• DOI:10.1007/S10781-006-9002-4
• Corpus ID: 170922678

Dharma in Hinduism

@article{Hacker2006DharmaIH,
  title={Dharma in Hinduism},
  author={Paul W. Hacker},
  journal={Journal of Indian Philosophy},
  year={2006},
  volume={34},
  pages={479-496}
}

• P. Hacker
• Published 26 July 2006
• Sociology
• Journal of Indian Philosophy

Hinduism is a label for the indigenous religion of India that orients itself toward the Veda, the sacred texts from the oldest Indo-Aryan period, without actually being Vedic in either its myth or ritual; the religion, that intends to cultivate and pass down the religious customs of the Aryas, but that nevertheless absorbed and created anew many things that did not belong to the original Ârya religion. The word Hinduism came into use only in the 19th century; it would be more correct historically to speak of the Arya religion or the group of Arya religions. The word Arya denotes thereby a cultural community, the elite classes of which called themselves Arya throughout the centuries. The religion of this cultural community, which spread throughout the immense area of India, is in truth a group of religions which have much in common between them, but in which there are also many differences and contrasts highly visible diversity of myths, rituals, customs, teachings, and religious views. Among the commonalities belonging to this group of religions is a peculiar concept denoted by the word dharma. I should just mention that Buddhism, which does not recognize the Veda and, therefore, cannot be considered part of Hinduism, also has a concept of dharma, but I cannot consider it here.