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The History of the term "Hindu"
Namaskaar.
What follows are some the views that I came accross reg. the
term Hindu. These views are based on diverse sources. One of
the principal source is: Samskriti key Chaar Adhayaya by
Dinkar. The book is in Hindi, and has been printed by
Bharagava Press, Allahabad, India.
-----------------------------------------
Several people have considered Hindu and Vedic to be
synonymous. In a sense, this synonymity is existant.
But the terms Vedic and Hindu are not 100% same. A lot
of things, and traits about Hindus, can be traced back
to the Vedas. But, there have been other Hindu traits
too, which have been Hindu, but are not that evident
in the Vedas. Hinduism represents something larger.
Something even more universal that the Vedic ideals.
It is an agglomeration of all the traits which are
Vedic, tribal, .. It is a corpus of our people, our
faiths, our beliefs, our myths, our legends, our
fables, our thoughts, out emotions, and our customs
and traditions. It is like an entire forest. While
you can identify the trees in particluar, you cannot
see the forest, as long as your focus is on the trees
So, while the existant of trees is essential to the
existant of the forest, the latter is much more than
a collection of individual trees.
In early 19th century, the Hindu rennaisance led
to a sort of dislike of the term Hindu. Lots of people
started labeling themselves as Arya. A lot of people
did not like the term Hindu, since it had foreign
origins. However, the term Hindu has been in vogue
(in India) atleast 1500 yrs prior to the birth of Islam.
I came across a couple of sources, where "Hindu" and its
derivatives has been used. The first one relates to the
invasion of Alexander, where he attacks India. The "Ind"
is surely related with the word "Hindu". The Iranians
have also used "Sindhu" as "Hindu", since they often
replaced "sa" with "ha". Then in the travellogues of Huen
Tsang (the Greek traveller) we hear him refer India as the
nation of Moon. He says that while China is the land of
Sun, India is the nation of Moon (Indu in Samskrit).
It should be noted the Intu is the word for Indu/Moon
in Chinese language. Like the moon, among a sky full
of stars, India is respected by everyone. That was
the Chinese notion about India. And so, Huen Tsang
calls India as Indu-desh. The Italian poet Virgil
als uses "Ind". So does Milton. Then in Avesta (the book
of Parsis) we see the usage of Hindu. Still further, we
here the usage of Hindu in the rocks edicts of Darius
(522-486 BC).
AMong Indic texts, we see that "Hindu" has been used esp
after the incoming of Islam. We hear in the Kalika Puran
(8th - 10 th cent. AD):
balinaa kalinaachchanney, dharmey kavlitey kalau
yavanairavanee kraantaa, hindavo vindhyamaavishan.
(When the powerful Kali defeated everyone else, and ate
Dharma, then the entire Earth was suffering from the
Yavans. Then, the Hindus moved towards the Vindhyas.)
Similar overtones also exist in one of the Shlokaas
of Shaarangdhara-Paddhati.
After the arrival of Islam, and the spread of the info.
that the term Hindu is a slur in the dictionary of the
incoming Muslim, the Hindu experts did not stop using
the term "Hindu". Rather, they defined Hindu in several
ways. The Raama-Kosha says:
hinduh dushto na bhavati na-anaaryo na vidooshakah
sad-dharma-paalako vidwaan shrauta-dharma-paraayanah
(A Hindu is neither a crook, not a comedian, nor an
anaarya (a unrefined person). A Hindu is a follower
of Good Dharma, and one who follows the Vedic path.)
The adbhuta-kosha (Wonderful Treasure) says:
hinur-hindushcha prasiddhau dushtaanaam cha vidharshiney
(a Hindu and a Hindoo, both of these are famous in the sense of
punishing the crooked).
In Vrddha-Smriti, the relevence of Ahimsa in Hindu is stated:
himsayaa dooyatey yashcha sadaa-chaaran-tatparah
vedgo pratimaa-sevee sa hindu-mukha-shabda-bhaak.
(One who walks on the path of Truth, who walks on the Vedic
Path, worshipper of idols, who feels pained by violence
(Himsaa) is a Hindu.)
The shabda-kalpa-druma (a dictionary of Samskrit) says:
heenam dooshayati iti hinduh
(One who does not consider him/herself to be an inferior
is a Hindu).
The Paarijaat-Haran (The Robbing of the Paarijaat Tree)
has a sholka which says that a Hindu is one, who is an
expert in Shaastra (knowledge) as well as Shastra
(Arms/Actions). Paarijaata-Harana is an ancient play.
It says:
hinasti tapasaa paapaan daihikaan dushtamaansaan
heytibhih shatruvargachah sa hinduh abhidheeyatey
(One who with his/her penance, is able to overcome
sins and other psychological problems, and with
his/her arms is able to conquer over the enemies,
is a Hindu.)
The above shloka reminds us of the Parashuraam
Avataar of Vishnu. The Parashuraam made a similar
vow, by saying: (The Shaastraa in mouth, and a
bow/arrow on my arm. A Bramhan as well as a Kshatriya)
It appears, that the last def. of Hindu would have
formed, only after the realization dawned upon that
you need to protect yourself from the invading
forces of Islam, from all angles. Intellectually,
as well as physically.
We also encounter the geographical aspect (or
national aspect of this term) in the Brhaspati
Aagam. We hear:
himaalayam samaarabhaya yaavad indusarovaram
tam deva-nirmitam desham hindusthaanam prachakshatey
(From Indu-Sarovar [Kumari Antareep or KanyaaKumaari]
to Himalaya. This land, which has been created by
the Gods, is Hindusthan.)
The association of Hindus with ahimsaa has also been
a pretty ancient one. In Maadhav Digvijay we see:
omkaar-mool-matraadhyah punar-janma-dridhaashayah
go-bhakto bhaarat-guru hindu-himsan-dooshakah
(A Hindu is one, whose mantra is Om, who believes in
rebirth, who is a devotee of cow, whose teacher is
Bhaarat, and who criticizes violence and himsaa.)
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
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