Hindus

Hindus are people who follow the religion known as Hinduism. Some followers also use the term Sanatana Dharma to describe their faith. This is an endonym, which means it is a name used by the people within the tradition itself. Hinduism is a vast and diverse belief system. It does not have a single, uniform way of thinking. Because of this variety, the term can cover many different practices and ideas.

The word "Hindu" has a complex history that began as a geographical label. It is an exonym, meaning it is a name given by outsiders. The term is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which refers to a large body of water like a river or ocean. This word was used to name the Indus River and its tributaries. In the 5th century BCE, Persian records used the term to describe people living beyond the Indus River. At this stage, it was an ethno-geographical term rather than a religious one.

Over many centuries, the meaning of the word shifted from geography to religion. In the 7th century CE, the Chinese scholar Xuanzang used the term In-tu in a religious context. By the 11th century, the scholar Al-Biruni wrote about Hindus in his text Tarikh Al-Hind. He described them as people who believe in rebirth. During the Delhi Sultanate period, the term remained somewhat ambiguous. It could refer to a specific region or a specific group of people. Some writers used the term to distinguish local traditions from other faiths.

Poets and writers in the 14th and 18th centuries helped shape this religious identity. For example, the poet Vidyapati used the phrase Hindu dharma to describe the religion. He contrasted these traditions with Turaka dharma, which referred to Islam. In the 1649 publication by Sebastiao Manrique, the word was used in a religious sense in a European language. By the 18th century, European merchants and colonists used "Hindu" to describe followers of Indian religions. They used this term to distinguish them from those who followed Islam.

The British colonial era brought further changes to how the term was used. In early colonial laws, the term Hindu was used very broadly. It included people of many different Indian religions. It even included non-Indian religions like Judaism and Zoroastrianism. During this time, colonial texts began to distinguish Hindus from Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains. However, many colonial laws continued to group these different faiths under the single term Hindu until the mid-20th century. Scholars note that the strict separation of these groups is a modern phenomenon.

Today, Hinduism is the third-largest religious group in the world. There are approximately 1.17 billion Hindus globally. The vast majority of this population lives in two countries: India and Nepal. Together, these two nations account for more than 95% of all Hindus. The remaining 5% live in various other nations. The largest populations outside of India and Nepal are found in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Significant Hindu communities also exist in Sri Lanka, the United States, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Understanding the term Hindu requires looking at many different layers of history. It moved from a Persian geographical term to a broad colonial category. It then became a specific religious identifier used by both locals and outsiders. This history shows how names for people and faiths can change over time. What began as a way to describe people near a river evolved into a name for a global religious community. This evolution reflects the many cultural and historical shifts that have occurred in the Indian subcontinent.