Hinduism
The term refers to the civilization of the Hindus (originally,
the inhabitants of the land of the Indus River).Introduced in about 1830 by
British writers, it properly denotes the Indian civilization of approximately
the last 2,000 years, which evolved from Vedism the religion of the Indo-
European peoples who settled in India in the last centuries of the 2nd
millennium BC.
The spectrum that ranges from the level of popular Hindu belief to that
of elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very broad and is
attended by many stages of transition and varieties of coexistence. Magic rites,
animal worship, and belief in demons are often combined with the worship of ...
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ever dies or is superseded-it is merely combined with
the new ideas that arise in response to it. Hindus are inclined to revere the
divine in every manifestation, whatever it may be, and are doctrinally tolerant,
allowing others - including both Hindus and non-Hindus - whatever beliefs suit
them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a
Hindu, and because Hindus are disposed to think synthetically and to regard
other forms of worship, strange gods, and divergent doctrines as inadequate
rather than wrong or objectionable, they tend to believe that the highest divine
powers are complement one another. Few religious ideas are considered to be
irreconcilable. The core of religion does not depend on the existence or
nonexistence of God or on whether there is one god or many. Because religious
truth is said to transcend all verbal definition, it is not conceived in
dogmatic terms. Moreover, the tendency of Hindus to distinguish themselves from
others on the ...
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and this is perhaps the more common one, it is labeled
'polytheistic'. The term 'polytheism' acknowledges the presence of a God-figure
in a religious system, but in the plural. Thus it is said that Hindus worship
many such beings we call God. But obviously this implies a very profound
difference in the understanding of what such a 'God' could be. It is often said
that Hindus worship three gods and they are in fact called the 'Hindu Trinity'.
The gods involved are: Brahma, Visnu and Siva. The first is supposed to create
the world (at the beginning of each cosmic cycle), the second to maintain it in
being, and Siva, at the end of a cosmic cycle, to destroy it again. But then a
further idea ...
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Hinduism. (2004, April 2). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hinduism/5571
"Hinduism." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 2 Apr. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hinduism/5571>
"Hinduism." Essayworld.com. April 2, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hinduism/5571.
"Hinduism." Essayworld.com. April 2, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hinduism/5571.
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