how old is Hinduism ,is there any written proof of this?

Question

I understand Hindusium is more than 20000 years, there should be some form of proof, please help.

Answer 1

The term "Hindu" is actually a Persian term that used to denote people who lived east&south of the river "Indus" the Persians had a hard time pronouncing "Indus" hence they pronounced it as "Hindu"

The term Hindus generally refer to their religion is "sanatana dharma", meaning "eternal way/path/religion"

The earliest known records of Hinduism appear to have been found by archaeologists date back to the start of the Indus river civilization(one of the 3 oldest civilizations on earth)

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

there have been many statues and images of meditating "yogis" found along with objects thought to refer to "siva/shiva".

There were many goddesses in the Indus valley civilization as well.

"Mehrgarh" is the oldest town(as of today) found belonging to the Indus river civilization by archaeologists. Its dated to 7000 BC(1000 years older than the previously thought of "oldest town on earth"-cattal hayyuk in turkey)

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

There have been many statues of Goddesses found in the town of Mehrgarh that are precursors to the modern Hindu goddesses.

look at these ancient clay tablets depicting siva/shiva in a classical yogic position(the stance called mulabahdmasana)

http://tantra.fiestras.com/futuretense_cs/Imagen/ProtoShiva.jpg

The bull/cow was considered sacred even then, as evidenced from the many clay tablets that have the bull-motif. also Yoga seems to have had a lot of importance too because of all the many yoga figurines found.

so technically Hinduism(which later became into the Hinduism as we know it today after merging with the beliefs of the aryans who moved into India around 1800 bc) dates back to at least 7000 BC, according to hard evidence.

Hinduism does NOT have a single founder or a single holy text, hence the beginning cannot be set on stone, as many near eastern religions can. All we can know as of what we know now is that it was there in 7000BC


Ps: for the guys in the previous posts who were giving lectures on Islam for a question that was asking about Hinduism, all i have to say is"stop writing ignorant stuff just cos of ur inferiority-complex"

oh and to the previous poster, People can convert to being Hindus, and people who convert to other religions from Hinduism are not called Hindus. pls get ur facts straight before u post.

thanks:)

Answer 2

How Old Is Hinduism

Answer 3

There is no "scientific proof" that Hinduism is "the only true religion" any more than there is proof that supports that claim when other religions make it. Hinduism may be the oldest, but there is no reason to suppose that it is any more true than any other religion or no religion at all. People generally stay in the religion they were raised in, and they don't really bother to learn about other religions, so part of the reason is that people don't know very much about it. In addition, in the west, most people were raised in one of the three Abrahamic religions, and these Abrahamic religions all claim to be the only "true" religion and demonize (to a greater or lesser degree) all other religions. They've been taught that Hindus are polytheists, and are particularly hate-filled towards religions that don't appear to follow their monotheistic pattern ("shirk" is the ultimate sin in Islam, for example), so that, and the Hindu tolerance for other religions as legitimate "paths to god" are seen as the complete opposite of the Abrahamic faiths and are viewed very negatively by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Hope that helped.

Answer 4

Hinduism is very old but not 20000 years old. All the historians have different views about it but most of the time we take the origin of this oldest religion of the world to be 5000 years back. Yes, there are several proofs in this regard n the most important being Harappan civilization. Indus valley people believed in Hinduism n since then its existing. Vedic literature and epics like Ramayan and Mahabharata n Zend Avesta also were written long ago, around 3500 years ago. The idols n other old things like Great baths of Mohenjodaro, old cities of Harappa, Lothal, Kalibangan etc found in the course of excavation gives this information also that Hinduism came into existence around 5000 years ago as this civilization also flourished around that period.

Answer 5

Hinduism is over 12,000 year old, they are finding statues every year of hindu gods and scientists are test there age, lord krishna city was found undersea which scientists have been investigating and they say its approx 12,000 years old, there is no exact age, but some facts state it goes back to humanity, so it is definitely over 12,000 year old but there is no accurate age, as proof of hinduism is being found yearly.

Answer 6

Hinduism is over 2000 years old

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
how old is Hinduism ,is there any written proof of this?
I understand Hindusium is more than 20000 years, there should be some form of proof, please help.

Answer 8

Evolution is a far more credible stance than any Religion, I am sorry to state.

You know why? Coz it CAN BE PROVEN!

P')

Answer 9

Hinduism is not a religion. It consists of Verna's subsequently castes. Britishers while census clubbed all the castes other than established religions like Christian, Muslims etc. under Hinduism.

Answer 10

according to calendar world is only 2015 years old so how we believe any religious is three or four years old

Answer 11

There s no religious in the world all man made if there s 6or7 religious in world than we should have 6 or7 different God than God is one