), is hung from around a young boy's left shoulder to his right waist line for Brahmins and from right shoulders to left waistline by Kshatriyas. The ceremony varies from region to community, and includes reading from the Vedas and special Mantras and Slokas.

Notes

1. ^ India-Constitution:Religious rights Article 25:"Explanation II: In sub-Clause (b) of clause (2), the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion"
2. ^ CIA World Factbook - India Demographics 80.5% of 1.166 billion Indians are Hindus
3. ^ "India", Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 2100a.d. Oxford University Press.
4. ^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=EWlHPAkjBKUC&pg=PA782&lpg=PA782&dq=rig+veda+sindhu+hindu&source=bl&ots=BEN5WftdIe&sig=3Vn5iQSXAQ2OhxEE6cTeAzgYSow&hl=en&ei=dd4jTKjYI4H7lwf8tc2FAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=rig%20veda%20sindhu%20hindu&f=false
5. ^ Thapar, R. 1993. Interpreting Early India. Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 77
6. ^ Thompson Platts, John. A dictionary of Urdu , classical Hindī, and English. W.H. Allen & Co., Oxford University 1884.
7. ^ O'Conell, Joseph T. (1973). "The Word 'Hindu' in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Texts". Journal of the American Oriental Society 93 (3): pp. 340–344.
8. ^ David Lorenzen, Who Invented Hinduism? New Delhi 2006, pp. 24-33; Rajatarangini of Yonaraja : "Hinduka"
9. ^ ^{a b} Gavin, Flood. "Hare Krishna: Hinduism, Vaisnavism, and ISKCON: Authentic Traditions or Scholarly Constructions?". Cults and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001. http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/flood_gavin_hinduismvaisismandiskcon.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
10. ^ Nikhilananda 1990, pp. 3–8
11. ^ "Hindu History" The BBC names a bath and phallic symbols of the Harappan civilization as features of the "Prehistoric religion (3000-1000 BCE)".
12. ^ T. Oberlies (Die Religion des Rgveda, Vienna 1998. p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100.
13. ^ The Ṛgvedic deity Dyaus, regarded as the father of the other deities, is linguistically cognate with Zeus—the king of the gods in Greek mythology, Iovis (gen. of Jupiter) —the king of the gods in Roman mythology, and Tiu/Ziu in Germanic mythology [1], cf. English 'Tues-day'. Other Vedic deities also have cognates with those found in other Indo-European speaking peoples' mythologies; see Proto-Indo-European religion.
14. ^ Olivelle, Patrick, "The renouncer tradition", in Flood 2003, pp. 273–274
15. ^ Eliot 2003
16. ^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1967, p. xviii–xxi.
17. ^ ^{a b c} Basham 1999
18. ^ "The rise of Jainism and Buddhism". Religion and Ethics—Hinduism: Other religious influences. BBC. 26 July 2004. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_2.shtml. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
19. ^ Vijay Nath, From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition, Social Scientist 2001, pp. 19-50.
20. ^ J.T.F. Jordens, "Medieval Hindu Devotionalism" in & Basham 1999
21. ^ Raymond Brady Williams (2004), Williams on South Asian Religions and Immigration: Collected Works, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0754638561, http://books.google.com/?id=nkVBOfE1KkAC&dq=swaminarayan+hare+krishna p.217
22. ^ Pandit, Bansi. Explore Hinduism. p. 27
23. ^ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; On The Bhagavad Gita; A New Translation and Commentary With Sanskrit Text Chapters 1 to 6, Preface p. 9
24. ^ N. Siegel, Paul. The meek and the militant: religion and power across the world. Zed Books, 1987. ISBN 0862323495, 9780862323493.
25. ^ Hoiberg, Dale. Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan, 2000. ISBN 0852297602, 9780852297605.
26. ^ see e.g. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
27. ^ Brodd, Jefferey (2003). World Religions. Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5.
28. ^ Adherents.com Hinduism
29. ^ ^{a b} Supreme Court of India, "Bramchari Sidheswar Shai and others Versus State of West Bengal", 1995.
30. ^ Frykenberg, Robert. "The emergence of modern 'Hinduism' as a concept and as an Institution: A reappraisal with special reference to South India" in Hinduism reconsidered, Manohar, Delhi, 1989. ISBN 8-17-304385-X
31. ^ Hardy, F. "A radical assessment of the Vedic heritage" in Representing Hinduism: The Construction of Religious and National Identity, Sage Publ., Delhi, 1995.
32. ^ Flood, Gavin, "Establishing the boundaries" in Flood (2003), pp. 1-17.
33. ^ Muller, F. Max. Six Systems of Indian Philosophy; Samkhya and Yoga; Naya and Vaiseshika. 1899. This classic work helped to establish the major classification systems as we know them today. Reprint edition: (Kessinger Publishing: February 2003) ISBN 978-0766142961.
34. ^ Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore. A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. (Princeton University Press; 1957) Princeton paperback 12th edition, 1989. ISBN 0691019584.
35. ^ Swami Tattwananda. Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship. (Firma KLM Private Ltd.: Calcutta, 1984). This work gives an overview of many different subsets of the three main religious groups in India.
36. ^ Savarkar, V. K. Hindutva, Hindi Sahitya Sadan, 2003. ISBN 8-18-838825-4
37. ^ Ram-Prasad, C. "Contemporary political Hinduism" in Blackwell companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-631-21535-2

References

• Flood, Gavin (Editor) (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 1-4051-3251-5.
• Radhakrishnan, S.; Moore, CA (1967). A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton. ISBN 0-691-01958-4.
• Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship. Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd.. First revised edition.

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