Hinduism

== Etymology ==
{{further|Hindu}}
The word ''Hindū'' is an [[exonym]],{{sfn|Siemens|Roodt|2009|p=546}}{{sfn|Leaf|2014|p=36}} and is derived from the [[Sanskrit]]{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=3-6}} root ''Sindhu'',{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}}{{sfn|Parpola|2015|loc="Chapter 1"}} believed to be the name of the [[Indus River]] in the northwestern part of the [[Indian subcontinent]].{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=433}}{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}}{{refn|group=note|The Indo-Aryan word ''Sindhu'' means "river", "ocean".{{sfn|Flood|2003|p=3}} It is frequently being used in the [[Rigveda]]. The Sindhu-area is part of [[Āryāvarta]], "the land of the Aryans".}}

The [[Proto-Iranian language|Proto-Iranian]] sound change ''*s'' > ''h'' occurred between 850 and 600 BCE, according to [[Asko Parpola]].<ref>{{harvp|Parpola|2015|loc="Chapter 9"}}: "In Iranian languages, Proto-Iranian *s became h before a following vowel at a relatively late period, perhaps around 850–600 BCE."</ref> According to [[Gavin Flood]], "The actual term ''Hindu'' first occurs as a [[Persian language|Persian]] geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus (Sanskrit: ''Sindhu'')",{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of [[Darius I]] (550–486 BCE).{{sfn|Sharma|2002}} The term ''Hindu'' in these ancient records is a geographical term and did not refer to a religion.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}} Thapar states that the word ''Hindu'' is found as ''heptahindu'' in [[Avesta]] – equivalent to Rigvedic ''sapta sindhu'', while ''hndstn'' (pronounced ''Hindustan'') is found in a [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of northwestern South Asia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |title=Early India: From the Origins to A.D. 1300 |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyindiafromor00thap |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-520-24225-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlyindiafromor00thap/page/38 38]}}</ref> In Arabic texts, ''al-Hind'' referred to the land beyond the Indus<ref>{{harvnb|Thapar|2004|p=38}}: "...in Arab sources, ''al-Hind'' (the land beyond the Indus)."</ref> and therefore, all the people in that land were Hindus.<ref>{{harvnb|Thapar|1989|p=222}}: "Al-Hind was therefore a geographical identity and the Hindus were all the people who lived on this land." {{harvnb|Thapar|1993|p=77}}</ref> This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term ''Hindū''. By the 13th century, ''[[Hindustan]]'' emerged as a popular alternative [[Names of India|name of India]], meaning the "land of Hindus".{{sfn|Thompson Platts|1884}}

Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text ''Record of the Western Regions'' by [[Xuanzang]],{{sfn|Sharma|2002}} and 14th-century Persian text ''Futuhu's-salatin'' by 'Abd al-Malik [[Isami (historian)|Isami]].{{refn|group=note|name="Hindu_term"}} Some 16–18th century [[Bengali language|Bengali]] [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism|Gaudiya Vaishnava]] texts mention ''Hindu'' and ''Hindu dharma'' to distinguish from Muslims without positively defining these terms.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Conell |first=Joseph T. |year=1973 |title=The Word 'Hindu' in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Texts |volume=93 |pages=340–344 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/599467 |jstor=599467}}</ref> In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of [[Indian religions]] collectively as Hindus.<ref name="amp.scroll.in">{{Cite web|url=http://scroll.in/article/801580/a-short-note-on-the-short-history-of-hinduism|title=A short note on the short history of Hinduism|first=Mukul|last=Dube|website=Scroll.in|date=10 January 2016|access-date=28 November 2022|archive-date=28 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128182331/https://scroll.in/article/801580/a-short-note-on-the-short-history-of-hinduism|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Sweetman2003>{{Cite book |last=Sweetman |first=Will |title=Mapping Hinduism: 'Hinduism' and the Study of Indian Religions, 1600–1776 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-931479-49-7 |pages=163, 154–168}}</ref>{{Refn|In the contemporary era, the term Hindus are individuals who identify with one or more aspects of Hinduism, whether they are practising or non-practicing or ''[[Laissez-faire]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Bryan|last=Turner|year=2010|title=The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-8852-4|pages= 424–425}}</ref> The term does not include those who identify with other Indian religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism or various animist tribal religions found in India such as ''Sarnaism''.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Minahan|year=2012|title=Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia|isbn=978-1-59884-659-1|pages=97–99|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref> The term Hindu, in contemporary parlance, includes people who accept themselves as culturally or ethnically Hindu rather than with a fixed set of religious beliefs within Hinduism. One need not be religious in the minimal sense, states [[Julius J. Lipner|Julius Lipner]], to be accepted as Hindu by Hindus, or to describe oneself as Hindu.{{sfn|Lipner|2009|p=8}}|group=note}} The use of the English term "Hinduism" to describe a collection of practices and beliefs is a fairly recent construction. The term ''Hinduism'' was first used by [[Raja Ram Mohun Roy|Raja Ram Mohan Roy]] in 1816–17.{{sfn|Singh|2008|p=433}} By the 1840s, the term "Hinduism" was used by those Indians who opposed British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from Muslims and Christians.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=6}}{{sfn|Klostermaier|2010|p=17}}{{sfn|Doniger|2014|p=5}}{{sfn|Parpola|2015|p=5}} Before the British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]], [[jāti]], occupation, and sect.{{sfn|Doniger|2014|p=3}}{{refn|group=note|In [[D. N. Jha]]'s essay ''Looking for a Hindu identity'', he writes: "No Indians described themselves as Hindus before the fourteenth century" and "Hinduism was a creation of the colonial period and cannot lay claim to any great antiquity."<ref name="amp.scroll.in"/> He further wrote "The British borrowed the word 'Hindu' from India, gave it a new meaning and significance, [and] reimported it into India as a reified phenomenon called Hinduism."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Short note on the short history of Hinduism|date=10 January 2016|url=https://amp.scroll.in/article/801580/a-short-note-on-the-short-history-of-hinduism|access-date=13 November 2021|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113220512/https://amp.scroll.in/article/801580/a-short-note-on-the-short-history-of-hinduism|url-status=live}}</ref>}}