What’s in a name? Plenty. A name can make or unmake the whole identity of a person, community or race. Our ancient country was given different names during different eras. India’s Constitution recognises the names ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ but the name ‘Hindustan’ acquired during the pre-British era or its abbreviation ‘Hind’ is also in common use. The liberation army INA, formed by Subhash Chandra Bose, was called Azad Hind Fauj. Even today, ‘Jai Hind’ is the national salutation. Accordingly, citizens of India are variously called Indian, Bharatiya, Hindustani or Hindi in different languages and countries.
The word ‘Hindu’, however, carries a different connotation because those who followed the Hindu way of life adopted it as the name of their religion. Hinduism is considered to be the world’s oldest religion and is still practised with lot of faith by a large number of people in the Indian subcontinent. Tolerance, acceptance and coexistence are the hallmarks of Hinduism. It has adapted with other cultures with the passage of time. This is how India has become a plural society that is proud of its multi-religious nature.
The following couplet of Iqbal beautifully describes our plural society:
Mazhab nahi sikhata aapas main vair rakhna,
Hindi hain hum watan hai hindustan hamara
Yet Hinduism is quite different from other religions. When we talk of a religion it is specified by certain parameters such as: its time and place of origin, its founder, the scripture and other such data.
Ask any non-Hindu about these basic facts of their religion and you will get an unambiguous answer. However, there is no specific time of the origin of Hinduism. Nobody knows who founded it and there is no one scripture but many -- vedas, puranas, upanishads, epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata and philosophical discourses like the Bhagwad Gita. Most Hindus would say that their religion is Aadi Sanatan which means it has existed from the very beginning and is the oldest. The words Aadi and Sanatan are adjectives only and do not connote its name and duration.
The term ‘Hindu’ was introduced by foreigners who referred to the people living across the river Indus or Sindhu in the north of India, around which vedic culture is believed to have originated. The word ‘Hindu’ is not to be found anywhere in scriptures. In this sense, Hindu or Hinduism is not a religion.
Today Hindus are visibly identifiable when they display their faith in deities and they express it by worshipping idols of gods and goddesses. Many religious practices and rituals of Hindus revolve around deities that are believed to be millions in number. However, the original identity of Hindu religion is Aadi Sanatan Devi Devta Dharma – divine way of life.
This dharma is established by the Supreme at the end of Kaliyuga and beginning of Satyuga. This fact is corroborated by the Bhagwad Gita when it says that when human values degrade, God incarnates to re-establish true dharma, the purest way of life, a divine culture. The way of life of all humans who lived in the Golden Age or Satyuga was paved with truth, nonviolence, purity, peace, love and happiness. Today its remnants and memories are reposed in idols, temples and diverse rituals that are collectively known as Hinduism. Thus, Hinduism, which today is a conglomerate of diverse beliefs and traditions, was in its original form, the most elevated Aadi Sanatan Devi Devta Dharma.
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