Hinduism in South Asia

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Hindus of South Asia
Shore temple, mahabalipuram.jpg
The Hindu Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram was built by Narasimhavarman II.
Total population
c. 1,011,424,665 (67%)
Regions with significant populations
India India966,300,000[1]
Nepal Nepal23,500,000[2][3]
Bangladesh Bangladesh14,300,000[4]
Pakistan Pakistan4,467,878[5]
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka2,671,000
Bhutan Bhutan185,700
Afghanistan Afghanistan50[6]
Maldives Maldives0-37[A]
Religions
Hinduism
Tribal religions (including Sarnaism, Nanakpanthi, Kalasha and others) (minority)
Scriptures
Bhagavad Gita and Vedas
also see other Hindu texts
Languages
Predominant spoken language
Hindi

Recognized regional languages
Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi, Maithili, Nepali, Sindhi, and other Languages of South Asia

Sacred language
Sanskrit and Old Tamil[8]

Hinduism is the largest religion in South Asia with about 1.01 billion Hindus, forming approximately two-thirds of South Asia's population.[9] South Asia has the largest population of Hindus in the world, with about 99% of all Hindus being from South Asia.[10] Hinduism is the dominant religion in India and Nepal and is the second-largest religion in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.[11]

Indo-Aryan migrations brought the Indo-Aryans to South Asia,[12] where they compiled and composed the Vedic corpus during the Vedic period (ca. 1500-500 BCE) across present-day Northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.[13] The subsequent period, between 800 BCE and 250 BCE, is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions", and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c. 250 BCE and 500 CE, saw the onset of the Hindu synthesis, followed by the classical "Golden Age" of India (c. 350 - 650 CE), which coincides with the Gupta Empire. After the conquest of Islamic rulers in the Indian subcontinent and spread of slam in South Asia, the persecution of Hindus started and continued till the end of Mughal Empire.[B] The Vijayanagara and Maratha Empire have significantly protected Hinduism in Indian subcontinent, while the Jaffna Kingdom and Gorkha dynasty in Sri Lanka and Nepal.[15]

History[]

Main article: History of Hinduism

Origins[]

The Vedic period, named after the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans, lasted from c. 1900 BCE-500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were pastoralists who migrated into north-western India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization. Linguistic and archaeological data show a cultural change in the subcontinent after 1500 BCE, with the linguistic and religious data clearly showing links with Indo-European languages and religion. By about 1500 BCE, the Vedic culture and agrarian lifestyle were established in the northwest and northern Gangetic plain of South Asia. Rudimentary state-forms appeared, of which the Kuru-Pañcāla union was the most influential. The first recorded state-level society in South Asia existed around 1000 BCE. In this period, states Samuel emerged the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic texts, which merged into the earliest Upanishads. These texts began to ask the meaning of a ritual, adding increasing levels of philosophical and metaphysical speculation, or " Hindu synthesis".

Rise of Hindu Nationalism[]

Main article: Hindu nationalism

With the passage of time and with the ongoing years, there has been an increase in the Hindu nationalism and feeling of Hindutva or Hindu identity among the Hindus of India.[16] This has been observed especially after the formation of BJP government in India after 2014.[17] There are many Hindu-nationalist political parties, out of which the BJP is the biggest among them.[18] Besides them the RSS has been blamed as the chief organisation for the same.[19][20]

The increase of Hindu nationalism and Hindutva is seen as a threat to the secular laws of India.[21] It was also seen that the with rise of the Hindu nationalism, there has been an increase in the persecutions of religious minorities, especially on Muslims and Christians.[22][23] The government of Narendra Modi is also blamed for the same.[24] Many other hardliner Hindutva groups, such as Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)[25] and Bajrang Dal[26] (that are declared as paramilitary groups in many nations such as Australia,[27] Canada and United States[28]) have also contributed a major role in the enhancement of the Hindu nationalism and are also blamed for increasing Islamophobia in India and attacks on Christians.[29][30]

Similarly in recent years, the same nationalism has also been experienced in Nepal, mainly after the year 2015 after the protests for re-declaration of Nepal as a Hindu State along with the restoration of Monarchy in the country. There have been increase in attack on Christians.[31]

Temples[]

Main article: Hindu temple architecture
Further information: List of Hindu temples in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka

Organisations[]

Most of the Hindu organisations are present in India and Nepal, though there are also in other South Asian counterparts.

Political[]

  • Bharatiya Janata Party (India)
  • Hindu Mahasabha (India)
  • Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepal)
  • Pakistan Hindu Party (Pakistan)

Social[]

Demographics[]

Percentage of Hindus by country
Country Percentage
   Nepal
 
 81.5%
 India
 
 79.8%
 Bhutan
 
 22.5%
 Sri Lanka
 
 12.6%
 Bangladesh
 
 8.5%
 Pakistan
 
 2.14%
 Afghanistan
 
 0.001%
 Maldives
 
 0%

Hinduism is the majority religion in South Asia with most of the Hindus residing in the part.[32] The 5 of the world's 10 nations by biggest Hindu population are in the region, including that of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and India with more than 1 billion Hindus consisting of 94% of the world's global Hindu population.[33][34]

Hindus are majority community in the Nepal and India with 81.6% and 79.8% respectively.[C] While Hindus are second largest religious group in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and there is a very minute number of Hindus in Afghanistan.[6] There are also no Hindus in Maldives, as per their laws.[A]

In the recent year the share of Hindus have decreased in the South Asia, especially in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan due to many reasons mainly persecution, forced conversion and low-fertility rate.[35][36] The civil war in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have cause Hindus to leave.[37][38]

See also[]

Hinduism by country
Hinduism percent population in each nation World Map Hindu data by Pew Research.svg
Om symbol.svg
Africa
Asia
Caribbean
Europe
North America
Oceania
South America
Full list
  • v
  • t

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b Sunni Islam is the state religion of Maldives and as per the 2008 Constitution, only Sunni Muslims can become the citizens and the government mandates Sunni Islam for its citizens.[7]
  2. ^ "The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within. The Hindus had allowed their strength to be wasted in internal division and war; they had adopted religions like Buddhism and Jainism, which unnerved them for the tasks of life; they had failed to organize their forces for the protection of their frontiers and their capitals."[14]
  3. ^ Nepal and India are the only sovereign nations in the world that have Hindus as a majority population, where in Nepal Hindus accounts for nearly 81% and India with nearly 79.8%.

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ "India's religions by numbers". 26 August 2015 – via www.thehindu.com.
  2. ^ "The World Factbook". CIA, United States. 2013.
  3. ^ "Nepal". US Department of State.
  4. ^ "Hindu population in Bangladesh grew by 1 per cent in 2015: Report". The Economic Times. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Religion wise population, Pakistan". Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014.
  6. ^ a b Country Policy and Information Note: Afghanistan: Hindus and Sikhs (PDF). Home Office, United Kingdom (Report). 6.0. March 2021. p. 15. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Maldives". Government of Maldives. 2008 Constitution of Maldives.CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. ^ Johnson, Todd M.; Grim, Brian J. (2013). The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography (PDF). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Region: Asia-Pacific". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  10. ^ Pechilis, Karen; Raj, Selva J. (2013). South Asian Religions: Tradition and Today. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-44851-2.
  11. ^ "Hindus". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  12. ^ Flood 1996, pp. 21–23.
  13. ^ Thapar 1966, p. 23.
  14. ^ Durant 1976, pp. 458–472.
  15. ^ Honour & Fleming 2005, p. 123-141.
  16. ^ "The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and Its Regional and Global Ramifications". Association for Asian Studies. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  17. ^ Hindu nationalism 2019h.
  18. ^ Kumar, Ashutosh (13 May 2020), "Hindu nationalism in india: a historical perspective", Great Transition in India, WORLD SCIENTIFIC, pp. 123–141, doi:10.1142/9789811222344_0006, ISBN 978-981-12-2233-7, S2CID 225367347, retrieved 9 April 2021
  19. ^ Chandra, Bipan (2008). Communalism in Modern India. Har-Anand. p. 140. ISBN 978-81-241-1416-2.
  20. ^ "The Powerful Group Shaping The Rise Of Hindu Nationalism In India". NPR. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  21. ^ Anand, Dibyesh (2011). "Hindu Nationalism in India". Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear: 1–17. doi:10.1057/9780230339545_1. ISBN 978-1-349-37190-7.
  22. ^ "Attacks on Muslims and Christians Continue to Rise in India". Religion Unplugged. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  23. ^ "Muslims and Christians will be wiped out of India by December 31, 2021: BJP leader Rajeshwar Singh". SabrangIndia. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  24. ^ Wallen, Joe (16 February 2020). "Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalism gives rise to vigilante attacks on Christians". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  25. ^ Khosla, Madhav (3 June 2019). "Indian history tells us that to move beyond Hindu nationalism, we must move beyond identity". ThePrint. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  26. ^ Pathak, Vikas (12 December 2015). "The musclemen of Hindutva". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  27. ^ "Australian Senator demands ban on RSS, VHP". Kashmir Media Service. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Hindu Nationalist Groups Are Expanding In East Asia". Religion Unplugged. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  29. ^ Anand, Dibyesh (1 April 2005). "The Violence of Security: Hindu Nationalism and the Politics of Representing 'the Muslim' as a Danger". The Round Table. 94 (379): 203–215. doi:10.1080/00358530500099076. ISSN 0035-8533. S2CID 144557681.
  30. ^ "Hindutva: The Growth of Violent Hindu Nationalism". www.outlookindia. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  31. ^ "India's Hindu nationalists spy a chance to boost Nepal royalists". South China Morning Post. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  32. ^ "Countries with the largest Hindu population in 2010". Statista. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  33. ^ "Census 2011: Hindus dip to below 80 per cent of population; Muslim share up, slows down". The Indian Express. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  34. ^ "Hindu Countries 2021". worldpopulationreview.com. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  35. ^ "India needs to find a sane way to discuss relative decline in Hindu population". Economic Times Blog. 23 April 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  36. ^ Eaton 1993, p. 89.
  37. ^ www.worldgenweb.org http://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/slstats-religion.html. Retrieved 10 August 2021. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  38. ^ "Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan — how many remain, why they want to leave". The Indian Express. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.

Sources[]

  • Thapar, Romila (1966). A History of India. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140138351.
  • Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism. Past and present. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691089539.
  • Doniger, Wendy (2010). The Hindus: An Alternative History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959334-7.
  • Flood, Gavin D. (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press.
  • Michell, George (1977). The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-53230-1.
  • Avari, Burjor (2013). Islamic Civilization in South Asia: A history of Muslim power and presence in the Indian subcontinent. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-58061-8.
  • Doniger, Wendy (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0.
  • Eaton, Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press.
  • Eaton, Richard M. (2006). "Introduction". In Chatterjee, Indrani; Eaton, Richard M. (eds.). Slavery and South Asian History. Indiana University Press 0-2533. ISBN 978-0-253-34810-4.
  • Durant, Will (1976). The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster. p. 459. ISBN 978-0671548001.
  • Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 111–143. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891.
  • Kitagawa, Joseph (5 September 2013). The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-87590-8.
  • Witzel, Michael (1995). "Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state" (PDF). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 1 (4): 1–26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007.
  • Shamshad, Rizwana (2017). "Bengaliness, Hindu nationalism and Bangladeshi migrants in India". Asian Ethnicity. 18 (4): 433–451. doi:10.1080/14631369.2016.1175918. ISSN 1463-1369. S2CID 147606595.
  • Honour, Hugh; Fleming, John (2005). A World History of Art. Laurence King Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85669-451-3.
  • Acharya, Prasanna Kumar (1946). An encyclopaedia of Hindu architecture. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : Oxford University Press.
  • Chatterji, Angana P.; Hansen, Thomas Blom; Jaffrelot, Christophe (2019h). Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism Is Changing India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-007817-1.

External links[]

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