According to historians, the origin of Hinduism dates back to 5,000 or more years. The word "Hindu" is derived from the name of River Indus, which flows through northwestern India. In ancient times the river was called the "Sindhu", but the Persians who migrated to India called the river "Hindu," the land "Hindustan" (Sanskrit, Hindi), and its inhabitants "Hindus". Thus the daily life practices evolved as the religion followed by the Hindus came to be known as "Hinduism." The term generally denotes the religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. The word "Hindu," from "Sindhu", referred to the people who lived near or across the Sindhu River and their religion later became known as "Hinduism." The religion had previously been known as Sanatana dharma (the eternal law - the eternal spirit or soul the true "self" of every person, called the atman), Vaidika dharma (law of the Vedas), Arya dharma (the noble religion), or Manava dharma (the religion of mankind). Eventually the word "Hindu" came into common use among Hindus themselves and was adopted into Greek as Indos and Indikos ("Indian"), into Latin as Indianus and into Sanskrit as Hindu.

of gods to be worshipped is large. That indeed is the distinguishing feature of Hindu religion.

Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on Hinduism.

Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the web address of this page.

If you are Hindu, your feedback is much appreciated.

References

http://www.archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/aryan-invasion-history.html, accessed May 19, 2008.

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