文档介绍：Hinduism
The oldest surviving religion of the world.
It has no single founder, creed or prophet.
No single holy book, but a multitude of scriptures:
Vedas (Chn. 吠陀),
Upanishads (Chn. 奧義書),
Puranas (Chn. 往世書), and epics like
Mahabharata (Chn. 摩訶婆羅多) and
Ramayana (Chn. 羅摩衍那)
They deal with the concepts, beliefs, rituals and spiritual aspects, as well as the way of life.
Hinduism
No centralized authority or bureaucratic structure.
Diversify in the practices of Hindus, yet with unity in its concepts.
The “unity in diversity” in Hinduism.
Hinduism
The origin of Hinduism dates back to the pre-historic era.
It involved a kind plex assimilation of ideas from two ancient cultures:
the Indus Valley Civilization (thus the name Hinduism) and
beliefs and practices of the Aryans.
Hinduism
Aryans migrated into India from Central Asia around 2000 BC. Some of the groups went to Iran, which explains the close affinities between Iranian religion of Avesta (Zoroastrianism, Chn. 祆教; 拜火教; 波斯教) and the Vedic religion.
However, some scholars still maintain that India was their original homeland and Aryan culture is a development from Indus Valley Civilization.
Hinduism
The language of Aryans was an ancestor the present day Sanskrit, closely related to the Indo-European languages, such as Latin and Greek.
The Aryans spread over the northern plains some time around 1000 BC, reached the Gangetic plain, which came to be known as Aryavarta (Aryan homeland).
Hinduism
Their culture slowly spread to South India towards 600 AD.
The Aryans called themselves “Arya”, which means noble, and called the Dravidians as “Dasas”.
The Aryans were plexioned whereas Dravidians were dark-skinned.
Hinduism
The Aryan did not replace the earlier religious practices of the indigenous population of the Indus Valley and South India, especially the worship of Mother Goddess.
Hinduism thus was developed as an amalgamation of religious faiths and rituals of various races of Indus Valley Civilizati