Hinduism in Time and Space

Introduction: Hinduism in Time and Space Preview as a phenomenon of human culture, hinduism occupies a particular place in time and space. To begin our study of this phenomenon, it is essential to situate it temporally and spatially. We begin by considering how the concept of hinduism arose in the modern era as a way to designate a purportedly coherent system of beliefs and practices. since this initial construction has proven inadequate to the realities of the hindu religious terrain, we adopt “the hindu traditions” as a more satisfactory alternative to "hinduism." The phrase “hindu traditions” calls attention to the great diversity of practices and beliefs that can be described as “hindu.” Those traditions are deeply rooted in history and have flourished almost exclusively on the indian subcontinent within a rich cultural and religious matrix. As strange as it may seem, most Hindus do The Temporal Context not think of themselves as practicing a religion called Hinduism. Only within the last Through most of the millennia of its history, two centuries has it even been possible for the religion we know today as Hinduism has them to think in this way. And although that not been called by that name. The word Hin- possibility now exists, many Hindus—if they duism (or Hindooism, as it was first spelled) even think of themselves as Hindus—do not did not exist until the late eighteenth or early regard “Hinduism” as their “religion.” This irony nineteenth century, when it began to appear relates directly to the history of the concept of sporadically in the discourse of the British Hinduism. A brief overview of this history will missionaries and administrators who occupied help prepare us for our study of the diverse colonial India.1 Within a few decades of its cre- array of phenomena that we include in that ation, Hinduism became more widely accepted concept. Appreciating the origin of the idea of by both Westerners and Indians. But before Hinduism and the context in which Hinduism the word was invented, there was no specific thrives will allow us to approach our subject in name in any language to refer to the religion the proper frame of mind, with expectations of the Hindus. The indigenous phrase that appropriate for a cultural reality that is consid- most closely approximates what is now called erably different from that to which most West- Hinduism is sanātana dharma, a Sanskrit erners are accustomed. expression that might be translated as “eternal 1 2 religion.” But this translation is not completely as a whole (figure Intro.2). Thus, in its original satisfying because the word religion as used in sense, Hindu had no religious connotations at i ons the West is not an adequate equivalent to the all; it meant nothing more than what we today T Indian concept of dharma. The indigenous lan- would mean by “Indian.” guages of India, in fact, lack a word equivalent Sometime between 1200 and 1500 c.e., to the English word religion. however, the word Hindu also came to refer to a person with a particular religious orientation.3 indu T r ad i h It was almost always used to identify those The Hindus inhabitants of India who were not Muslims. T he Although there was no special term for their Even so, the meaning of Hindu was ambigu- religion, there had long been people known ous. It was sometimes used to indicate religious as Hindus. Hindū was an Old Persian word identity, sometimes geographical identity, and that initially appeared around the twelfth cen- sometimes both. Yet even when intended in a tury c.e. to identify the inhabitants of the area religious way, the specific meaning of the term flanking the Indus River, which was called the was far from clear. Because it was primarily a Sindhu in Sanskrit. This region, in what was way to distinguish non-Muslim Indians from once northwestern India and is now Pakistan, Muslims, what it meant to be “Hindu” was not was known as Hindustan.2 Eventually, Hindu- readily apparent, even to those who might be stan became a common name for all of northern identified in that way. There was no central core India and, later, for India and the subcontinent of teachings, scriptures, creeds, communities, or Fig. intro.1 Indian Subcontinent in the nineteenth century. This early nineteenth- century map displays the political divisions of what was then called hindustan. Today, this region comprises the modern nations of india, Pakistan, afghanistan, nepal, bangladesh, bhutan, and sri lanka. (Photo courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:hindostan_1814.jpg.) 3 practices that could be specified as forming the systematically. A clearly identifiable clergy was i essence of Hindu identity. As other terms— responsible for interpreting these texts to the ntroduction particularly the word Indian—came to desig- laity, who gathered at temples for meetings to nate geographical identity, Hindu came to be an understand and express their faith. exclusively religious designation. But the spe- With these assumptions, the British and — h cific meaning of Hindu as a religious identity other Europeans involved in studying and induism in Time and remained no clearer. managing colonial India created a conception of Hinduism that met their expectations. They identified a system of thought that constituted The Invention of “Hinduism” what they took to be the core of Hinduism. That As Western cultures developed greater inter- essential philosophy was Advaita Vedanta, a s est in India—especially as the British sought highly influential system formulated by the pace control of India’s commerce beginning in the great south Indian pandit Adi Shankaracha- eighteenth century—understanding the Hin- rya (see chapter 8). They identified a sacred set dus and their religion became more important of texts, the Vedas, which they took to be the to the West. Both Western administrators and scriptural source of this philosophy. And they Christian missionaries considered it necessary identified an ecclesiastical hierarchy, the Brah- to their work to describe and comprehend this mins, members of the priestly and intellectual religion. By the nineteenth century, efforts were caste, whom the Europeans considered Hindu- under way to ascertain the essential nature of ism’s religious authorities and interpreters. Hindu beliefs and practices. The British relied on their own observations, as well as information provided to them by upper-caste Hindus, The Hindu Adoption of “Hinduism” to shape their conception of this “religion.” Once created, this conception became widely Lacking a suitable indigenous word, they began influential, governing the way not only West- to refer to Hinduism, an English neologism erners but also many Hindus thought about formed by adding the anglicized Greek suf- Indian religion. Indian adoption of the idea of fix -ism to the Persian Hindū. Hinduism thus Hinduism meant that, to some degree, Hindus joined Judaism as one of the only world reli- relied on Europeans to tell them what Hindu- gions named for a place. ism was. For instance, before the eighteenth The British tended to think of this “Hindu- century, only a small number of upper-caste ism” in much the same manner as they thought Indians had much acquaintance with the Vedas, of their own religion. Christianity, especially the Upanishads, or even the Bhagavad Gita, its Protestant manifestation, thus served as the some of the most important texts in Indian largely unconscious prototype for the way they history. But when these texts were translated imagined Hinduism. From the British point of by Europeans and heralded as Hindu scrip- view, a religion was fundamentally a unified set ture, other upper-caste Hindus became aware of doctrines pertaining to belief in god and a of these books for the first time and accepted code of behavior based on this belief. Religions them as the sacred sources of their religion. had sacred books on which these doctrines were With these texts in hand, they began to take founded and creeds in which they were set out pride in the historically ancient but newly 4 identified Hinduism—at least as they believed original conception is when compared to the these books presented it. vast empirical reality of the Hindu religious i ons In an important step toward solidifying terrain. As we begin our study of this territory, T the concept, some Hindus began to present to it is vital for us to examine the ways in which Western audiences an interpretation of Hin- this initial construction of Hinduism skews the duism that was substantially informed by the actual religious experience of Hindus. Explor- British construction. The foremost symbol of ing the distortions of this construct will not indu T r ad i h this act was the renowned appearance of Swami only provide us with key information about the Vivekananda at the 1893 World’s Parlia- history of Hinduism in the modern era; it will T he ment of Religions in Chicago.4 In his keynote also help dispel problematic expectations we address to this assembly of representatives of ourselves may have as we approach a religious religions from around the world, Vivekananda complex that defies our expectations at virtually declared Hinduism to be “the mother of reli- every turn. gions,” the faith that taught universal tolerance Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the and acceptance to the world. Following his Western construction of Hinduism was the way warmly received speech, Vivekananda subse- it imagined the Hindu traditions as a system quently toured the United States and England, of beliefs or doctrines about god. Conceiving teaching a particular Hindu tradition—Advaita of religion in this manner was a legacy of the Vedanta—as the authentic form of Hinduism.

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