The origins of Hinduism

[Jatd]

Hi, Can someone please explain to me the origins and time/date? Thank you!

QUOTE=Jatd]Hi[/url], Can someone please explain to me the origins and time/date? Thank you![/quote]


Google it Jatd, there,s lots of good info: I was curious myself and found really good answers.

[Vinayaka]

Originally Posted by Jatd

Hi, Can someone please explain to me the origins and time/date? Thank you!

It's impossible to determine. The Vedas were an oral tradition passed on by memory in families. Only later were they recorded. Earliest symbols found are from the Indus Valley civilisation and the two main cities there that were dug up. That dating goes as far back as 6000-7000 years. So it's all pretty debatable. Not too many historians agree on it all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization

The origins would have been in the souls of the seers who recited the Vedas, largely thought to have occurred by trance states.

[sunsoul]

Yes, it is hard to determine.. Also, the Aryans who brought the Vedic tradition with them were more than likely coming from outside India at some long lost period of time. The migrations are said to have occurred around 2000 BCE.

The actual traditions and Vedas themselves are older than that.. Then you have the merging with the indigenous traditions and peoples of India at that time....

Historians of religion say that Judaism and Hinduism are the oldest world religions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Ar...gration_theory

There is quite a lot of debate amongst scholars on this topic as Vinayaka mentions.

[Vinayaka]

It seems that the anti Aryan Migration Theory people are winning out, not that it really matters. Almost all Hindu scholars view it as myth now. Western non-Hindu scholars of Hinduism haven't given up on it, perhaps because they started it.

[sunsoul]

I think it is somewhere in the middle of the two... I don't think you can say that the migrations didn't happen, but at the same time the civilisations in the Indus valley are quite old, and certainly more than 2000 BCE.

You only have to look objectively at the sheer variety of religious belief in India to see all the parallels and connections to ancient Persian sun gods, proto-Shiva deities like Rudra, and various other beliefs and practices that have all come together to form the multilayered, rich religion we now name Hinduism..

[Vinayaka]

Originally Posted by sunsoul

I think it is somewhere in the middle of the two... I don't think you can say that the migrations didn't happen, but at the same time the civilisations in the Indus valley are quite old, and certainly more than 2000 BCE.

You only have to look objectively at the sheer variety of religious belief in India to see all the parallels and connections to ancient Persian sun gods, proto-Shiva deities like Rudra, and various other beliefs and practices that have all come together to form the multilayered, rich religion we now name Hinduism..

There certainly was movement, ( often climate driven) and naturally integration between cultures and languages as a result. The time frame is vague, as are the routes, and direction of the routes. I'm personally not that interested, but let the anthropologists who enjoy that sort of thing go for it all they want. What I do take exception to with history of that era, is anyone presenting their theories as fact. This search for 'facts' is some sort of strange psychological phenomenon to understand mankind. Leaving it all as a mystery is fine by me. It's the present that counts anyway.

[Miss Hepburn]

Glad to see you over here, Jatd!

[kris]

It is hard to define what constitutes Hinduism, let alone date its origin. None of the ancient writings which are often quoted as representing Hinduism even mention Hinduism. I am of the opinion that the people who created those records were not at all interested in creating a religion. They were just trying to understand their place in the mystery that is universe. They had very few tools to go about their quest other than observing and speculating. They were curious to know the source of the mystery of life.

I think it so happens that the source of mystery itself is just as interested in seekers as the seekers are in understanding the source. Hence these early seekers were able to discover the techniques that are now available to those of us who yearn for the source of mystery that is life.

Originally Posted by kris

It is hard to define what constitutes Hinduism, let alone date its origin. None of the ancient writings which are often quoted as representing Hinduism even mention Hinduism. I am of the opinion that the people who created those records were not at all interested in creating a religion. They were just trying to understand their place in the mystery that is universe. They had very few tools to go about their quest other than observing and speculating. They were curious to know the source of the mystery of life.
I think it so happens that the source of mystery itself is just as interested in seekers as the seekers are in understanding the source. Hence these early seekers were able to discover the techniques that are now available to those of us who yearn for the source of mystery that is life.

Nothing starts as a so called Religion, its people who make it such, then they start changing it to suit themselves