Hinduism in India: Modern and Contemporary Movements Flashcards
The Emergence of and Significance of the Term “Hinduism” (Geoffrey A. Oddie): Chapter 1
Most widely accepted meaning of the term “Hindu” in the pre-modern period was a person of Indian origin… “Hindu” and “Indian” were used interchangeably
River INdus was known in Sanskrit as “Sindhu” and the PErsians called it “Hindu”. For Persians, Hindu” were the local or indigenous inhabitants who lived in the vicinity of the INdus river
The Greeks in teh 3rd C BCE coined the owrd India, borrowing the Persian word Hindu for the INdus river, they called it Indos
8th C Arab commentator Al Masudi referred to Indians in one part of his description and Hindus in another, and this wpractice was followed by Arab and Muslim travelers from 10th to 13th centuries
European travelers like Francois Bernier and Jean Baptiste-Tavernier folloed the same patternm and this practice persisted into the 19th Century. Robert Caldwell, in his “Lectures on Tinnbelly Missions” delivered in 1875 declared his intent to give a fair estimate of “Hindu Christianity”… this same label was adopted by Indian Christians themselves keen to emphasize the INdianness of their Christanity (2)
The Emergence of and Significance of the Term “Hinduism” (Geoffrey A. Oddie): Chapter 1
Use of the term “Hindu” was grounded in a recognition that natives of India were a distinctive people with unique culture and rituals.
For Muslim commentators, Hindus were a classic example of “the other” in a broad sense– a potent reminder that they were everything Muslims were not. This was made abundantly clear by al-Biruni in 11th century, who said “the Hindus entirely differ from us ine very respect” in “all manners and usages… to such a degree as to frighten their children with us, with our dress, our ways and our customs”
In 19th century, geographic/cultural definition of “Hindu” was still predominant, but you start seeing more references to religious practice. Colange in THe PEople’s Encyclopedia in 1875 note that “They are followers of the Brahmanical religion”
