I often come across people, active in internet, who while opposing all tenets and practices of Hindu Dharma however, act as if they are integral part of Hindu Dharma, by employing a subtle confusion. This thread is to discuss this issue.
Reportedly, the ‘Hindu’ term was first used by Persians to denote the people living in the sub-continental peninsula, bordered by the river Sindhu (whose distortion gave rise to the term ‘Hindu’). Today, it is a cultural-Legal term, and includes most Indians, except some, as explained in the blog below.
India's Constitution does not give a definition of the term Hindu, but it does define to whom the Hindu Law applies. It has to do this because in spite of its pretence to secularism, the Indian Constitution allows Muslims, Christians and Parsis a separate Personal Law. In a way, this separate treatment of different communities merely continues the communal autonomy of castes and sects accepted in pre-modern Hindu states, but it exposes the credibility deficit of Indian secularism. At any rate, the situation is that Personal Law is divided on the basis of religion, and that one of the legal subsystems is called Hindu Law.
The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 goes in greater detail to define this legal Hindu, by stipulating in Section 2 that the Act applies:
(a) to any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms and developments, including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj,
(b) to any person who is a Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion, and
(c) to any other person domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion.
On the other hand, Hindu Dharma (a term which undoubtedly has come in common use) actually refers to Sanatana Dharma or Vaidika Dharma. It is not merely a cultural or a legal usage.
http://veda.wikidot.com/hinduism
This is the standard understanding of what Hindu Dharma is. Brahman, Ishwara, Atman, Karma, Purusartha, Moksha, Shruti etc. are standard terms derived from Vedas and subsequent scriptures.
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So, when we refer to a dharma called Hinduism are we referring to dharma called Sanatana Dharma, which has Vedas as the root or not? Can Lokayata or Charvaka darsana-s, which deny Ishwara, Brahman, consciousness beyond body, Karma, re-incarnation, testimony of Vedas as proof, be counted as Vaidika or Sanatana Dharma?
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