interpreter of Hinduism, as quoted in India: An Introduction byKhushwant Singh, New Delhi, 1990.
[Hinduism is] "... a name without any content... Its content, if
any, has altered from age to age, from community to
community. It meant one thing in the Vedic period, another in
the Brahmanical, a third in the Buddhist [1] - one to Saivite,
another to Vaishnavite and Sakta." (Dr. Radhakrishnan was
the first President of independent India).
------------------------------------------------------------------------Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India, New Delhi, 1983,
p.75.
"Hinduism, as a faith, is vague, amorphous, many-sided, all
things to all men. It is hardly possible to define it, or indeed to
say definitely whether it is a religion or not, in the usual sense
of the word. In its present form, and even in the past, it
embraces many beliefs and practices, from the highest to the
lowest, often opposed to or contradicting each other." (Pandit
Nehru was the first Prime Minister of independent India during
1947-64).
------------------------------------------------------------------------M.K Gandhi, Hindu Dharma, New Delhi, 1991, p. 120.
"Hinduism does not rest on the authority of one book or one
prophet, nor does it possess a common creed - like the
Kalma [sic.] of Islam - acceptable to all. That renders a
common definition of Hinduism a bit difficult." (Mahatma
Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation, India).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, What Congress and Gandhi have done toUntouchables?
"Hinduism is a veritable chamber of horrors. The sanctity and
infallibility of the Vedas, Smritis and Shastras, the iron law of
caste, the heartless law of karma and the senseless law of
status by birth are to the Untouchables veritable instruments
of torture which Hinduism has forged against untouchables.
These very instruments which have mutilated; blasted and
blighted the lives of the Untouchables are to be found intact
and untarnished in the bosom of Gandhism." (Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar was the first Law Minister of independent India. He
was the head of the committee that drafted the constitution of
India, and he is known as the Father of Indian
Constitution.).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swami Dharma Theertha, History of Hindu Imperialism,
Madras, 1992, p. 178.
"Frankly speaking, it is not possible to say definitely who is a
Hindu and what is Hinduism. These questions have been
considered again and again by eminent scholars, and so far
no satisfactory answer has been given. Hinduism has within
itself all types of religions such as theism, atheism,
polytheism, Adwitism, Dwaitism, Saivism, Vaishnavism, and
so forth. (emphasis added). It contains nature worship,
ancestor worship, animal worship, idol worship, demon
worship, symbol worship, self worship, and the highest god
worship. Its conflicting philosophies will confound any ordinary
person. From barbarious practices and dark superstitions, up
to the most mystic rites and sublime philosophies, there is
place for all gradations and varieties in Hinduism. Similarly,
among the Hindu population are found half barbarian wild
tribes, and depressed classes and untouchables, along with
small numbers of cultured, gentle natures and highly evolved
souls."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
19.
"Hinduism defies definition... It has no specific creed."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ardersir Sorabjee as quoted in Swami Dharma Theertha,
History of Hindu Imperialism, Madras, 1992, p. 178.
"Their (Hindus') religion is a standing travesty of ancient
Hinduism, consisting as it does of rank idolatry mixed with
superstition and fetishism of the most degrading type. They
believe in the worship of their innumerable devas or good
spirits and the propitiation of an equally large number of
demons and evil spirits, both of which they assume have their
resting places on earth in their idols of stone and marble, gold
and silver."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Alfred Lyll as quoted in Modern Hinduism by Wilkins,
London, 1975, p. 310.
"... the religion of the non-Mohamedan [2] population of India
is a tangled jungle of disorderly superstitions, ghosts and
demons, demi-gods, and deified saints, household gods, local
gods, tribal gals, universal gods, with their countless shrines
and temples, and the din of their discordant rites; deities who
abhor a fly's death; those who still delight in human
sacrifices."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. Thomas, Hindu Religion, Customs and Manners, p.21.
"Hinduism is not a religion established by a single person. It
is a growth of ideas, rituals and beliefs so comprehensive as
to include anything between atheism and pantheism.
(emphasis added). Having grown out of the practices and
speculations of various communities that were admitted into
the Hindu fold at different times, Hinduism, as it stands at
present, has very few set of dogmas. A formal recognition of
the Vedas as revealed wisdom is all that is required for a
Hindu to be known as such. But the latitude permitted in
interpreting the Vedas is so wide that the atheistic Sankhya
philosophy of Kapila and the polytheism of the Puranas are
both recognized as Orthodox."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percival Spear, India: A Modern History, Michigan, 1961,
p.40.
"The more Hinduism is considered, the more difficult it
becomes to define it in a single phrase... A Hindu may have
any religious belief or none; he may be an atheist or an
agnostic and still be an accepted Hindu... It is public opinion
working through the caste system which determines whether
someone shall or shall not be regarded as a Hindu."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Economist, June 8, 1991, p. 22, col. l.
"Hinduism is far more unstructured than most other religions.
It has no archbishops, chief rabbis, grand muftis. Each Hindu
decides for himself which manifestations of God are most
important to him, what scriptures to accept as authentic,
which holy man to follow. The one ineluctable certainty is a
person's dharma."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Buddhism founded by Gautoma Buddha is a religion
different from Hinduism but the Brahmans made Buddha an
incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu in order to make Buddhism a
part of Hinduism.
[2] There is no such thing as 'Mohamedan.' The name of the
religion is Islam and its followers are Muslims.
