The Evolution of Hinduism - From Vedic period to Modern era (Part I)
Introduction Hinduism is the oldest living civilizational religion, with over 1.3 billion followers or 15-16% of the global population. Hinduism is also known as ' Sanatan Dharma' , although modern usage. Another very important synonymous term for Hinduism is 'Vedic Dharma'. In this blog post I shall be discussing the brief history of Hinduism but before that I must clarify that Hinduism started with the Vedic tradition. It was the Vedic tradition that grew and absorbed various non-Vedic elements from Non-Vedic traditions, which are predominantly found in the post Vedic Hinduism. Before that there were various independent cults across India. The 'Vaidik Dharma' unified these independent primeval traditions and brought them under a single diverse fold – "The Sanatan Umbrella" . Evolutionary Stages of Hinduism:- Orthodox Hinduism can be classified into the following evolutionary stages/ forms :- 1). Vedicism / ṚgVedic Hinduism (Hinduism of the Early