Jason Neff
James Williamson, Jr
REL2121: Religion in America:
17 November 2015
Hinduism
Consisting of nearly nine hundred million people Hinduism makes the third most practiced
religion in the world. Most of the population of Indian’s are Hindu of that 80% are
Vausgbavites, are people that worship Lord Vishnu. We will be looking at the history of the
religion and seeing what being a Hindu is all about and how the religion has evolved and
where it has a place in today’s society.
The religion of Hinduism Is an umbrella of general practices of Hundis having similar
practices within but the numerous practices have different beliefs. The origin of the word
Hinduism is taken from the Persian word Hundu translating as “river” and was used by
outsides to describe the area around the Indus River Valley. Unlike other religions the
Hindu religion does not have a founder or a date of origin. The origin or the age of the
texts are unknown. However some scholars have dated the religion for about four thousand
years estimating the religion to be one of the oldest surviving religions. Some Hindus
fallow the gods Shiva or Vishnu while others see god as within themselves, atman. Not all
Hindus agreeing on many things, however, most of the Hindus do back the existence of
Brahman who is the thing that ties everything together. Each sect of Hindu uses different
texts to practice , most Hindus recognize Vedas and Brahman.
In 1921 archaeologist discovered remains of an old civilization dating back to 7000 BC.
The archaeologist uncovered text and traditions such as bathing practices that makes them
