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Hinduism: a Beginner's Guide Hinduism A Beginner‘s Guide Where today’s news only scratches the surface, ONEWORLD BEGINNER’S GUIDES combine a truly engaging approach with expert analysis of the most challenging issues facing modern society. Innovative and affordable, these books are perfect for anyone curious about the way the world works and the big ideas of our time. anarchism democracy mafia & organized ruth kinna david beetham crime james o. finckenauer anti-capitalism energy simon tormey vaclav smil NATO jennifer medcalf artificial intelligence evolution blay whitby burton s. guttman the palestine–israeli evolutionary psychology conflict biodiversity dan cohn-sherbok & john spicer r. dunbar, l.barrett & j. lycett dawoud el-alami bioterror & biowarfare fair trade philosophy of mind malcolm dando jacqueline decarlo edward feser the brain genetics postmodernism a. al-chalabi, m. r. turner a. griffiths, b.guttman, kevin hart & r. s. delamont d. suzuki & t. cullis quantum physics christianity global terrorism alastair i. m. rae keith ward leonard weinberg religion cloning hinduism martin forward aaron d. levine klaus k. klostermaier the small arms trade criminal psychology life in the universe m. schroeder, r. stohl ray bull et al. lewis dartnell & d. smith FORTHCOMING: animal behaviour feminist theory medieval philosophy beat generation forensic science modern slavery bioethics french revolution oil british politics galaxies philosophy of religion censorship gender & sexuality political philosophy climate change globalization racism conspiracy theories history of science radical philosophy crimes against humanity human rights renaissance art engineering humanism romanticism ethics immigration socialism existentialism indigenous peoples time extrasolar planets literary theory volcanoes Hinduism A Beginner‘s Guide Klaus K. Klostermaier HINDUISM A Oneworld Book Copyright © Klaus K. Klostermaier, 2007 First Published as Hinduism: A Short Introduction All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978–1–85168–538–7 Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India Cover design by XXX Printed and bound by XXX Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England www.oneworld-publications.com NL08 Learn more about Oneworld. Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at: www.oneworld-publications.com Contents Preface vii Note on pronunciation of Indian words and names ix Maps xi Introduction 1 Part I:THE VEDIC TRADITION 1 Origins of Hinduism 9 2 The scripture of Hinduism: the Veda 18 3 The vedic ordering of life 32 4 Vedic ritual 42 Part II:THE HINDU RELIGIONS 5 The heart of Hinduism 55 6 Lord Vis.n. u and his devotees 67 7 S´iva means grace 79 8 The Goddess and her worshippers 91 vi Hinduism Part III:THE HINDU PHILOSOPHICAL QUEST 9 The wisdom of the Upanis.ads 103 10 The philosophy of yoga 114 . 11 S´ankara and his Advaita Veda¯nta 125 12 Vais.n. ava theistic Veda¯nta 135 Part IV:HINDUISM ENCOUNTERS OTHER RELIGIONS 13 Hinduism welcomes modern 152 Western ideas 14 Hinduism rejects the modern West 165 15 New faces of Hinduism 177 16 Hinduism and the challenges of 193 today Index 202 Preface This beginner’s guide to Hinduism is the first volume in a trilogy which includes Hinduism: A Short History and Hindu Writings: A Short Introduction to the Major Sources.The latter offers extracts from classical and modern sources paralleling and supporting the Short Introduction.It also contains a full bibliography of all literature referred to.The Short History provides a chronological overview of the development of Hinduism from its beginnings till now. A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism summarizes in a lexical form the information contained in the three volumes. Hinduism: A Beginner’s Guide does not presuppose any know- ledge of the subject, nor does it aim to exhaust it. It is written for the interested general reader and hopes to generate further interest in this rich and vast culture.The reading list on page 4 sug- gests titles of a general nature that will help to broaden and deepen the information offered here. Short, specialized reading lists are given at the end of each chapter. I hope that readers will find this beginner’s guide to Hinduism not only informative but also enjoyable. There remains the pleasant duty of acknowledging help and support in preparing this book. I thank in particular my wife, Dr Doris Klostermaier, who carefully read the whole manuscript and made me aware of the need to give due attention to women’s concerns in Hinduism. I thank Sonja Droege for checking the manuscript for spelling and grammar. I owe much to Dr Julius Lipner (Cambridge) who made numerous detailed suggestions for improvement. Last, but not least, I wish to thank Novin and Juliet viii Preface Doostdar and their staff from Oneworld for their interest and care in the production of this volume. Klaus K.Klostermaier Oxford,31 January 1998 Note on pronunciation of Indian words and names Many Indian names and Indian technical terms must be men- tioned in describing Hinduism, and diacritics have been used to mark those sounds that do not have exact equivalents in English. Words that have become part of English vocabulary have not been provided with diacritics (e.g. Hindu instead of Hindu¯). Indian proper names have been reproduced as they are found in the sources. Indian words do not have accents: when a word contains long vowels, all of these receive a stress; otherwise the first syllable is stressed. Vowels are spoken approximately like Italian vowels.A dash on top of an a¯, ¯ı and u¯ indicates a lengthening (doubling). E, o, au are always long. There are many consonants in Indian languages that have no English equivalents. One of the peculiarities of Indian languages are aspirate consonants: kh, gh, th, dh, ch, jh.The ‘h’ in these is clearly pronounced as an aspirate. S´ and s. are pronounced ‘sh’; c like ‘ch’in chocolate;j like ‘j’in ‘jolly’.Sanskrit has a variety of ‘t’ and ‘d’,as well as ‘n’,sounds,which have no equivalent in English. They are marked as (t.,d. ,n.,n,ñ.While not noticeable to someone unfamiliar with Indian languages,differences have to be indicated because word meanings change accordingly.R. is pronounced ‘ri’. x Note on pronunciation of Indian words and names Words are given in their stem forms,i.e.without the inflections that indicate cases. Plurals of Indian words have been formed like English plurals, i.e. by simply adding an -s to the singular form (disregarding Sanskrit plural formations). Maps Map of India showing present state boundaries xii Hinduism Map of India showing major ancient and holy places Maps xiii Map of India showing major modern urban centres Introduction Hinduism is: • a pilgrimage to Tirupati • a political programme • a profound philosophy • a way of life • a sermon on the Bhagavadgı¯ta¯ • a life of asceticism • a joyful evening of hymn singing at a home in Bombay • a ritual routine for Brahmins • a temple festival at Madurai • a dip in the Ganges and many, many other things to the over eight hundred million people who are called Hindus. Hinduism has no known founder and its beginnings point to pre-historic roots. It is unquestionably the oldest living major religious tradition. Until recently one could not become a Hindu – one had to be born a Hindu.Only someone belonging to a recognized ja¯tı¯ (caste),with a Hindu mother and father,who had undergone the prescribed rituals and had not committed a breach of the traditional way of life, could be a member of the Hindu community.Originally Hinduism was confined to India – crossing the dark sea, emigrating to the West, was associated with loss of caste and exclusion from the Hindu community.Nowadays there are an estimated forty-five million Hindus living outside India, of whom about eighteen million live in Nepal, the only country in the world which has declared Hinduism its state religion, and 2 Hinduism about fifteen million in Bangladesh,the former East Bengal;about two million Hindus live in Western Europe and North America; and modern Hindu missionary movements also attract westerners to their fold,granting them equal status with born Hindus. Hinduism appears in a bewildering variety of shapes and forms and is presented and interpreted by its adherents in such a multi- tude of ways that it is extremely difficult to describe and impossi- ble to define,as far as its content is concerned.While in the West it is treated as one of the major religions in the world, for Hindus it is much more than that: it is a way of life, a large and rich culture, an environment that envelops a Hindu from before birth to after death. What we call Hinduism, Hindus themselves designate as sana¯tana dharma,‘eternal law’. It is identical with universally valid and generally binding insights and precepts, specified so as to accord with individuals’standing within society.Within the frame- work of the sana¯tana dharma a great many different sam.prada¯yas, religious communities with specific beliefs, rituals and places of worship,flourish. Traditions that have histories of thousands of years, like Hinduism or Christianity,have branched out into many different phenotypes that are often in opposition to each other.Adherents of one of the existing branches often claim to be the only true rep- resentatives of tradition,accusing others of having betrayed or mis- interpreted the original message.From such a sectarian standpoint it would be meaningless to attempt a global description of the tra- dition as a whole, and one would have to content oneself with a parallel treatment of major religious communities.However,what appears to the insider as essential difference is often seen by the outsider as but a variation on a theme that can be perceived and traced back to the origins.
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