intro lecture Flashcards
Who is Ganesha?
Remover of potential obstacles, lord of beginnings, depicted with the face of an elephant
Who are Shiva and Parvati?
Shiva is the father and Parvati the mother of Ganesha and Skanda
Who is Sarasvati?
The goddess of learning, music, and language.
What are the origins of the term Hinduism
In Sanskirt, Sindu means “river”, initially used to describe people who lived beyond the Indus river
Persian “Hind” and “Hindu”
greek “India” and “indos”
Arabic “al-hind”
English “India”, “Indus”, and “Hindu
When was the first known use of “Hindu” in English?
1655
When was the first known usage of “Hinduism”, who named it?
1816/1817
Named by Rammohun Roy
British people used the term Hinduism as a blanket term to apply to the religious traditions of India.
What is Sanatana dharma:
“the eternal dharma”, the dharma for all times and all people
What is Varnasrama dharma?
dharma according to one’s social position and stage of life.
What is Vedic orthodoxy
: taking the Vedas as the defining feature
What are some different types of orthodoxy/approaches when defining Hinduism?
Sanatana dharma
Varnasrama dharma
Vedic orthodoxy:
“Way of Life approach”: commonly found outside of India.
Hindu as a legal category
Orientalist constructions
Historical, Post colonial Approaches
nationalist approaches
Polytehtic approaches
How is “Hindu” used in a legal category?
For instance, in the Indian Constitution there is the Hindu Marriage Act (which codifies the law of marriage among Hindus) and lays out what it is meant to be Hindu under the law.
How does Said describe the configuration of the East in scholarship and international relations?
People in scholarship describe the east as
- inert, static place
-decadent, exotic, backwards, traditional, irrational, feminine
-a site to be studied and examined
- a contrast to the West (very patronizing)
-both demonization and exoticization
What are post-colonial approaches to Hinduism?
the use of a census
- defintion of Hindu in census of 1881: “Every native who was unable to define his creed, or who described it by any other nae than that of some recognized religion, was held to be and classed as a Hindu”
What is a Hindu Nationalist Approach to Hinduism?
The Idea of Hindutva: “Hinduness”
- a person who regards the land of Bharat Varsha, from Indus to the seas, as his fatherland as well as his holy-land that is the cradle of his religion.
What is the critique of caste in Hinduism?
Guna, a Tamil critiques that Hinduism is tied to an unjust, harmful caste system.
