Hinduism is over 4,000 years old, making it one of the world s oldest religions. The vedas are the oldest religious scriptures available to us. The vedas are separated into four different sections, the rig veda. In each of these stages, certain tasks and ways of life are performed before they move onto the next stage. Sometimes called the official religion of ancient persia, zoroastrianism is one of the world s oldest surviving religions, with teachings older than buddhism, older than judaism, and far older than christianity or islam.
Early hinduism was founded over 5,000 years ago in the indus river valley in india. Introducing world religions bygaurav gurung religions provide platform to the people bringing them to consider their relations to god and supernatural elements. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. For example, the story of creating the world in seven days is.
Christianity, islam, hinduism, buddhism and judaism. It consists of lessons and teaching that shows moral life, ethics governing the social and religious life of muslims. Hinduism is practised by more than 80% of indias population. The religion of hinduism originated in northern india, near the river indus, about 4000 years ago and is the world s oldest existing religion. Hindus, unlike christians or muslims or jews, do not rely on a single source such as the holy bible, the koran or the torah for the practice of their faith. Beliefs, jews believe in the laws of god and the words of the prophets. Judaism is one of the oldest of the worlds monotheistic religionsreligions with only one god. Religion has been a factor of the human experience throughout history, from prehistoric to modern times. If you look at what these religions claim for themselves. There is only one supreme god in hinduism, brahma, and all other deities are. One of the worlds oldest surviving religions, zoroastrianism played an important. There are close to one billion hindus in the world today.
Abraham is traditionally considered to be the first jew and to have made. Christianity buddhism hinduism islam see answers 2 ask for details. The religion was officially founded by moses, although jewish history can be. Zoroastrianism is sometimes called the world s oldest prophetic religion. The oldest religion, it may date to prehistoric times. Judaism shares many similar teachings with christianity and islam and is 3500 years old, making it one of the oldest religions of the world. Judaism is the worlds oldest monotheistic religion, dating back nearly 4,000 years. Thus, hinduism is the oldest religion in the world. Zoroastrianism or mazdayasna is one of the oldest religions in the world.
Hinduism also has a caste system, the system is divided into 4 distinct classes. Through its missionary activity christianity has spread to most parts of the globe. The oldest veda is called the rig veda and was written in sanskrit a language. Most people living in europe and the americas are christian, while the vast majority of muslims and hindus are found in asia. It is a monotheistic religion that is believed to have begun between 2,000 and 1,000 b. In search of one of the worlds oldest religions the getty iris. The vedas are separated into four different sections, the rig veda, sama veda, yajur veda and atharva veda. Find out more about the oldest religions still practiced. Here is the list of top 10 must read holyreligious books in the world. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world with. The foundation for all other abrahamic religions, and the oldest monotheism still around though by no means the first that is alleged to be a variation on ancient egyptian faith called atenism, which disappeared in the 14th century bce, judaism originated in the kingdoms of israel and judah, which first appeared in the levant around the 9th century bce. Nor is it based on the teachings of a founder, prophet or holy book. The most holy of the hindu books is written in sanskrit and is referred to as the vedas. The bulk of the human religious experience predates written history.
While this may be true, its important to note that hinduism does not have any particular founder or a single text, but instead combines several ancient traditions and beliefs. Muslims mark ramadan with unprecedented virus lockdowns. The oldest text of the religion today known as hinduism is unable to be verified by date, but was written somewhere between 1500500 bce. However, it is the oldest of the monotheistic religions. Hinduism is the world s third most popular religion, with around 750 million followers. Contrary to the other two world leading religions, hinduism believes in many gods and is a socalled polytheistic religion. The scriptures of the vedas are meant to guide hindu believers in their daily lives. Written history the age of formal writing is only c. The stages are student, householder, forest dweller, and sannyasin. Hinduism is not based so much on one holy book or perception of faith, but many. Hinduism is often considered the oldest existing religion still practiced today. The holy books of world religions sacred texts in world. The oldest polytheistic religion in the world that started in india.
The many gods of the religions of the ancient world fulfilled this function as. In ancient times jewish people were called hebrews or israelite. Mesopotamian religious beliefs held that human beings were coworkers with the gods. Followers of hinduism are known as hindus, and it has been practiced in one way or another for more than 4000 years, perhaps even longer. It is made up of a variety of different religious beliefs and practices. A few older style religions are zorastrianism, confucianism, and pantheism.
Get an answer for what came first, judaism or hinduism. Although hinduism is touted the world s oldest religion, there are others that have been around a long time as well. Judaism is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion, arising in the eastern mediterranean in the second millennium b. The events of abraham are said to have occurred at. Top 10 must read holy religious books in the world omg.
Followers of judaism believe in one god who revealed himself through ancient prophets. Each of the major faith schristianity, judaism, hinduism, buddhism, jainism, sikhism, and islam is examined in detail through its sacred texts, epic imagery, key beliefs, and religious artifacts. Hinduism have started about 4000 years back in indian subcontinent. Several elements like sacred, divinity, supernaturalism, holy, godly etc. One of the oldest known religious texts is the kesh temple hymn of ancient sumer, a set of inscribed clay tablets which. While the jewish people are descended from abraham, it was moses who first recorded the torah, the jewish holy text, in 1,400 b. The earliest texts from this region are extensive, but unfortunately, scholars have yet to find a way to translate the language of the texts.
For jewish, buddhist, hindu, and sikh communities in manila, the core values of good humans are more similar than different. These differences are what make hinduism different from other world religions such as judaism or christianity. The puranas are holy books of hinduism that date back to gupta empire in ancient india. Abraham is believed to be the father of the jewish people. In hindu religion the oldest and most sacred text is the vedas. Hinduism is the oldest of the major world religions. There are well over 4000 different religions in the world today. Hinduism isnt the world s oldest living religion, because hinduism is defined not as one religion, but as any religion that originated in the hindu river valley.
Hinduism is a compilation of many traditions and philosophies and is considered by many scholars to be the worlds oldest religion, dating back. The oldest scripture of hinduism is the rig veda, which is believed to be about 3,500 years old. Zoroastrianism still survives in pockets in the hindu kush on the. Different hindu sects have a variety of beliefs about the nature and identity of god, believing variously in monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, and. Other holy scriptures in hinduism are called the upanisads, the smrutis, the puranas, the ramayana and the mahabharata. Jews believe in moses as and their holy book is the torah. The distinctive identities of different faiths are explored in world religi ons by studying the main principles and thinking of each religion. According to the hindu religion, there are four stages of life. Hinduism has been explained with its origins, beliefs, way of life, sacred texts, gods and goddesses, holiest t. Hinduism is usually considered the worlds oldest organized religion. Judaism, taoism buddhism, and jainism are religions that are still being practiced today. The religion morphed into its current form in the 6th century bce, evolving from the worship of a state god based in a polytheistic. The sacred texts that are definitively associated with hinduism are all ancient. Can we call hinduism the oldest religion in the world.
Devotees of hinduism at the temple in paco, manila. At the beginning of the 21st century, onethird of the world s population is christian, another onefifth is muslim, about oneeighth is hindu, and oneeighth is nonreligious. All spiritual systems have roots in beliefs dating back millennia meaning that the main. The vedas 4 books with a detailed description of society, culture, religion and science date back to more than 2000 bc. Hinduism and islam are two of the world s four largest religions. It consists of 114 suras or chapters which shows the impassioned appeals for belief in god. There is reasonable answers for believing hinduism as the oldest religion. Religion in the ancient world ancient history encyclopedia. Of all the ancient writings, most scholars agree that the old testament of the bible is the oldest of religious books. Different religions have different definitions for god, have different concepts about the.
Several large religious movements have been lost to history, but several ancient. Some of the other holy works and books of hinduism. The world s oldest known religion is hinduism formed about 2. Is the bible the oldest religious book in the world.
Its also the smallest, with only about 12 million followers around the world. Its certainly one of the earliest religions founded by one person. Hinduism is the largest religion in india and the third largest religion in the world with 1. Most sources consider the date of the torah as the beginning of judaism. Hinduism and judaism are among the oldest existing religions in the world. A lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of prehistoric religion being derived from archaeological records and other indirect. The founder of zoroastrianism, zoroaster or zarathustra. These concepts would influence the later religions of judaism, christianity.
Zoroastrian texts depict one of the world s oldest monotheistic religions practiced in iran around 600bc650ce. In search of one of the worlds oldest religions the. The religion is believed to have influenced many of other world religions, including christianity. There are four vedas namely rigveda, yajurveda, samaveda and atharvaveda. This would make hinduism the oldest recorded religion in human history. Religion is the diversely opinionated term which more or less talks about faith and belief system of. Lets talk about the major world religions practiced today hinduism, islam, christianity, judaism. Vedic literature was composed by the knowledgeable pandits or brahmins of that era. The world s bestselling book is the bible, the holy book of christianity. World religions test religion is one of the most exciting topics in the world, regardless of your stance and beliefs, because it analyses all of the things that give us hope, devotion, and faith.
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