The term Hindu was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450) and some 16th- to 18th-century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts including Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. It is the formative period for the Upanishads and Brahmanism. [56] This approach had a great appeal, not only in India, but also in the west. Klaus Klostermaier, "Mokṣa and Critical Theory", harvnb error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFKramer1986 (, Lance Nelson (1996), "Living liberation in Shankara and classical Advaita", in. [note 45][534], The decline of Brahmanism was overcome by providing new services[535] and incorporating the non-Vedic Indo-Aryan relgious heritage of the eastern Ganges plain and local religious traditions, giving rise to contemporary Hinduism. [607][605][608] According to Nicholson, already between the 12th and the 16th century, "certain thinkers began to treat as a single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the 'six systems' (saddarsana) of mainstream Hindu philosophy. [524][525] Pratt notes that Oldenberg (1854–1920), Neumann (1865–1915) and Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) believed that the Buddhist canon had been influenced by Upanishads, while la Vallee Poussin thinks the influence was nihil, and "Eliot and several others insist that on some points such as the existence of soul or self the Buddha was directly antithetical to the Upanishads". [152] Hindu Dharma includes the religious duties, moral rights and duties of each individual, as well as behaviors that enable social order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous. [110], Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity. [421] Some monastics live in monasteries, while others wander from place to place, depending on donated food and charity for their needs. [234][235] These denominations differ primarily in the central deity worshipped, the traditions and the soteriological outlook. Merchants and traders of India, particularly from the Indian peninsula, carried their religious ideas, which led to religious conversions to Hinduism in southeast Asia. [a] According to Richard King, Radhakrishnan was a representative of, See also "Aurangzeb, as he was according to Mughal Records"; more links at the bottom of that page. IXth European Conference on Modern Asian Studies in Heidelberg (1989). Iyengar, Paramahansa Yogananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Srila Prabhupada (founder of ISKCON), Sri Chinmoy, Swami Rama and others who translated, reformulated and presented Hinduism's foundational texts for contemporary audiences in new iterations, raising the profiles of Yoga and Vedanta in the West and attracting followers and attention in India and abroad. The Artha concept includes all "means of life", activities and resources that enables one to be in a state one wants to be in, wealth, career and financial security. A renunciant man of knowledge is usually called Varnatita or "beyond all varnas" in Vedantic works. [566][567][568], Bhakti ideas centered around loving devotion to Vishnu and Shiva with songs and music, were pioneered in this period by the Alvars and Nayanars of South India. into the "Brahmanical fold" via the Smriti ("remembered") literature. 128.(. [465][466][467][web 17][web 18] According to Singh, "The dominant view is that the Indo-Aryans came to the subcontinent as immigrants. The Puranic chronology, the timeline of events in ancient Indian history as narrated in the Mahabaratha, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, envisions a chronology of events related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The weak overcomes the stronger by Dharma, as over a king. The Bhagavad Gita was composed in this period and consolidated diverse philosophies and soteriological ideas. [286] In Agamic schools of Hinduism, the Vedic literature and the Agamas are equally authoritative. Learn a new word every day. [291], Vedic rituals of fire-oblation (yajna) and chanting of Vedic hymns are observed on special occasions, such as a Hindu wedding. Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, originating in Central Asia and the Indus Valley, still practiced in the present day.The term Hinduism is what is known as an exonym (a name given by others to a people, place, or concept) and derives from the Persian term Sindus designating those who lived across the Indus River.