Hinduism
BY:Janice & Olivia B.
Things about hinduism
Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal. It also exists among significant populations outside of the sub continent and has over 900 million adherents worldwide. Unlike most other religions,Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings.
Where the religion started
Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma ("eternal spiritual path") began about 4000 years ago in India. It was the religion of an ancient people known as the Aryans ("noble people") whose philosophy, religion, and customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas.
WHO WAS THE FOUNDER
Hinduism has neither a specific moment of origin nor a specific founder. Rather, the tradition understands itself to be timeless, having always existed. Indeed, its collection of sacred texts is known, as a whole, as Sanatana Dharma, "The Eternal Teaching."
The basic beliefs
Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained.
Where it spread
One of the earliest regions that Hinduism spread to was Southeast Asia. Indian Brahmins may have arrived in the area through trade. The rulers of these regions seemed to have gravitated to them and adopted many of the Hindu religious practices as part of their own. The lasting influence on the rest of the social classes in Southeast Asia is more debatable, but Chinese works speak of the influence of India in second-century Vietnam, while Sanskrit accounts of Vedic rituals date back to fourth-century Borneo.