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religions except Hinduism have a definite beginning - Christianity
started after Jesus Christ, Islam started after Prophet Mohammed,
Buddhism after Gauthama Buddha and Jainism after Mahavir Jain.
But Hinduism has no known beginning . The following article
gives a brief over-view of Hinduism and its Scriptures.
Hinduism
came with the Aryans. The Aryans came to India before 1000
BC from Persia which is modern Iran. From Iran they migrated
to what is now known as Afghanistan, from there to the territory
now known as Pakistan and settled on the West side of the
River Sindhu. Afterwards they moved on to the Gangetic plains
which is modern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
What
is known as Hinduism is a set of customs and practices and
a collection of Scriptures. The Scriptures mainly are the
four Vedas, Upanishads , two Epics and 18 Puranas.
VEDAS
The Vedas
are RIG VEDA, YAJUR VEDA, SAMA VEDA and ATHARVANA VEDA. The
Rig Veda is supposed to be the earliest of the Vedas and hence
the earliest Hindu scripture. It contains 10472 verses (called
Riks) arranged in groups called Sukthams. There are 1017 Sukthams
in Rig Veda averaging about 10 Riks per Suktham . But there
are Sukthams with just 1 Rik (Suktham 99 of Mandalam 1) and
there are Sukthams with more than 50 Riks. The 1017 Sukthams
are arranged in 10 Mandalams. These Sukthams are prayers to
various Gods asking for wealth, health, sons, cattle etc.
These are chanted while conducting Vedic ceremonies which
are called Homams or Yajnams . A Homam of long duration is
called a Yajnam or Yagam.
The Yajur
Veda contains 2086 verses , Sama Veda contains 1875 verses
and the Atharvana Veda contains 5987 verses. These are also
arranged in Sukthams like in the Rig Veda
UPANISHADS
The Upanishads
contain the philosophical aspects of Hinduism. They are attached
to the end of the Vedas and hence are called Vedanthas. While
the Vedas are mainly prayers to Gods for favours, the Upanishads
discuss the process of creation of the Universe, the creation
of animals and human beings, the soul and the Universal Soul,
transmigration of the soul, the union of the individual's
soul (Jeevatma) with the Universal Soul(Paramatma), the method
by which a human being can achieve this union. The union of
the Jeevatma with the Paramatma is called Moksham or Mukthi
because after this, the Jeevatma is not reborn in another
form. The total number of Upanishads exceeds 200. Out of these
13 are said to have been composed before 4th Century A.D.
It is these ancient Upanishads which contain the philosophical
aspects of Hinduism. These
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