Table of contents

The authors are Catherine Robinson and Denise Cush. Professional Catherine Robinson has a BA (Hons) in Religious Studies from Stirling University and a PhD in Religious Studies from Lancaster University. She taught […]

Even if you do not know much about Hinduism, also refered to as Hindu Dharma or Sanatan Dharma, you are bound to have some preconceptions. It is worth stopping to think what […]

Although the national language of India is Hindi, not everyone speaks this and India today has fourteen other official languages as well as minority languages and local dialects, and beyond the current […]

Is it a philosophy, a way of life, a spiritual path, a religion, a worldview? Does it even exist? Although rather less frequently than in the case of Buddhism, for example, there […]

Hinduism, also known as Hindu Dharma or Sanatan Dharma, is sometimes introduced as the world’s oldest religion, at least 5000 years old on the evidence of ancient texts and archaeological remains, but […]

In one sense a Hindu is anyone who identifies as such. However, it is somewhat more complicated than that, as they may also need to be accepted as Hindu by others, and […]

The headings in this essay are derived from the six ‘Big Ideas’ (Wintersgill ed. 2017, Wintersgill et al, 2019) and the Commission on RE’s National Entitlement (CoRE 2018). This introductory section for […]

There are many ways to start talking about Hinduism, and obviously this depends on the age of pupils and any syllabus followed. Some textbooks take an historical approach and begin with the […]

Hinduism is diverse at every level, extending beyond the threefold division into Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism (centred on complexes of deities associated with Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti/Mahadevi/the Goddess respectively) to encompass a […]

Histories of Hinduism used to begin with the Aryans as the custodians of the Vedic texts, conceived as invaders who conquered the indigenous inhabitants of the subcontinent. However, in the 1920s, archaeological […]

It might be presumed that matters of central importance in any religious tradition or non-religious worldview would be the teaching about what tend to be thought of in RE as the ‘big […]

Hindu reflection upon the nature of reality has been taking place for millennia since the ancient Vedas. The Upanishads, dating from the mid first millennium BCE (see Sacred texts) represent a period […]

Not all, but probably most, Hindus are theists though the meaning of theism is different in Hinduism from that found in Abrahamic religions since to believe that ultimate reality is a God […]

The most common formulation of Hindu philosophy is the Shaddarshana or ‘six schools’ (or six visions, views or perspectives) which are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta, considered as ‘orthodox’ (unlike […]

Prescientific Indian ideas about the cosmos were much more complex than prescientific ideas in the West. Hinduism has not just one creation story but a number of creation stories and even of […]

The best-known account of human nature and destiny in Hinduism refers to the self (atman) as the eternal essence of the individual, distinguished from the body, that experiences reincarnation (punarjanma) within the […]

Most contemporary Hindus find no conflict between Hindu teachings and modern science, and indeed may claim that many of the findings of recent science can be found in ancient Hindu texts, philosophies […]

Scholars tend to prefer to talk of ‘sacred texts’ rather than ‘Hindu scriptures’ as the term ‘scripture’ is misleading. ‘Scripture’ is a term best known in a Protestant Christian context and may […]

Given the vast extent, varying genres and fluid boundaries of what can be counted as sacred texts in Hinduism, very few people will be familiar with all of this material. The majority […]

Images (murti) play an important part in Hindu worship both in homes and temples. Although Vedic ritual did not involve image worship, it is the mainstay of devotional Hinduism. The image is […]

As the divine permeates all things, almost anything can serve the purpose of pointing us towards it. There are many symbols used in Hindu art and ritual, which are often given multiple […]

The creative and performing arts also play an important part in Hindu worship. Their origin is traced to Brahma, the creator god, who is said to have taken different aspects of the […]

The mandir (temple) is the most obvious form of Hindu architecture. At its most elaborate, the temple contains a shrine dedicated to the main deity worshipped there, located in a complex of […]

Even if in many Hindu philosophies the ultimate goal of life is moksha (release, liberation), for many people that goal is something to be achieved in a future life, or perhaps to […]

Dharma is a term which is very difficult to translate in one or two words but is so fundamental to Hinduism that ‘Hindu Dharma’ is often preferred over ‘Hinduism’ as a term […]

In addition to the general obligations everyone has their own duties (svadharma), depending on who they are. A famous instantiation of this is varnashrama dharma. The varnas are the four great classes […]

Contemporary Moral Issues There is no one ‘Hindu’ view on any moral issue, any more than one ‘Christian’ or ‘Humanist’ view. There is only space here to indicate some Hindu perspectives on […]

Contemporary Moral Issues There is no one ‘Hindu’ view on any moral issue, any more than one ‘Christian’ or ‘Humanist’ view. There is only space here to indicate some Hindu perspectives on […]

Contemporary Moral Issues There is no one ‘Hindu’ view on any moral issue, any more than one ‘Christian’ or ‘Humanist’ view. There is only space here to indicate some Hindu perspectives on […]

There is a variety of attitudes to the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. For many Hindus all intoxicants should be avoided as they both cloud the mind and impair moral judgment. […]

Many aspects of Hindu tradition would support concern for the natural environment. The idea that the divine dwells in all things, the admiration of a simple life of self-control, respect for the […]

Hindus may look to characters in their sacred texts or saints from their history as role models along with the founders, leaders and teachers of particular traditions. Several examples, both male and […]

Hindu tradition has long held that the divine or the truth is known experientially. The oldest Vedic texts are held to have been ‘heard’ directly by rishis (sages/seers). The Upanishads contain the […]

Many Hindus engage in meditation as part of their spiritual practice (sadhana), and forms of devotional worship can be seen as meditation in focusing the mind on the divine. However, meditation is […]

Mantras (ritual utterances) are identified with Shabda (‘Sound’ or ‘Word’), consisting in speech acts – syllables, words, phrases, sentences – believed to be imbued with power and to derive from the divine. […]

The rituals and ceremonies of traditions are often difficult to teach, in part because they are often merely described without much attention to the meaning for participants, and partly because of a […]

Early Vedic ritual was centred upon sacrifice (yajna) performed on plots of land temporarily consecrated for the purpose (vedi), not the worship of images (murti) in a permanent temple (mandir). The purpose […]

Puja (worship) which includes arti (light offering) is a core part of Hindu worship in both home and temple. Puja at home is performed by the individual worshipper or family group, usually […]

There are hundreds of festivals connected with the diverse Hindu tradition, some well-known throughout India (though with many regional and local variations) and the wider world, others local or regional. The difficulty […]

The Hindu terms for pilgrimage is tirthayatra (journey to a ford). Indeed, many places of pilgrimage are near rivers though the meaning is more profound than fording a river as it connotes […]

Hindu lifecycle ceremonies, samskara (sacraments), sanctify the individual’s life course from before birth to after death and effect the transformations necessary to the individual’s transition from one stage and status to the […]

There is no one central authority that can speak to or for all Hindus, either within the tradition or on behalf of the tradition to the wider world. However, various kinds and […]

Even in those traditions which actively seek to spread their teachings (such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam), the majority of adherents identify as such because they were born into a particular family […]

The somewhat romantic notion of Hinduism as a path which turns its back on the material world in a spiritual quest for realisation of one’s true self, God or ultimate truth would […]

There is no clear division between religion and culture in India, certainly not from the perspective of many Hindus who, however diverse, constitute the majority community. Throughout this essay the difficulty of […]

As noted throughout this essay (see especially Diversity, Change and Continuity), Hinduism is massively diverse, containing many different sects, movements and local variations, though these do not constitute ‘denominations’ in quite the […]

The presence in Hindu temples of images representing other religions such as Guru Nanak and Jesus are often explained to visitors as recognition that all religions are true and share an underlying […]

Historically studies of Hinduism available in English have tended to reflect the values and preoccupations of Western commentators, be it their Christian backgrounds leading to speculations about the prospects for conversion, their […]

https://www.hinduismtoday.com/ Magazine produced by Himalayan Academy, based in Hawaii, which exists to foster Hindu solidarity worldwide and inform and inspire Hindus and those interested in Hinduism. Widely respected for providing non-sectarian, comprehensive […]

One volume introductions to Hinduism – beginners Knott, K. 2016. Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction 2nd Edition. Oxford: OUP. One volume introductions to Hinduism Brockington, J.L. 1996/1981. The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in […]