Does Hinduism have any founders?.If not why?.

[sidetrack]

I remeber when I had an agenda that I recieved from I Catholic elementary school that I went to years ago that their was a chart that explained a bit about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,Buddhism and Sikhism.On Hindusim next to the square where it said founder it was blank.I know that Hinduism is thousands of years old and tied in with the history of Indian culture.Does anyone know then if Hinduism came about from the mutally argeeing beliefs of many groups in India (and that is why there is no one established first founder) or something else?.Thank you very much so for your time.

 

[Jehoshua]

The origins of hinduism are shrouded in the mists of time so no one individual knows exactly how the religion emerged.

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However a not insubstantial amount of evidence suggests that modern hinduism arose out of a fusion of beliefs from the original dravidian inhabitants of the indian subcontinent epitomised by the Indus-valley civilisation and the later aryan invasions.

The aryan peoples held to a proto-indo european philosophy which arose from animistic beliefs with many gods and godesses (devas) and which was mirrored in european paganism such as Dyaus and Indra which are parralelled with Zeus both linguistically in the case of Dyaus and in role with Indra. Relatively unaltered remnants of this original aryan religion exist amongst the Kalasha tribe in pakistan.

The Dravidian religion is relatively unknown but idols have been unearthed that some archaeologists attribute to be a proto-shiva figure.

This fusion of beliefs from a polytheistic anthropomorphic animism and the dravidian religion is believed in many quarters to be behind the creation of what is called the vedic religion, which is basically archaic hinduism and still exists in its original form in some parts of India. However over time many developments have occured which have led to the development of the many different philosophies in addition to this archaic form and it is these which form the majority of the modern religious continuum which is united under the onus of hinduism. There exist four main schools which in themselves contain numerous subsects which developed from the teachings of various gurus. These main schools of hinduism are Shaktism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Smartism. Some of the smaller sects which are contained within these larger groups include the Aghoris, Swaminarayan faith, Arya Samaj and Lingayatism.

 

[IanCorrigan]

The religions (they are a family of related religions) that we in the west call ‘hinduism’ is called, by followers, “Sanatana Dharma” or “The Eternal Way”. Internally, Hindus teach themselves that their path is eternal, never ‘created’ but rather just discovered by various seers over the ages.

Historically, classical Hinduism derives from the religions called “Vedic”. The Vedas are the four most holy books of Hinduism (there are dozens if not hundreds of others) and they are largely concerned with ritual action and mystical attainment. Vedic religion had a certain resemblance to Old Testament Judean religion, based in sacrifices to the Gods and the receiving of their blessings. The Vedas contain very ancient material (written versions start at c.1500 bce, latest, and those reflect an oral tradition much older.) and have no known author, though there are some legendary names associated with them. They are considered ‘revealed’ scripture, given to mortals by the gods, and are still revered in modern Hinduism, though they are archaic and mostly unused.

Hinduism as we recognize it arose after 500 bce. Hinduism reformed vedic religion to be more concerned with personal spiritual experience, less concerned about proper ritual action, and more concerned with ethical behavior. Classical Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism all derive from this phase. The Gods named in the Vedas (such as Indra, Mitra, Varuna) were mainly set aside in favor of the gods we know in modern Hinduism - Vishnu and Shiva and the Goddess. The scriptures of classical Hinduism are the Upanishads, and these have no remembered authors.

There are several popular ‘sects’ of Hinduism, some of which do have historical founders. Shankara (c.800s ce) is a founder of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, and also of the Smarta system. Individual Hindus are usually initiates of a specific school or system, and these are likely to have more recent founders.
Nevertheless, Hindus don’t look for a teacher who was the first teacher, assuming that their ways have been the holy ways from the foundation of all things.

 

[jblake]

sidetrack;:

On Hindusim next to the square where it said founder it was blank.

What we call Hinduism consists of five major groups, roughly ten minor groups, and a plethora of micro-groups. There is a core set of roughly twenty principles, of which none are shared by more than two major groups.

As far as a founder goes, that depends upon which group one is referring to, and whether or not one would accept obvious mythological entities as the founder of the specific group.

About twenty years ago, an ecumenical catechism for Hindus was published. One of the first statements in that book, was that it got the theology wrong, and omitted crucial theology, simply because the range of what was “correct” theology was so vast, even when it was not mutually contradictory. The editors wrote that they hoped to publish a sequel to it, with “corrections”, but AFAIK, it was never completed.

jonathon

 

[Sufjon]

I remeber when I had an agenda that I recieved from I Catholic elementary school that I went to years ago that their was a chart that explained a bit about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,Buddhism and Sikhism.On Hindusim next to the square where it said founder it was blank.I know that Hinduism is thousands of years old and tied in with the history of Indian culture.Does anyone know then if Hinduism came about from the mutally argeeing beliefs of many groups in India (and that is why there is no one established first founder) or something else?.Thank you very much so for your time.

Hi Sidetrack: You are correct - there are no known founders. The authors of the Vedic writings such as the Upanishads didn’t leave their names. You asked whether the religion formed from mutually agreed beliefs, and that’s kind of accurate. Mostly the texts were written by Rishis or “seers.” The various writings evolved as the experiences of God occurred over time, and while the religion itself if many thousands of years old, the evolution or development continues to present time. For instance, two hundred years ago there was no Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and today there is. A devotee of Ramakrishna could find a full life of devotion in His Gospel, without the need for the other Hindu texts, but His Gospel didn’t exist prior to His life in the 19th century.

Anyway, you’re right - there are no known founders, and many permutations of worship.

Your friend,
Sufjon