What kind of religion is Hinduism? We'll explain it in a super easy-to-understand way!

1)
Hinduism is the third most followed religion in the world.
In India, with a population of 1.3 billion, about 80% of the population is said to be Hindu.

Many people have also seen the elephant-faced god called Ganesha.

2)
However, there is little belief in Hinduism outside of India and neighbouring countries.
Why is this?

This article will teach us its history and why it is so prevalent in India.
Why are there so few believers in other areas of the country? This is an excellent opportunity to understand why.

India is close to Japan and will develop economically in the future.
It would be best if you understood its culture.

3)
What does 'Hindu' in Hinduism mean in the first place?

No similar word has been found in Japan.
The word's origin dates back to the Indus civilisation, more than 1800 BC.

4)
At that time, the Indus River was known as 'Sindhu'.
The people living in the area were similarly called 'Sindhu' after his name.

Gradually, 'Sindhu' changed to 'Hindu'.
In modern times, the Hindu language is Hindi. The Hindu religion came to be called Hinduism.

5)
Since it was so long ago, it is not clear when Hinduism was established.
This is because, unlike Christianity and Islam, which have specific founders, Hinduism has no founder and developed slowly, incorporating indigenous deities and folk beliefs from different regions.

6)
However, the history of Hinduism can be traced by tracing the history of Brahmanism, which is regarded as the predecessor of Hinduism.

Around 1500 BC, a race of people called Aryans came to India from the area around present-day Iran.

7)
The Aryans revered natural phenomena such as rain and thunder as gods.
They believed that ritual worship of the gods of nature, such as fire and water, would spare them from natural disasters and bring them happiness.

The Aryans came to India and ruled over the native Dravidians.

As the Aryans and Dravidians lived together, the Aryans were considered to have power over the gods, and they performed all sacred rituals.

8)
This naturally led to the key positions in society being occupied by Aryans.
This is said to be the beginning of the caste system.
The caste system is divided into four classes.

First, into Brahmin (priests), the religious ruling class of priests.

Kshatriya (warriors, kings) are royalty and warriors' political and military ruling class.

Vaishya (merchants, landowners) is the producers of agriculture, cattle breeding and handicrafts.

Sudra (commoners, peasants, servants) is the ruled class of peasants and simple labourers without special skills.

Untouchable (outcaste, out of caste), who were not even within the caste system.

9)
Within this broad division, the Aryans were divided into the ruling class and the Dravidians into the ruled class.
Among these, the power of the Brahmins, who reigned at the top of the caste system and were priests to the gods, was absolute.

10)
After a while, the wind changed direction.
It was then that people began to question whether the religious rituals performed by Brahmins were just a formality.

It was the 'Kshatriya' of the royal and warrior classes and the 'Vaishya' of the merchant classes who began to gain power.

They said, 'Aren't the Brahmins just performing formal rituals? And yet it's unfair that they have more power than us!'

11)
In other words, they began to reject the framework of the caste system with Brahmins at the top.
As a result, other sects arose, defying the rules of Brahmanism.
These are religions such as Buddhism and Jainism.

Buddhism was started by Siddhartha (later Buddha) of the 'Kshatriya' class and Jainism by Vardhamana (later Mahavira) of the 'Kshatriya' class.

12)
Both religions were critical of the caste system, Brahmin power and formalised rituals.

Brahminism was losing power with the emergence and spread of these Buddhist and Jain ideas.

13)
Brahminism, however, found a way to revitalise itself.
It is to incorporate indigenous deities and folk beliefs.

In other words, it popularised the local gods and other deities that had taken root in India by incorporating them into the Brahminical worldview.

Simply put, that god you have always believed in is the same god that appears in Brahmanism. It must be the same god. This image was popularised.

14)
In this way, Brahmanism developed in a gradually changing form as it merged with the indigenous beliefs of the people.

It later came to be known as Hinduism.
That is why there are so many gods in Hinduism that it is impossible to count.

To summarise, Hinduism results from Brahmani-Brahmanism's sration of various Indian Indigenous progressions.

15)
On the other hand, Brahmanism can also be considered classical Hinduism, so it isn't easy to distinguish between them.

Let's take a look at the characteristics of such Hinduism.

16)
First, let's talk about god.
Hinduism is a polytheistic religion.
As I told you earlier, there are said to be many gods or an infinite number of gods.

17)
Among them, here are the top three most famous gods.

Brahma is the god who created the world, the creator god.
Vishnu is the god who maintains the world, the guardian god.
And Shiva is the god who destroys the destructive ray.

Brahma creates the world, Vishnu protects it, and Shiva destroys it.
Shiva is believed to not destroy for any reason but for the sake of new creation.

18)
Then again, a new world is created by Brahma.
Unlike other deities, Vishnu appears in various forms.

For example, the famous Buddhist Buddha is one of the incarnations of Vishnu in the Hindu world.

Shiva is based on the god worshipped by the Dravidians, who the Aryans ruled.
This Shiva's vehicle is considered a cow, so eating beef is forbidden in Hinduism.

19)
Incidentally, the famous Ganesha is considered to be Shiva. The story goes that Ganesha was decapitated by his father, Shiva and then beheaded by an elephant that happened to be passing by.

There are many theories about mythology, but in this way, there are many gods, and many different stories exist.

20)
Next, let's look at the scriptures.
The Hindu scriptures are the Vedas.

Veda means holy knowledge, and there are four kinds.

They are the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda.

21)
Many stories are compiled here, from hymns to the gods to myths.
The Rigveda is the oldest document in India. It consists of ten volumes containing 1028 hymns to the gods of nature.

Each of these Vedas is also divided into four parts.

A prayer called Sanchita,
A ritual procedure called Brahmana,
Aaranyaka, a commentary on the rituals and philosophy called Aranyaka,
Upanishads, the philosophy.

22)
Equally important as the Vedas are the Mahabharata and Ramayana, epics or compilations of a people's history and mythology.

Other Hindu encyclopaedic works, such as Purana literature, are also valued.

23)
Because the religion was established while incorporating various progressions, its scriptures are also numerous.
One of the most representative ideas of Hinduism is then introduced.

One of the basic concepts of Hinduism is that 'we are 'born again after death. If you do good deeds in this life, you will be reborn with a good status; if you do evil deeds, you will be reborn with a bad status.

24)
This is the so-called reincarnation.
This reincarnation is a well-known Buddhist term, but it is said to have its origin in Hinduism.

Both Hinduism and Buddhism aim at liberation (Gedatsu).

The simple way of putting this at the risk of misinterpretation is that the idea is to get out of the repetitive cycle of dying and being reborn and going to heaven.

25)
While Buddhism aims for liberation through meditation, various liberation methods are celebrated in Hinduism.

One of these is yoga, as we know it.
Many people nowadays do yoga for weight loss and health, but initially, it was a practice for liberation.

If you are a yoga practitioner, it may be more attractive to learn from the history of this religion.

26)
Finally, I would like to mention the River Ganges, which is a sacred river in Hinduism.

The Ganges is also described as a sacred river in the Vedas, the holy scriptures, and is still loved by the people of India.
Many people bathe in the Ganges to purify themselves.

27)
Even more so, some people wash and bathe in the Ganges.
People are cremated near the river when they die, and their ashes are washed into the Ganges.

Thus, in Hinduism, the Ganges have a unique and indispensable place in religion and daily life.

28)
Although Japan has no sacred river, it may be similar to worshipping and climbing Mount Fuji, a particular mountain.

Hinduism may seem to be a distant religion with images of beef being inedible and ascetic monks.

However, if you trace its history, it has the same roots as Buddhism, which is familiar to Japan.
Therefore, I believe it is a world that Japanese people can understand.

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