Indian Hindus

,
K. B. Hedgewar, Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi Nandan Nilekani, Kallam Anji Reddy, Mukesh Ambani M. S. Subbulakshmi, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Mittal Swami Vivekananda, Amitabh Bachchan , Rabindranath Tagore
Total population
957,636,314 (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Majority in all States except Kashmir and North East.
Languages
Indian Languages · Indian English

Hinduism is a religion^[1][2] of the Indian subcontinent of India, with 80.5% of the population identifying themselves as Hindu.^[3] The vast majority of Hindus in India belong to Vaishnavite and Shaivite denominations.^[4]

The Vedic culture originated in India between 2000 and 1500 BC.^[5] As a consequence, Hinduism, considered to be the successor of Vedic religion,^[6] has had a profound impact on India's history, culture and philosophy. The name India itself is derived from Greek Ἰνδία for Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, from Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the Indus River.^[7] Another popular alternative name of India is Hindustān, meaning the "land of Hindus".^[8]

History[link]

Reform movements[link]

In response to the high rate of conversions during the Muslim Mughal and Christian British rule , Hinduism in India and abroad (like Guyana and Suriname) underwent a series of reforms, the spearheading organisations being Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj. Religious leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sri Aurobindo and political leaders like Gandhi called for reform and complete turnover of the social structuring. Tulsidas, Sant Kabeer Das, Raidas, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu etc were pioneer of the bhakti movement for the social reformation.

India saw Muslim and later Christian rule; yet the country remains dominated by Hindus. Some account the strength of Hinduism for the flexible and open nature of the religion, in that to worship Jesus Christ or Allah does not necessarily contradict Hinduism. This religion has polytheistic tendencies, so considering another conception of God another form or avatar of the ultimate reality or creator is certainly possible. While most Hindus do not worship non Hindu God(s), it is possible in the explanation.

Another reason could be like Buddhism, Hinduism is an ancient religion with well established traditions that cut deeply into Indian daily life. Unlike indigenous American or African religions, which vary from tribe to tribe, these Indian religions spread across the vast entity that was the Indian subcontinent, generally accepted by a majority of Indian ethnic and tribal groups. Hindu civilization had a long history on its own, with well developed scriptures and traditions. It would be much more difficult to convert members of a religion that was accredited with defining a civilization than would be tribal peoples.

Hindu nationalism[link]

The cause of civices Indian nationalism, as well as Hindu nationalism fueled these reforms. Hindu nationalism was aggressively promoted by freedom fighters like:

1. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar - for the formation of Akhand Bharat
2. Purushottam Das Tandon - promoted Hindi as the national language of India

Others include: Syama Prasad Mookerjee, K.B. Hedgewar.

The 1947 Partition of India gave rise to bloody rioting and indiscriminate killing of Hindus and Muslims. Around 7.5 million Muslims left for Pakistan and 7.2 million Hindus left for India. This was a major factor in fueling Hindu-Muslim animosity. What followed over the years was the laying of secular principles in the Indian Constitution. The last 60 years have been relatively peaceful in most parts of the country except with the notable exception of communal riots in 1992 and 2002.

The Gujurat Riots Happened because a Train Carrying Sangh parivar Activists was Torched. More than 50 people were burnt alive. This Event triggered a ripple effect resulting in Gujurat Riots.

The Hindus are Largely Regarded as Secular people. The Constitution of India, in fact, does not distinguish between a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian.

Cristian Missionary Groups from the West Seek to Convert a Large Populace to Christianity and thus Have been at Logger Heads With Right Wing Hindu Groups. There have been Instances where this Conflict has led to Places of Worship being torched. Kerala, Andhra, and the North East are some of the Regions where Conversion is prevalent.However,even with conversion on,the Hindus still form the majority community in every region of the country, except the Valley of Kashmir, Punjab and three states in the North-East - namely Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya. However,when considered as a region the North-East still has a Hindu majority thought not by much. There is even reason to believe that Hinduism is growing through the incorporation of tribal belief-systems in specific areas of the North-East. However, in the Kashmir valley the Hindu population has plummeted as an outcome of the terrorism unleashed by Pakistan backed militants.

The General View of these Groups is that "A Person is Free to Follow any religion he chooses, however loopholes in the constitution has resulted in Religious Propaganda being enforced on the Hindus"

Census of 2001[link]

Hindus as pecentage of total population in districts of India and Nepal. Boundaries for J&K are not accurate.

The Hindu population of India according to the official 2001 census ^[9] is given below. Most drastic decrease in 1991-2001 period is observed in Manipur, from 57% to 46%, where there has been a resurgence of the indigenous Sanamahi religion. Except for Punjab (Sikh majority), Kashmir (muslim majority) and major parts of North-East India (out of the 7 states of North east - Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, have Hindu minority while Assam and Tripura are hindu majority and Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh still has Hinduism as the leading religion though not in an absolute majority.) The other Indian states and union territories have an overwhelming majority of Hindus. For more detailed figures from 2001 census, see this table.

References[link]

Republic of India Bhārat Gaṇarājya
Flag Emblem
Motto:  "Satyameva Jayate" (Sanskrit)    "Truth Alone Triumphs"[1]
Anthem:  Jana Gana Mana    "Thou Art the Ruler of the Minds of All People"[2]
National song: Vande Mataram         "I Bow to Thee, Mother"[a][1]
Area controlled by India is in dark green. Claimed but uncontrolled regions are in light green.
Capital		New Delhi 28°36.8′N 77°12.5′E / 28.6133°N 77.2083°E / 28.6133; 77.2083
Largest city		Mumbai
Official language(s)		Hindi, English Hindi in the Devanagari script is the official language of the Union and English an additional language for official work.[1]
Recognised regional languages		Eighth Schedule Assamese Bengali Bodo Dogri Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Konkani Maithili Malayalam Manipuri Marathi Nepali Oriya Punjabi Sanskrit Santali Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu
National language(s)		none[3]
Demonym		Indian
Government		Federal parliamentary constitutional republic[1]
-	President	Pratibha Patil
-	Vice President	Mohammad Hamid Ansari
-	Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh (INC)
-	Speaker of the House	Meira Kumar (INC)
-	Chief Justice	S. H. Kapadia
Legislature		Parliament of India
-	Upper house	Rajya Sabha
-	Lower house	Lok Sabha
Independence		from the United Kingdom
-	Declared	15 August 1947
-	Republic	26 January 1950
Area
-	Total	3,287,263 km2 [b](7th) 1,269,219 sq mi
-	Water (%)	9.56
Population
-	2011 census	1,210,193,422[4] (2nd)
-	Density	369.1/km2 (31st) 956.1/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$4.457 trillion[5] (3rd)
-	Per capita	$3,693[5] (129th)
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$1.676 trillion[5] (11th)
-	Per capita	$1,388[5] (140th)
Gini (2004)		36.8[6] (79th)
HDI (2011)		0.547[7] (medium) (134th)
Currency		Indian rupee () (INR)
Time zone		IST (UTC+05:30)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+05:30)
Date formats		dd-mm-yyyy (AD)
Drives on the		left
ISO 3166 code		IN
Internet TLD		.in other TLDs .ভারত .ભારત .भारत .ଭାରତ‌ .ਭਾਰਤ .இந்தியா .భారత్ بھارت.
Calling code		91

India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya),^[c] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;^[d] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.^[8] Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks ninth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

Etymology[link]

The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu. The latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River.^[9] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ινδοί), which translates as "the people of the Indus".^[10] The geographical term Bharat (pronounced [ˈbʱaːrət̪] ( listen)), which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in various subtle guises.^[11] The eponym of Bharat is Bharata, a mythological figure that Hindu scriptures describe as a legendary emperor of ancient India. Hindustan ([ɦɪnd̪ʊˈst̪aːn] ( listen)) was originally a Persian word that meant "Land of the Hindus"; prior to 1947, it referred to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan. It is occasionally used to solely denote India in its entirety.^[12][13]

History[link]

Ancient India[link]

The earliest anatomically modern human remains found in South Asia date from approximately 30,000 years ago.^[14] Nearly contemporaneous Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.^[15] Around 7000 BCE, the first known Neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in Mehrgarh and other sites in western Pakistan.^[16] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,^[17] the first urban culture in South Asia;^[18] it flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India.^[19] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.^[18]

Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 6th century

During the period 2000–500 BCE, in terms of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age.^[20] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism,^[21] were composed during this period,^[22] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.^[20] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.^[23][21][24] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period.^[25] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.^[20] In southern India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,^[26] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.^[26]