This chapter discusses the origins and historical development of Hinduism. It began with the mixing of Dravidian peoples and migrating Aryans in India around 1000 BCE. This led to the emergence of early Indian society including the caste system. Key Hindu scriptures developed like the Vedas and later commentaries. The chapter outlines Hindu concepts such as dharma, samsara, karma, and the various paths to moksha or liberation from the cycle of rebirth. It also discusses major Hindu deities, philosophers, and reformers that shaped Hinduism over time.

1. World Religions, Seventh Edition
Warren Matthews
Chapter Three:
Hinduism
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2. The Origins and Historical
Development of Hinduism
Dravidian peoples lived in cities along the Indus River in modern-day
Pakistan and northwest India
Around 1000 BCE, Aryans migrated into Dravidian territory from the
west
From the intermixing of Dravidians and Aryans, the earliest forms of
Indian society (including the caste system and Hinduism) emerged

3. The Sites and Sacred Rivers of Early
Hinduism

4. Recent India and Neighboring States

5. Shruti and Smriti: Revelation and
Scriptures
The Vedas
 Sacred oral traditions brought by migrating Aryans
Were regarded as having been revealed to humanity
Were the subject of later commentaries
 Accounts of the gods
 Instructions on the performance of ritual to influence the gods

6. Shruti: Revelation and Scriptures
Vedic scriptures
 Rig-Veda – stories of the gods
 Sama-Veda – chants used by priests in soma sacrifices
 Yajur-Veda – litanies and prayers used in devotions
 Atharva-Veda – charms and spells for use by ordinary people

7. Shruti and Smriti
Shruti also expands on the theological implications of the accounts
and rituals revealed in the Vedas
 Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads
Smriti is “remembered” and thus less authoritative
 Laws of Manu (how to live as a Hindu)
 Itihasa-Purana
Mahabharata
Ramayana

8. The Four Stages of Life
According to the laws of Manu (composed 200 BCE - 200 CE)
 For upper-caste males:
Student
Married householder
Retired contemplative
Renunciate
 Goal is samadhi – unity of the soul with Brahman
 Raja yoga helps release the soul from the body
 Women practice three stages, with the fourth being optional

9. Gods of the Rig-Veda
Agni – the god of fire (a central element in ritual sacrifice)
Indra – warrior god who slays demons and protects human beings
and gods
Soma – the sacred drink
Varuna – the god of truth
Mitra – the god of contracts or agreements

10. The Upanishad
Some Hindus branched out from the Brahmins and Vedas
The Upanishads seek a sacrifice of psychological aspects to unite
the Atman in humans with Brahman, the absolute of the universe
Many Hindus consider the Upanishads to be natural developments of
thoughts already suggested in the Vedas
No social upheavals were necessary to bring about this evolution of
religious thought
The Upanishads have a common spirit of inquiry, offering ways that
religion can supplement other practices of the Vedas

11. The Guru
A teacher who has gained a special insight into reality
 Upanishads – formulated as dialogues between student and guru
 Yajnavalkya – a prominent guru in the Upanishads
Regarded as more than human

12. Karma, Samsara, and Castes
Law of karma – the Hindu principle that thoughts and deeds are
followed by deserved pleasure or pain, we reap what we sow
Samsara – the Hindu concept of the wheel of rebirth that turns
forever, meaning that souls are reborn until they reach perfection
Caste – the particular social standing into which one is born,
according to one’s karma in prior lives
 Kshatriya – the Hindu caste of rulers, warriors, and
administrators
 Vaishya – the third Hindu caste, that of merchants and artisans
 Shudras – the fourth Hindu caste, that of laborers

13. The Bhagavad Gita
A portion of the Mahabharata, an epic poem
A battlefield dialogue between the warrior Arjuna and his chariot
driver, the god Krishna in disguise
 Krishna sees Arjuna’s reticence to enter battle, tells him to fulfill
his duty as a warrior, the caste into which he was born
 Karma yoga, or fulfilling one’s caste duty, is a way of ultimately
achieving moksha – liberation

14. Krishna and His Brother Balarama

15. The Bhagavad Gita – Four Ways of
Salvation
The Path of Work – karma yoga
The Path of Knowledge – jnana yoga
The Path of Physical and Mental Discipline – raja yoga
The Path of Love – bhakit yoga

16. The Laws of Manu
A Hindu code of conduct compiled from about 200 BCE to 200 CE
Developed full discussions around a thread of precepts, or sutra
Described an ideal code of behavior for Hindus
Depicted Brahmin ideals for each caste and for each member of
society
Described four stages of life – student, householder, forest-dweller,
and samadhi (optional stage); allowed women to observe the first
three stages

17. Orthodox Hindu Systems of
Philosophy
Sankhya – frees souls from bondage to matter
Advaita Vedanta – accepts that appearances are not ultimate reality,
and that ignorance, that avidya keeps individuals from seeing
Other philosophic systems
 Yoga philosophy – liberates the soul from the body
 Nyaya philosophy – focuses on intellectual analysis and logic
 Vaisheshika philosophy – studies the external world and
understands it in terms of atoms
 Purva-Mimamsa – emphasizes literal truth and duty

18. Hindu Responses to Western Influence
Ramakrishna (1836-86) – a Brahmin with a devotion to the goddess
Kali, taught that all divinities are manifestations of the one God
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) – turned to the resources within his
Hindu tradition to improve India’s social conditions and resist British
imperial rule
Sri Aurobindo (1827-1950) – underwent a transformative religious
experience that led him to practice and teach yoga, and taught that
world reform comes through spiritual development of the self

19. Kali, the Fierce Goddess Who
Destroys Forces of Evil

20. Mohandas K. Gandhi

21. Hindu Worldview
Henotheistic rather than polytheistic understanding of the Absolute
 One superior god served by lesser deities
Cyclical universe marked by polarities of creation and destruction
and influenced by the divine
Human life marks the appearance of the atman and is influenced by
the law of karma

22. Hindu Worldview
Human fate is bound to endless cycles of reincarnation unless some
method for attaining moksha is adopted
Solution to samsara (reincarnation) is harmony with the Absolute
through the liberation of the soul
 There are various paths to harmony but all follow the laws of
karma
 Assistance of deities is necessary at times

23. Hanuman statues in Hindu Sri
Ranganathaswamy Temple

24. A Contemporary Hindu Temple in
Flushing, New York