who founded hinduism?

Question

if it was prophet mohamed for islam ,jesus for christianity then for hinduism?

Answer 1

INTRODUCTION TO HINDUISM:

The most popular among the Aryan religions is Hinduism. ‘Hindu’ is actually a Persian word that stands for the inhabitants of the region beyond the Indus Valley. However, in common parlance, Hinduism is a blanket term for an assortment of religious beliefs, most of which are based on the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.



II INTRODUCTION TO HINDU SCRIPTURES.

There are several sacred scriptures of the Hindus. Among these are the Vedas, Upanishads and the Puranas.

1.
VEDAS:
The word Veda is derived from vid which means to know, knowledge par excellence or sacred wisdom. There are four principal divisions of the Vedas (although according to their number, they amount to 1131 out of which about a dozen are available). According to Maha Bhashya of Patanjali, there are 21 branches of Rigveda, 9 types of Atharvaveda, 101 branches of Yajurveda and 1000 of Samveda).

The Rigveda, the Yajurveda and the Samveda are considered to be more ancient books and are known as Trai Viddya or the ‘Triple Sciences’. The Rigveda is the oldest and has been compiled in three long and different periods of time. The 4th Veda is the Atharvaveda, which is of a later date.

There is no unanimous opinion regarding the date of compilation or revelation of the four Vedas. According to Swami Dayanand, founder of the Arya Samaj, the Vedas were revealed 1310 million years ago. According to other scholars, they are not more than 4000 years old.

Similarly, there are differing opinions regarding the places where these books were compiled and the Rishis to whom these Scriptures were given. Inspite of these differences, the Vedas are considered to be the most authentic of the Hindu Scriptures and the real foundations of the Hindu Dharma.


2.
UPANISHADS:

The word 'Upanishad' is derived from Upa meaning near, Ni which means down and Shad means to sit. Therefore ‘Upanishad’ means sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him the secret doctrines.

According to Samkara, ‘Upanishad’ is derived from the root word Sad which means ‘to loosen’, ‘to reach’ or ‘to destroy’, with Upa and ni as prefix; therefore ‘Upanishad’ means Brahma-Knowledge by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed.

The number of Upanishads exceeds 200 though the Indian tradition puts it at 108. There are 10 principal Upanishads. However, some consider them to be more than 10, while others 18.

The Vedanta meant originally the Upanishads, though the word is now used for the system of philosophy based on the Upanishad. Literally, Vedanta means the end of the Veda, Vedasua-antah, and the conclusion as well as the goal of Vedas. The Upanishads are the concluding portion of the Vedas and chronologically they come at the end of the Vedic period.

Some Pundits consider the Upanishads to be more superior to the Vedas.


3.
PURANAS:

Next in order of authenticity are the Puranas which are the most widely read scriptures. It is believed that the Puranas contain the history of the creation of the universe, history of the early Aryan tribes, life stories of the divines and deities of the Hindus. It is also believed that the Puranas are revealed books like the Vedas, which were revealed simultaneously with the Vedas or sometime close to it.

Maharishi Vyasa has divided the Puranas into 18 voluminous parts. He also arranged the Vedas under various heads.

Chief among the Puranas is a book known as Bhavishya Purana. It is called so because it is believed to give an account of future events. The Hindus consider it to be the word of God. Maharishi yasa is considered to be just the compiler of the book.


4.
ITIHAAS:

The two epics of Hinduism are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

A. Ramayana:

According to Ramanuja, the great scholar of Ramayana, there are more than 300 different types of Ramayana: Tulsidas Ramayana, Kumbha Ramayana. Though the outline of Ramayana is same, the details and contents differ.

Valmiki’s Ramayana:

Unlike the Mahabharata, the Ramayana appears to be the work of one person – the sage Valmiki, who probably composed it in the 3rd century BC. Its best-known recension (by Tulsi Das, 1532-1623) consists of 24,000 rhymed couplets of 16-syllable lines organised into 7 books. The poem incorporates many ancient legends and draws on the sacred books of the Vedas. It describes the efforts of Kosala’s heir, Rama, to regain his throne and rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon King of Lanka.

Valmiki's Ramayana is a Hindu epic tradition whose earliest literary version is a Sanskrit poem attributed to the sage Valmiki. Its principal characters are said to present ideal models of personal, familial, and social behavior and hence are considered to exemplify Dharma, the principle of moral order.

B. Mahabharata:

The nucleus of the Mahabharata is the war of eighteen days fought between the Kauravas, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu. The epic entails all the circumstances leading upto the war. Involved in this Kurukshetra battle were almost all the kings of India joining either of the two parties. The result of this war was the total annihilation of Kauravas and their party. Yudhishthira, the head of the Pandavas, became the sovereign monarch of Hastinapura. His victory is supposed to symbolise the victory of good over evil. But with the progress of years, new matters and episodes relating to the various aspects of human life, social, economic, political, moral and religious as also fragments of other heroic legends came to be added to the aforesaid nucleus and this phenomenon continued for centuries until it acquired the present shape. The Mahabharata represents a whole literature rather than one single and unified work, and contains many multifarious things.

C. Bhagavad Gita:

Bhagavad Gita is a part of Mahabharata. It is the advice given by Krishna to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. It contains the essence of the Vedas and is the most popular of all the Hindu Scriptures. It contains 18 chapters.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most widely read and revered of the works sacred to the Hindus. It is their chief devotional book, and has been for centuries the principal source of religious inspiration for many thousands of Hindus.

The Gita is a dramatic poem, which forms a small part of the larger epic, the Mahabharata. It is included in the sixth book (Bhismaparvan) of the Mahabaharata and documents one tiny event in a huge epic tale.

The Bhagavad Gita tells a story of a moral crisis faced by Arjuna, which is solved through the interaction between Arjuna, a Pandava warrior hesitating before battle, and Krishna, his charioteer and teacher. The Bhagavad Gita relates a brief incident in the main story of a rivalry and eventually a war between two branches of a royal family. In that brief incident - a pause on the battlefield just as the battle is about to begin - Krishna, one chief on one side (also believed to be the Lord incarnate), is presented as responding to the doubts of Arjuna. The poem is the dialogue through which Arjuna’s doubts were resolved by Krishna’s teachings.

Answer 2

I don't think any specific person started Hinduism. If there were; the name has been lost in the ages of antiquity because Hinduism goes back at least 10,000 years. I think the Rg veda was written around that time. I have read the Rg veda, and do not recall a name attached.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

A nice question ? But, sorry to say that your question isn't correct because "Hinduism" is not the name of a religion. "Sanatana Dharama" is the actual name of the religion which has been called, today, as "Hinduism". Do you mean the same ? If you ask for 'Sanatana Dharma', it was not founded by any one. It wasnt founded, it developed over the course of centuries- beginning with the basic Stone-age & even earlier. Followers of ancient culture under the blessings of Saints/Rishis came together with a determination of "Sarvebhavantu Sukhinah Sarve Santu niramayah". This group, slowly, was recognized itself as "sanatana" which means a sect/religion which is of permanent nature based upon the TRUTH. TRUTH IS ALWAYS ALIVE. There are a few sacred texts - Veda (4-parts), 108-Upanishads, 18-Puranas, 3-Sutras (Brahma, Bhakti & Yoga), Ramayana (Authored by many Saints, oldest is "Valmiki Ramayana"), Mahabharata & the most importantly, "Shreemadbhagavadgita", which is a part of 'Mahabharata'.

Answer 5

the so called Hinduism is Sanatana dharma (old righteous way of living) coming from aeon's (believe it or not it does not matter because truth cannot be changed)
There are no founders. Brahma the creator advised the rishis or the sages and told them to propagate the same in the world.

Answer 6

NO BODY that I know,
I feel that This religion We today call Hinduism was given the name by someone only when there was a competition by some other religion to have a difference. before that there were only believers & non belivers. the first compititor as far as I think was JAINISIM & BUDHISIM how gave it the name Hinduism .
Believers before only followed the veda, And before them WERE ALL withFULL KNOWLEDGE having all knowing as GOD slowly we came with less KNOWLEDGE as our intrest were diverted to materiallistic side

Answer 7

Hinduism preaches the righteous way of life, which is why it is called 'Sanathana Dharma' in our scriptures. In fact, there is no mention of the word 'Hinduism' even in our oldest texts such as Vedas and Upanishads.

Hinduism believes that the 'Sanathana Dharma' was delineated by the Lord Himself, and the Sages who 'heard' or 'listened' to these scriptures propagated these to their sishyas (disciples). This is why Veda is called 'Sruti' because it was heard.

Answer 8

The Hindu

Answer 9

Wonderful Question!
The original Eternal religion was Sanatan Dharma which means the oldest Deity religion.Those souls were pure Divine beings. Their religion lasted for 2500 years and then when they lost their purity they could not be called Deity any more. So they used the name Hindu.
The Deity Religion was establised by God Himself.

Answer 10

Some Hindu!

Thanks, RR

Answer 11

WE DID...
do you know that our religion was made by us? we do not believe in some paranoids ...no ...but totallly in our own creation...and let me tell u...our creation is such that goes on evergreen n does not stale like islam....we make our rules...its we who decide who to worship...what if faith...what is wrong n what is right!