Why I call myself a "Hindu"

Their are two theories about how the word “Hindu” came to be. The standard theory is that the word “Hindu” is an imposed neologism, perhaps with negative connotations, and this is the theory addressed here. However, more recent scholarship has suggested that perhaps we have been called “Hindus” from the very beginning. This second theory has been presented in the paper “Antiquity and Origin of the Term ‘Hindu’” by Dr. Murlidhar H. Pahoja. 

WHY I CALL MYSELF HINDU 

Today their is much discussion about whether or not we Hindus should call ourselves Hindus. While most Hindus do refer to themselves as such, their are still many who find the term to be inappropriate. The controversy over the world Hindu lays in our history, but is it a good idea to call ourselves Hindus today?

Where did the word “Hindu” come from? Secular scholarship asserts that the word “Hindu” is a Persianization of the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” which refers to the Indus Valley located in modern day Pakistan and northwest India. The word Sindhu and its Persianized form “Hindu” did not refer to a religion or ideology but to the location and people living on the eastern side of the Indus River. The word “Hindu” was eventually picked up by the Chinese who called the region “Hein-tu”, and the Arabs called it “al-Hind”. The Greeks called the region “Indos” after the Indus River and that is where Europeans got the word “India”.

The word “Hindu” did not become synonymous with the religions of India until outside forces began to invade the region. Islamic conquerors who entered South Asia after 1200 AD referred to all religions in the region as “Hindu”; this included the Vedic/tribal, Buddhist and Jain religions alike. When Europeans became interested in the region in the 1800′s, they adopted the Islamic term of “Hindu” to refer to all the religions of India, whether they were Vedic/tribal, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh. Under British colonialism “Hindu” became the catch all phrase for all the non-Muslim, non-Christian and non-Jewish people of India.

The word “Hindu” became so associated with all of the religions of India that when India won its independence in 1947, they officially defined Hinduism in the constitution as all those who followed Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism. However, since then, many religions have sought to be taken out from under the umbrella term of “Hinduism”, and in 2006 the Supreme Court of India ruled that “Jainism” is officially not a Hindu religion. Buddhists and Sikhs have also made it very clear that they are not “Hindus”. With the self exodus of Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs out from under the umbrella term of “Hinduism”, the only people who were left were the Vedic/tribal people, and so Hinduism has come to be associated with us and only us today.

After learning this history we can all understand why their is dispute over whether or not we should call ourselves Hindu, it was a foreign world originally used to describe a region and not an ideology, then it became a derogatory word used by conquerors to describe all of the religions of India, finally only to be used by imperialists to separate themselves from the mass of Indians they had colonized. Once they got the opportunity, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains made sure to disassociate themselves from the term and find any connection to it or the people it currently represents as offensive. So the question remains, why on earth would anyone want to callthemselves Hindu after all of that?

Let’s answer this question with a question: where do you think the words Jew and Christian come from? The word “Jew” doesn’t appear even once in the entire bible, it was a name given to the religion of Israel by English Christians during the Middle Ages, but today no one says “I am of the religion of Israel”, they say “I am Jewish”. The word “Christian” comes from the Greek word Christós which literally means “slave of the messiah”, Jesus never called himself a Christian and the first appearances of the word Christian in the New Testament are when it is being used as a slur by Pagans. Yet today no one says “I am a follower of the Messiah of the religion of Israel”, they say “I am a Christian”. Both of these labels were given to these religions by outsiders, and in some cases the world was meant to be disparaging, still these words have been incorporated into Jewish and Christian identity today. These words not only unite these respective peoples and remind them of their past, but they help to unify the myriads of sects and schisms which might otherwise fragment and scatter and loose the feeling of oneness which gives these religions so much influence.

Today, many believe we should refer to Hinduism as “Sanatan Dharma” or “Dharma” or “Vedic Religion”. Of course their is no issue with also calling Hinduism any one of these words, but none of these words really carry our history and remind us of how we got here. Sanatan Dharma means “the eternal way”, yes, Hinduism is the eternal ever evolving truth of the natural universe, but that concept is to broad and general to unite our people under one banner. While most of Hinduism does hail back to the Vedas, modern day Hinduismis a mix of the Vedas plus heavy influence from tribal religions. Today many Hindus do not even rely on the Vedas for their spiritual and philosophical nourishment but turn to post-Vedic scriptures such as the Puranas which are certainly very tribally influenced. There are also the myriads of devas like Ganesh and others who are adored and venerated by almost all Hindus but who do come from the Vedas. Thus “Vedic Religion” also cannot really unite us all or even completely define us.

Today we see a troubling trend among Hindus, we are in danger of factionalizing into a countless numbers of splinter groups. Many today want to call themselves “Vaishnavites” because they venerate Lord Vishnu as supreme, others call themselves “Shaivites” for Shiva, ISKON for Krishna, Arya Samaj for pure Vedicism, Vedanta and the list goes on. Hinduism is basically more or less a spiritual democracy where people are free to find the path which best works to bring them to higher states of consciousness, but we cannot allow our freedom to be our demise. Just as their are Pentecostal Christians and Catholic Christians and Mormon Christians, it is ok for us to be Vaishnavite Hindus or Shaivaite Hindus or Smartist Hindus, but first we should be Hindus.

When I hear the world Hindu, I think of all of our history, all of our scriptures, and all of the sects and tribes of Hinduism that are scattered across the globe. Today, “Hindu” is the only word that can truly unify us and remind us that we have more in common than we have differences. The world Hindu also signals to the world that we are a large body who need to be recognized and respected; if you say you believe in Shaktism very few will know what you mean, but if you say you are Hindu you will automatically be recognized and respected. I like the world Hindu, I like the way it sounds, I like what it represents and I like oneness that it brings to our people. That is why I call myself a Hindu.