The Teachings of Hinduism
Prior to the nineteenth century, the word Hinduism did not exist. Most Hindus identified themselves by their sectarian orientation and their communal or caste affiliations. The word Hindu was initially used by the ancient Persians to describe the people who lived beyond the Indus River in the northwestern comer of the Indian subcontinent.
When, by 325 bce, Alexander the Great had crossed the Indus, Greeks adopted the Persian convention of calling the river the “Indos” and the land beyond it “India.” In the centuries that followed, the term Indu or Hindu became a territorial, as well as a racial, social, and cultural, designation for the people of India. Beginning in the seventeenth century ce, the word appeared occasionally in Indian literature to distinguish “Hindus” from Muslims or other “foreigners.” Although the “-ism” was added to “Hindu” in the early 1800s, only toward the end of the nineteenth century did the word Hinduism become widely used by Hindus themselves.Some Hindus look to the authority of a group of texts known as the Vedas, India’s oldest scriptures, and may rely on brahmin priests to officiate at various rituals. Others reject the centrality of the Vedas and brahmins. Some Hindus join organizations devoted to saints or sages. Others seek solitude to practice contemplation, meditation, or yoga. Some Hindus believe that God is a divine person with identifiable attributes. Others say that divine reality is so expansive as to be beyond all description.
Despite Hinduism’s diversity, it is possible to identify common core concepts in which most every Hindu believes. For instance, the law of karma determines the nature of one’s incarnations in samsara, the continuing cycle of death and rebirth. At the end of this cycle is moksha, or liberation, the final release from the trials and tribulations of samsara.
A photograph taken of a Hindu temple in Trinidad in 1931. The presence of Hindus in the Caribbean and South America can be traced back to the nineteenth century, when Hindus came as indentured workers on sugar cane plantations.
For the sake of simplicity, in this chapter we have organized our investigation of Hindu teachings around five main topics: beliefs about divine reality; the individual’s quest for liberation and the primary means of making this quest; the place of the individual within society; Hindu sacred texts; and Hinduism’s main sects.