Hilarion

That's a great post and thank you for it. Many terms and also concepts came from 'Hinduism'. There are two minor quibbles here though: First, many religions proclaim themselves as 'the original' e.g. Taoism, esotericism, Islam also actually. What they mean is that they are a repository of truth, and to me this means that ideally all could converse amicably; this also means that the ultimate truths are not 'Hindu' but even more universal. Second, the terminology of religions, on how they have been socially constructed, is fascinating. Yes, 'Hindu' beliefs were there long before England arrived in India. However there was then no idea of 'religion' such as Hinduism as a religion. People simply worshipped as a part of natural life. Ironically, the English (I am English) presented 'isms' to many religions, effectively forming them as discrete religions, whereas before they may not have been. Thus came the words in the late 1800s and not earlier, Confucianism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. These are English constructions which lead away from the real diversity. But the irony lies in that, in order to form a body of natioanlism against the English, Indians too began calling themselvees 'Hindus' and using the word 'Hinduism' (given to them by the English) only as recently as the 1800s! This was done in order to identify oneself as something 'other' than the imperialist English - a name was needed, and ironically the English 'Hinduism' did meet the bill. People in India have called themselves as part of Hinduism ever since - but the ism is from England and a poor attempt to try to understand or construct beliefs outside of christianity. 'Hinduism' as a word began among the ENGLISH in the 1800s. All attempts since then to make Hinduism appear to be simply one universal and unified religion have since then looked rather weak, as Hinduism is many things. Just as are all the main religions.

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