Hindu - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition hindu

Definition :

Hindu, The historical and etymological genesis of the word 'Hindu' has given rise to a controversy amongst ideologists; but the view generally accepted by scholars appears to be that the word 'Hindu' is derived from the river Sindhu otherwise known as Indus which flows from the Punjab. 'That part of the great Aryan race', says Monier Williams, 'which immigrated from Central Asia, through the mountain passes into India, settled first in the districts near the river Sindhu (now called the Indus). The Persians pronounced this word Hindu and named their Aryan brethren Hindus. The Greeks, who probably gained their first ideas of India from the Persians, dropped the hard aspirate, and called the Hindus 'Indoi'. ('Hindulsm' by Monler Williams, p.1.)'. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VI, has described 'Hinduism' as the title applied to that form of religion which prevails among the vast majority of the present population of the Indian Empire (p. 686). As Dr. Radhakrishnan has observed; 'The Hindu civilization is so called, since its original founders or earliest followers occupied the territory drained by the Sindhu (the Indus) river system corresponding to the North West Frontier Province and the Punjab. This is recorded in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures which give their name to this period Indian history. The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders'. ('The Hindu View of Life' by Dr. Radhakrishnan, p. 12.) That is the genesis of the word 'Hindu', Shastri Yagnapurushdasji v. Muldas Bhundardas Vaishya, AIR 1966 SC 1119 (1131): (1966) 3 SCR 242. [Constitution of India, Art 85 (2) (5)]

It is a matter of common knowledge that Hinduism embraces within itself so many diverse forms of beliefs, faiths, practices and worship that it is difficult to define the term 'Hindu' with precision. In Unabridged Edition of Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, the term 'Hinduism 'has been defined as meaning a complex body of social, cultural, and religious belies and practices evolved in and largely confined to the India subcontinent and marked by a caste system, an outlook tending to view all forms and theories as aspects of one eternal being and truth, a belief in ahimsa, karma, dharma, samskara, and moksha, and the practice of the way of works, the way of knowledge, or the way of devotion as the means or release from the round of rebirths; the way of life and form of thought of a Hindu. In Encyclopedia Britannica (15th Edition), the term 'Hinduism' has been defined as meaning the civilization of Hindus (originally, the inhabitants of the land of the Indus River). It property denotes the Indian civilization of approximately the last 2,000 years, which gradually evolved evolved from Vedism, the religion of the ancient Indo-European peoples who settled in India in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium B.C. Because it integrates a large variety of heterogeneous elements, Hinduism constitutes a very complex but largely continuous whole, and since it covers the whole of life, it has religious, social, economic, literary, and artistic aspects. As a religion, Hinduism is an utterly diverse conglomerate of doctrines, cults, and way of life . . . . In principle, Hinduism incorporates all forms of belief and worship without necessitating the selection or elimination of any. The Hindu is inclined to revere the divine in every manifesta-tion, whatever it may be, and is doctrinally tolerant, leaving others'including both Hindus and non-Hindus'whatever creed and worship practices suit them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu, and since the Hindu is disposed to think synthetically and to regard other forms other forms other forms of worship, strange gods, and diver-gent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong or objectionable, he tends to believe that the highest divine complement each other for the well-being of the world and mankind. Few religious ideas are considered to be finally irreconcilable. The core of religion does not even depend on the existence or non-existence of God or on whether there is one god or many. Since religious truth is said to transcend all verbal definition, it is not conceived in dogmatic terms. Hinduism is, then both a civilization and a conglomerate of religions, with neither a beginning, a founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization. Every attempt at a specific definition of Hinduism has proved unsatisfactory in one way or another, the more so because the finest Indian scholars or Hinduism, including Hindus themselves, have emphasized different aspects of the whole. Under the codifying Acts namely the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, the orthodox concept of the term 'Hindu' has under-gone a radical change and it has been given an extended meaning. The aforesaid codifying Act not only apply to Hindus by birth or religion i.e. to converts to Hinduism but also to a large number of other person. According to explanation (b) to s. 2(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 and Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 as also according to explanation (ii) to s. 3(1) of the Hindu Minority and Guardian-ship Act, 1956, any child legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu by religion and who is brought up as a Hindu is a Hindu, Commis-sioner of Wealth Tax v. Late R. Sridharan, (1976) 4 SCC 489: (1976) Supp SCR 478: (1976) 4 SCC 489.

The word 'Hindu' does not denote any particular religion or community. During the last hundred years and more it has been a nomenclature used to refer comprehensively to various categories of people for purposes of personal law. It has been applied to dissenters and non-conformists and even to those who have entirely repudiated Brahminism. It has been applied to various religious sects and beliefs which at various periods and is circumstances developed out of, or split off from, the Hindu system but whose members have nevertheless continued to live under the Hindu law and the courts have generally put a liberal con-struction upon enactments relating to the personal laws applicable to Hindus. [Page 671 of Mulla's Principles of Hindu Law (Fourteenth Edition)].

The Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1926 does not define the term 'Hindu'. This word has had a fairly wide connotation. In origin, it indicated people living in the Indus region. It is only by subsequent usage and extension of meaning that the word acquired a religious, and, therefore, in this sense, a more limited significance. But in some contexts, the term 'Hindu', even today, stands for Indians in general. In foreign countries, all Indians are sometimes described as 'Hindus'. Even as a term used for Indians professing a particular type of beliefs, which are presumed to have an indigenous origin, it is wide enough to include Jains and Sikhs. Hence, this is the meaning given to the term Hindu in the Hindu Succession Act. In a statute dealing with religious endowments, the term, even though not defined, may be presumed to stand for people of this country with certain religious beliefs held or forms of religious worship practiced by people of this country originally. Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments v. Sri Ratnavarma Heggade, AIR 1977 SC 1848: (1977) 1 SCC 525: (1977) 1 SCR 889.

A person may be Hindu by birth or by conversion. A mere theoretical allegiance to the Hindu faith by a person born in another faith does not convert him into a Hindu nor is a bare declaration that he is a Hindu sufficient to convert him to Hinduism. But a bona fide intention to be converted to the Hindu faith; accompanied by conduct unequivocally expressing that intention may be sufficient evidence of conversion. No formal ceremony of purification or expiation is necessary to effectuate conversion, Perumal Nadar v. Ponnuswami Nadar, AIR 1971 SC 2352: (2353): (1970) 1 SCC 605.

Hindu, the term 'Hindu', had originally a territorial and not a credal significance. It implied residence in a well defined geographical area Aboriginal tribes, sewage and half-civilised people, the cultural Dravidians and the Vedic Aryans were all Hindus as they were the sons of the same mother. The history of Indian thought emphatically brings out the fact that the development of Hindu religion has always been inspired by an endless quest of the mind for truth based on the consciousness that the truth has many facets. Truth is one but the wise men describe it differently. It has a disposition to interpret life and nature in the way of monistic idealism, though this tendency is so plastic, living and manifold that it takes many forms and express itself in even mutually hostile teachings [Indian Philosophy by Dr. Radhakrishnan, Vol. I, pp. 22-23].