Hinduism

I- The rise of Hinduism

People who perform methodical research into the history of India find it real hard to identify India ’s periods of stability; however, it is very likely that by the 6th century B.C., the country started to experience such periods. India knew lots of migrations and witnesses the influx of various human races among which Indo-Aryan tribes, coming from the coasts of the Caucasian sea, were the most distinguished. Those eminent tribes paved the way to various developments in India such as the rise of Hinduism. After numerous struggles and conflicts, between the people who tried to subdue India , Indo-Aryan tribes ended up by entering into the fabric of the Indian community. Some historians believe that the word ‘Aryan’ is taken from the Sanskrit language - the ancient Indian language - and it means ‘the honorable man.’

Very rapidly, the Aryans started to interact with the Dravidians - the indigenous inhabitants of India - allowing India ’s pattern of religion, beliefs and adorations of deities to take place. What is very notable, as well, is the similarity between the way they articulate language and the way European words are pronounced; something that goes back to the unity of the linguistic, cultural and human origin - Indians call God (Dava); in Latin language, He is called (Deus); in French, He is called (Dieu); and so forth.

As for the religious Indian literature works, it had been written down over different periods of time and it was until the 8th century B.C. that people started to learn about them. These literature works are called the ‘Veda’; a word meaning ‘The Texts or Books of Wisdom’. And it really remarkable that the collection of Hindu sacred texts ‘Vedas’ is not ascribed to a single person; nay, it is the fruit of the heritage of all the peoples who integrated together over times forming one melting pot society.

The origin name of Hinduism is ‘Dhorma’. During ancient times, it was called Sentana; and it was just until recently that it took the name of ‘Hinduism’ embodying by that culture, religion, customs and traditions.

II- Fundamental principles of Hinduism
When you delve thoroughly duisminto the principles of Hinduism concerning divinity, you find yourself plunging into more complications and confusions because sources and references will reveal to you thousands of sanctified gods; each one of them has only one mission to accomplish.Nevertheless, Brahma is regarded as the most important god in Hindus’ religious beliefs. In ‘the Circle of Knowledge’, Al-Bustani spoke about the etymology of the word ‘Brahma’ which is disputed among scholars. According to him, it is a Persian compound word made up of ‘Bray’ meaning ‘the exaltedness’ and ‘Mah’ meaning ‘the great’ or ‘Mayh’ meaning ‘the overarching and the overshadowing’; those words are meant to designate the hollow celestial sphere that never changes; neither in form nor in position. This sphere is always fixed and it embraces the shining stars lying underneath it. On the other hand, other scholars state that the word ‘Brahma’ has a Syncretic root deriving from the word ‘Barma.’ And ‘Barma’ is a word of neither feminine nor masculine form meaning that the implied god is an epicene; he either possesses both male and female characteristics, or lacks them both.

In ‘The Story of Civilization’ Will Durant speaks about the nature of Gods in Hinduism: “The masses of Gods are thronged together in the cemetery of the grandees in India ; and if we set about counting the names of these gods, it might take us hundreds of volumes to do so. According to their nature, some of these gods are very close to be angels, some of them might be demons, some of them could be meteoritic galaxies such as the sun, some of them are amulets, etc… you will find amongst them a great number of animals or birds because Indians do not depict large differences between the animal and the human being; they think of the animal as a creature of spirit the same as the human being… All this variety of deities had interlaced their threads in an intricate pattern forming a single web of non-restricted limits called Karma - the Hindu and Buddhist philosophy according to which the quality of people’s current and future lives is determined by their behavior in this and in previous lives – the reincarnation of souls. Among these gods, you find the elephant had turned into the god ‘Ganesha’ considered as the son of Shiva and as the epitome of the animal nature of human beings… although monkeys and snakes represent a source of terror, they were regarded as gods too. Considering that a single bite may lead to a certain and quick death, Hindus consecrate snakes, called Naja, in a very special way. In many parts of India, you find people hold each year a big religious ceremony aiming at glorying snakes; outside snakes burrows, Hindus put their offerings mainly composed of milk and bananas; not to mention that temples, especially in East Misur, were built to worship snakes.

However, this account of the events contradicts Al-Bayrouni’s viewpoint on the subject which states that monotheism and the idea of the pure God is the prevailing doctrine in the Hindu system of beliefs. He describes the situation as follows: “Hindus believe in God, the One, alone, the Eternal who has no beginning and no end, the One who chooses to do or not to do, the Capable and the Wise, the Alive and the Generator of lives, the Resort and the Sustainer, the Isolated in His kingdom from all contaminated things, the One who resembles nothing and nothing resembles him… He is the One who needs no reward; He is the Eternal and the Unique; He who has the peace that we hope for and the power that we fear and revere.”

As for Al-Bustani, he says: “Brahma is the same sanctified Brahma of Indians after he set up his works. He is as well the third person of the Indian Trinity which means that Brahma emanates from himself three times in three persons with one person each time. In his first emanation he becomes Brahma, in the second ‘Shnu’ and in the third ‘Sywa’.

Correspondingly, Doctor Ihssan Haqqi seems to approve this favorable opinion in his work on the translated version of the introduction of Hindus’ holy book or Manu Smriti -Laws of Manu. He says: Hindus believe in monotheism; in the One God who has three assistants running his realm; and those are: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.”

However, the most likely to be true is that Hindus believe in the divine trinity composed of the three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; and each one of those gods carries out a specified mission to fulfill.

A- Brahma: Brahma is called (Sang Hay Ang) in general and in the Sanskrit language he is addressed as (Utpeti). In Hindu mythology, Brahma is believed to be the creator of the universe and that is why legends were made about the process of his own creation. In “the world of religions,” Hamid Faozi said: “Brahma is thought to be a self-existent and to have evolved the world in his own way (from an egg): After long meditations and deep thoughts, Brahma was able to produce a fertile idea from which a golden egg evolved. As a result, Brahma was created from that egg and this is why he is regarded as the creator and the created.” Nonetheless, although the attribute of creative activity is ascribed to Brahma and despite of the high-ranked status he enjoys in the canon of Hindus, the truth is that he plays almost no part at all in Hindus rituals and sacraments.

B- Vishnu: Vishnu is popularly regarded as the preserver (or redeemer) of the universe; and in the Hindu language, he is addressed as (Shtiti). In his book: ‘The Ancient Eastern Culture”, Coller describes Vishnu as the god full of love; the love that nourishes and sustains life. Vishnu is frequently said to have a human or mortal form (avatar) which incarnates good and salvation for all the humankind. And to accomplish that specific mission - as Hindus believe - Vishnu receives assistance from other gods amongst whom Rama and Krishna are the most important. All the more so, Vishnu enjoys a very eminent position in Hindus’ rituals and ceremonies.

C- Shiva: Shiva is a Hindu god who personifies the destructive force of the universe. As he is represented as the destroyer, his mission would then be in complete opposition with that of Vishnu. In Hindus’ native language, Shiva is referred to as (An Sang Kan Par).

In Hindu mythology - as described in ‘The Story of Civilization’ - Shiva is “primarily the god of mercilessness and destruction, he symbolizes the cosmic force that works, time and again, on distorting all the images from which the truth of the universe is generated, all the living cells, all the organic creatures, all the genera, all the thoughts, all what the human hands had ever created, all the orbits, everything…”Indeed, the Hindus, who consider Shiva as the god of destruction and obliteration, tried to interpret that destruction as a blessing or a mercy in itself. As Coller states in “The Ancient Eastern Culture’, when Hindus spoke about Shiva they said: “He is the benevolent god of the divine blessing that can eradicate the contaminating aspects of poverty which are manifested in the deficiencies and the imperfections of the restrained spirit. In the palm of his upper left hand, Shiva holds a tongue of flame representing the force of destruction which had been related to him for so long.”Likewise, the religion of Hinduism is based upon a divine Trimurti composed of: Brahma; the creator, Vishnu; the preserver and Shiva; the destroyer. This Hindu trinity of deities has different avatars - incarnation in other gods - such as Krishna , Rama, Buddha, and Kalki. And if we want to learn more about the functions of these gods as Hindus believe, we will find that they regard Krishna as the god who aims at establishing peace and Buddha or Yuhhi the god who spreads out knowledge and education that lead to serenity. As for Kalki; he is the awaited god in Hinduism, the one who didn’t arrive so far because the time of his incarnation is yet to come.

III- The quality of the Afterlife
As for the question of the afterlife, Hinduism does not believe - as Al-Suhmurani says in the book “Min Quamous Al-‘Adian” -in an another life where there are heaven and hell or by punishment and reward. Indeed, they believe in the Samsara or transmigration - Hindu cycle of death and rebirth - where souls pass from one body to another. The precise quality of the new birth is determined by the accumulated merit and demerit that result from all the actions, or karma, that the soul has committed in its past life or lives. All Hindus believe that karma accrues in this way; they also believe that if the person leads a life of good deeds and virtues with a renunciation of all worldly desires, his soul will achieve release (moksha) from this entire cycle of lives to be united with the Universal Soul, also called Supreme Being, or else it will remain forever stuck in this cyclical process wandering from one body to another.

Thus, Hindus take more care of the soul because they believe that souls can reach perfection unlike bodies, which are characterized only by their defects. Hindus maintain that in order to achieve a certain level of purification, the body must benefit from the presence of the soul in it, and that is why they adopted the ritual of burning the body after death, which they consider to be a final terminal.

Indeed, the faculty of senses cannot fulfill its functions if the Atman - essence of the individual - is not the leading power. The origin of this Atman is Brahma (Sang Hay Ang) who considers it as the radiant rays of the sun; the rays that widely extend everywhere all through the lifetime and all across the planet.In spite of being perfect, the soul in Hinduism does not reach immortality as an independent entity; nay, its salvation is acquired through practicing “Yoga.” The “Yoga” is a harsh system of exercise inflicting the body with a physical pain for the purpose of teaching the soul patience and discipline. “Yoga” is a Sanskrit word meaning “the yoke” and it was called so because it saves the soul from the yoke of the body and the yoke of worldly desires.The yoga promotes the unity of the individual with the Supreme Being through a system of spiritual rituals and physical postures or exercises, or through offering sacrifices that honor gods. Furthermore, the yoga claims that one life is not enough to attain that unity because according to the karma belief the evildoings of a human being necessitate some successive reincarnations in human or animal forms.

On this basis, we may say that Hindus are not in accord with the Divine Revelations, especially when it comes to the question of the creator and the last day. The greater and lesser Hindu gods are worshiped in a number of concentric circles of public and private devotion. Amongst the most fundamental ceremonies for every Hindu are those that involve the rites of passage such as the funeral ceremonies celebrated at the Ganges River where Hindus sprinkle the ashes of their dead after subjecting them to incineration for interring corpses is not an adopted custom in Hinduism. Moreover, the Ganges is regarded as a holy river that people head to for pilgrimage each year in order to get purified with its water.Hindus believe that cows are sacred and thus, they abstain themselves from eating beef meat. In fact, cows wander freely in the streets of the cities without any disturbance or restrictions; subsequently, so many car and train accidents had occurred in India as a result of a sudden and quick braking which is necessary to show reverence for a cow crossing over. So, Hindus leave their cows strolling leisurely in the country and the only benefit they draw from their cattle is drinking its milk and utilizing its excrements as a material to set fire. Special respect is accorded to cows by Hindus to the extent that the urine of the animal is sometimes used as a cure for diseases just like medicines; it is also used in temples as a complementary object for ceremonies when priests put the urine in tubes and sprinkle it on the crowd. Once a cow is dead, it must be buried reverently according to the religious rites and celebrations.

IV- The Hindu Texts
As we have previously mentioned, the religious texts of the Indians - the Vedas - were not attributed to a sole person. “The Veda” or “The Weda” is a Sanskrit word meaning “the knowledge” and it represents a wide anthology or an encyclopedia encompassing lots of information about the land of India and its people over many centuries starting mainly at 2500 B.C.It took many stages in order to reach the final version of the Vedas. Before it was written down, the Veda meant ‘to meditate’; and after it was recorded, turning out to be the real reference for the history and the heritage of India as for the religious conceptions of Hindu people. The Vedas became the ultimate canonical authority for all Hindus; it organized the lives of its followers leading them towards the path of reaching the required knowledge.

Durant tends to believe that the first people who embarked on writing down the Vedas were some Indian tradesmen who belonged to the Dravidian sect the thing that made these writings - as it seems - an object for commercial and management purposes. So, the people who originally promoted that art were indeed tradesmen and not priests.

Accordingly, Al-Suhmurani concludes that the evolution of writing down the Vedas accompanied the evolution of the Sanskrit language itself. Most likely, that delay in recording the collection of the Vedas was the cause that deprived researchers of the great sources of knowledge concerning the ancient history of India .Actually, it appears that the Hindu priests - Brahmins - had encouraged the documentation of the Vedas to use them as religious weapons ensuring them power, control and prestigious status especially after they established the basis of the hierarchical social system making it inseparable from religion.Verily, the Vedas were not constituted of one book only; nay, it was a collection of fourteen books among which the “Manu Smriti” also called “The Laws of Manu” was the most important one. This book was translated into Arabic by Ihssan Haqqi who endeavors, in his introduction, to clearly reveal all the confusions and disharmonies that lie underneath. He says: “If we want to describe the “Manu Smriti”, we say that it is an accumulation of disharmonies because once we notice that; in its legislation, the book reaches the highest levels of sanity, awareness, tastefulness, and reasoning; then again, we remark that it suddenly slopes down to the most ridiculous levels and most shameful trivialities… if that is to indicate something, it truly indicates that this book had been written over discontinuous periods of time by very different people; different in matters of knowledge, reason and awareness.”

V- Hindu class systemthe majority of the Indian people adopts Hinduism as religion; the religion that had evolved along with the evolution of India itself. And as we have said earlier, Hinduism is not just a religion; indeed, through its conceptions and books, it represents the encompassment of the cultural history of India .

As Al-Suhmurani says, the religious Hindu system had mixed with the rest of the systems such as the political, the social, and the economic organisms to achieve an underlying objective. In order to guarantee themselves power and control, religious and political personages sanctified the social class system. As a result, the castes were founded dividing the Hindu society into four main hereditary classes called (varnas) and dictating the social position and status of people.