The trunk
Hindu traditions सनातन धर्म
The living tradition that calls itself Sanatan Dharma. It has no single founder, prophet or book, and grows from the Vedas and Upanishads, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the Puranas into many streams.
What holds it together
- Its oldest text, the Rigveda, reaches back beyond 22,000 BCE in Nilesh Oak's astronomical dating; he dates the Ramayana to 12209 BCE and the Mahabharata to 5561 BCE. [22, 21]
Astronomical dating
- No single founder: as the Shankaracharya of Kanchi asked, was it Vyasa, or Krishna who gave the Gita? [57, 19]
- Six classical schools of philosophy, the darshanas (Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta), all take the Veda as their base. [58]
- Vedanta holds three great readings of the Upanishads: Shankara's non-dualism, Ramanuja's qualified non-dualism and Madhva's dualism. [47, 48, 59]
- The Puranas tell of the creation of the cosmos, its renewal age after age, and the lineages of gods, sages and kings. [60]
- Bhakti, loving devotion, began with Tamil poet-saints and was renewed in Bengal by Chaitanya through the chanting of the holy names. [45, 53]
- India's Supreme Court called it "a way of life": it does not claim any one prophet or worship any one god. [19]
See it today
- Vedic chanting and Ramlila, the staging of the Ramayana based on Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, are both on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. [25, 61, 62]
- In Australia, 684,002 people named Hinduism as their religion in the 2021 Census. [56]
A branch of the trunk
Vaishnava वैष्णव
Devotion to Vishnu and his avatars, above all Rama and Krishna.
Facts
- One of the four major denominations of Hindu practice, with Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. The Kanchi Shankaracharya counts Shaivism and Vaishnavism as its two great divisions. [63, 64]
- Its schools were founded by Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha and Chaitanya. [48, 59]
- Chaitanya, born in 1486 at Navadvipa in Bengal, spread Krishna devotion through sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy names. [53]
- The Alvars, the Tamil poet-saints of Vishnu, sang its earliest bhakti hymns. [45]
- Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the greatest Khmer monument, was dedicated to Vishnu. [51]
A branch of the trunk
Shaiva शैव
Devotion to Shiva, from the Tamil south to Nepal, Java and Vietnam.
Facts
- One of the four major denominations of Hindu practice, and one of its two great divisions. [63, 64]
- The Nayanars, the Tamil poet-saints of Shiva, sang the hymns gathered in the Tevaram. [45, 46]
- Pashupatinath in Kathmandu and Prambanan in Java, the largest Shiva temple compound in Indonesia, are both World Heritage sites. [65, 66, 67]
A branch of the trunk
Shakta शाक्त
Worship of the Supreme as the Divine Mother, Shakti or Devi.
Facts
- Shaktism reveres the Supreme as the Divine Mother, Shakti or Devi, in her many forms, both gentle and fierce. [68, 64]
- The Devi Mahatmya salutes the Goddess who dwells in all beings as Shakti: "ya devi sarvabhuteshu shaktirupena samsthita". [69]
- Smarta households also worship Shakti as one of their five deities. [70]
A branch of the trunk
Smarta स्मार्त
A tradition synonymous with the teachings of Adi Shankara, honouring five deities on one altar.
Facts
- Smartas worship five deities, Ganapati, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti, on one altar. [70]
- The tradition is synonymous with the teachings of Adi Shankara, whom the Sringeri Sharada Peetham dates to 788 to 820 CE. [70, 47]
Traditional date
The Sindhu-Sarasvati cities
Sindhu-Sarasvati cities Harappa, Dholavira
The most ancient cities of India, known as the Harappan, Indus or Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, along the rivers the Rigveda praises.
What we know
- The most ancient civilisation of India, known as the Harappan, Indus or Indus-Sarasvati civilisation. India's school curriculum dates its cities from about 2600 to 1900 BCE. [71, 72]
- Nilesh Oak notes the settlements found so far date from after about 6000 BCE, and places Mohenjo-daro after the Mahabharata. [30, 31]
Astronomical dating
- At Kalibangan, fire altars stood on a platform in the citadel and in a separate room of houses, which the Archaeological Survey of India reads as fire worship. [32]
Same soil, its own tree
Jainism जैन धर्म
A path of non-harm and self-discipline taught by the Jinas, the last of them Mahavira. It grew in the same land and shares karma, rebirth and liberation, but it does not accept the Vedas or a creator god.
Where it began
- Mahavira attained nirvana at Pawapuri in Bihar, which the Government of Bihar dates to 528 BCE. Buddhist texts independently record that he lived. [40, 76]
Traditional date
What it shares
- Karma, rebirth and liberation, though karma is understood as a fine matter that clings to the soul. [77, 78]
- Ahimsa heads the Jain vows: abstaining from injury, falsehood, stealing, unchastity and possessiveness. The Yoga Sutras list the same five. [79, 80]
- Its own Ramayana. Vimalasuri's Paumacariyam, written in Prakrit before the 5th century, makes Rama, Lakshmana and Ravana figures of Jain history. [81]
Its own path
- Jains rejected the authority of the Vedas and of their priestly interpreters. Classical Hindu law calls one who reviles the Vedas a nastika. [42, 82]
- It denies a creator god: the universe is eternal and exists of its own accord. [83]
- Liberation is the destruction of all karma, reached by the soul's own discipline, without looking outside itself. [84]
- In 2014 India notified Jains as a national minority community, separately from Hindus. [85, 86]
Same soil, its own tree
Buddhism बौद्ध धम्म
The path of the Buddha, a wandering samana born at Lumbini. It shares karma, rebirth and meditation, but teaches no-soul and rejects the Vedas. It carried Indian ideas across Asia.
Where it began
- Nepal's World Heritage listing gives the Buddha's birth at Lumbini, in the Terai of southern Nepal, as 623 BCE. Buddhist tradition counts its era from his passing in 543 BCE. [39, 89]
Traditional date
- He was a samana, a wandering renunciant, as the Pali texts call him. [90]
What it shares
- Karma and rebirth, with karma defined as intention. [91, 92, 93]
- Dharma, as dhamma: the Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath is the Dharma Chakra Pravartana Sutra, the turning of the wheel of Dharma. The same wheel is at the centre of India's flag. [94]
- Meditation: Sanskrit dhyana is read Chan in China and Zen in Japan. [95]
Its own path
- The Buddha denied that the Vedas were sacred, final or infallible. [41]
- An-atta, no soul, challenged the Upanishadic atman. [96, 97]
- He taught that people of all four classes can develop a heart free of hate. [98, 90]
- The Bhagavata Purana (1.3.24) lists the Buddha among the incarnations of the Lord. Many Buddhists reject this: one of the 22 vows Dr B.R. Ambedkar took at Nagpur on 14 October 1956 says so directly. [99, 100, 101]
Debated
How far it travelled
- Sri Lanka, 3rd century BCE: the nun Sanghamitta brought a cutting of the Bodhi tree to Anuradhapura, where it still grows. [44]
- China, 1st century CE: the Book of the Later Han records a prince who honoured the Buddha in the reign of Emperor Ming. [102]
- Korea in 372 CE, and Japan in 538 or 552 CE, from the Korean kingdom of Paekche. [103, 104]
Traditional date
See it today
- The Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha awakened. Ashoka built the first temple; the present one is 5th or 6th century. [105]
- The Ajanta caves, begun in the 2nd century BCE, and the stupas of Sanchi, founded in Ashoka's time. [106, 43]
- Borobudur in Java, built about 800 CE, one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. [49]
Same soil, its own tree
Sikhism ਸਿੱਖੀ
The youngest tree, rooted in 15th-century Punjab: one Creator, ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib. It shares karma, rebirth and liberation, and holds the hymns of Hindu and Muslim saints, but it defines itself as a separate faith.
Where it began
- Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469 at Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. [52]
- Sikhism shares terms and some ideas with other India-born faiths, but Sikh scholarship holds that it is a separate, independent faith, born in the revelation of Guru Nanak. [107]
What it shares
- Karma and rebirth, with liberation as a gift of grace. [108]
- The Guru Granth Sahib holds hymns of bhagats (saints) beside those of the Gurus, among them Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas and Ramanand, and the Sufi Sheikh Farid. Kabir has the most, 541. [55, 109]
- Diwali: Sikhs celebrate it as Bandi Chhor Divas, the release of Guru Hargobind from Gwalior Fort. [110]
Its own path
- Its scripture opens with One Universal Creator, "Beyond Birth, Self-Existent". [111]
- Guru Nanak rejected renunciation, the authority of the Vedas and caste. [112]
- The Guru is "no avatar or God's incarnation", and the Sikh code bars idol worship in the gurdwara. [113, 114]
- Guru Arjan wrote: "I am not a Hindu, nor am I a Muslim." [115]
- The Sikh code defines a Sikh as one who "does not owe allegiance to any other religion". [116]
- Indian law groups Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists with Hindus for one clause of Article 25. Sikh bodies have long asked for this to be removed, and a national commission recommended it in 2002. [117, 118, 119]
- A later collection, the Dasam Granth, retells avatar stories such as Krishna's. Its authorship is debated, and the Guru Granth Sahib itself does not contain them. [120]
Debated
See it today
- Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple at Amritsar, has a door on each of its four sides to show it is open to all, whatever their caste or creed. [121]
- Langar, the free community kitchen: even the emperor Akbar, the story goes, ate in it before meeting Guru Amar Das. [122]
Carried beyond India
Nepal नेपाल
Birthplace of the Buddha and home of Pashupatinath. Until 2008 it was the world's last Hindu kingdom.
Facts
- Pashupatinath, on the Bagmati river in Kathmandu, is a sacred site of Lord Shiva. [65]
- The Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site (1979) includes the Hindu temples of Pashupati and Changu Narayan. [66]
- The Buddha was born at Lumbini, in the Terai of southern Nepal. [39]
- On 28 May 2008 the world's last Hindu kingdom became a secular republic. [123]
Carried beyond India
Bali
The one place in Southeast Asia where Hindu tradition stays strong, woven into rice fields, water temples and a day of silence.
Facts
- Bali is the only place in the region where these once widespread traditions remain strong. [124]
- The province of Bali is predominantly Hindu, a recognised faith in Indonesia. [125]
- In 1343 the Javanese Hindu kingdom of Majapahit took Bali, shaping its courts and priesthood. [126]
- The subak water temples and canals, dating to the 9th century, express Tri Hita Karana: harmony with god, with people and with nature. They are World Heritage (2012). [127, 128]
- Nyepi, the Hindu "Day of Silence", opens the Balinese new year. [129]
- Three genres of traditional Balinese dance are on UNESCO's intangible heritage list (2015). [130]
Carried beyond India
Java
Great Shaiva temples, the oldest Old Javanese poem, and a language a third Sanskrit.
Facts
- Prambanan is the largest Shiva temple compound in Indonesia, carved with scenes of the Ramayana. [67]
- Its site operator dates it to the mid-9th century, under the Sanjaya dynasty. [50]
- The Old Javanese Ramayana is the oldest surviving Javanese court poem, from the 8th to early 10th century. [131]
- Up to a third of Old Javanese vocabulary is Sanskrit. [132]
- Wayang puppet theatre borrows its heroes from the Indian epics. [133]
Carried beyond India
Cambodia and Vietnam អង្គរ
Angkor Wat, built for Vishnu, and the Shaiva sanctuary of My Son.
Facts
- Angkor holds the capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century. [134]
- Angkor Wat, the greatest of all Khmer monuments, was built by Suryavarman II and dedicated to Vishnu. [51]
- The Reamker is Cambodia's Ramayana, with many Buddhist influences. [135]
- My Son in Vietnam, centre of the Champa kingdom from the 4th to 13th century, owed its spiritual origins to Indian Hinduism, above all to Shiva. [136]
Carried beyond India
Thailand ไทย
A national epic from the Ramayana, a royal city named after Ayodhya, and Brahma in the heart of Bangkok.
Facts
- The Ramakien, Thailand's national epic, comes from Valmiki's Ramayana. King Rama I had it set down in the late 18th century. [137]
- The old capital Ayutthaya is named after Rama's city, Ayodhya. [138]
- Khon masked drama tells of Rama, "the hero and incarnation of the god Vishnu", and is on UNESCO's list (2018). [139]
- The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is Brahmin in origin. [140]
- The Erawan Shrine in Bangkok houses Phra Phrom, the Thai form of Brahma. [141]
Carried beyond India
Rama across Asia रामायण
Hundreds of tellings of one story, each made at home in its own culture.
Facts
- There are literally hundreds of versions of the story of Rama across Asia, and for more than two thousand years the epics have been retold in India and beyond. [142, 143]
- India: Ramlila, based on Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas. [61, 62]
- Thailand: the Ramakien. Cambodia: the Reamker. [137, 135]
- Laos: Phra Lak Phra Ram, the national epic. [144]
- Malaysia: the Hikayat Seri Rama, written down between the 13th and 17th centuries. [145]
- Myanmar: the Yama Zatdaw, said to have arrived in the 11th century. [146]
Traditional date
- Java: the Old Javanese Ramayana, the oldest Javanese court poem. [131]
- Many of these tell Rama's story as a Buddhist tale or as Malay literature. The story travelled; this does not mean Hinduism is practised in each place. [135, 144, 145]
Carried beyond India
Around the world Australia
Nearly 1.2 billion Hindus, about 95 per cent of them in India, and a fast-growing community here in Australia.
Facts
- The world's Hindu population grew from just under 1.1 billion to nearly 1.2 billion between 2010 and 2020. About 95 per cent live in India. [147]
- Outside Asia, the largest Hindu populations are in the United States (3.0 million), the United Kingdom (1.1 million) and the UAE (1.1 million). [148]
- Australia's 2021 Census counted 684,002 Hindus, 2.7 per cent of the population, up 55.3 per cent. [56]
Its own roots, met along the way
Taoism 道教
China's own way of the Dao. Not a branch of the Indian tree: the two met through Buddhism, and both changed.
Its own roots
- Bamboo slips from a tomb at Guodian, Hubei, hold the earliest copy of the Laozi (Daodejing) yet found. [149]
Where they met
- The Book of the Later Han records a prince honouring the Buddha in the 1st century CE. [102]
- Early Chinese Buddhist teachers matched Buddhist terms to ideas in non-Buddhist Chinese books, a method called geyi, "matching meanings". [150]
- Daoism's Quanzhen school asks its priests to leave family life, a practice that may have been influenced by Buddhism. [151]
- Rivalry ran high too: after a debate in 1281, the Daoist canon (except the Daodejing) was ordered burned. [152]
Its own roots, met along the way
Confucianism 儒家
The teaching of Confucius on ethics, ritual and learning. Independent of India, it met Buddhism and was reshaped by the encounter.
Its own roots
- Confucius lived, by the Records of the Grand Historian, from 551 to 479 BCE. [153]
Traditional date
Where they met
- Zhu Xi, who shaped Neo-Confucianism, gave his mind to Chan (Zen) Buddhism at fifteen or sixteen. [154]
- The Song emperor Xiaozong taught: Buddhism to cultivate the mind, Daoism to nourish life, Confucianism to govern the world. [155]
Its own roots, met along the way
Shinto 神道
Japan's way of the kami. For a thousand years kami and buddhas were honoured side by side, until the state separated them in 1868.
Its own roots
- Shinto is often described by the phrase "eight million kami". [156]
Where they met
- When Buddhism arrived from Paekche in the 6th century, buddhas were first called "foreign kami". [157, 104]
- Joining kami and buddhas followed an Indian Buddhist model of adopting local deities (deva) as protectors. [158]
- Honji suijaku taught that kami were local forms of Buddhist deities. [159]
- In 1868 the Meiji government ordered Shinto and Buddhism separated. [160]
Its own roots, met along the way
Indic gods in Japan 天部
Gods of the Indian tradition who reached Japan inside Buddhism and are still honoured there under Japanese names.
Who they are
- Benzaiten is Sarasvati, the river goddess, adopted into the Buddhist and then Shinto pantheons. [161]
- Kangiten is Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva. [162]
- Kichijoten is Sri Lakshmi. [163]
- Bonten is Brahma, and Taishakuten is Indra. [164, 165]
- Daikokuten began as Mahakala, a form of Shiva. Bishamonten is Kubera (Vaishravana). [166, 167]
- Enma, judge of the dead, is Yama. Karura is Garuda. [168, 169]
Words and letters
- Shingon temples still write Sanskrit seed syllables in Siddham, a Brahmi-based script brought by the monk Kukai in 806. [170]
Traditional date
- Zen comes from Sanskrit dhyana, and the Japanese danna (patron) from dana, giving. [95, 171]
Shared roots
Karma कर्म
Action, and the consequences that follow it.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes good, and by doing evil it becomes evil". [172, 173]
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Jainism Shares the word, its own meaning
Karma is a fine matter: "material aggregates attached by the activities of the soul" are called karman. [78]
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Buddhism Shares the word, its own meaning
The Buddha: "Cetanāhaṃ, bhikkhave, kammaṃ vadāmi", "I declare that volition is kamma". Karma is intention, not the outward act. [91, 92]
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Sikhism Shares this
Karma shapes this birth, but liberation comes by grace: "By the karma of past actions, the robe of this physical body is obtained. By His Grace, the Gate of Liberation is found." [108]
Shared roots
Rebirth संसार
Samsara: the cycle of birth, death and birth again.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
"Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others which are new" (Bhagavad Gita 2.22). [174, 63]
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Jainism Shares this
The soul is caught in samsara until it is free of all karma. [77]
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Buddhism Shares the word, its own meaning
The Buddha taught rebirth, but with no soul passing from body to body: "there was rebirth ... there was no transmigration", as Dr Ambedkar put it. [93]
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Sikhism Shares this
This body is the result of past karma. [108]
Shared roots
Liberation मोक्ष
Moksha, nirvana or mukti: final freedom from the cycle.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
Moksha is release from the unceasing cycle of births and rebirths. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain schools share this search for an end to suffering. [175, 176]
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Jainism Shares the word, its own meaning
"Total destruction of all the Karmas is liberation", reached by the soul's own discipline: "one has not to look outside". [84]
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Buddhism Shares the word, its own meaning
Nirvana is the ending of craving and of the causes of rebirth. It is not the salvation of a soul, which the Buddha did not accept. [177, 178]
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Sikhism Shares the word, its own meaning
"By His Grace, the Gate of Liberation is found": mukti comes through divine grace. [108]
Shared roots
Non-harm अहिंसा
Ahimsa: not harming any living being.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
The Chandogya Upanishad names non-injury among a person's true offerings, and the Yoga Sutras put it first among the disciplines: "Non-killing being established, in his presence all enmities cease". [179, 80, 180]
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Jainism Shares this
The Jain vows begin with abstaining from injury (hiṃsā), then falsehood, stealing, unchastity and possessiveness: the same five the Yoga Sutras list. [79, 80]
Shared roots
Meditation ध्यान
Dhyana: stilling and focusing the mind.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
"Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)" (Yoga Sutra 1.2, as rendered by Swami Vivekananda). [181]
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Buddhism Shares this
The same Sanskrit word, dhyana, is read Chan in Chinese and Zen in Japanese. [95]
Shared roots
The teacher गुरु
Guru: wisdom passed from teacher to student.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
The Chandogya Upanishad: "a man having a teacher acquires knowledge". The Mundaka adds that the seeker should go "to a teacher versed in the Vedas and absorbed in Brahman". [182, 183]
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Sikhism Shares the word, its own meaning
The Guru is central, but "no avatar or God's incarnation": an exemplar and guide. [113]
Shared roots
The self आत्मन्
Atman: is there a lasting self? Here the paths part.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
"That is Truth. That is the Self. Thou art That, O Svetaketu" (Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7, tat tvam asi). [184, 185]
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Buddhism Parts ways here
The Buddha taught an-atta, no soul: "this is not my self". As Dr Ambedkar wrote, "In the Brahmanic Religion the soul is called Atma or Atman. ... Did the Buddha believe in the soul? No." [97, 96]
Shared roots
The Vedas वेद
Is the Veda the final authority? Here the paths part most clearly.
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Hindu traditions Shares this
The Manusmriti calls the whole Veda "the root-source of Dharma" and one who reviles it a nastika. The six classical schools of philosophy all rest on the Veda, and as Swami Vivekananda said, every sect in India must find its authority in the Upanishads. [186, 82, 58, 187, 188]
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Jainism Parts ways here
The Jains rejected the authority of the Vedas and of their priestly interpreters. [42]
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Buddhism Parts ways here
The Buddha "denied that the Vedas were sacred", and taught that people of all four classes can develop a heart of goodwill. [41, 98, 90]
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Sikhism Parts ways here
Guru Nanak rejected renunciation, the authority of the Vedas and the caste system. [112]
