Exploring Hinduism – the Oldest Religion of World

Hinduism has long been influencing millions of people across the world through its various characteristics like scriptures, art, culture, and most prominently way of life.

Today, when even people from the Western world are feeling increasingly overwhelmed by this great religion called Hindu and its way of life ‘Hinduism’, it is quite useful to know how it has evolved over the years.

‘Hinduism’ term was coined by British writers in the early decades of the 19^th century. It is considered as the oldest living religion on this planet, dating back to the 4^th century BC.

Hinduism is world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam.It was most dominant in South-East Asia and its domination continued for 1,000 years.

The Present Scenario

The 21^st century saw nearly 1 billion followers of the religion and around 80% of India’s population is Hindus.

The creation of the All-India Muslim League caused some serious misgivings on the part of some segments of the Hindu population, leading to their political mobilisation along religious lines, pitting Hindus against Muslims.

In 1921, an organization emerged in northern India called the Hindu Mahasabha.

It brought together people who opposed the secular outlook of the major political party at the time, the Indian National Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi and others.

The Mahasabha’s ideology promoted the education of Hindus and also the conversion of Muslims to Hinduism.

Emergence of BJP – A Political Face of Hindu Voice

During the early years of the Indian republic, following its independence from British colonial rule in 1947, the ideology of Hindutva and its adherents found little appeal among the Indian electorate.

However, since the 1990s Bharatiya Janata Party gained strength in both the electoral and social arenas. Electorally, it was in power as the dominant partner in a coalition regime from 1998 to 2004. Later, in 2014, it emerged as a majority party in Parliament.

The Sortment

A thumping win of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 General Elections proved a boost for the Hindu Community and the Ram Mandir Issue which has been oscillating to and fro for long is now can be expected to settle down on the positive side for Hindus and Hindutva.