Hinduism Research Paper

Hinduism is a religion with various Gods and Goddess. According to Hinduism, three Gods rule the world. Brahma; the creator. Vishnu: the preserver and Shiva: the destroyer. Lord Vishnu did his job of preserving the world by incarnating himself in different forms at times of crisis. The three Lords that rule the world have consorts and they are goddesses too. Consort of Brahma is Sarasvati; goddess of learning. Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi; goddess of wealth and prosperity. Shiva's consort is Parvati who is worshipped as Kali or Durga. Hinduism, religion that originated in India and is still practiced by most of its inhabitants, as well as by those families have migrated from India to other parts of the world (chiefly East Africa, South Africa,

Hindu first appears around 500 B.C.. as the ancient Persian word for the Indus river and the inhabitants of its valley. From the 1300s C.E. invading Muslim rulers of northern India used "Hindu" for all non Muslim Indians, whatever religion they were, to distinguish them from Indiana converts to Islam. Beginning in the 1500s, European colonizers coming to India used it in its current sense to mean the members of the supposedly single religion to which all Indians other than groups like Muslims, Christians, and Zoroastrians belonged. Then, from about 1800 on, Hinduism gradually became accepted by the most Hindus in India as a valid name for their religion especially to distinguish their religion from others. Thus, Hinduism is an umbrella term gradually imposed on Hindus and then accepted by them. The approximately 2 million Hindus living in North America and the sizeable Hindu communities in other parts of south Asia (especially Bali, Indonesia), a few parts of Africa, and Great Britain also embrace this name. However, more upper class Hindus often refer to their religion as the "eternal teaching" or " eternal way of life". Some scholars of religion also question the adequacy of Hinduism as a name, preferring to speak of "Hinduisms." (RELG