GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Hinduism is a term that emerged only in the last century to designate a number of religions in India and Nepal (Bharat). The word is derived from hindu,a Persian word, and the Sanskrit sindhu meaning "river." Approximately 80% (over 700million) of people in India, and over a million in the U.S.consider themselves to be Hindu, while another thirty million Hindus live in other places in the world. Hindus themselves refer to Hinduism as "Sanatana Dharma," or the eternal faith. The roots of this faith go back over three thousand years before the common era (2500-1500BCE) in the Indus valley among communities of the Dravidian culture.

While the word religion, derived from the Latin religion, means to bind, Hinduism and its underlying concept of dharmais based on the word's meaning "to hold." Hinduism teaches that humans "hold" onto a law which is internalized. The internalized law thus enables humans to move from ignorance to discovery of the truth. As one of the world's oldest faiths, Hinduism has moved historically through the following periods:

the Pre-Vedic Period
the Vedic Period
the Upanishad Period
the Puranic Period
the Medieval Period, and
the Modern Period

Around 1500BCE, the Aryan invasion of Northwest India brought the infusion of texts known as the Vedas. These texts then evolved to form the core of Hindu sacred texts.

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