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Hinduism is a major world religion, not merely by virtue of its many followers (estimated at more than 700 million) but also because of its profound influence
on many other religions during its long, unbroken history, which dates from about 1500 BC. The corresponding influence of these various religions on Hinduism (it has an extraordinary tendency to absorb foreign
elements) has greatly contributed to the religion’s syncretism—the wide variety of beliefs and practices that it encompasses. Moreover, the geographic, rather than ideological, basis of the religion (the fact that
it comprises whatever all the people of India have believed and done) has given Hinduism the character of a social and doctrinal system that extends to every aspect of human life.
uism is not like a monolithic building designed and built by a charismatic architect at a given point in time. It is more like a far-spreading banyan
tree that has grown grdually over the centuries.
‘Through the thousands of years of our history’, explains Dr S Radhakrishnan, ‘our land has been the meeting ground for diverse cultures — Dravidian,
Aryan, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Zoroastrian, Muslim and Jew. All these have in the process of time combined to merge into what we call the Indian Culture — Indian both in its perspective and in spirit. This great
legacy carried with it the very special responsibility for each one of us to understand that true spirit of our culture, which has been born out of so many different religions, different languages and has, in fact,
been enriched through diversity’.
There is no religion in the world which is so complex and diverse as Hinduism. One of its recent exponents remarks:‘Hinduism is not a single monolithic
structure. It is a league of religions with a rather loose federal structure, and with no strong central authority’
Being the product of the milienary synthesis of cultures and traditions, Hinduism allows great freedom of worship, claiming that doctrines and dogmas,
rites and rituals, are instruments which help bring man face to face with God. It does not provide only one coat into which every man should fit; rather it provides a range of coats to fit different individuals each
according to his needs, temperament, culture and stage of development. Faced with its infinite diversity, the uninitiated is confused and bewildered and goes away mistaking the trees for the forest.
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