Is the 'ism' in Hinduism a problem?
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: Is the 'ism' in Hinduism a problem?
Pages: 11
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It could be argued that the ‘ism’ in ‘Hinduism’ is a problem, however, numerous scholars have suggested that
Hinduism was invented and constructed by British Scholars and other senior figures during the nineteenth century.
On the other hand we see evidence of the term Hindu in thirteenth century texts such as the Rig Veda.
During the 1800’s Hinduism was actually known as ‘Hindooism’. In a letter published in 1818 by John Crawford we
see seven examples of Hinduism spelt with a ‘u’. (Who invented Hinduism? David N. Lorenzen Comparative
Studies in Society and History, Vol 41, No.4 (Oct 1999) pp. 631).
The term Hindu is believed to have been coined in the 1800’s by the British yet as seen above there are many
contributing factors to the construction of the word ‘Hindu’. However, the word Hindustān was a popular name for
India during the thirteenth century, meaning ‘land of the Hindu’s’, thus showing that the word ‘Hindu’ was not
simply invented by the British. The term ‘Hindu’ first occurs (Flood. G 2011) as a Persian term for people who lived
beyond the river Indus. The ‘-ism’ was added to the word Hindu in roughly 1830 to indicate the cultures of the
high caste Brahmans in contrast to other religions. Hindu is also used in sixteenth century Sanskrit texts and
Bengali hagiographic texts instead of Yavana or Muslim.
The term ‘Hinduism’ can also encompass the morals, key features and general day to day life experiences that
many Indians share. The term ‘Hindu’ has its roots in many different traditions and myths, for example, it has been
argued (Flood. G 2011) that ‘Hindu’ may have derived from the Persian term for a group of people who lived on
the other side of the river Indus which flows through China, India and Pakistan. ...