This article was last updated on the 13th of July, 2015 by Patrick Carpen.
Hinduism is a religion which originates from India. The word Hindu is derived from “Indus”, which is the name of a river that runs through India. Originally, Hindu referred to the people who lived along the Indus river to whom manifestations of god are said to have appeared.
The word “Hindu” is nowadays used as an umbrella term to cover a vast number of “pagan” religions which originated from Eastern Nations. Ignorance of the various pagan religions lead people to label them all as Hinduism.
Hindus generally believe that god has appeared on various occasions in various forms throughout history and interacted with humans. Through these interactions, the Hindu religious scriptures were given to humans. The Hindu holy books include the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita and others.
Hindus pray in Mandirs to idols. They content that the idols themselves are not gods, but a point of contact between them and the divine beings. The different forms of the idols represent the different forms in which god has appeared to humans on earth.
