 In the 16th to 18th centuries, Hindu history is mainly characterized by opposition to Islam (and to Christianity, in Kerala). The Mughal Empire reduced its Hindu subjects to Dhimmitude throughout the 17th century; the empire had reached its zenith by 1700. But, Hinduism once again rose to political prestige, under the Maratha Empire, from 1707 to 1761. In the century from 1760 to 1860, India was once more divided into numerous petty and unstable kingdoms: the Sikh Confederacy; the "lesser Mughals" following Bahadur Shah I; the Kingdom of Mysore; Hyderabad State; the Durrani Empire; and the territories held by the British East India Company. The entire subcontinent fell under British rule (partly indirectly, via Princely states) following the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Mughal India - Further information: Mughal period
The official State religion of the Mughal Empire was Islam, with the preference to the jurisprudenceHanafi Madhab (Mazhab). However, throughout its history, subjects had complete freedom to practice any religion of his choice, though Non-Muslim able-bodied adult males with income were obliged to pay the Jizya (poll-tax), signifying their status as Dhimmis. of the After the invasion of Persia by the Mongol Empire, a regional Turko-Persio-Mongol dynasty formed. Just as eastern Mongol dynasties inter-married with locals and adopted the local religion of Buddhism and the Chinese culture, this group adopted the local religion of Islam and the Persian culture. One of Akbar's most unusual ideas regarding religion was Din-i-Ilahi (Faith of God), which was an eclectic mix of Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism and Christianity. It was proclaimed the state religion until his death. These actions however met with stiff opposition from the Muslim clergy, especially the Sufi Shaykh Alf Sani Ahmad Sirhindi. Akbar's abolition of poll-tax on non-Muslims, acceptance of ideas from other religious philosophies, toleration of public worship by all religions and his interest in other faiths showed an attitude of considerable religious tolerance, which, in the minds of his orthodox Muslim opponents, were tantamount to apostasy. The emperor Jahangir was also a religious moderate, his mother being Hindu. The influence of his two Hindu queens (the Maharani Maanbai and Maharani Jagat) kept religious moderation as a center-piece of state policy which was extended under his son, emperor Shah Jahan, who was by blood 75% Rajput and only 25% Moghul. Religious orthodoxy would only play an important role during the reign of Shah Jahan's son and successor, Aurangzeb, a devout Sunni Muslim. Aurangzeb was comparatively less tolerant of other faiths than his predecessors had been, and his reign saw an increase in the number and importance of Islamic institutions and scholars. He led many military campaigns against the remaining non-Muslim powers of the Indian subcontinent - the Sikh states of the Punjab, the last independent Hindu Rajputs and the Maratha rebels - as also against the Shia Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan.
Early colonialism - Further information: Christianity in India and Goa Inquisition
Portuguese missionaries had reached the Malabar Coast in the late 15th century, made contact with the St Thomas Christians in Kerala and sought to introduce the Latin Rite among them. Since the priests for St Thomas Christians were served by the Eastern Christian Churches, they were following Eastern Christian practices at that time. Throughout this period, foreign missionaries also made many new converts to Christianity. This led to the formation of the Latin Catholics in Kerala. The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian city of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III, requested for an Inquisition to be installed in Goa. It was installed eight years after the death of Francis Xavier in 1552. Established in 1560 and operating until 1774, it was aimed primarily at Hindus and wayward new converts.
Maratha Empire - Further information: Maratha Empire The Hindu Marathas long had lived in the Desh region around Satara, in the western portion of the Deccan plateau, where the plateau meets the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats mountains. They had resisted incursions into the region by the Muslim Mughal rulers of northern India. Under their leader Shivaji, the Maratha freed themselves from the Muslim sultans of Bijapur to the southeast, became much more aggressive and began to frequently raid Mughal territory, sacking the wealthy Mughal port of Surat in 1664. Shivaji was proclaimed 'Chatrapati' (Emperor) in 1674. The Marathas had spread and conquered much of central India by Shivaji's death in 1680.
British Raj -
- Further information: Bengal Renaissance, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, and Ramakrishna Math
- 1909 Prevailing Religions, Map of British Indian Empire, 1909, showing the prevailing majority religions of the population for different districts.
During the 19th century, Hinduism developed a large number of new religious movements, partly inspired by the European Romanticism, nationalism, scientific racism and esotericism (Theosophy) popular at the time (while conversely and contemporaneously, India had a similar effect on European culture with Orientalism, "Hindoo style" architecture, reception of Buddhism in the West and similar). These reform movements are summarized under Hindu revivalism and continue into the present. - Sahajanand Swami establishes the Swaminarayan Sampraday sect around 1800.
- Brahmo Samaj is a social and religious movement founded in Kolkata in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He was influenced by western thought and was one of the first Indians to visit Europe. He died in Bristol, England. The Brahmo Samaj movement thereafter resulted in the Brahmo religion in 1850 founded by Debendranath Tagore — better known as the father of Rabindranath Tagore.
- Sri Ramakrishna and his pupil Swami Vivekananda led a reform in Hinduism in late 19th century. Their ideals and sayings have inspired numerous Indians as well as non-Indians, Hindus as well as non-Hindus. Among the prominent figures whose ideals were very much influenced by them were Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi, Subhas Bose, Satyendranath Bose, Megh Nad Saha, and Sister Nivedita.
- Arya Samaj (Aryan Society or Society of Nobles) is a Hindu reform movement in India that was founded by Swami Dayananda in 1875. He was a sannyasin (renouncer) who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda advocated the doctrine of karma and reincarnation, and emphasised the ideals of brahmacharya (chastity) and sanyasarenunciation). Started by Arya Samaj in early 20th century to bring back to Hinduism people converted to Islam and Christianity. Dayananda claimed to be rejecting all non-Vedic beliefs altogether. Hence the Arya Samaj unequivocally condemned idolatry, animal sacrifices, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, priestcraft, offerings made in temples, the caste system, untouchability and child marriages, on the grounds that all these lacked Vedic sanction. It aimed to be a universal church based on the authority of the Vedas. Dayananda stated that he wanted 'to make the whole world Aryan'. That is, he wanted to develop missionarySuriname and the Netherlands, in comparison with India. ( Hinduism based on the universality of the Vedas. To this end the Arya Samaj set up schools and missionary organisations, extending its activities outside India. It now has branches around the world. It has a disproportional amount of adherents among people of Indian ancestry in
An important aspect of 20th-century Hinduism has been its spread among non-Indians, who have accepted the religion voluntarily. This perhaps began with the sojourn of Vivekananda to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which today operates temples, ashrams, charitable hospitals, and schools worldwide.
Modern Hinduism and contemporary world -
Modern Hinduism is the reflection of continuity and progressive changes that occurred in various traditions and institutions of Hinduism during the 19th and 20th centuries. Its main divisions are into Vaishnavism (largely influenced by Bhakti), Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism (Advaita Vedanta). Besides these traditional denominations, movements of Hindu revivalism look to founders such as Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda (Arya Samaj), Rabindranath Tagore, Ramana Maharshi, Aurobindo, Shriram Sharma Acharya, Swami Sivananda, Swami Rama Tirtha, Narayana Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, Pandurang Shastri Athavale (Swadhyay Movement) and others. Influential in spreading Hinduism to a western audience were A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Hare Krishna movement), Sri Aurobindo, Meher Baba, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Osho, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Transcendental Meditation), Sathya Sai Baba, Mother Meera, among others. The Hindutva movement advocating Hindu nationalism originated in the 1920s and has remained a strong political force in India. The major party of the religious right, Bharatiya Janata Party, since its foundation in 1980 has won several elections, and after a defeat in 2004 remains the leading force of opposition against the current Congress Party government. The resurgence of Hinduism in Indonesia is occurring in all parts of the country. In the early seventies, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to be identified under the umbrella of 'Hinduism', followed by the Karo Batak of Sumatra in 1977 and the Ngaju Dayak of Kalimantan in 1980. The growth of Hinduism has been driven also by the famous Javanese prophesies of SabdapalonJayabaya. Many recent converts to Hinduism had been members of the families of Sukarno's PNI, and now support Megawati Sukarnoputri. This return to the 'religion of Majapahit' (Hinduism) is a matter of nationalist pride. and The new Hindu communities in Java tend to be concentrated around recently built temples (pura) or around archaeological temple sites (candi) which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. An important new Hindu temple in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, located on the slope of Mt. Semeru, Java's highest mountain. Mass conversions have also occurred in the region around Pura Agung Blambangan, another new temple, built on a site with minor archaeological remnants attributed to the kingdom of Blambangan, the last Hindu polity on Java, and Pura Loka Moksa Jayabaya (in the village of Menang near Kediri), where the Hindu king and prophet Jayabaya is said to have achieved spiritual liberation (moksa). Another site is the new Pura Pucak Raung in East Java, which is mentioned in Balinese literature as the place from where Maharishi Markandeya took Hinduism to Bali in the fifth century CE.
References - ^ (Basham 1967)
- ^ "Hindu History".
- ^ Clark, Sharri R. The social lives of figurines: recontextualizing the third millennium BC terracotta figurines from Harappa, Pakistan. Harvard PhD 2007
- ^ Flood (1996), pp. 28-29.
- ^ Marshall, Sir John, Mohenjo Daro and the Indus Civilization, London 1931
- ^ For translation of paśupati as "Lord of Animals" see: Michaels, p. 312.
- ^ For a drawing of the seal see Figure 1 in: Flood (1996), p. 29.
- ^ Singh, S.P., Rgvedic Base of the Pasupati Seal of Mohenjo-Daro, Puratattva 19: 19-26. 1989
- ^ Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica online edition s.v. "Vedic religion".
- ^ Indo-Iranian Studies: I by J.C. Tavadia, Vishva Bharati, Santiniketan, 1950
- ^ (RV 8.5; 8.46; 8.56)
- ^ Staal, J. F. 1961. Nambudiri Veda Recitations Gravenhage.
- ^ Staal, J. F. 1983. Agni: The Vedic ritual of the fire altar. 2 vols. Berkeley.
- ^ Staal, Frits (1988). Universals: studies in Indian logic and linguistics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-76999-2.
- ^ "Srimad-Bhagavatam" by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
- ^ sanatansociety.org
- ^ Ron Geaves (March 2002). "From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara)". 27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford.
- ^ Vijay Nath, From 'Brahmanism' to 'Hinduism': Negotiating the Myth of the Great Tradition, Social Scientist 2001, pp. 19-50.
- ^ Ram Puniyani. Question of Faith.
- ^ Peter van der Veer, "Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India", University of California Press, February 7, 1994, ISBN 0-520-08256-7
See also
References - Majumdar, R. C.; H. C. Raychauduri, Kaukinkar Datta (1960). An Advanced History of India. Great Britain: Macmillan and Company Limited. ISBN 0-333-90298-X.
- Benjamin Walker Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism, (Two Volumes), Allen & Unwin, London, 1968; Praeger, New York, 1968; Munshiram Manohar Lal, New Delhi, 1983; Harper Collins, New Delhi, 1985; Rupa, New Delhi, 2005, ISBN 81-291-0670-1.
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