The History of Hindu India (English narration and English subtitles)

hi my name is Raj Narayan and I'm going to talk about Hindu history beliefs and culture you Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world and the third largest more than 1 billion Hindus live in 150 different countries mostly in India the United States alone is home to over 2 million Hindus origins of Hinduism to find the distant beginnings of Hinduism we have to go back over 6,000 years to the Saraswati Indus region of the Indian subcontinent this vast area extends from sri lanka in the south to the Himalayan mountains in the north from the Arabian Sea in the West to the Bay of Bengal in the east the source with the Indus civilization developed here eventually becoming the world's largest and most advanced surpassing even those of Egypt Mesopotamia and China the civilization is named after the area's two great river systems the Saraswati and the Indus it is called the Vedic culture after the earliest Hindu sacred texts it is also known as the Harappan culture after the site of its first discovery in 1920 this was an urban culture centered around many highly organized cities some with populations of 80,000 which was rare in those days the cities were connected by trade routes which extended west to Mesopotamia and East to Central Asia 5,000 years later archaeologists discovered pottery seals statues beads jewelry tools toys miniature cards and dyes all of which hint at what life was like at the source of the civilization that has evolved into modern day India the flat stone seals have riding on them and images of deities ceremonies symbols people plants and animals even though writing was widespread among the people we have not deciphered it yet from these artifacts we learned that certain religious and cultural practices were identical to those followed by Hindus today one seal shows a meditating figure that scholars linked to Lord Shiva while others show the Lotus posture used today in hatha yoga other discoveries connect the far past with today including swastikas statues of the mother goddess worship of the Shiva Lingam fire altars that show the ceremonial practice of Vedic people who are also known as Aryans sacred baths priests sacred animals and symbolism in the performing arts you must be familiar with the traditional greeting namaste here is a small clay statue portraying the same and this statue shows a woman with red powder in the part of her hair married women even today observed the same custom as the Saraswathi Indus culture declined when the river dried up around 2000 BCE many people migrated to more fertile places in eastern and central India especially along the river Ganga and also beyond the subcontinent Hindu scriptures the four Vedas the central holy books of Hinduism were composed in sanskrit starting at least 6,000 years ago the Rig Veda the earliest of the four speaks repeatedly of the Saraswathi describing it as the most mighty of rivers flowing from the Himalayan mountains to the sea thus we know that a large part of this sacred text was composed well before 2,000 BCE by which time the river had dried up vedic hymns praise God gods and goddesses and describe a powerful and spiritual people their clans kings and emperors fights and battles their sophisticated economy included agriculture industry trade Commerce and cattle raising Vedas called the country Sapta Sindhu meaning the land of seven rivers the words Hindu and India both come from the Sanskrit word Sindhu which means River these Vedic hymns describe a form of fire worship yet Nia performed around especially built altar archaeologists have unearthed such altars in several satisfy the Indus Cities Hindus still perform fire worship in this form originally these thousands of hymns were not written down but memorized even today there are priests who can chant from memory as many as ten thousand five hundred verses which takes fifty hours there are dozens of other sacred texts that Hindus Revere including the Puranas and the writings of alumina sages the epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata are traditional histories of India and storehouses of Hindu heritage the Ramayana is a story of Lord Rama seventh incarnation or avatar of Lord Vishnu and his divine wife Sita the Mahabharata is the world's longest epic it is about a massive war in ancient India between cousins fighting for the throne of a great Kingdom a central episode called the bhagavad-gita is a dialogue between commander Arjuna and Lord Krishna the eighth incarnation of Vishnu on the day of the battle the Mahabharata remains one of the most widespread scriptures in the world with its dominant message of justice Hindu sacred music dance drama and the arts draw heavily on these two literary epics the Hindu society by 600 BCE the social religious and philosophical ideas and practices central to Hinduism today or fully evident having emerged from the Indus sir Swati culture the Vedas Dravidian culture and the tribal religions a distinctive feature of society was the Varna or class system people were classified into groups with specific occupations parents taught their skills to their children from a young age providing a strong grounding in their profession or trade these groups eventually became hereditary priests warriors merchants and workers including craftsmen and farmers however this class system did not include the various forest tribes it also did not include small communities considered untouchable because their occupations were unclean such as the cremation ground chandana's scavengers and leather workers this system gave identity to the kinship groups and gave all citizens a sense of belonging greater social order and stability the socially cohesive contributions of caste continued to play a key role in economic social and political life most visibly in marriages and elections life in ancient times was hard work for both men and women women were responsible for running the household while men for looking after their craft form and family security in general women participated equally in religious ceremonies festivities and social relationships some of the foremost religious and political leaders in India's history have been women some even composed Vedic hymns the period from 1,003 period ending in the mid six centuries ee was a time of great scientific and mathematical advancement Hindus developed the counting system we use today including the mathematical concepts of zero and decimals Indian astronomers knew that the Earth orbits the Sun and they calculated the length of a year with amazing precision medicine was so advanced that doctors were performing complex surgeries not equaled in Europe until the 18th century India was the foremost supplier of steel to the world in 400 seee its foundries created an iron pillar which even stands today and has never rusted modern science cannot equal this feat for thousands of years India has been home to 1/4 of the human family it has been honored as a nation of wealth and wisdom and of course it is famous today as the world's largest democracy Hindu beliefs practices and Saints the religion of this land Hinduism has always been open-minded and tolerant with the belief that truth is one Pat's are many thus Hindus respect all other religions Hinduism is the only major religion that worships God in both male and female form as well as with and without any attributes the original Sanskrit name for Hinduism is sanatana-dharma meaning eternal religion most Hindus believe in a supreme God many gods and goddesses spiritual worlds the divinity of the soul Dharma karma reincarnation God realization and liberation from rebirth the Supreme God is known by various names depending on region and denomination Brahman Bhagwan shiva shakti vishnu and more he/she is all-powerful all-knowing all-loving eminent that is present in all things and transcendent beyond them as well God exists within each person as upman the divine soul God realization describes the experience of the divine within oneself this profound encounter with God is regarded as the ultimate goal of life Hindus teach that every human being can know God personally Hindus also worship other divinities each divinity has distinct powers and areas of responsibility for example Lord Ganesha is the remover of obstacles Saraswathi is the goddess of knowledge and Hanuman is the God of service and devotion each Hindu freely chooses the deities he or she wishes to worship Dharma is a cardinal concept in Hinduism it includes righteousness truth sacred law ethics Duty justice religion and the laws of nature Dharma means that which upholds the dharmic principle of ahimsa or non-violence is important to this day Mahatma Gandhi led India's independence in 1947 using nonviolent means such as peaceful protests boycotts strikes and speeches that aroused the nation to throw off British rule he once said non-violence is the greatest force of the disposal of mankind it is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man in the 1950 s Martin Luther King jr. understood the power of Gandhi's methods and went to India to meet his followers he later applied those methods to fight for and win civil rights for America's black minority in the same way Cesar Chavez won rights for the farm workers of California Gandhi also inspired Nelson Mandela in his fight for freedom and racial equality in South Africa today everyone knows about the Hindu concept of karma the law of cause and effect it means that anything a person does whether good or bad will eventually return to him in this or a future life a popular way of expressing this is what goes around comes around reincarnation is the central Indian belief that the soul Atman is reborn in a new body time and time again to grow and mature through all the experiences human life has to offer eventually every soul achieves salvation by realizing its oneness with God and is no longer reborn Hindus do not believe in a Satan or an eternal hell worship is central to a Hindus life so every Hindu home has a place of worship it may be as simple as a shelf with pictures of deities or entire room dedicated to the family's daily worship a worship ceremony called pooja performed elaborately or very simply every day in the temple or in the home shrine invokes the divine beings for blessings and happiness the puja ceremony includes sacred chanting bathing the image of the deity offering food flowers incense and other sacred substances and the waving of lights Hindus practice yogic disciplines every day called sadhana sitting on the floor often in a yoga posture they chant sing devotional hymns repeat the name of God while counting on beads or simply meditate in stillness and silence the temple is revered as the home of God there are millions of temples in India many quite ancient the most important of these mystically designed structures cover hundreds of acres and receive thousands of pilgrims each day every Hindu is expected to pilgrimage to temples and holy places far and wide these pilgrimages unify the religion as tens of millions of people travel throughout the subcontinent and interact Hinduism has a rich history of sages and saints both men and women from all castes some of the great saints wrote detailed explanations of the Upanishads and related scriptures such as Adi Shankara in the 8th century CE Ramanuja in the 11th and vallabhacharya in the 15 others including sambandar Meera Bai and Tukaram expressed their experience of God through devotional songs recent saints include sri ramakrishna swami vivekananda ananda Mahima swaminarayan and shirdi sai baba millions of Swami's and other saintly souls make up the spiritual leadership within Hinduism Swami's have renounced the world and taken up spiritual life full-time special among these are the Guru's enlightened men and women who serve as religious teachers some gurus have millions of followers others are humble Hermits Hinduism has no central organization and no single dogma no one person or institution is in charge instead there are thousands of independent guru lineages spiritual traditions monastic orders and religious institutions Hindu festivals Hindus love festivals and enthusiastically celebrate many holy days each year the biggest is called Diwali or Deepavali the festival of lights this five-day event held around the new moon in October or November celebrates the victory of good over evil light over darkness thousands of small lamps including traditional clay oil lamps are placed everywhere and fireworks signal hope for mankind it is a national holiday in India and in many countries with large Hindu populations Barack Obama was the first u.s. president to celebrate Diwali in the white White House diya and wish you all a happy Diwali and I saw Mubarak hama-san Kamiya Thomas OMA jyothika Maya fresh Alma Hondo tanga Maya shanti shanti shanti he one special festival the kumbhamela takes place every three years at four sacred river sites the 2013 kumbhamela was held at Prayag which is modern-day Allahabad in northern India during the six weeks 130 million people pilgrimage there from all across India and the world on one day alone 30 million pilgrims were present it was the largest human gathering ever held on earth Hinduism has persisted for thousands of years because the Dharma faith and culture have instilled in each Hindu a unique and strong sense of identity family and spiritual purpose it endures because it is a dynamic religion which gives complete freedom of practice accepts that there are many ways to worship God and provides festivals temples pilgrimages gurus and scriptures to illumine the path thereby celebrating life itself we hope that this documentary has increased your understanding of Hinduism and its history nough Muslim

Channel: HinduismTodayVideos

Views: 765,639

Rating: 4.7444816 out of 5

Keywords: hindu, hinduism, Indus Valley, India

Id: nB2toz5p5Mw

Length: 23min 1sec (1381 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 29 2014