History of Hinduism The history of Hinduism in
India dates back to 2500 BC when the first major civilization flourished
in the Indus River valley. The anthropological findings of the ancient
cities belonging to this civilization named as Harrapa and Mohanjodaro
have shown the rudiments of Hinduism and are believed to have
been ruled by Hindu priests. It is also said that the religion takes its
name from the Indus River which came to be distorted in course of time.
It was then between 1500 and 200 BC that the Aryan invaders invaded the
country and controlled its Northern part pushing the Dravidian
inhabitants towards the southern parts of the country. These invaders
brought their own gods along and started worshipping them. But their
meat-eating traditions appeared so repulsive to the native priests that
they revolted and reasserted their supremacy as early as 8th century BC.
It was then that a consolidated caste system was hatched by these
ruling priests to maintain their position. Strict rules regarding caste
were introduced to Hinduism around this period. But this system
of utter distinction between castes was severely condemned around 500
BC. This was the origin of Buddhism in India that affected Hinduism
radically.
This drive gained momentum with Mauryan Emperor Ashoka's embracing the
religion. The emperor did all in his might to make Buddhism flourish
even at the cost of Hinduism at times.
It was after the disintegration of the Mauryan Empire that Hinduism
got revived from 40 to 600 AD. This was also the decline of Buddhism.
But the invasion of Huns brought a vast division of Hinduism into
various small tracts with distinct practices followed by the
contemporary rulers of the relatively smaller Hindu kingdoms.
