Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma?

Some clarifications on what these names mean and what they entail.

The Name 

In current times, a common belief is that Hinduism was originally named Sanatana Dharma. This is absolutely false. There is no evidence that such a name was ever used to describe any religion in the Indian subcontinent – either in part or in full. The text “esha dharma sanatanah” from Manu Smriti is sometimes quoted as evidence, but it does not pass prima facie tests of grammar and context, where ‘sanatana’ is used as an adjective. The truth is actually the opposite, with Hindu being the older term – at least 1000 years old, while SD originated as late as in the 19th century, possibly created by Vivekananda due to social and political reasons.

For a long time, the name Hindu was almost exclusively used by by foreigners to denote people in the geographic area, east of the Sindhu river. When Islamic rulers established their governance in India, the name Hindu officially came to be used to denote non-Muslims.

So, which of these two is the correct or preferred name – Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma? The answer is either, as they are exactly the same.

The Form

Hinduism is fundamentally different from other popular religions in the world. Other religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam started out as a single set of beliefs, with a founder and a single set of teachings. Over time, they developed internal schisms and were distributed into different denominations. Buddhism broke up into Mahayana and Theravada, Islam into Sunni, Shia, Sufi, etc., and Christianity into dozens of denominations. However, in general, the root founder and other such fundamentals of the religion are recognized and accepted.

In striking contrast, Hinduism goes the other way. Various indigenous beliefs from India and the surrounding regions such as Veda Dharma, Buddhism, Jainism, Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Pashupata, Vaishnava, Bhagavata, Shaiva, Shakta, Tantra and countless unnamed, regional beliefs have syncretically come together under a convenient banner named Hinduism. Consequently, unlike other religions, Hinduism does not have a singe founder, book or a single set of teachings.

It is commonly claimed that Hinduism is based on the Veda, This is again, a false idea, based on the concept of religion as defined by Western scholars. They modeled Hinduism along western religions – single scripture (the Veda), single God, etc. This is an oversimplification that ignores the complexity of the syncretic Hindu system, which contains various beliefs that are not rooted in the Veda (Tantra, Veera Shaiva, Gadhimai and several others). There is no common set of books or even a single book that is regarded as the definitive scripture by all Hindus. Millions of Hindus do not have scriptures at all – their beliefs, traditions and practices being handed down to them by the previous generation. This is hard to understand if one has not spent time with different Hindus around the country.

The Identity

So, who is a Hindu? A Hindu is anyone who meets one of these conditions –

1. Born to a Hindu parent and does not reject the Hindu identity
2. Not born to a Hindu parent, but subscribes to one or more Hindu beliefs by choice.

The constitution of India provides a much broader definition. Anyone who claims to be a Jain, Buddhist, Sikh or Hindu, is a Hindu.

Writing in ancient India

Some notes on writing in ancient India –

1. Megasthenes (3rd century BCE, pre Ashoka and post Alexander) noted that Indians did not know of writing. This corroborates Indian tradition where the mode of transmitting information was oral. Elaborate and sophisticated schemes were devised to retain fidelity of content from generation to generation, as in the case of Vedic chants.

2. The earliest deciphered written texts in India are the edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BC). The script is known as Brahmi and was used to write a form of Prakrit. This script was first deciphered by James Princep (18th  century CE) of the British East India Company.

3. Kharosthi, the other script, which is from about the same time, was also used in Western India for some of Ahoka’s edicts. Kharosthi however, is different from Brahmi in that it is written right to left – similar to the older Aramaic alphabet. This script too, was deciphered by James Princep.

4. A script equivalent to Brahmi, called the Tamil-Brahmi was used in India from the 3rd century BCE for Tamil inscriptions. The general consensus is the Tamil Brahmi has its origins in the North Indian Brahmi, though there are some exceptions to this. Some scholars take the position that the tamil Brahmi was extant earlier than the 3rd century BCE. Interestingly, tamil Brahmi inscriptions dated to the first century BCE have been found in far-off Egypt – possibly due to active trade with Romans during that time.

5. Early Buddhist and Jain scriptures are written either in Brahmi or tamil Brahmi, depending on the region.

6. Prakrit and Sanskrit have a lot in common. It is not known if they evolved from a common base or if Sanskrit was refined from Prakrit.

7. Sanksrit was not written until much later (early Christian era). The familiar devanagari script came to be commonly used to write sanskrit (Gupta period and later).

8. The much older Indus valley symbols are yet to be deciphered. Some scholars like Witzel, et al., have argued that it may not be a system of writing at all.

– Shiv Somashekhar

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