Hinduism Today

Our first efforts of relating to a tradition or fitting into a custom were instigated not when we first visited a temple but during the social lessons, when we were taught that India is a country of varied religions and culture. It is only when the options unfolded in front of you, you decided to choose one or in the present case, relate to one. When was the first time you learnt to differentiate between the orange robe and the nun’s white tunic or between the Bible and the Quran? It was probably when you were first introduced to the terms Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.  Religion was just a faith, a form of community service, a way of life or just your Sunday occupation until you were actually taught how to spell it.

But the same social sciences taught about their religion, their festivals and their practices and slowly this new opening did not seem so intimidating. We have learned to respect and even chip in their way of life. This very understanding is the reason for our varied yet united culture. The different paths did not matter when we were learning together and reaching the same place. This has been the oldest belief in India from the oldest of its religions.

 “The chief value of Hinduism lies in holding the actual belief that all life, not only human beings, but  all sentient beings is one, i.e. all life coming from the one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parameshwara. There is in Hinduism a scripture called Vishnusahasranama which simply means one thousand names of God. These one thousand names do not mean that God is limited to those names, but that He has as many names as you can possibly give Him. The unity of all life is a peculiarity of Hinduism which confines salvation not to human beings alone but says that it is possible for all God’s creatures. It may be that it is not possible, save through the human form, but that does not make man the lord of creation. It makes him the servant of God’s creation. Now when we talk of brotherhood of man, we stop there, and feel that all other life is there for man to exploit for his own purposes. But Hinduism excludes all exploitation. There is no limit whatsoever to the measure of sacrifice that one may make in order to realize this oneness with all life, but certainly the immensity of the ideal sets a limit to your wants.” 

– Mahatma Gandhi

And this is the reason for opening new windows. A religion that has taught us to be tolerant of others is now inspiring the others to join our cause.

The story goes that, as early as in the first century BC, Indians travelled to countries like Indonesia and Cambodia in search of gold, especially to the islands of Java, Sumatra and Malaya, the countries that were called Suvarnadvipa or the island of gold. The traders travelled from many flourishing cities like Kashi, Mathura, Ujjain, Prayag and Pataliputra and from port cities on the east coast like Mamallapuram, Tamralipti, Puri, and Kaveripattanam. The kingdom of Kalinga even had trade relations with Sri Lanka during the time of Ashoka.

So, wherever the traders went they established cultural links thus doled out as cultural ambassadors while nurturing trade relations with the outside world.

This cruise of and for gold, first reached the Indonesian Archipelago and continued along the lines of southern Burma, central and southern Siam, lower Cambodia and southern Vietnam through the trade routes.

For more than a thousand years, the Hindu and Buddhist influences remained the major factor to have brought a certain level of cultural unity among various countries of the region. The South East of Asia played the rewarding host and actively nurtured Hindu and Buddhist architectural and artistic creation.

The famous temple of Angkor Vat stands to attest this fact.

The religious and secular learning of India soon reached Persia around 6th century, when the Sassanid Emperor Khosrau I, deputed an envoy to translate the Sanskrit Panchatantra. His Pahlavi version was later rendered to the Arabic by Ibn al-Moqaffa under the title of Kalila and Dimna or The Fables of Bidpai.

After a long pause due to the perpetual invasions, it was again during the 19th century that the west got indianized for a change. The Vedic literature and philosophy were brought to Europe and the United States as an academic discipline of studying Indian culture from a European perspective that were labeled as Indian mysticism. But, the religious reform movements that took place then, supported by the Unitarian Church gained on the ideas of Universalism and Perennialism, the idea that all religions share a common mystic ground.

The reappearance of Hinduism in Indonesia was occurring in all parts of the country. By the early seventies, the Toraja people of Sulawesi were the first to be identified under the umbrella of ‘Hinduism’, followed by Sumatra in 1977 and the Kalimantan in 1980.The new Hindu communities in Java concentrated around the temples and the around archaeological temple sites which are being reclaimed as places of Hindu worship. An important new Hindu temple in eastern Java is Pura Mandaragiri Sumeru Agung, on Java’s highest mountain Mt. Semeru.

Mass conversions have also occurred in the region around Pura Agung Blambangan another temple attributed the last Hindu kingdom on Java and in the village of Menang near Kediri.

As of 2007, an estimated 944 million Hindus, 98.5% live in South Asia. Of the remaining 1.5% or 14 million, 6 million live in Southeast Asia (mostly Indonesia), 2 million in Europe, 1.8 million in North America, 1.2 million in Southern Africa.

“Thus in molding the Asian culture, Indian share has been very significant. Even though India is surrounded by sea on three sides and the Himalayan in the north but that did not stop Indians from interacting with the rest of the world. In fact they travelled far and wide and left their cultural footprints wherever they went. In return they also brought home ideas, impressions, customs and traditions from these distant lands. However, the most remarkable aspect of this contact has been the spread of Indian culture and civilization in various parts of the world, especially Central Asia, South East Asia, China, Japan, and Korea etc. What is most remarkable of this spread is that it was not a spread by means of conquest or threat to life of an individual or society but by means of voluntary acceptance of cultural and spiritual values of India. In this lesson we shall find out how Indian culture spread to other countries and the impact it had on these countries. This lesson also brings forward the beautiful idea that peace and friendship with other nations, other societies, other religions and other cultures help our lives and make it more meaningful.”       

–Binod Bihari Sathpathy

At this end, it is worth mentioning and appreciating that though Indians had established their colonies in the south-east Asia, but they did not think it right to settle down their growing population there, nor did they regard these colonies as profitable market for their expanding industries and increasing commerce. These colonies were never exploited anyway by the Indian emigrants or conquerors.

The culture we cherished since its inception is now accepted across the countries. China built universities of our cultural learning while the west took an interesting advent into yoga. Of all, the one urge that keeps us united is our spiritual quest. Just like, back then when it didn’t matter what how we spelled our religion, we would always discuss it over sharing our lunch boxes.