The oxford dictionary defines religion as follows - “The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.”



After living in India for the last 28 years and trying to understand its culture and traditions, I have come to ask this question. Is “Hinduism a Religion?"

In its true form, it does not seem so. It is almost a broad generalization of India and its different cultures. It is the mistake people unfamiliar with India do, when they treat it as a single big entity and forget to understand its diversity. I feel the term Hinduism was an origin of this generalization.

Honestly, I think, instead of calling Hinduism a religion, the different castes of India can be treated as religions.

People in India identify themselves more with their caste compared to their religion. People of the same caste are more likely to identify themselves as a single entity and act as a cohesive group. Caste also dictates their customs and practices. The idea of marrying inside the same caste reinforces caste as a more stronger identifier compared to religion.

Hinduism is an aggregation of these castes. Hinduism is more a cultural grouping rather than a religion. Hinduism owes its survival in the modern age to this fact. It has inherently been able to encapsulate so many divergent groups without breaking up into smaller groups. This is truly the sign of a modern religion which can survive any test of time.

In modern day India, you can clearly see the cultural influences of Hinduism on other religions. Hinduism does not enforce conversion. It just becomes a part of your life. I have myself played Holi - "The festival of Colors”, Diwali - “The festival of Lights” with people from all religions. No one cares about another persons religion as long as you are part of the same Culture.

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