Hinduism

==== Medieval developments ====
The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India further developed from the 12th century CE.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicholson|2010|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Lorenzen|2006|pp=1–36}}</ref> Lorenzen traces the emergence of a "family resemblance", and what he calls as "beginnings of medieval and modern Hinduism" taking shape, at c. 300–600 CE, with the development of the early Puranas, and continuities with the earlier Vedic religion.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=36}} Lorenzen states that the establishment of a Hindu self-identity took place "through a process of mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim Other".{{sfn|Lorenzen|1999|p=648}} According to Lorenzen, this "presence of the Other"{{sfn|Lorenzen|1999|p=648}} is necessary to recognise the "loose family resemblance" among the various traditions and schools.{{sfn|Lorenzen|1999|pp=648, 655}}

According to the Indologist [[Alexis Sanderson]], before Islam arrived in India, the "Sanskrit sources differentiated Vaidika, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Śākta, Saura, Buddhist, and Jaina traditions, but they had no name that denotes the first five of these as a collective entity over and against Buddhism and Jainism". This absence of a formal name, states Sanderson, does not mean that the corresponding concept of Hinduism did not exist. By late 1st-millennium CE, the concept of a belief and tradition distinct from Buddhism and Jainism had emerged.<ref group=web name=sandersonpart1 /> This complex tradition accepted in its identity almost all of what is currently Hinduism, except certain [[antinomian]] tantric movements.<ref group=web name=sandersonpart1 /> Some conservative thinkers of those times questioned whether certain Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta texts or practices were consistent with the Vedas, or were invalid in their entirety. Moderates then, and most orthoprax scholars later, agreed that though there are some variations, the foundation of their beliefs, the ritual grammar, the spiritual premises, and the soteriologies were the same. "This sense of greater unity", states Sanderson, "came to be called Hinduism".<ref group=web name=sandersonpart1 />

According to Nicholson, already between the 12th and the 16th centuries "certain thinkers began to treat as a single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas, and the schools known retrospectively as the 'six systems' (''saddarsana'') of mainstream Hindu philosophy."{{sfn|Nicholson|2010|p=2}} The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by [[Mikel Burley]].{{sfn|Burley|2007|p=34}} Hacker called this "inclusivism"{{sfn|Nicholson|2010}} and Michaels speaks of "the identificatory habit".{{sfn|Michaels|2004}} Lorenzen locates the origins of a distinct Hindu identity in the interaction between Muslims and Hindus,{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|pp=24–33}} and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting Muslim other",{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|p=27}}{{sfn|Sharma|2002}} which started well before 1800.{{sfn|Lorenzen|2006|pp=26–27}} Michaels notes:
{{blockquote|As a counteraction to Islamic supremacy and as part of the continuing process of regionalization, two religious innovations developed in the Hindu religions: the formation of sects and a historicization which preceded later nationalism ... [S]aints and sometimes militant sect leaders, such as the Marathi poet Tukaram (1609–1649) and Ramdas (1608–1681), articulated ideas in which they glorified Hinduism and the past. The Brahmins also produced increasingly historical texts, especially eulogies and chronicles of sacred sites (Mahatmyas), or developed a reflexive passion for collecting and compiling extensive collections of quotations on various subjects.{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=44}}}}