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INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM:
The most popular among the
Aryan religions is Hinduism.
?Hindu? is actually a Persian word
that stands for the inhabitants of
the region beyond the Indus
Valley. However, in common
parlance, Hinduism is a blanket
term for an assortment of
religious beliefs, most of which
are based on the Vedas, the
Upanishads and the Bhagavad
Gita.
II INTRODUCTION TO HINDU
SCRIPTURES.
There are several sacred
scriptures of the Hindus. Among
these are the Vedas, Upanishads
and the Puranas.
1. VEDAS:
1. The word Veda is derived from
Vida which means to know,
knowledge par excellence or
sacred wisdom. There are four
principal divisions of the Vedas
(although according to their
number, they amount to 1131
out of which about a dozen are
available). According to Maha
Bhashya of Patanjali, there are 21
branches of Rigveda, 9 types of
Atharvaveda, 101 branches of
Yajurveda and 1000 of Samveda).
2. The Rigveda, the Yajurveda
and the Samveda are considered
to be more ancient books and
are known as Trai Viddya or the
?Triple Sciences?. The Rigveda is
the oldest and has been
compiled in three long and
different periods of time. The 4th
Veda is the Atharvaveda, which is
of a later date.
3. There is no unanimous
opinion regarding the date of
compilation or revelation of the
four Vedas. According to Swami
Dayanand, founder of the Arya
Samaj, the Vedas were revealed
1310 million years ago.
According to other scholars, they
are not more than 4000 years
old.
4. Similarly, there are differing
opinions regarding the places
where these books were
compiled and the Rishis to whom
these Scriptures were given.
Inspite of these differences, the
Vedas are considered to be the
most authentic of the Hindu
Scriptures and the real
foundations of the Hindu
Dharma.
2. UPANISHADS:
1. The word 'Upanishad' is
derived from Upa meaning near,
Ni which means down and Shad
means to sit. Therefore
?Upanishad? means sitting down
near. Groups of pupils sit near
the teacher to learn from him the
secret doctrines.
According to Samkara,
?Upanishad? is derived from the
root word Sad which means ?to
loosen?, ?to reach? or ?to destroy?,
with Upa and ni as prefix;
therefore ?Upanishad? means
Brahma-Knowledge by which
ignorance is loosened or
destroyed.
2. The number of Upanishads
exceeds 200 though the Indian
tradition puts it at 108. There are
10 principal Upanishads.
However, some consider them to
be more than 10, while others
18.
3. The Vedanta meant originally
the Upanishads, though the
word is now used for the system
of philosophy based on the
Upanishad. Literally, Vedanta
means the end of the Veda,
Vedasua-antah, and the
conclusion as well as the goal of
Vedas. The Upanishads are the
concluding portion of the Vedas
and chronologically they come at
the end of the Vedic period.
4. Some Pundits consider the
Upanishads to be more superior
to the Vedas.
3. PURANAS:
Next in order of authenticity are
the Puranas which are the most
widely read scriptures. It is
believed that the Puranas contain
the history of the creation of the
universe, history of the early
Aryan tribes, life stories of the
divines and deities of the Hindus.
It is also believed that the
Puranas are revealed books like
the Vedas, which were revealed
simultaneously with the Vedas or
sometime close to it.
Maharishi Vyasa has divided the
Puranas into 18 voluminous
parts. He also arranged the Vedas
under various heads.
Chief among the Puranas is a
book known as Bhavishya
Purana. It is called so because it
is believed to give an account of
future events. The Hindus
consider it to be the word of
God. Maharishi yasa is
considered to be just the
compiler of the book.
4. ITIHAAS:
The two epics of Hinduism are
the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata.
A. Ramayana:
According to Ramanuja, the great
scholar of Ramayana, there are
more than 300 different types of
Ramayana: Tulsidas Ramayana,
Kumbha Ramayana. Though the
outline of Ramayana is same, the
details and contents differ.
Valmiki?s Ramayana:
Unlike the Mahabharata, the
Ramayana appears to be the
work of one person ? the sage
Valmiki, who probably composed
it in the 3rd century BC. Its best-
known recension (by Tulsi Das,
1532-1623) consists of 24,000
rhymed couplets of 16-syllable
lines organised into 7 books. The
poem incorporates many ancient
legends and draws on the sacred
books of the Vedas. It describes
the efforts of Kosala?s heir, Rama,
to regain his throne and rescue
his wife, Sita, from the demon
King of Lanka.
Valmiki's Ramayana is a Hindu
epic tradition whose earliest
literary version is a Sanskrit
poem attributed to the sage
Valmiki. Its principal characters
are said to present ideal models
of personal, familial, and social
behavior and hence are
considered to exemplify Dharma,
the principle of moral order.
B. Mahabharata:
The nucleus of the Mahabharata
is the w
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