Take a Quiz on Hindu History

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world^[6][7] and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century.^[8] He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India, and contributed to the concept of nationalism in colonial India.^[9] Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.^[7] He is perhaps best known for his speech which began, “Sisters and brothers of America …,”^[10] in which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.

The earliest evidence of  Hinduism comes from the sites such as the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters (near Bhopal, India) dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older.^{[note 25]} The rock shelters and caves provide evidence of and a “rare glimpse” into human settlement and cultural evolution from hunter-gatherers, to agriculture, and expressions of spirituality.^[8] Based on excavations at the site, the discovered artifacts and wares, pigments in deposits, as well as the rock paintings, there has been a continuous human settlement here from stone age until the 2nd-century BCE in these hills. ^[18]

During the Gupta period, the first stone and cave Hindu temples dedicated to Hindu deities were built, some of which have survived into the modern era.^{[496][note 35]} Numerous monasteries and universities were also built during the Gupta dynasty era, which supported Vedic and non-Vedic studies, including the famed Nalanda.^[498][499]

The World’s first Universities flourished in India during this time including Takshshila, Nalanda, Vikramshila and Valabhi. Students in these Universities studied the Vedas and 18 arts and Sciences including medicine, astronomy, mathematics, Law, Military strategy, Dance etc.

Historian A. L. Bhasham called it the happiest and the most civilized part of the world at the time. Many foreign scholars visited India during this period including two Chinese Buddhist monks Faxian and Xuanzeng who left extensive records of the Hindu civilization of the time.

The period from 1000BC to 600BC was a period of great intellectual and social-cultural ferment in ancient India.^{[461][462][note 31]} It was a time for great scientific, astronomy and mathematical advancement. Hindus developed the counting system that we use today including the concept of zero and the decimal system.

Chalukyas, Pallavas, Pandhayas and Cholas flourished as some of the largest Hindu kingdoms in the southern part of India at the time. Chola kings controlled the sea routes from India to South east Asia and as far as Africa.

The first conquest of Hindus by Muslims was that of western province of Hindu Sindh by the Arabs of Basra, Iraq in 712AD, not long after Islam was founded. By 870, Arab Muslims had conquered Hindu kings of North West Afghanistan. They were stopped further advance by Hindu Kings east of Khyber Pass.

A courageous Hindu warrior named Shiva Ji, led his first military campaign against centuries of oppressive Muslim rule and had many victories. Unlike previous Hindu Kings, Shiva Ji used modern means of warfare and developed a navy too.

Like in Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, modern day ISIS, these Arab Turck Muslims demanded conversion of all their subjects to Islam. Thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed and mosques erected in their place including some of the famous temples at Somnath, Ayodhya, Vrindavan, Varanasi and Mathura. This violence, discrimination and religious taxes only on Hindu created a strong pressure on Hindus to convert. However, Jati or Caste system was a major obstacle and only a fraction of Hindus converted as Jati was important to identity which is lost upon conversion.

Hinduism is a living religion with 15-16% of world population following Hindu Dharma. The earliest evidence of  Hinduism comes from the sites such as the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older.^{[note 25]}

The next big crisis for Hindus came in 1504 in the form of Babur, a descendant of both Mongol Genghis Khan and a Central Asian Muslim ruler, Tamur. He overpowered both the Muslim rulers and Hindu kings starting from Kabul, going to Sultanate of Delhi and Rajputs of Rajashtan. He founded Moghul empire to rule over India.

The Saraswati river dried up around 2000BC and the culture started to decline, Hindus of this Saraswati Indus river civilization migrated to other places including along the river Ganges and to other continents.

There was advancement in medicine and complex surgeries were performed not equaled by Europe until 18th century. Hindus were the foremost supplier of steel to the world. Its foundries created an iron pillar in 400CE which even stands today and has never rusted.

The civilization named after its two rivers Saraswati and Sindhu (Indu) is called Vedic civilization after its sacred texts called the Vedas. The cities of this civilization were connected by trade routes to other major civilizations.

Vedas called the land of Hindus as sapta sindhu, meaning the land of seven rivers namely Sindhu, Saraswati, Ganga, Brahmputra, Narmada, Krishna and Cauvery.

At its peak, the Indus Civilisation may have had a population of over five million.^[9] Inhabitants of the ancient Indus River valley developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings.^[10] Children’s toys were found in the cities, with few weapons of war, suggesting peace and prosperity.^[11]

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, an Indian independence activist, sought to disassociate the term Hindu from Hinduism. His tract, Essentials of Hindutva,^[7] better known under the later title Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?, defined a Hindu as one who was born of Hindu parents and regarded India as his motherland as well as holy land. The three essentials of Hindutva were said to be the common nation (rashtra), common race (jati) and common culture/civilisation (sanskriti).^[6] Hindus thus defined formed a nation that had existed since antiquity, Savarkar claimed, in opposition to the British view that India was just a geographical entity.^[8]

Savarkar used the term “Hindutva” (Sanskrit -tva, neuter abstract suffix) to describe “Hinduness” or the “quality of being a Hindu“.^[2] Savarkar regarded Hinduism as an ethnic, cultural and political identity. Hindus, according to Savarkar, are those who consider India to be the land in which their ancestors lived, as well as the land in which their religion originated. He advocates the creation of a Hindu state in that sense.^[1]

Savarkar’s formulation of Hinduness was regarded in his time as akin to a scientific discovery, a “revelation”.^[10] It marked a “qualitative change” in Hindu nationalism.^[11]

During this time with so many restrictions on practicing any thing but Islam, many Hindus learnt about their religion and expressed it through stories and songs. Hindus continued to resist mainly at social and religious level. Very few Hindus converted to Islam despite violence, inducements and taxation.

The first version of Natyasastra – a Hindu text on performance arts that integrates Vedic ideology – was also completed before the 2nd century CE.^[494][495]

In a 1995 judgment, the Supreme Court of India ruled that “Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism … it is a fallacy and an error of law to proceed on the assumption … that the use of words Hindutva or Hinduism per se depicts an attitude hostile to all persons practising any religion other than the Hindu religion .^[5]

The Hindu sacred texts called Vedas were composed around six thousand years ago. Rig Veda, the oldest of them speaks of the river Saraswati and was composed by Hindus of this civilization before 2000BC before the river dried up.

Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early cradles of civilisations of the Old World, and of the three, the most widespread.^{[4][note 1]}

Arab Muslim attacks started in Western India around 8th century but were successfully repelled for the time being. Chalukyas, Pallavas, Pandhayas and Cholas flourished as some of the largest Hindu kingdoms in the southern part of India at the time. Chola kings controlled the sea routes from India to South east Asia and as far as Africa.

Indian Hindu Kings of the time encouraged Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Jews and Muslims to settle in their Kingdom giving them freedom to practice their faiths.

The Islamic rule period was a difficult period for Hindus.  Hindus faced religious persecution at the hands of Muslim invaders and Jehadis, at a scale that no way compares to modern Islamic terorism. It witnessed Hindu-Muslim confrontation and violence,^[521][522] Enslavement of Hindus in India, was part of the Muslim raids and conquests,^[525][526] Although there was a short respite when Akbar abolished the practice of enslaving and recognized Hinduism,^[526][529] but still, Muslim Jehadi persecution of Hindus and large scale desceration and destruction of their holy temples continued from the 12th century to the 18th century^{[530][532][note 36]}.

It is during this time that Hindu traders spread Hinduism in South East Asia, remnants of which can still be seen in Bali, Indonesia. A grand Padmanbhan temple was built in Central Java by a Hindu King in Indian style in 8th century. Angokar Wats Hindu temple, the largest religious building in the world, was built in Cambodia.

By 600BC, the basic form of Hinduism, its Gods, rituals, philosophy and foundation scriptures had already been established. Hindu traditions, culture, scripture and Sanskrit language weaved people across the large continent into a homogeneous group.

During 8th century, Hinduism spread to former Champa civilisation in southern parts of Central Vietnam, Funan in Cambodia, the Khmer Empire in Indochina, Langkasuka Kingdom and Old Kedah in the Malay Peninsula, the Sriwijayan kingdom on Sumatra, the Medang kingdom, Singhasari and the Majapahit Empire based in Java, Bali, and parts of the Philippine archipelago.

Next invasion by Muhhamad of Gurh, also a Turk, in 1194, finally defeated the Hindu rulers of north including the Ganga valley. The ancient cradle of civilization, the Saraswati Indus region where Hinduism started and flourished, was now fully under the control of Islamic fanatics. Muhhamad established a formal Mulslim rule, called the Sultanate in the city of Delhi by the year 1206.

Next wave of invasions started in late 10th century by Muslims from Central Asia Turks who were already established in South West Afghanistan. Their leader Mahmud of Gazni raided India 17 times between 1001 to 1024. Mahmoud would conquer a city, plunder its wealth, destroy its temples, rape, butcher or enslave the inhabitants and then return home.

Plunder of famous Somnath Temple was the most horrific with the massacre of 50,00 Hindus and the plunder of the city’s wealth. About 20 milion Hindus (10% of the population) perished during this century due to these invasions and warfare. These invasions utterly ruined the prosperity of Hindus.

The earliest evidence of  Hinduism comes from the sites such as the rock paintings of Bhimbetka rock shelters dating to a period of 30,000 BCE or older.^{[note 25]}

Hinduism, its teachings, Sanskrit language and its scriptural teachings spread thought Indian subcontinent and South East Asia during this time. It was this time when Hindu India was at its height that Muslim invaders were preparing to attack and convert India to their own faith. End of this Golden period started a dark period of destruction, plunder, raids and subjugation of Hindus for eight centuries to come.

The seals found from this era depict ceremonies, dieties and rituals. Even though writing was wide spread among these people, it has not been deciphered yet. From these seals we can infer that certain rituals and practices followed are identical to those followed by Hindus today. The seals and artifacts show statues of Shiva, mother Goddess, shiva lingam, fire alter, priests, sacred animals like cow, namaste mudra, woman with sindoor and meditation pose among others.