How old is Hinduism? Who started Hinduism? What is the book hindu followers go by?

Question

Who started hinduism and how old is the hindu religion? Is hinduism the first religion? If not, what was the very first religion?

Answer 1

Apparently its beginning from the time of manu (Here I am not referring to the Manu of manu shastar, but manu of vedas) The word Manush is derived from Manu. Some of the histrians says Manu is same as Noah and Nooh of Christianity and Islam.

Answer 2

Hinduism has a long and complex history. It is a blend of ancient legends, beliefs and customs which has adapted, blended with, and spawned numerous creeds and practices.

Please note:
The 'traditional' view of Hindu history, as described in this section, has been challenged by modern scholars.

In particular, various scholars have advanced the following theories:

Hindu religion pre-dated 3000BCE

'Aryan', a Sanskrit word meaning 'noble', does not refer to an invading race at all

The Aryans did not invade but migrated gradually

The Aryans were native to the area, or found there long before the alleged invasion

Hinduism originated solely in India

There is ongoing controversy over which version of Hindu history is the correct one.

Prehistoric religion:(3000-1000 BCE)
The earliest evidence for elements of the Hindu faith dates back as far as 3000 BCE. Archaeological excavations in the Punjab and Indus valleys (right) have revealed the existence of urban cultures at Harappa, the prehistoric capital of the Punjab (located in modern Pakistan); and Mohenjo-daro on the banks of the River Indus.

Archaeological work continues on other sites at Kalibangan, Lothal and Surkotada.

The excavations have revealed signs of early rituals and worship.

In Mohenjodaro, for example, a large bath has been found, with side rooms and statues which could be evidence of early purification rites. Elsewhere, phallic symbols and a large number statues of goddesses have been discovered which could suggest the practice of early fertility rites. This early Indian culture is sometimes called the Indus Valley civilisation.

Answer 3

Hinduism(Santana Dharma) dates back to many thousands of years BC.India gave to the world the original, oldest and most profound philosophy of life.'Sanatana' means Everlasting(Eternal) and 'Dharma', by a crude translation, means Religion(Natural law).The Everlasting Religion (Eternal Natural law), Hinduism was founded, exists and flourishes in India.
Sanatana Dharma is the lesser known, name for the path of Yoga Spirituality. In fact, it can be truthfully said that the practical techniques of Yoga are nothing less than the philosophy of Sanatana Dharma in practice.It is a way of life.
Sanatana Dharma does not have a starting point in history, does not have a founder, and has no Church. The sages(spiritual scientists) who shaped the Hindu religion merely reiterated the teachings of the 4 Vedas, the Hindu scriptures (most of which were unwritten & descended by word of mouth) in Sanskrit, the original language of India.In ancient India, the Vedas formed the educational system and broadly comprised all the different spheres of life, such as spiritual, scientific, medical, management, arts, fine arts, architecture and so on.
SriKrishna has given the jist of the Vedas to disspell off the confusion in the mind of Arjuna in around 6000BC now popularly called 'Bhagawat Gita'

Answer 4

Hmm well....

The vedas are the books of the hindus, (people will tell u bhagavat gita, but its not precisely accurate)

They are not written or started by anyone, though, you may hear people say, the aryans or some sages....

there is no founder like buddha or christ in hinduism...and you hear hindus say that the vedas are not written by humans....

the reason is simple, veda originated from vid, means knowledge,

that knowledge is always there, and is revealed to the sages by god....while they were in meditation...

and since, knowledge comes by discovery...and is not invented, there is no founder in hinduism, as nobody invents knowledge...
and knowledge is no ones property...
and that is the same reason why there is no conversion in hinduism, coz religion is search for answers and who ever searches is religious, so hinduism accepts all religions as valid paths to god coz all religious do the same "searching"

and for your question, how old is hinduism.....?

how old is knowledge? eternal..so hinduism is eternal....

if u mean the vedas(about 6000-7000 yrs old), the vedas were trasmitted vocally to the next generations and were written down in the bronze age, about 3000 bc...

Is it the first religion?...well i think not, coz many people around the world started their own searching....so probably not

but hinduism is the oldest organised religion, as they had lot of literature and now, the "rig veda" is the worlds oldest intact
literature....(bronze age)

some people say the egyptian "book of the dead" is the oldest, but its not intact...i mean its not found yet..so we dont know...

so finally

the vedas belong to some 6000 bce...timeline
no body started hinduism, there is no founder...
the book(s) of the hindus are the vedas...
hinduism may not be the first religion, but its the oldest organised religion
what was the first religion?...well , which ever civilization first questioned who am I or what am I ...is probably the oldest ...i dont think we will ever know...

Answer 5

The youngest of the Hindu holy books are about 2500 years old I think. If you believe Hindu stories, the religion itself is probably much older - about 5000 years old or so. Because of this, the name of the founder (or founders, if there were multiple people) has been lost to history and nobody currently knows for certain who they were. Hinduism is also therefore the oldest organised religion in the world. Note, local animistic and shamanistic practices (such as the ones practiced by the aboriginals in Australia) have been around for atleast 60,000 years - much much older than even Hinduism! So it depends on your definition of "religion".

The predominant book in Hinduism is the Bhagwad Gita (Divine Song) which is a sub-set of the Mahabharat epic. The Gita was told by Krishna (an avtar of Vishnu, one of Hinduisms three main Gods) to Arjun, the warrior-prince on the eve of the battle of Mahabharat. It outlines his vision of humanity's place in the world and his expectation of how people should carry on their affairs.

Besides the Gita, there are a number of other books such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas along with numerous religious-commentary books such as the Dasbodh and others that are also important. Because most Hindu religious books are written in Sanskrit and very few people understand Sanskrit today, modern Hinduism isn't very book-centered unlike say, Christianity or Islam. Rather, it relies upon tradition in conjunction with interpretation by priests who can read and translate Sanskrit into vernacular for everyday purposes.

Answer 6

Hinduism is age-old. The last Hindu avatar (complete descent of God in human form). Lord Krishna is dated approx 3000 bc and the previous avatar, Lord Rama is approx 17000 bc.

When Lord Krishna came, he revived the Vedic teachings through his dialogue with Arjuna and this is recorded in the Bhagavad Gita. Similary, the entire story of messages of Rama are captured in the Ramayana.

Both the "Bhagavd Gita" and "Ramayana" are sacred texts. They contain the kernel of the vast expanse of the original body of knowledge called the "Vedas".

The "Vedas" are the direct messages from God, which several Saints in ancient India accumulated over many several thousand years of hardwork, penance and intense meditation.

Therefore, there is no one founder for Hinduism. As these divine messages, are heard only in the highest state of meditation where one is completely ego-less ie. loses one's sense of individuality, the receiver of these message has no claim to those messages.

The "Vedas" are indeed the word of God. The essense of the Vedas are contained in the "Upanishads". The crux of the Upanishad can be found in Lord Krishna's dialogue with Arjuna - "The Bhagavad Gita"

Answer 7

Hinduism may have its origins as many as four thousand years ago. The scriptures of Hindu are called the Vedas, and they are attributed to Veda Vyasa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_scripture

Answer 8

Hinduism is thousands of years old, but was never started by anyone. Suppsedly came about by the aryans, a group of Indo-europeans that invaded india. I believe thier holy book is the 'vedas'. hope this helps.