Hindu

World’s oldest religion is Hinduism with dating back more than 5000 years. It has more than 900 million followers and third largest religion behind Christianity and Islam. Around 95 per cent of the world’s Hindus lives in Asia especially India and Nepal.

The important thought of Hinduism is “Atma” the belief in soul and goal is to achieve again in samsara (cycle of life, death and rebirth) and do the karma (law of cause and effect). Hindu people believe on fundamental principle of action “Dharma” which emphasizes good work. Hinduism is not a single religion, its unique compare to other religion but a collection of many traditions and philosophies.

Origins of Hinduism

It started in the Indus valley near modern Pakistan. It has no founder. It is famous for different beliefs. Many years before the Indo-Aryan peoples migrated to the valley and their languages and culture mixed with the indigenous people living in the Indus Valley region. During the Indus valley that time, Some of the evidence the show the Indus Valley is highly developed city with many houses had wells and bathrooms as well as an elaborate underground drainage system. These cities display a well-planned urbanization system. That time, also believe to start the Hinduism at Indus Valley. This all started from 6000 B.C. to 1750 B.C.

Veda

Vedas are a large collection of religious texts and hymn written in ancient India between from 1500 to 1000 B.C. This is all written in Vedic Sanskrit, texts compose the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature. There are Four Vedas:

  1. Rig Veda “Knowledge of the Hymns of Praise”, for recitation.
  2. Sama Veda “Knowledge of the Melodies”, for chanting.
  3. Yajur Veda “Knowledge of the Sacrificial formulas”, for liturgy.
  4. Atharva Veda “Knowledge of the Magic formulas”, named after a kind of group of priests.
Rigveda
Rigveda PC: Wikipedia

Fundamental Belief of Hinduism