04-28-2008, 09:00 AM
When was the word HINDU used by Indians to identify themselves ?
Indian is also a label given by foreigners....why don't people get embarassed by this label? Because it is non-religious?
So the real question is: "When was the word Hindu reduced to describing a particular combination of religions/philosophies/communities that arose at different times in parts of this vast land?"
And the answer is: during British rule.
Because for the Muslim invaders the word Hindu described all inhabitants of India, and did not have a religious meaning. Even when they came across people of different races, languages, and religious practices, the Muslims had no hesitation in calling them Hindus, whether it was in the deep south or the far east of India......another testament, if any more were needed, to the geographical unity of India.
As late as in the 18th century Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb described a group of Sikhs in the Punjab as follows:
Quote:
I learn...that nearly 20,000 Hindus, who call themselves the Khalsa of Govind the follower of Nanak, had assembled and gone to the country of the Barakzai (modern NWFP in Pakistan)...and that the Afghans of the neighborhood had fallen on them, so that the party had been killed or drowned. The Emperor orders that the prince (Bahadur Shah) should imprison these misbelievers, and expel them from that district.
Even though Aurangzeb knew of Nanak, and the formation of the Khalsa by Govind as the letter shows, he still called them "Hindus". So before British rule the word Hindu was used to decribe a nationality and not a religion.
Indian is also a label given by foreigners....why don't people get embarassed by this label? Because it is non-religious?
So the real question is: "When was the word Hindu reduced to describing a particular combination of religions/philosophies/communities that arose at different times in parts of this vast land?"
And the answer is: during British rule.
Because for the Muslim invaders the word Hindu described all inhabitants of India, and did not have a religious meaning. Even when they came across people of different races, languages, and religious practices, the Muslims had no hesitation in calling them Hindus, whether it was in the deep south or the far east of India......another testament, if any more were needed, to the geographical unity of India.
As late as in the 18th century Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb described a group of Sikhs in the Punjab as follows:
Quote:
I learn...that nearly 20,000 Hindus, who call themselves the Khalsa of Govind the follower of Nanak, had assembled and gone to the country of the Barakzai (modern NWFP in Pakistan)...and that the Afghans of the neighborhood had fallen on them, so that the party had been killed or drowned. The Emperor orders that the prince (Bahadur Shah) should imprison these misbelievers, and expel them from that district.
Even though Aurangzeb knew of Nanak, and the formation of the Khalsa by Govind as the letter shows, he still called them "Hindus". So before British rule the word Hindu was used to decribe a nationality and not a religion.