Klaus K. Klostermaier - Hinduism: A Short History

Hinduism

A SHORT HISTORY

Hinduism

A SHORT HISTORY

Klaus K. Klostermaier

HINDUISM: A SHORT HISTORY

This ebook edition published by Oneworld Publications, 2014

First published by Oneworld Publicatios, 2001

Oneworld Publications

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Klaus K. Klostermaier 2000

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from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-85168-213-3

eISBN: 978-1-78074-680-7

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

H induism: A Short History is the second in a series that comprises Hinduism: A Short Introduction (Oneworld, 1998) and Hindu Writings: A Short Introduction to the Major Sources (Oneworld, 2000).

A History of Hinduism, with all the controversy that surrounds the very term Hinduism, and in the absence of a commonly agreed upon periodization of the intellectual development of India, is necessarily an interpretative construct, built on many assumptions. deals with the history of Hindu philosophy, which was always intimately connected with Hindu religion. The last chapter is devoted to Modern Hinduism, covering the new movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; it also discusses the present situation and future prospects of Hinduism. A fairly extensive Glossary offers translations and explanations of Sanskrit terms used. The Select Bibliography documents the literature referred to, and offers suggestions for further reading in the history of Hinduism.

The book is intended for the non-specialist reader. However, ample documentation has been provided with numerous references both to original sources and to scholarly literature, which will enable the serious student to follow up the issues mentioned. Hindu source literature available in original languages and in translations, as well as secondary literature on Hinduism, in a great number of modern languages, has become extremely vast. Rich resources for the study of each and every aspect of the history of Hinduism mentioned in this book are available today to continue reading for an entire lifetime.

Gratitude is due to all the scholars whose work has been made use of, as acknowleged. Special thanks to Harold Coward (University of Victoria) for numerous detailed suggestions for improvement of the typescript. My thanks also extend to the friendly and efficient staff of Oneworld Publications, Oxford, for their unfailing courtesy and cooperation.

Klaus K. Klostermaier
Winnipeg, August 1, 1999

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS HINDUISM?

H induism is unlike any of the other major historic religions. It does not claim an identifiable human founder or a specific origin in history some Hindus derive their tradition from a primeval revelation of the Supreme, others consider it the beginningless santana dharma, the eternal law that governs everything, independently of any divine or human agent nor has it ever rejected a parent tradition from which it separated as a rebel child, as all others have done. Hindus had not found it necessary to define the essentials of Hinduism or prove it different from other religions until challenged by break-away spiritual movements like Buddhism or invaders from outside, who wanted to impose their own religions, such as Islm and Christianity.

Traditional Hinduism has preserved surprisingly much of the character of autochthonous native traditions, maintaining the holistic, all-embracing approach typical of these: there is no hard and fast distinction between the sacred and the secular, no strict separation of religious ritual from essential daily activities, no real difference or tension between religion and culture.

The various branches of what became known as Hinduism do not have a common creed and they do not demand from their followers any declaration of a Hindu faith. Until recently one could not become a Hindu unless one was born into a Hindu family; and one could not cease to be a Hindu if one was born a Hindu. As far as ones membership in the Hindu community was concerned, it did not matter what one thought or believed as long as one participated in the traditional rituals, which were also part and parcel of traditional Indian culture. On the other hand, many of the sapradyas, specific worship traditions within Hinduism, draw very close and narrow boundaries: those who wish to be members must obey a very strict regimen with regard to diet, life-style, reading, and worship; they must not accept the teachings of any other sapradya, or read books or listen to sermons from them.

Left to itself the large and old Hindu civilization quietly appropriated whatever was brought into it from the outside, absorbed it, transformed it, and made it part of its own. That process of assimilation was disturbed in a major way first by the massive onslaught of Islamic conquerors from the tenth century C.E. onwards. The Muslims came to conquer India and to covert the native idolaters to their own religion. The rigid monotheism of Islam, the exclusivity claim of Mohammeds revelation, the rejection of the caste system proved irreconcilable with the native religio-cultural traditions of India.

While Islm could claim partial successes for over half a millennium most of India was under Muslim rule and a third of the population accepted Islm it generated a resistance among Hindus who began to realize an identity of their own based on their native Hindu traditions. Not by accident was it that from the eleventh century onwards nibandhas were composed encyclopedic works that collected Hindu legal traditions, information about Hindu holy places, Hindu rituals, and customs of all sapradyas. Hindus became aware of Hinduism as distinct from Islm. Islamic hostility toward idolatry further served to underscore the differences between Hindu traditions and other religions.

The second major disturbance was created by Western European powers from the sixteenth century C.E. onwards. While the main interest of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danish, the French and the English all of whom established colonies in India was trade, they were soon persuaded by the ecclesiastical powers of their homebases that they also had a duty to spread their Christian faith among the heathen.

Notwithstanding the presence of significant groups of indigenous Christians, who had lived for centuries peacefully side by side with their Hindu neighbors,

Others deny historic validity to the very notion of Hinduism prior to nineteenth century Neo-Hinduism, which arose as a reaction to Christianity, the religion of the foreign colonizers.

The global designation Hinduism is apt to disguise the great diversity of Indian religious traditions. Till very recently Hindus defined their religious identities by using specific appellations like Vaisnava, aiva, kta, Smrta etc., and several modern movements like the Rmakrishna Mission and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness emphatically denied being Hindu, so as not to be identified with other branches of Hinduism that hold beliefs contrary to their own.

THE MEANING OF HISTORY

There is an uncanny resemblance between the original Greek word historia