VOLUME XIII, SLICE V✦

Hinduism to Home, Earls of

ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:

HINDUISM HODY, HUMPHREY HINDU KUSH HOE, RICHARD MARCH HINDUR HOE HINGANGHAT HOEFNAGEL, JORIS HINGE HOF HINGHAM HOFER, ANDREAS HINRICHS, HERMANN WILHELM HOFFDING, HARALD HINSCHIUS, PAUL HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH HINTERLAND HOFFMANN, ERNST THEODOR WILHELM HINTON, JAMES HOFFMANN, FRANCOIS BENOIT HIOGO HOFFMANN, FRIEDRICH HIP HOFFMANN, JOHANN JOSEPH HIP-KNOB HOFMANN, AUGUST WILHELM VON HIPPARCHUS HOFMANN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN KONRAD VON HIPPASUS OF METAPONTUM HOFMANN, MELCHIOR HIPPEASTRUM HOFMEISTER, WILHELM FRIEDRICH BENEDICT HIPPED ROOF HOFMEYR, JAN HENDRIK HIPPEL, THEODOR GOTTLIEB VON HOFSTEDE DE GROOT, PETRUS HIPPIAS OF ELIS HOGARTH, WILLIAM HIPPO HOGG, JAMES HIPPOCRAS HOGG, THOMAS JEFFERSON HIPPOCRATES HOGMANAY HIPPOCRENE HOGSHEAD HIPPODAMUS HOHENASPERG HIPPODROME HOHENFRIEDBERG HIPPOLYTUS (Greek legend hunter) HOHENHEIM HIPPOLYTUS (Church writer) HOHENLIMBURG HIPPOLYTUS, THE CANONS OF HOHENLOHE HIPPONAX HOHENSTAUFEN HIPPOPOTAMUS HOHENSTEIN HIPPURIC ACID HOHENZOLLERN HIPURNIAS HOKKAIDO HIRA HOKUSAI HIRADO HOLBACH, PAUL HEINRICH DIETRICH HIRE-PURCHASE AGREEMENT HOLBEACH HIRING HOLBEIN, HANS (the elder) HIROSAKI HOLBEIN, HANS (the younger) HIROSHIGE HOLBERG, LUDVIG HOLBERG HIROSHIMA HOLBORN HIRPINI HOLCROFT, THOMAS HIRSAU HOLDEN, HUBERT ASHTON HIRSCH, MAURICE DE HOLDEN, SIR ISAAC HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL HOLDERLIN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HIRSCHBERG HOLDERNESSE, EARL OF HIRSON HOLDHEIM, SAMUEL HIRTIUS, AULUS HOLGUIN HISHAM IBN AL-KALBI HOLIDAY HISPELLUM HOLINSHED, RAPHAEL HISSAR (district in Asia) HOLKAR HISSAR (Indian town & district) HOLL, FRANK HISTIAEUS HOLLAND, CHARLES HISTOLOGY HOLLAND, SIR HENRY HISTORY HOLLAND, HENRY FOX HIT HOLLAND, HENRY RICH HITA, GINES PEREZ DE HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX HITCHCOCK, EDWARD HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT HITCHCOCK, GEORGE HOLLAND, PHILEMON HITCHCOCK, ROSWELL DWIGHT HOLLAND, RICHARD HITCHIN HOLLAND (country) HITTITES HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF HITTORFF, JACQUES IGNACE HOLLAND (Michigan, U.S.A.) HITZACKER HOLLAND (cloth) HITZIG, FERDINAND HOLLAR, WENZEL or WENCESLAUS HIUNG-NU HOLLES, DENZIL HOLLES HIVITES HOLLOWAY, THOMAS HJORRING HOLLY HKAMTI LONG HOLLYHOCK HLOTHHERE HOLLY SPRINGS HOACTZIN HOLMAN, JAMES HOADLY, BENJAMIN HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL HOAR, SAMUEL HOLMFIRTH HOARE, SIR RICHARD COLT HOLOCAUST HOBART, GARRET AUGUSTUS HOLOCENE HOBART, JOHN HENRY HOLROYD, SIR CHARLES HOBART PASHA HOLSTEIN, FRIEDRICH VON HOBART (capital of Tasmania) HOLSTEIN (duchy of Germany) HOBBEMA, MEYNDERT HOLSTEN, KARL CHRISTIAN JOHANN HOBBES, THOMAS HOLSTENIUS, LUCAS HOBBY HOLSTER HOBHOUSE, ARTHUR HOBHOUSE HOLT, SIR JOHN HOBOKEN (town of Belgium) HOLTEI, KARL EDUARD VON HOBOKEN (New Jersey, U.S.A.) HOLTY, LUDWIG HEINRICH CHRISTOPH HOBSON'S CHOICE HOLTZENDORFF, JOACHIM FRANZ PHILIPP VON HOBY, SIR THOMAS HOLTZMANN, HEINRICH JULIUS HOCHE, LAZARE HOLUB, EMIL HOCHHEIM HOLY HOCHST HOLY ALLIANCE, THE HOCHSTADT HOLYHEAD HOCHSTETTER, FERDINAND VON HOLY ISLAND HOCKEY HOLYOAKE, GEORGE JACOB HOCK-TIDE HOLYOKE HOCUS HOLYSTONE HODDEN HOLY WATER HODDESDON HOLY WEEK HODEDA HOLYWELL HODENING HOLYWOOD HODGE, CHARLES HOLZMINDEN HODGKIN, THOMAS HOLZTROMPETE HODGKINSON, EATON HOMAGE HODGSON, BRIAN HOUGHTON HOMBERG, WILHELM HODMEZO-VASARHELY HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE HODOGRAPH HOME, EARLS OF HODSON, WILLIAM STEPHEN RAIKES

HINDUISM, a term generally employed to comprehend the social institutions, past and present, of the Hindus who form the great majority of the people of India; as well as the multitudinous crop of their religious beliefs which has grown up, in the course of many centuries, on the foundation of the Brahmanical scriptures. The actual proportion of the total population of India (294 millions) included under the name of "Hindus" has been computed in the census report for 1901 at something like 70% (206 millions); the remaining 30% being made up partly of the followers of foreign creeds, such as Mahommedans, Parsees, Christians and Jews, partly of the votaries of indigenous forms of belief which have at various times separated from the main stock, and developed into independent systems, such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism; and partly of isolated hill and jungle tribes, such as the Santals, Bhils (Bhilla) and Kols, whose crude animistic tendencies have hitherto kept them, either wholly or for the most part, outside the pale of the Brahmanical community. The name "Hindu" itself is of foreign origin, being derived from the Persians, by whom the river Sindhu was called Hindhu, a name subsequently applied to the inhabitants of that frontier district, and gradually extended over the upper and middle reaches of the Gangetic valley, whence this whole tract of country between the Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains, west of Bengal, came to be called by the foreign conquerors "Hindustan," or the abode of the Hindus; whilst the native writers called it "Aryavarta," or the abode of the Aryas.

But whilst, in its more comprehensive acceptation, the term Hinduism would thus range over the entire historical development of Brahmanical India, it is also not infrequently used in a narrower sense, as denoting more especially the modern phase of Indian social and religious institutions--from the earlier centuries of the Christian era down to our own days--as distinguished from the period dominated by the authoritative doctrine of pantheistic belief, formulated by the speculative theologians during the centuries immediately succeeding the Vedic period (see BRAHMANISM). In this its more restricted sense the term may thus practically be taken to apply to the later bewildering variety of popular sectarian forms of belief, with its social concomitant, the fully developed caste-system. But, though one may at times find it convenient to speak of "Brahmanism and Hinduism," it must be clearly understood that the distinction implied in the combination of these terms is an extremely vague one, especially from the chronological point of view. The following considerations will probably make this clear.

Connexion with Brahmanism.

The characteristic tenet of orthodox Brahmanism consists in the conception of an absolute, all-embracing spirit, the Brahma (neutr.), being the one and only reality, itself unconditioned, and the original cause and ultimate goal of all individual souls (jiva, i.e. living things). Coupled with this abstract conception are two other doctrines, viz. first, the transmigration of souls (samsara), regarded by Indian thinkers as the necessary complement of a belief in the essential sameness of all the various spiritual units, however contaminated, to a greater or less degree, they may be by their material embodiment; and in their ultimate re-union with the Paramatman, or Supreme Self; and second, the assumption of a triple manifestation of the ceaseless working of that Absolute Spirit as a creative, conservative and destructive principle, represented respectively by the divine personalities of Brahma (masc.), Vishnu and Siva, forming the Trimurti or Triad. As regards this latter, purely exoteric, doctrine, there can be little doubt of its owing its origin to considerations of theological expediency, as being calculated to supply a sufficiently wide formula of belief for general acceptance; and the very fact of this divine triad including the two principal deities of the later sectarian worship, Vishnu and Siva, goes far to show that these two gods at all events must have been already in those early days favourite objects of popular adoration to an extent sufficient to preclude their being ignored by a diplomatic priesthood bent upon the formulation of a common creed. Thus, so far from sectarianism being a mere modern development of Brahmanism, it actually goes back to beyond the formulation of the Brahmanical creed. Nay, when, on analysing the functions and attributes of those two divine figures, each of them is found to be but a compound of several previously recognized deities, sectarian worship may well be traced right up to the Vedic age. That the theory of the triple manifestation of the deity was indeed only a compromise between Brahmanical aspirations and popular worship, probably largely influenced by the traditional sanctity of the number three, is sufficiently clear from the fact that, whilst Brahma, the creator, and at the same time the very embodiment of Brahmanical class pride, has practically remained a mere figurehead in the actual worship of the people, Siva, on the other hand, so far from being merely the destroyer, is also the unmistakable representative of generative and reproductive power in nature. In fact, Brahma, having performed his legitimate part in the mundane evolution by his original creation of the universe, has retired into the background, being, as it were, looked upon as functus officio, like a venerable figure of a former generation, whence in epic poetry he is commonly styled pitamaha, "the grandsire." But despite the artificial character of the Trimurti, it has retained to this day at least its theoretical validity in orthodox Hinduism, whilst it has also undoubtedly exercised considerable influence in shaping sectarian belief, in promoting feelings of toleration towards the claims of rival deities; and in a tendency towards identifying divine figures newly sprung into popular favour with one or other of the principal deities, and thus helping to bring into vogue that notion of avatars, or periodical descents or incarnations of the deity, which has become so prominent a feature of the later sectarian belief.