Hello.
Well, the reasons that India is the most "Hindu populous country" are
really quite simple.
(1) India is one of the most populous countries in the world.
(2) Hinduism began in India and is the religion by a large majority of
the people in India.
India's population is more than 1 billion. As such, it is the second
most populous country after China.
Source: BBC Country Profile: India
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1154019.stm
From transcental-meditation-1.com:
"According to recent estimates, there are approximately 850 million
Hindus living worldwide. Of these, approximately 780 million live in
India, 20 million in Bangladesh, 20 million in Indonesia, 20 million
in Nepal, 3 million in Sri Lanka, 2 million in Pakistan and 1.5
million in the United States."
http://www.transcendental-meditation-1.com/
From Hindunet.org:
"HINDUISM is the religion of 13.3% of humanity.
Of the world's 725 million Hindus, 684m. (94%) live in India,
16.9m. (2%) in Nepal,
13.7m. (2%) in Bangladesh,
3.5m. in Indonesia (most of them on Bali),
2.65m. in Sri Lanka, 1.25m. in Malaysia."
http://www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1995_May_2/msg00002.html
"According to historians, the origin of Hinduism dates back to 5000 or
more years. The word 'Hindu' is derived from the name of river Indus,
which flows through northern India. In ancient times the river was
called the 'Sindhu', but the Persians who migrated to India called the
river 'Hindu', the land 'Hindustan' and its inhabitants 'Hindus'. Thus
the religion followed by the Hindus came to be known as 'Hinduism'."
From: hinduism.about.com
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-intro-origin.htm
From Slamnet.org.uk:
"Hinduism is the religion of most people in India and, although many
Hindus live in other parts of the world, most have contact with
families in India. The words 'India' and 'Hindu' are derived from the
great River Indus. The religion has its roots among the people of the
Indus valley over 4,000 years ago; it encompasses many traditions and
does not have one particular founder or sacred text."
http://www.slamnet.org.uk/re/hinduism.htm
From Historyofindia.com:
"To trace the roots of Hinduism, one must go back to 1500 B.C., when
civilization started to settle in the Sapta - Sindhava. Around this
time the Aryans [the nobles] prepared the first and the oldest
collection of mystical hymns known as Rig Veda. Their view of the
world developed into a vast body of sacred utterances called the
Vedas.
In the oldest portion of the Vedas, there is reference to a river
called Sindhu, and in later sanskrit literature, the word Sindhu is
often used to refer to the people and territory of the Indus area.
Gradually, over the centuries, from Sindhu evolved the word Hindu.
It has, thus, both geographical and cultural connotations for it
referred to both where and how the inhabitants lived as well as to
what they looked like. However, the term Hindu gradually came to be
referred quite around and beyond the Sindhu. In the first quarter of
the third century B.C., Alexander of Macedonia called the great river
'Indos' and its inhabitants 'Indikoi' (Latin : Indus) and from this
word came India and Indians!"
Source: Historyofindia.com
http://www.historyofindia.com/hindu.html
Thus, India's Hindu tradition stretches back thousands of years. The
fact that Hinduism is concentrated mostly in India is the result of
several factors.
One factor is that other religions such as Islam and Buddhism replaced
Hinduism in some areas.
From the web site: OMF UK
"Hinduism was at one time widespread in Southeast Asia. From around
600 BC it extended from India into Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malaysia,
Indonesia and the Philippines. In most of East Asia it was later
obscured by Buddhism and Islam. However, it still prevails in Bali and
parts of East Java, and since the late 19th century has been
reintroduced to peninsular Malaysia."
Source: OMF: Hinduism
http://www.omf.org.uk/content.asp?id=8531
Some observers also assert that it is not within the nature of
Hinduism to seek out new converts.
From Sydney Distance Education High School:
"Why didn't Hinduism spread? The answer is that Hinduism does not
encourage converting people, while other religions do. Jesus Christ,
the founder of Christianity, instructed his followers to: "Go and
preach the gospel to all nations, and baptise them". Islam encourages
its followers to convert others to the faith. But Hinduism does not
have any such principle."
See: Sydney Distance Education High School:
http://www.ssdec.nsw.edu.au/Asiaaccess/Vedic/wk4_1.html
Also see this page from hindubooks.org:
http://www.hindubooks.org/david_frawley/hinduism/sanatana_dharma/page5.htm
search strategy: "most hindus", "hinduism spread", "million hindus",
"live in india"
I hope this explains why India is the most Hindu populous country. If
anything is unclear, please use the "request clarification" feature.
Thanks and good luck with your research. |
